Most Likely Hall of Famer from Each Team - American League

At this point, there's really not much interesting sports journalism going on, and that includes the poorly written blog you're currently reading. However, I did see an interesting article on ESPN the other day that attempted to predict one player from each NBA team that would eventually find their way to the basketball hall of fame. I found the article interesting because of the wide variety of players they chose. There were slam dunk picks (Lebron, KD, Kawhi) and some guys being picked squarely on potential (Zion, Morant), but there were also some teams that didn't really have either. For what it's worth, the author thought the Knicks were so worthless that he wouldn't name anyone from their roster. For other teams, names like D-Rose and Kevin Love were suggested for one reason or another and it got me wondering if I can come up with an MLB equivalent. I'm certainly going to try.

I'll preface this by saying there is no chance all 30 of these guys make the hall of fame. I'd go as far to say half of them probably won't. Some of the teams in the league really lack star power but I'm still going to pick someone from each roster. I'm going to split this post into two parts and start with the American League with a post about the National League coming in the near future.

AL West:
Houston Astros - Justin Verlander: The Astros have somewhere between 3 and 5 guys that have the talent to be hall of famers but it'll be interesting to see how the cheating scandal effects their legacies moving forward. Verlander is a guy who's been dominant since I was in high school and if you break down career strikeouts by inning, he is the active strikeout leader in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th innings. This of course is the 2nd most impressive he's done in his life behind marrying Kate Upton. Verlander is a Cooperstown lock until we inevitably find out how the Astros cheated to benefit their pitchers as well. 100 points awarded to anyone who can tell me who is the active leader in 8th and 9th inning strikeouts, different guy for each inning.

LA Angels - Mike Trout: This is probably the easiest pick of the entire post. Trout is elite in every facet of the game except for arm strength where he's certainly above average. In his 7 full MLB seasons, he's finished 2nd, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 1st, 4th, 2nd, and 1st in MVP voting. The year he finished 4th, he missed nearly 50 games. He's the best player I've ever seen.

Mike Trout, Tim Salmon, and AJ Pollock would
make up my all time fish themed outfield

Oakland A's - Matt Chapman: The rest of the AL West gets a little weird as the elite talent gets stretched thin. With Chapman, you have the best defensive player in the MLB (proof) who also happened to hit 36 home runs last year. The A's typically trade all of their good players in order to save money so I imagine Chapman won't be on this team for much longer. Maybe the A's front office can use all of their surplus to get dugouts that don't smell like shit.

Texas Rangers - Corey Kluber: Kluber has been as good of a pitcher as anyone the last 5 or 6 years. Injuries derailed him a bit last season but I was eager to see what he'd do with his new team in Texas this year. However, the Ballpark at Arlington is a hitter friendly stadium where we see a lot of bombs dropped, which isn't surprising considering the Rangers used to be owned by George Bush.

Seattle Mariners - Dee Gordon: The Mariners suck. Dee Gordon stole a lot of bases a few years ago and he hit one of the most memorable home runs in Marlins history (RIP Jose). He's my reluctant pick.

AL Central:
Cleveland Indians - Francisco Lindor: After Mike Trout, there's a debate over who the next best player in baseball is. Lindor is certainly in the conversation. He hits for contact and power, steals bases, and plays gold glove caliber defense.

Francisco... that's fun to say. Francisco... Francisco...

Minnesota Twins - Josh Donaldson: Donaldson is an example of a good player the A's like to trade away. He's bounced around a few teams over his career but has always been a solid player. He has an MVP award and plays some great defense. He's also going to make a great hitting instructor once his playing career ends (worth a watch if you're a baseball nerd). There's no doubt in my mind that by adding Donaldson, the Twins have solidified their status as a top team in the American League that will continue to lose to the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs.

Chicago White Sox - Yoan Moncada: I don't think the White Sox have been relevant since Chris Sale stormed into the clubhouse before a game and literally chopped up the team's uniforms because he thought they were stupid. As a player acquired in the Sale trade, Moncada was failing to live up to his potential before having a huge breakout year last season. A few more seasons like that and maybe the White Sox can be a dark horse to finish two games below .500.

Detroit Tigers - Miguel Cabrera: Cabrera has been playing baseball since I was in middle school, has a couple MVP awards, a triple crown, a World Series, and at one point in his career batted .330 over an 8 year stretch. Absurd. One of the best hitters I've seen.

Up until recently, I always thought of Miguel Cabrera as the Tiger King.

Kansas City Royals - Whit Merrifield: Aside from a couple years where the Royals were dominant despite a lack of real star power, they've been a complete dogshit franchise for most of my life. It's a real shame considering how beautiful their stadium looks. Whit Merrifield is one of the best players in baseball that no one talks about. He's a .300 hitter who steals bases, plays good defense, and can play pretty much anywhere in the field. Unfortunately for Merrifield, the 2nd best baseball player in Kansas City is currently the Chiefs quarterback. It would be cool for the entire state of Kansas to see Patrick Mahomes follow in the footsteps of former Royal Bo Jackson as a multi-sport athlete.

AL East:
New York Yankees - Giancarlo Stanton: Shout out to all 6 people who came to this blog post, skipped the entire body to find the Yankees, and are now closing the tab thinking I'm an idiot. Remember how ecstatic you all were when Derek Jeter traded him away for free? Remember the reasons you were hyped to have him? Those reasons are why I'm going with Stanton here. Despite Yankee fans hating this guy for being injury prone, he's still a 35 HR, 100 RBI guy if he can get healthy. Most people would probably nominate Aaron Judge at this spot, but honestly they're the same exact player from height to power to arm strength to strikeout rate. The only difference is Stanton has done it for much longer and unlike Judge, actually won an MVP award (shots fired).

Boston Red Sox - Chris Sale: The guy is a bit a of a head case but Sale also recently had a 7 year stretch of finishing top 5 in Cy Young voting. He also has the 2nd best strikeout rate in baseball history (100 points to anyone who can name #1 without looking it up.) Sale tends to fade as the season goes on and has been underwhelming in the playoffs but his career numbers are good enough.

Chris Sale totally misunderstood what a cutter means in baseball

Tampa Bay Rays - Austin Meadows: Blake Snell would probably be the popular choice here but I think he's more of a one-year wonder than a hall of fame pitcher. Austin Meadows on the other hand can absolutely rake. He's only 24 years old and is coming off a 33 home run total in his first full season. I wouldn't be surprised if Tampa starts doing some Meadows themed promotions, like giving player t-shirts or bobble heads to all 14 fans in attendance.

Toronto Blue Jays - Bo Bichette: The Blue Jays have been trying this interesting strategy of drafting the sons of former MLB players. Their current starting lineup includes the offspring of hall of famers Vlad Guerrero and Craig Biggio, as well as Dante Bichette. While Vlad Jr. has been really hyped and already won the home run derby as a rookie, I think Bichette ultimately ends up the better player.  Bichette played in 80 fewer games than Vlad and only hit 4 fewer home runs and 8 fewer doubles while posting a better batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage. Toronto might be dangerous in a few years and could soon be a 100 win team, which is about 72 wins after you factor in the conversion rate.

Baltimore Orioles - Scott Boras: Anyone who can negotiate $161 million for Chris Davis deserves their own hallway in Cooperstown.