In 2001, Barry Bonds had arguably the greatest offensive season in MLB history: He hit .328 and broke the single-season record with 73 home runs. Or maybe his greatest season was 2002, when he hit .370/.582/.799. Or maybe it was 2004, when he hit .362/.609/.812, drawing 232 walks. He was so good pitchers decided they didn’t even want to try to get him out: They intentionally walked him 120 times that year.
Bonds won four consecutive MVP awards from 2001 to 2004, averaging 10.8 WAR per season. In ranking the top 25 MLB players in the 21st century, you can’t ignore that stunning level of dominance.
But how high do you rank him? We’re considering only accomplishments from 2000 on, and as great as Bonds was in those years, most of his career value came before 2000 (103.7 of his 162.8 WAR). The performance-enhancing-drug allegations complicate his place in history even more.
Indeed, this is an issue for others besides Bonds: Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, Manny Ramirez … legendary players, problematic legacies. And where do you rank Shohei Ohtani? He has won two MVPs as a two-way player and might win a third this season as a DH, but he’s only seven seasons into his MLB career. Or Clayton Kershaw — there’s no denying his regular-season feats, but he has struggled in the postseason. Or the fabulous Ichiro Suzuki, whose impact goes beyond mere statistics. Or Derek Jeter, the ultimate winner. Or others in the middle of their careers, such as Mookie Betts and Bryce Harper.
It wasn’t easy to sort through all these players. Disagree with our list if you must. In the end, however, there was a clear choice for No. 1. — David Schoenfield
1. Albert Pujols
Key accomplishments: Three-time MVP, 2001 Rookie of the Year, 11-time All-Star, two-time Gold Glove winner, six-time Silver Slugger, two-time World Series winner, 703 HRs (fourth all time).
They called him The Machine. Pujols’ swing was direct and to the point: power emanating from his lower half, firing through hands he used with the precision of a surgeon, his bat a weapon that placed Pujols among the game’s greatest right-handed hitters ever. Rogers Hornsby, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Joe DiMaggio, Albert Pujols. He belongs. A 13th-round draft pick who will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2028, Pujols’ lone ding is an end-of-career fade with the Angels. In 12 seasons with the Cardinals, he was undeniable. — Jeff Passan
Key accomplishments: Three-time MVP (tied for second most all time), 11-time All-Star, nine-time Silver Slugger, 2012 AL Rookie of The Year, active career leader in WAR (86.1, per Baseball-Reference).
Only three hitters have piled up more WAR since the century began than Trout, and all of them had more than a decade head start on him when he launched, fully-formed, into the majors at age 19, two years after going 25th in the 2009 draft. That’s how quickly Trout leaped into the conversation about the game’s historical elite. As perhaps the first star whose greatness was sharpened by contemporary analytics, Trout’s all-around dominance was on display from the start. At 32, Trout has won three MVP awards and finished in the top five of balloting seven other times. Injuries have slowed his momentum, but if Trout can string together a few more healthy campaigns, the kid from Millville, New Jersey, could yet transcend his status as the best of his generation and challenge for the crown of best ever, period. — Bradford Doolittle
Key accomplishments: Three-time Cy Young winner, 2014 MVP, 10-time All-Star, five ERA titles, Triple Crown winner, Gold Glove winner, 2020 World Series champion, no-hitter in 2014.
Early in the 2016 season, then-San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner said of his great West Coast rival: “Are we watching the best ever at his best?” Maybe so. During his peak from 2011 to 2017, Kershaw went 118-41 with a 2.10 ERA. Even as he’s battled injuries, he’s remained effective: His career 2.48 ERA is the lowest for a starting pitcher since 1920 and his winning percentage the highest since 1900 for a pitcher with 2,000 innings. The Los Angeles Dodgers lefty was never the hardest thrower, but he was a perfectionist who once went nearly four seasons without allowing a home run on his curveball. — David Schoenfield
Key accomplishments: Two-time MVP (2012-13, last player to win consecutive MVPs), Triple Crown winner in 2012, 12-time All-Star, seven-time Silver Slugger, four batting titles, 2003 World Series champion.
Cabrera arrived in the major leagues at 20, found himself batting cleanup in the World Series, whacked an opposite-field home run off Roger Clemens and charted a course that would end two decades later with 3,174 hits. Cabrera’s spray chart was a thing of beauty, with dots connoting his hits in all corners of the stadium — and 511 over the fence. He managed to hit for power without sacrificing his innate bat-to-ball skill, and he peaked in 2012, when he became the first hitter in 45 years to win batting, home run and RBI titles in the same season. — Jeff Passan
5. Ichiro Suzuki
Key accomplishments: 2001 AL Rookie of the Year and MVP, 10-time All-Star, 10-time Gold Glove Award winner, AL batting titles in 2001 and 2004.
His most famous play is his “Star Wars” throw from his rookie season. His most famous record is the 262 hits he registered in 2004. He was 27 when he went to Seattle and still finished with more than 3,000 hits — indeed, more career hits, if you can include his Japanese totals, than Pete Rose. The iconic Ichiro’s hits started with the pull of the sleeve in the batter’s box, the bat held high in front of him, then outracing the ball to first base. “No single number could ever explain a human as thrilling, as unusual, and as wonderful as Ichiro,” Joe Posnanski wrote. — David Schoenfield
6. Barry Bonds
Key accomplishments: Since Jan. 1, 2000: 317 home runs (MLB-record 73 in 2001), 1,128 walks, four consecutive MVPs (2001 to 2004), six-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger, two batting titles.
Bonds is the best living baseball player, and never was he better than the eight seasons he played this century. In that time, he smashed the single-season home run record, got on base at a 51.7% clip — a figure last reached in an individual year by Ted Williams in 1957 — and came as close as anyone to mastering the art of hitting. Bonds’ steroid use has kept him out of the Hall of Fame, but those who witnessed him play know: 21st-century Bonds was the closest we’ve seen to Babe Ruth. — Jeff Passan
Key accomplishments: 2011 AL MVP, three-time Cy Young winner, nine-time All-Star, two-time World Series champion, 2006 AL Rookie of the Year, top 15 in career strikeouts, three no-hitters.
Will Verlander be baseball’s last 300-game winner? He’ll have to coax 40 more wins out of his Hall of Fame-bound arm, but if it’s ever going to happen again, it’ll be Verlander who does it. A true throwback to the days when ace pitchers held sway in the big leagues, Verlander has combined dominance and durability in a way that harkens back to the days of Tom Seaver, Bob Gibson and Nolan Ryan. With 260 wins and 3,300-plus strikeouts and more on the way, this is what Verlander always wanted. “I love being a pitcher,” Verlander said in 2018 “When I first started playing baseball, I always envisioned myself as a pitcher. I idolized Nolan Ryan, that old-school grit.” — Bradford Doolittle
8. Alex Rodriguez
Key accomplishments: Since Jan. 1, 2000: Three-time AL MVP (2003, 2005, 2007), 11-time All-Star, seven-time Silver Slugger, 2009 World Series champion, 548 HRs (second most since 2000).
A-Rod helped usher in the golden era of the jumbo-sized shortstop, a position long reserved for educated fielders who couldn’t hit. Rodriguez mashed, for power and average, to all fields, a gifted batsman. His abundance of talent was unassailable. He also drew the longest steroid suspension in baseball history, coloring his achievements and cooking his reputation. History will see Rodriguez as one of the most talented players ever, but as is the case with all performance-enhancing drug users, the distinction comes with an invisible asterisk. — Jeff Passan
9. David Ortiz
Key accomplishments: Since Jan. 1, 2000: Hall of Famer, three-time World Series champion, 2013 World Series MVP, 10-time All-Star, seven-time Silver Slugger, 531 HRs (third most since 2000).
Big Papi will be remembered most for feasting in the biggest of moments. As the game’s greatest designated hitter, Ortiz had Cooperstown numbers — 541 career homers and a .931 OPS — but that’s only the tip of Papi’s boisterous iceberg. He had 17 career playoff homers as part of three championship Boston Red Sox clubs and hit .455 over 14 World Series games. That includes 2013, when, at age 37, he went 11-for-16 with two homers and eight walks in the Fall Classic against a St. Louis Cardinals team that almost literally could not get him out. After Ortiz was elected to the Hall of Fame, longtime teammate Dustin Pedroia said of him, “From day one, in a big moment, everything was in slow motion. He found a way to come through in moments where you dream of as a kid. He did it every single time.” — Bradford Doolittle
Key accomplishments: Three-time Cy Young winner, two-time World Series champion, eight-time All-Star, top 10 all time in strikeouts, threw two no-hitters in 2015.
Scherzer pitched the most dominant back-to-back games in MLB history. On June 14, 2015, he pitched a 16-strikeout one-hitter, allowing only a bloop single. In his next start, he lost a perfect game when he hit the 27th batter. He’s had a record-tying 20-strikeout game, postseason heroics and one of the greatest months ever in June 2019 (6-0, 1.00 ERA, 68 strikeouts) — which he did with a broken nose. He threw 98 mph while mixing in four other pitches. Most of all though, the last image will be his intensity, stomping around on the mound after recording another strikeout. — David Schoenfield
11. Adrian Beltre
Key accomplishments: Since Jan. 1, 2000: five-time Gold Glove winner, two-time Platinum Glove winner, four-time All-Star, 455 HRs in career (fifth most since 2000); Hall of Famer.
The lore of Beltre has grown since his retirement following the 2018 season and placed him alongside Mike Schmidt and Brooks Robinson among the game’s best third basemen. No one at third played more games than Beltre, a testament to his willingness to grit through pain. He manned the position with grace and consistency, two tenets that apply to the rest of his game. Beltre’s counting stats never screamed superstar, he never won an MVP and his allergy to walks limited his ceiling. But that’s all ancillary to the truth of who Adrian Beltre was: the ultimate ballplayer’s ballplayer. — Jeff Passan
12. Derek Jeter
Key accomplishments: Since Jan. 1, 2000: two-time World Series champ, 2000 World Series MVP, Hall of Famer, 2,658 hits (fifth most since 2000), 141 postseason hits (most since 2000), 12-time All-Star.
Few players have had as many iconic moments: the Jeffrey Maier home run last century, the flip, the dive, Mr. November, the home run for hit No. 3,000, the walk-off single in his final game. He did it all in the pressure cooker of New York, playing for the sport’s most fabled franchise. Jeter’s legend cannot be separated from the pinstripes he wore: Before he joined the Yankees, they hadn’t won a World Series in 15 years; with him, they won five. He’s been retired 10 years and we still hear Yankee Stadium PA announcer Bob Sheppard: “Now batting for the Yankees … No. 2 … Derek … Jeter.” — David Schoenfield
13. Mariano Rivera
Key accomplishments: Since Jan. 1, 2000: Hall of Famer, two-time World Series winner, 11-time All-Star, 523 saves and 29 postseason saves (both most since 2000).
Rivera was inevitability personified. Thriving in baseball’s most mercurial of roles — the ninth-inning reliever — he emerged from the bullpen to the pounding tones of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” night after night, year after year. Every time he did so, dread-filled Yankees opponents knew the bell was tolling — for them. Armed with one pitch — a cutter that righty hitters waved at and lefty hitters could not barrel up — Rivera became New York’s closer in 1997 and never put up anything but stellar seasons on his way to a 2.21 lifetime ERA and record 652 saves. For all of that, he was better than anyone in October, posting a 0.70 ERA and 42 saves over 96 playoff games. — Bradford Doolittle
Key accomplishments: Two-time MVP, 2018 Rookie of the Year, four-time All-Star, two 40-HR seasons, 38-19 record as pitcher (3.01 career ERA), top-five Cy Young finish.
When ESPN runs the sequel to our top 100 athletes of the 21st century in 2050, Ohtani is the likeliest candidate from baseball to rate worthy of the top 10. His first seven years in MLB have been transcendent. What before him was taken as fact — that nobody can hit and pitch at a high enough level to warrant doing both — is now null. Ohtani arrived from Japan with a freighter of hype and only exceeded it, stretching the definition of what a baseball player can be. “Shohei,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said, “is arguably the most talented player who’s ever played this game.” — Jeff Passan
Key accomplishments: 2018 MVP, two-time World Series winner (2018 with the Red Sox, 2020 with the Dodgers), eight-time All-Star, six-time Gold Glove, six-time Silver Slugger, won batting title in 2018.
It was a hot, sweltering day early in spring training. The Red Sox were coming off a 2018 World Series title and the training staff had players running a cone drill. Most took it slow and leisurely. One did not. Maybe that helps explain why Betts is perhaps the perfect ballplayer — a remarkable hitter for average and power, a right fielder who can execute the impossible throw (ask Tony Kemp), an athlete who can move to shortstop mid-career. A Harvard analysis from 2021 named Betts the best all-around player in MLB history: Yes, Betts is good at everything. — David Schoenfield
Key accomplishments: Two-time MVP (2015 and 2021), 2012 NL Rookie of the Year, eight-time All-Star, three-time Silver Slugger, 2022 NLCS MVP, 2018 HR Derby champion at Nationals Park.
He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated at 16 with the headline “Baseball’s Chosen One” and has somehow managed to live up to the hype, including some of the best postseason numbers of all time. He even helped make baseball fun again — from his all-out style of play to his green Phillie Phanatic cleats. Rarely has there been a more perfect match between ballplayer and city than Harper and Philadelphia. “He brings you into his game with his talent and grit. That resonates with the fan base,” former Phillies great Chase Utley said. — David Schoenfield
17. Roy Halladay
Key accomplishments: Since Jan. 1, 2000: Hall of Famer, two-time Cy Young winner (one of seven players to win Cy Young in the American and National leagues), eight-time All-Star, two no-hitters.
Halladay was the product of a bygone era in which a pitcher endeavored to finish what he started. Never gifted with overwhelming velocity, Halladay killed with paper cuts. He walked hitters at an almost-identical rate to Greg Maddux and logged 220-inning-plus seasons like they were nothing. His right arm got the glory, but it was Halladay’s brain — his innate sense of how to pitch to every hitter — that won him 203 games. When he died in a plane crash in 2017, a profound sadness spread through the sport. The great pitching artisan was gone, never to be replicated. — Jeff Passan
18. Pedro Martinez
Key accomplishments: Since Jan. 1, 2000: Hall of Famer, 2000 Cy Young winner, four-time All-Star, three-time ERA title, 2004 World Series winner, 2000 and 2002 strikeout leader.
Before Martinez and his 2004 Boston teammates ended the franchise’s epic World Series title drought, every Red Sox star had to field endless questions about the “Curse of the Bambino.” One of Martinez’s answers summed up how a short, skinny righty could become one of the most dominant hurlers ever: “I don’t believe in damn curses. Wake up the damn Bambino and have me face him. Maybe I’ll drill him in the ass.” From 1997 to 2003, the height of one of baseball’s most explosive offensive eras, Martinez was as good as any pitcher has ever been, going 118-36 with a 2.20 ERA, 213 ERA+, over 250 strikeouts per season and winning three Cy Young Awards. — Bradford Doolittle
Key accomplishments: 2012 MVP, 2010 Rookie of the Year, three-time World Series winner, seven-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger, Gold Glove in 2016.
Posey was the quiet rock of the Giants who won three World Series titles in five years, the biggest star on a team that outpunched its weight class in October. Posey would never say he was the best player on the team: He preferred to deflect attention to his teammates. He married his high school sweetheart, moved to catcher at Florida State to fill a need and bounced back from a devastating leg injury to win MVP honors. “Everybody involved with him knew that this was someone of solid character,” Giants scout John Barr once said. — David Schoenfield
Key accomplishments: 2009 AL Cy Young, six Gold Gloves, six-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger, two ERA titles.
Just before the playoffs following one of Greinke’s best seasons (19-3, 1.66 ERA for the 2015 Dodgers), one of his catchers, A.J. Ellis, said, “I would say he’s more of a scientist than an artist. A scientist who’s incredibly talented, self-aware and honest.” You never knew quite what was going on in Greinke’s head, but you knew whatever it was, it was fascinating. At his peak, he could vacillate from a 95-plus heater on one pitch to an almost-never-gets-there eephus on the next, confounding hitters and thrilling fans who love to see a master craftsman on the mound. After nearly quitting the game at 22, Greinke was a Cy Young winner at 25 and pitched until he was 39, winning 225 games along the way. — Bradford Doolittle
Key accomplishments: 2022 MVP, 2017 Rookie of the Year, AL-record 62 HRs in 2022, six-time All-Star, three-time Silver Slugger.
Put an asterisk here: Given that Judge is amid another historic season, he’s only going to climb even higher in the future. There’s never been a player like him: He’s built like an NFL defensive end with prodigious power, yet he’s agile enough to play center field. “He’s really consistent in who he is and what he presents,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said earlier this year. “I would say he’s the best I’ve ever seen at that.” Judge might be on his way to 60 home runs again: Not bad for a player who hit two home runs as a freshman at Fresno State. — David Schoenfield
22. Randy Johnson
Key accomplishments: Since Jan. 1, 2000: Hall of Famer, three-time Cy Young winner, five-time All-Star, 2001 World Series champion, four ERA titles, 4,875 career strikeouts (second all time), threw perfect game in 2004.
Much of Johnson’s best work came in the 1990s, but the final three of his four consecutive National League Cy Young Awards were earned from 2000 to 2002, when Johnson put up numbers not seen since Sandy Koufax. At 6-foot-10, Johnson lorded over the field from the pitcher’s mound, unspooling fastballs and sliders from a low three-quarters arm slot that befuddled hitters. He personified the power of the strikeout, a lesson that took root and changed the game altogether. Slayer of birds, pursuer of perfection, The Big Unit was an outlier in size, ability and production. At his best, there were few better. — Jeff Passan
Key accomplishments: Eight-time All-Star, 2020 NL MVP, five top-5 MVP finishes, 2018 Gold Glove, nine seasons with .300 batting average (tied for most among active players).
In his 20s, Freeman was a very good hitter. In his 30s, he’s become a Hall of Famer. “In the batter’s box, he is the modern-day Tony Gwynn,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. Like Gwynn, Freeman hits line drives all over the field — except he also hits many over the fence. He has a short stroke, which allows him to avoid the high strikeout totals of many of today’s hitters. “I just love to go up there and stick with my plan, which is left-center,” Freeman once said. It’s working. At 34, he plays every day and is showing no signs of slowing down. — David Schoenfield
24. CC Sabathia
Key accomplishments: 2007 AL Cy Young winner, six-time All-Star, 2009 World Series champion, one of three left-handed pitchers in MLB history with 3,000 career strikeouts.
Sabathia won a Cy Young with Cleveland and a World Series with the Yankees, but the most revealing moment of his career came with Milwaukee in 2008, when the Brewers were fighting for the playoffs — which they hadn’t made since 1982. Sabathia ignored his impending free agency and made his final three starts on three days of rest. He pitched a complete game on the final day to clinch the postseason. “Driving to the ballpark on that last game of the season, I remember telling my cousin, ‘Get ready to celebrate. We’re going to win,'” he remembered last year. — David Schoenfield
25. Manny Ramirez
Key accomplishments: Since Jan. 1, 2000: Two-time World Series champ, World Series MVP in 2004, nine-time All-Star, seven-time Silver Slugger, 357 HRs, eight 100 RBI seasons.
Ramirez was the purest of hitters, and that might well be the ultimate compliment for a batter. In a game where the most aesthetically pleasing hitters swing from the left side, Ramirez’s right-handed stroke was a gorgeous bit of kinematics, the human body tuned to near-perfection. Ramirez never finished higher than third in MVP voting, but he helped Boston win its first World Series in 86 years and booked seven seasons this century with an OPS above 1.000. Whatever his foibles — multiple positive steroid tests and his frequent goofs written off as “Manny being Manny” — his bat was beyond reproach. — Jeff Passan