For the third year in a row (and tenth time in the last twelve elections), the Baseball Writers Association of America has inducted multiple players into the Hall of Fame. For 2026, centerfielders Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones will be joining Veterans Committee pick Jeff Kent on the stage in Cooperstown this July. And behind them, we saw a lot of interesting developments with downballot candidates that will end up shaping the next few Hall of Fame ballots. But first, let’s start with the...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
In my piece about ‘Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom’ from last year, I originally had a brief digression about the genre name, and I ended up removing it because it kind of destroyed the flow of the piece. But… I can also just write that as its own thing, I don’t actually need to cram every varied idea I have while playing a game into a single article I write about that game. In fact, play your cards right and it can even become a vehicle to discuss other games! Who knew?!?). Sarcasm aside,...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
It’s been a month since we got our last big piece of news on the 2026 Hall of Fame election, that the first member of this year’s class of inductees would be Veterans Committee choice Jeff Kent. In the time since, we’ve gone fullbore on the main question of Hall of Fame Season: who the Baseball Writers will induct off the main ballot. However, the actual ballots are technically all submitted (the deadline for that was the start of the new year), and there’s not really going to be any real...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
On Sunday, we got our first official Hall of Fame announcement for the Class of 2026, with the Veterans Committee’s Contemporary Era panel revealing the results of their election. And somehow, the results were both very predictable and rather baffling. But first, we’ll start with the big headline: Jeff Kent will be joining the Hall of Fame in 2026.I wrote severalpieces previewingthis election (thank you to everyone who read them!), and if you read those, this is in some ways unsurprising. I...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Earlier this week, I reviewed the Veterans Committee ballot ahead of their upcoming December 7th announcement. Part 1 (which can be read here) covered the cases of Gary Sheffield, Carlos Delgado, Fernando Valenzuela, and most-likely inductee Jeff Kent; Part 2 (which can be read here) covered the new rules shenanigans that are likely to impact the candidacies of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly, and Dale Murphy. Check both of those out if you haven’t already, I think I did a pretty...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Earlier this week, I began breaking down the 2026 Veterans Committee’s Hall of Fame ballot. I started with the four cases that I think needed the least context or rules-gaming, specifically Jeff Kent, Gary Sheffield, Carlos Delgado, and Fernando Valenzuela (plus, there’s a general refresher on voting rules, too). If you missed it, take a minute to check it out now! Especially since the election itself is coming up soon (specifically, on December 7th).That leaves us with the other four names...
3 months ago • 1 min read
It is once again the time of the baseball calendar where Hall of Fame talk takes over! The Baseball Writers Association of America has released their 2026 Ballot (and some writers have already even released their official votes for it), while the Veterans Committee’s Contemporary Baseball Era panel will be announcing the results of their election on December 7th.In case the embedded link has stopped working, this year’s slate of candidates consists of eight names: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens,...
3 months ago • 1 min read
With the final game of the 2025 Season in the books, I can follow up on my initial column with another trivia tradition here at Hot Corner Harbor: the Annual Best Active Players Without a World Series Sporcle Quiz! I’ll include a little more writing here before we get to the break (to give the spoilers within some breathing room), but I’ll also add that if you’d like more World Series fun facts, you can take a walk down memory lane through a full Sporcle playlist collecting past years’...
4 months ago • 1 min read
I don’t know that I have much specific to say about this year’s entry in my annual Playoff Trivia Series. Especially not after last year’s version, where I had to fit writing the entire thing in after that last-day double header. This is so much nicer of an experience (especially coming right on the heels of the huge Playlist article that I just published over at Out of Left Field).Anyway, as a refresher, for those of you looking for a team to bandwagon for this postseason, perhaps this...
5 months ago • 2 min read
