Well, we made it to this stage, with 55 players advanced to our great MLB GOAT debate finals. We spent the summer crunching numbers and opinions, and here we are. Now, it’s time to put together an all-time positional team with the best of the best from each of our eras. We will go through this role by role, and we hope to end up with a legitimate GOAT roster at the end of the column today. Fasten your seatbelts, folks!

Catcher: We have three guys to consider here. Both Johnny Bench and Carlton Fisk made it here from the Free Agency Era, and we also have Joe Mauer from the PED Era. This is going to be like splitting hairs. Mauer will come up short, though, on defense; even though he won some Gold Gloves (probably not deserved), his career dWAR is just 3.0 with both Bench and Fisk with about six times that number. Fisk also played 7 more years than Bench did, but quality matters just as much as quantity. And in the end, no one can match Bench: his 4.9 oWAR/162 and 1.5 dWAR/162 easily out do Fisk’s numbers, and Fisk’s total numbers still don’t measure up to Bench’s career marks, even with the extra seasons. Okay, that was “easy”!

First Base: This is one of the tougher positions to shred, with so many qualifiers. We have Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx from the Babe Ruth Era, and we also have Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera from the PED Era. All of these players were “hidden” at first base with bad gloves, although Cabrera has the worst mitt by far. We have to drop him; his oWAR/162 is also the lowest of the bunch, barely. Pujols is barely batter. Gehrig really outdoes everyone here in that category, although Foxx had a slightly “better” glove than the Iron Horse. Gehrig’s overall numbers are impossible to top, so in the end, he has to be the one here, period.

Second Base: We have another stacked position here, with five guys to consider. Eddie Collins (Dead Ball Era), Nap Lajoie (Dead Ball), Rogers Hornsby (Babe Ruth), Jackie Robinson (his own era), and Joe Morgan (Free Agency) are the studs here. Not fun … all these players were positive defenders, and here’s the breakdown on their WAR/162 rates and seasons played: Hornsby (9.1 over 23 seasons), Robinson (7.3, 11), Collins (7.1, 25), Lajoie (7.0, 21), and Morgan (6.1, 22). We know not all careers were created equally, as Robinson had a shorter career due to factors beyond his control—not to mention the off-the-field shit he had to endure. We are surprised Morgan is the lowest, but his peak is what we think of most with him, in truth. Either way, in the end, it’s hard to overlook Hornsby’s longevity and productivity. He also had the second-best glove, behind Robinson—who we will move to the UTL spot for consideration, in all fairness.

Shortstop: Another quartet at this position, which is all about defense. We have Honus Wagner (Dead Ball), Luke Appling (Jackie Robinson Era), Ozzie Smith (Free Agency), and Cal Ripken (Stadium Building Era). Any negative defenders here? No, although Ripken (1.9 dWAR/162) and Smith (2.8) are by far the best defenders; Wagner (7.2 oWAR/162) the dominant hitter, by miles. We know Smith (3.1 oWAR/162) wasn’t an offensively dominant player, while Ripken (4.2) merely had a solid bat. Wagner’s glove (1.2 dWAR/162) was as good as Ripken’s bat, really. It’s too hard to overlook Wagner’s 2.4 WAR/162 edge over Ripken, in the end.

Third Base: Five more here, in Eddie Mathews (Jackie Robinson), Brooks Robinson (Expansion Era), Mike Schmidt (Free Agency), George Brett (Free Agency), and Adrián Beltré (PED). This is another key defensive position, so we will start there again. Mathews (0.4 dWAR/162) and Brett (0.1 dWAR/162) are the poorest gloves, so we should drop them right away. Robinson’s oWAR/162 (2.7) is less than half of what Schmidt’s mark (6.2) is, so we have to jettison him. In the end, Schmidt also has a 2.0 WAR/162 edge over Beltré, so that makes it pretty clear here who we have to go with for the ultimate lineup.

Left Field: Every position is so hard, as this one has Ted Williams (Jackie Robinson), Carl Yastrzemski (Expansion), and Rickey Henderson (Free Agency). Williams was by far the worst glove, but neither Yaz nor Rickey were “good” defenders, either. Williams also has a 2.8 WAR/162 edge on Henderson, which is nuts if you think about it. Plus, Williams missed almost five full seasons due to military service. His 8.6 WAR/162 mark is pretty amazing, as is his 8.8 oWAR/162. As much as we love Henderson, there is no way to supplant Williams here. If Rickey had retired at age 36 instead of age 44, maybe we’d be singing differently. Yet Henderson remains the pre-eminent base runner in MLB history, so we put him into the UTL slot, too.

Centerfield: Stunningly, we have seven players to consider here. The worst defenders? Ty Cobb (Dead Ball) and Mickey Mantle (Expansion), both of whom were negative defenders. Cobb, we figured, but Mantle? Odd, but it really kicks him out of this analysis despite his potent bat (7.8 oWAR/162). It’s hard to imagine just booting them out of the conversation; they were slipped over to UTL spots in the initial rounds already. Can we do that twice? Both were incredible hitters; both finished with minus-0.6 dWAR/162 marks, too. In the end, that’s just not going to cut it. This position is a tough one, with a premium on defense. This leaves us with Willie Mays (Expansion), Tris Speaker (Dead Ball), Joe DiMaggio (Jackie Robinson), Mike Trout (Sign Stealing Era), and Ken Griffey, Jr. (Stadium Building). Griffey is out as his injury decline lowered his WAR/162 number way down below the others. Trout (9.3 WAR/162) leads Mays (8.4), Speaker (7.8), and DiMaggio (7.4). Trout has just 13 seasons under his belt, to Mays’ 23 seasons, but we’re inclined to drop Speaker and DiMaggio, as we don’t think Trout will drop below their marks in what remains of his career. But his injuries in the last few seasons have lowered him considerably already. We’re going to go with Mays here, but maybe Trout may have a second wind to his career as he moves into his mid-30s.

Right Field: Another seven players here, and defense counts a little bit here in terms of arm strength and range. Is there anyone to eliminate right away? Well, only two of our seven guys finished in the positive for defense: Ichiro Suzuki (PED) and Roberto Clemente (Expansion). At the opposite end of the spectrum were Stan Musial (Jackie Robinson, minus-9.2 dWAR) and Frank Robinson (Expansion, minus-14.8 dWAR). Tough cuts, but they have to be made. Babe Ruth (his own era, 10.5 WAR/162), Hank Aaron (Expansion, 7.0 WAR/162), and Mel Ott (Babe Ruth, 6.6 WAR/162) are the top three guys in terms of WAR/162. Suzuki’s 3.7 WAR/162 is so low, we have to drop him, too, despite his overall hitting prowess. It’s a shame he didn’t get 10 more years in MLB. Ruth’s numbers don’t even include his pitching WAR; his 3.5 WAR/162 edge at this position cannot be ignored, despite the luminaries under consideration.

Pitchers: We have 12 starters and 4 relievers here to assess. We’d like to move forward five of the SPs (standard rotation) and three of the RPs. That’s how we will out a roster with 18 players in the end for the ultimate consideration. Let’s start with the relievers first: Mariano Rivera (PED), Dennis Eckersley (Stadium Building), Hoyt Wilhelm (Expansion), and Rich Gossage (Free Agency). All these guys started games at some points in their respective careers; in terms of relief, though, we’re focusing on the lowest WHIPs and the highest K/9 rates. The ultimate order for us is Rivera (0.973, 8.6), Eckersley (0.998, 8.8), Gossage (1.197, 7.7), and Wilhelm (1.120, 6.6). We feel someone like Billy Wagner (0.998, 11.9) or Trevor Hoffman (1.058, 9.4) deserves this more than Gossage, though, even if they didn’t make it to this round of analysis. If Wagner or Hoffman had played for the New York Yankees, they’d have much higher WAR marks and been on this list instead of the highly overrated Rivera. Wagner’s numbers are probably the best ever, really, and he did it under more pressure than Rivera, since he didn’t have the “team quality” to back him up. Alas, that ship has sailed. Or has it? We are going to “cheat” here a little and replace Gossage with Wagner (27.7 WAR, 6th all time). Because this is our analysis, and it is our choice—plus, the bullpen needs a southpaw. Okay, on to the starters now. Yikes! The best thing we can do is sort them all in order of WAR/162, so here that is, to begin: Lefty Grove (Babe Ruth, 7.2), Walter Johnson (Dead Ball, 7.1), Clayton Kershaw (Sign Stealing, 6.2), Pete Alexander (Babe Ruth, 6.1), Randy Johnson (Stadium Building, 5.8), Christy Mathewson (Dead Ball, 5.7), Max Scherzer (Sign Stealing, 5.6), Tom Seaver (Free Agency, 5.5), Bob Gibson (Expansion, 5.5), Greg Maddux (Stadium Building, 4.8), Warren Spahn (Jackie Robinson, 4.4), and Steve Carlton (Free Agency, 3.9). Scherzer may continue to work his way up, but for now we will go with the top three lefties (Grove, Kershaw, R. Johnson) and the two top righties (W. Johnson, Alexander). That’s a fucking formidable rotation.

Utility Player(s): Robinson’s career would have been longer if not for the informal/unofficial “color line” in the sport. MLB now considers his 1945 season (34 games) with the Kansas City Monarchs to be part of his official statistical records for major-league action. Robinson also served in World War II from ages 23-25, costing him potentially three more years of statistical prowess. He’s not the only one, of course, but still. Considering he played all four IF positions and the two corner OF positions in his MLB career, he deserves a slot. Henderson remains the all-time MLB leader in runs scored and steals, and he would be for walks, too, if not for PED cheaters. He’s the ultimate pinch hitter here, because … he got on base and could manufacture a run at will. Robinson would be the guy who could start almost anywhere in relief of someone else, and Henderson would be the guy you call on in the late innings to win a close game for you.

Conclusion: That’s 18 players now, then, as our all-time GOAT team finalists. We could fill it out to the current-size roster (26) some day in the future (early October?), but we will not do that right now. We will take that on later (although obviously some cuts above would be restored). Over the next two Sundays, we’re going to whittle this own to a singular dude as the all-time MLB GOAT—completely subjective and unofficial. But hey, we’re doing this because we can. Now, let all this simmer for a week, and we’ll be back. Promise!