I'm tired and cranky. I would say it's incredibly difficult to know who the best player in baseball is RIGHT NOW, and asking that question is generally difficult. I tend to call Mike Trout the best baseball player right now...because I have a bias towards the past. In reality: Shohei Ohtani is probably the best player in baseball right now, with Aaron Judge slightly behind him.
This is making me want to fiddle around with WAR and Google Sheets. I will probably waste a lot of time, but who knows?
Mike Trout is Salieri, but we didn’t know it until Ohtani came around.
Who has held the title of "Best Living Ballplayer" for the last 100 years? My best shot as a guess is:
- Babe Ruth 1923 (start of this exercise) through 1948 (his death)
- Joe DiMaggio 1948 (Ruth's death) through 1950 (career WAR surpassed by Williams)
- Ted Williams 1950 (surpasses DiMaggio) through 1968 (surpassed by Mays)
- Willie Mays 1968 (surpasses Williams) through 2004 (surpassed by Bonds)
- Barry Bonds 2004 (surpasses Mays) through ???
I'm tired and cranky. I would say it's incredibly difficult to know who the best player in baseball is RIGHT NOW, and asking that question is generally difficult. I tend to call Mike Trout the best baseball player right now...because I have a bias towards the past. In reality: Shohei Ohtani is probably the best player in baseball right now, with Aaron Judge slightly behind him.
This is making me want to fiddle around with WAR and Google Sheets. I will probably waste a lot of time, but who knows?
Had a reading slump. Catching back up.
Good read.