Miami Marlins GM Kim Ng’s journey to the postseason
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Xuan Thai, ESPN Senior Writer
MIAMI — Down a brightly lit hallway that leads to a section of luxury suites at the Miami Marlins‘ stadium, where each room is filled with fans cheering on the home team, the door to the last suite is closed. Inside sits Kim Ng. No entourage, no buddies from college, no staff checking in. With a laptop, an iPad and a water bottle, the Marlins’ general manager sits with the lights off, watching the game alone.
It’s just before the MLB All-Star break, and second baseman Luis Arraez is chasing a .400 batting average, a feat not accomplished at the July break since 1999. It was Ng who traded for Arraez in her first full season without Derek Jeter in the Marlins’ front office. Already, there are whispers that the team could reach its first full-season postseason in 20 years.
I walk into the suite and attempt to break the ice, recounting a quote attributed to Ng’s mother about the “return on investment” of a University of Chicago degree and Ng’s decision to take an unpaid internship with an MLB team. I can relate. I tell her how my father once asked about the “cost-benefit analysis” of my decision to stop practicing law to take an unpaid internship at a cable news network. Aren’t Asian parents funny that way, I ask? She kindly laughs, perhaps more out of courtesy than comedy. I quickly pivot to baseball.
Ng’s journey to this place has been well chronicled — more than 30 years of management and executive experience that includes stints with MLB, the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, and the New York Yankees, with whom she won three World Series. She’s often included on those “most powerful women in sports” lists, and has grown accustomed to answering the inevitable questions about the “first” and “only” career labels — the first and only woman hired as general manager of a men’s major pro sports team in North America, the first East Asian American to do it in baseball.
It can be lonely being the first and only, and it’s clear those are things she doesn’t like to discuss. Less than three years into her first GM job, she’d much rather talk about baseball, the team and the “culture of winning” she’s trying to cultivate — to focus on anything other than her own story. It’s hard to break through. Over the course of several interviews this past regular season, Ng sticks to her talking points.
When we meet again three months later, with just six games left in the regular season, Ng is once again having a first-and-only moment. This time she’s in a Citi Field box for visiting general managers, and the Marlins are in close pursuit of a National League wild-card spot. Winning a series against the New York Mets would feel particularly fitting for the GM who grew up playing stickball on the streets of Queens. But it also could help Ng become the first and only female GM to lead a team to the postseason.
To be on the brink of a playoff spot is an accomplishment for any GM. For Ng, who is cautious by nature, this requires focus.
“It definitely hit me around the All-Star break when the team was sitting in a very good position,” she says. “Now we’re down to the last week and it’s starting to hit again, that you’re realizing that you’re just in a great position to do things that you’ve wanted to do for a really long time, and that is get to the postseason. And I’ve been there before with some of my other clubs, but certainly not in this chair. And that obviously makes this different.”
She says she’s tried to avoid feeling stress up to this point.
“Now,” she says, “I’m allowing myself to stress a little bit.”
This is a big admission. She knows that her reactions could affect the rest of the organization, and wants to keep things positive in the clubhouse.
“For a while,” she says, “I was playing the same playlist over and over, as I went into work every day and I was playing it in my suite each night during the game. Probably just to divert my attention from being so stressed.”
I ask, “What’s on this playlist?”
“Oh, yeah,” she says, laughing, “You’re not getting that out of me!”
After opening the second half of the season on an eight-game losing streak, the Marlins dipped below .500 in late August and appeared headed for another disappointing end. But series wins against the Washington Nationals, the Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies, plus a sweep of the Atlanta Braves, helped them finish 84-77 in the regular season. They clinched a wild-card spot with a win Saturday in Pittsburgh, where Ng joined the celebration on the field.
The Marlins are playoff-bound in a full season for the first time since 2003, when they went on to beat the New York Yankees in the World Series. (The Marlins reached the playoffs during the pandemic-shortened postseason in 2020.) They open play Tuesday at Philadelphia (8 p.m. ET on ESPN).
For Ng, who is 54, getting to this historic moment started in 1990, three years before the Marlins became an expansion team. She’d graduated from the University of Chicago and joined the Chicago White Sox as an intern. The White Sox hired her full-time the next year and by 1995 had promoted her to assistant director of baseball operations. When she became an assistant GM of the Yankees in 1998, she was the second youngest person ever in that role at the time.
It would take another two decades for her to land a GM job. Publicly, she remained upbeat when asked about that. She’s joked that she was always a bridesmaid. Today, she acknowledges that some of those GM interviews were more performative than purposeful.
I ask how she dealt with the frustration, how she kept going after a half dozen or so attempts to advance.
She says she’s been asked that question often, and that the answer has been, and will always be, “What am I supposed to do, quit?”
“You just keep trying,” she says. “And it was incredibly frustrating, there’s no doubt about that. But you just keep at it.”
Joe Torre, who worked with Ng during their time with the Yankees and Dodgers and was her boss in the MLB offices, is more blunt, saying some of those teams just “checked a box.”
“I just think that they just never wanted to pull the trigger. Nobody had the courage to do it,” Torre says. “There’d be teams that would call me about interviewing her. And I said, ‘It’s all well and good, but just don’t do it just to cover your ass. I mean, you have to be serious.'”
After years of disappointments for her, another former Yankee, Derek Jeter, made the move. As chief executive and a minority owner of the Marlins, Jeter was known as an advocate for diversity in baseball. Jeter, who declined an ESPN interview request, called Torre when the Marlins first considered Ng for the job.
“[Jeter] had called me about her, and the one thing he said to me because he knows, he said, ‘Just tell Kim I’m not checking a box here. I’m seriously interested in her ability to do this job,'” Torre recalls.
The Marlins named her GM in November 2020.
“When she came in, she inherited almost the entirety of the front office,” says longtime Marlins assistant GM Brian Chattin. “She kind of walked into already an organizational dynamic that had been operating for a few years, which is challenging to do, to come in the leadership role and inherit everyone.”
There were no wholesale firings of front-office staff during Ng’s first two seasons. Ng reported to Jeter, who reported to majority owner Bruce Sherman. The executives in place were largely Jeter’s team, and like Ng, several were former Yankees.
According to some with knowledge of her time with the Marlins, many of the people she worked with continued to look to Jeter for guidance or approval. Ng had one position she could fill in her first months — team travel director. A year later, in January 2022, she brought in her first big hire, Stan Conte, as senior director of medical services. They’d worked together in Los Angeles, and his job was to overhaul the Marlins’ medical unit.
When Ng first approached Conte, who resigned as the Dodgers’ vice president of medical services in 2015, he was living in Arizona with no intention of returning to baseball full-time. As Conte recalls it, he was less than enthusiastic when Ng called.
“I said, ‘No, I don’t want to help. I want to be retired,'” Conte recalls.
He says Ng wasn’t having it. Eventually, he relented.
“This is part of her personality,” Conte says. “She’s very politely in a lot of different ways, wears you down and you don’t even know it’s happening. She isn’t who you think she is, and she does that on purpose. She’s methodical, attentive and deliberate.”
When Jeter left the Marlins in February 2022, again there were no wholesale firings of front office staff, but positions did open up and Ng took the opportunity to make methodical and deliberate moves. To create what she calls “the culture of winning.”
Longtime manager and former Yankees great Don Mattingly left after the 2022 season. The opening allowed Ng to bring in first-time manager Skip Schumaker, who at the time was a bench coach for the St. Louis Cardinals. A major league player for 11 seasons, Schumaker won a World Series with the Cardinals in 2011.
“She definitely took a chance on me, that’s for sure, being a rookie manager. I’m grateful for that,” Schumaker says. “I think she did a really good job of acquiring a staff that also knows what winning looks like and holds people accountable.”
She brought in another assistant GM, Oz Ocampo, from the Houston Astros. Ocampo is known for his expertise in scouting international talent. He was instrumental in bringing in key players to help the Astros win three World Series.
During the interview process, Ocampo says, he needed to figure out whether the Marlins were as committed to winning as he was.
“The history of the Marlins was that they would win and then they would disband the team and then they would be followed by long periods of losing,” he says. “And I don’t tolerate losing very well, and neither does Kim and neither does Skip.”
She also took hold of key player decisions. After trading for Arraez before the start of the 2023 season, she was criticized by some observers for sacrificing too much talent to acquire the hitter. This season, Arraez chased .400 for half the season and has become a driving force on the team.
Before the Aug. 1 trade deadline, Ng knew what the team needed. Those in the room recall the day in awe.
“The trade deadline this year, unbelievable. I was in that room all day long from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and everyone had different opinions, but she knew exactly what she wanted,” Conte says. “What she needed was runs, and she went out and scouted the right people and got them.”
She brought in infielders Josh Bell and Jake Burger. Perhaps just as important, she let go of those in the organization who were not on board with her vision. One of those was Gary Denbo, vice president of player development and an early Jeter hire.
But she also kept people who were put in place before her, and gave everyone a chance to prove themselves. Mel Stottlemyre Jr. has been the team’s pitching coach since 2018. He is one of the few coaches to stay through the changes.
Junior, as he is called by those who know him well, always suspected Ng would become a GM. His father — the late Mel Stottlemyre, a legendary pitcher and coach — told him she would some day.
“I remember when my pops was alive and still working with the Yankees,” Stottlemyre Jr. says. “He mentioned Ng’s name to me, and he talked about the toughness within her. And he finished his conversation and said that this woman was going to be a GM.
“And for him to say that, and then for me to go to work for her in what is her first job?” Stottlemyre Jr. points to goosebumps on his arm.
“Full circle,” I add. He nods. We let it sink in.
I bring up that moment with Ng. She pauses, too.
“When Mel told me the story, it surprised me because I definitely was not there making my mark,” she says. “That wasn’t my personality either, but it was certainly humbling to hear it for sure.”
Not yet three years into being a GM, Ng’s impact on baseball remains undeniable. At an MLB “Take the Field” event, a program designed to promote women working in baseball this past December, Ng gave the keynote address.
“Kim walks up and [my friends] are like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s Kim! That’s Kim!'” says Jennifer Brann, a 25-year-old Marlins data analyst whose friends were eager for an introduction. “People see her as like a larger-than-life figure. I think that she’s more popular than some of the [players] sometimes.”
Ng is aware she’s a role model, which also kept her going through all those GM interviews over the years.
Over the course of our interviews, I’m almost apologetic for asking what it means to be a woman in baseball. It is the year 2023, after all. But Ng is a woman and Asian American, like me, and those facts still matter. Visibility matters.
“Given my understanding of where I was in the universe, and that a lot of people looked up to me, whether it was women in the industry or young women wanting to get in the industry,” she explains. “You just never wanted to just fade off into nowhere. That wasn’t really an option.”
When Burger joined the team in August, his younger sister, Ellie Burger, retweeted a post the third baseman shared in November 2020, celebrating Ng’s historic hire. He tweeted that his sister, who always wanted to be a GM, now saw it was possible for a woman to have the top job. I asked Ellie what Ng’s role as GM means to her.
“It was just kind of breathtaking and wow, it actually happened.” Ellie says. “It was at like 52 [years old] she got hired as GM, and you take a Theo Epstein, for example, who gets hired at 28. And it’s like, why is there this difference? This is long overdue, but finally there’s movement.”
Eve Rosenbaum, a former MLB intern who worked for Ng and is now an assistant GM with the Baltimore Orioles, says Ng has huge weight on her shoulders.
“I think once one team hired a woman and then everyone can sort of exhale and say, ‘OK. Oh look, it happens,'” Rosenbaum says. “And, ‘Oh, look, she’s doing a good job,’ and then everyone else feels more comfortable to be the next person to hire a woman to lead their baseball ops department.”
Still, Ng is somewhat surprised to hear that her colleagues describe her as collaborative, kind, deliberative and smart.
“That’s the external, but the internal is quite a bit different,” Ng says. “It’s interesting that that’s the way they perceive me.”
“What’s the internal?” I ask.
“Very competitive, doesn’t quit,” Ng says, reflecting on her journey, but adding she wonders whether she “should let my personality come out a little more.”
Ng can be guarded about what she says, and careful about how she presents. But the few who know her well say she is fiery, too.
“It would annoy me when writers would ask [if I wanted to be GM]. Because are you asking the guys that? If you’re not asking the guys that, then don’t ask me that,” Ng says, slightly agitated. She rarely gets animated during our interviews. “[Are you asking] because I shouldn’t have that ambition, or it would be odd if I did have that ambition?”
It’s early September, and on this day, I’m back in Ng’s box at the Marlins’ stadium, in the dark, watching what is undeniably a sloppy game. The Marlins are losing badly to the Dodgers. Suddenly, a ball boy mistakes a ball in fair play for a foul ball and costs the Marlins a run. I react in disbelief. Ng is silent.
“Do you wish the game was already over?” I ask.
“Yeah, like five innings ago,” she says wryly.
In nearly every interview with Ng and those in the organization, the phrase “culture of winning” appears. Shortly after sitting down next to her, she says she wants to revisit the “culture of winning” idea again. She doesn’t think she explained it very well the last time we spoke.
“The culture of winning means the process and the preparation,” Ng explains. She then goes into detail about playing smarter baseball. Surprisingly, she says this night’s 10-0 rout by the Dodgers is not disappointing.
“This is execution. And sometimes you just don’t execute,” she says. “Physical mistakes happen. But last year, we might’ve thrown to a wrong base. That is not acceptable. That’s a mental mistake. That’s the mistake you have to learn from.
“We’ve been much better this year. And those are the signs of improvement and building that foundation.”
Sports
Do Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy belong in Cooperstown? Breaking down the contemporary era ballot
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Bradford Doolittle
With the release of the 2026 BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot earlier this week, we’ve officially entered Cooperstown deliberation season.
There are now two ballots up for consideration. While the writers’ process tends to soak up most of the attention, the contemporary baseball era committee ballot — announced Nov. 3 — is more urgent and intriguing. The results will be determined by a yet-to-be-named committee just before the upcoming winter meetings in Orlando, Florida, and announced on Dec. 7.
Though the writers have until the end of the year to determine their choices for the primary ballot, the era committee process will be upon us not long after the coming Thanksgiving holiday. Each of the Hall’s era committees meet every three years, and this year, the contemporary era committee is considering player candidates from 1980 on. It’s the stronger ballot; the eight candidates average 74.1 career bWAR, while the 33 candidates on the primary ballot average 41.3. Even if you just take the top eight on the main ballot, that group averages 70.4.
Much of the attention has been focused on two candidates: Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy. Heck, the Murphy constituency has its own web site, which among other things features documentaries narrated by country singer Jason Aldean and sportscaster Ernie Johnson.
I get it. Mattingly and Murphy were MVPs in the 1980s who attracted legions of fans in their time, many of whom considered one or the other their favorite player. As the captain of the New York Yankees, Mattingly had a huge following, while Murphy’s fan base was national thanks to the Atlanta Braves’ omnipresence on SuperStation WTBS, as it was known then. I have a Murphy model ballglove I got in junior high that I still use all these years later.
Still, the attention sphere around this ballot should be fixed on two other players, who might just be respectively the best hitter and best pitcher who ever played.
Let’s go to the bWAR leaderboard.
2025 ERA COMMITTEE BALLOT
Barry Bonds (162.8 bWAR)
Roger Clemens (139.2)
Gary Sheffield (60.5)
Jeff Kent (55.4)
Dale Murphy (46.5)
Carlos Delgado (44.4)
Don Mattingly (42.4)
Fernando Valenzuela (41.4)
We all know why Bonds and Clemens (and Sheffield) remain Hall candidates rather than Hall members, but that’s all the more reason that we should be on fire, right now, relitigating the issues surrounding their candidacies. It’s as if even those who support the candidacies of Bonds and Clemens in particular have slipped into numb acceptance in a “they should be in, but we all know how it is” sort of way.
The thing about this cycle is that the stakes have changed. Last year, the Hall announced a tweak to their era committee process, something they’ve done many times over the decades. As things stand now, this could be the second-to-last shot for Bonds and Clemens — ever.
The new rule:
“Beginning in 2025, any candidate who appears on a ballot and does not receive votes from at least five of the 16 voters will not be eligible to be placed on the ballot within the Era Committee’s following three-year cycle. Additionally, beginning in 2025, any candidate that does not receive at least five of 16 votes in multiple appearances on Era Committee ballots will not be eligible for future ballot consideration.”
So if Bonds, Clemens or Sheffield fall short of five ballots out of the 16 that will be cast in Orlando, they won’t be eligible the next time their era group comes up in 2028. Then 2031 will be their last chance, if they are nominated.
Most fans are firmly entrenched on this issue. To me, the idea that the Hall of Fame would not include baseball’s all-time home run king and one of the top five pitchers ever, when both are eligible and both have official playing records that are intact, means it will forever be less than what it should be. Given the new guidelines, it’s a shadow that would loom over 25 Main Street forever.
At any rate, only 16 people will comprise the committee that will deliberate over the era ballot in Orlando. We don’t yet know who they are — this will be announced in early December — but the makeup of the committee will tell you a lot about how things are likely to go. It always does, which has always been the primary problem with the various incarnations of the veterans and era committees over the years.
To move from committee to Cooperstown, all of the candidates will need to be named on at least 12 of the 16 ballots. But each member is limited to three names. All eight of the players on ballot have their advocates, so even without the looming presence of Bonds and Clemens, it’s a tough road.
There is no one right way to approach this, but over time, I’ve developed a method to working through how to deal with these ballots — whether it’s an era ballot or the writer’s ballot. These are only exercises to inform my writing about the process, as I have never cast a Hall of Fame vote.
I think of the process as a kind of flow chart consisting of three regions, which are: 1. Eligibility; 2. Objective case; 3. Deep dive.
Each region works as a kind of funnel: You filter out some players, others slip through, unless their cases become clear. At each juncture, you’re asking, “Who’s in?” and “Who’s out?” If the player falls in neither category, he slips through the funnel into the next region.
Let’s apply this approach to the current era ballot.
Region 1: Eligibility
For our purposes as voters (let’s all call ourselves that to get into the spirit), this is done for us. We can only vote for those on the ballot. Write-in votes are not permitted.
So why bother to break this out? It’s all about the character clause:
“Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.”
Some of these things are more concrete than others. We don’t have time for a debate on moral philosophy, but for me the key is simply this: Any baseball writer, commentator, reporter, historian, player, manager, executive or anyone else who finds themselves puzzling over a Hall of Fame ballot is qualified to assess baseball. The rest, as former commissioner Faye Vincent once opined, is “hopelessly vague.”
These things can mean different things to different people, but I believe that the time for deciding whether certain transgressions eliminate a candidate from Hall consideration should fall during the pre-ballot process. You don’t want certain people in your Hall of Fame? Then don’t put them on the ballot. Once they land on the ballot, then it’s all about the baseball part of a person’s story.
The Hall does eliminate from consideration anyone on the ineligible list — those banned from the game — so there are acknowledged limitations. But if the player lands on a ballot, then for me the case moves onto the matters related to winning baseball games and accolades, things that are all a matter of the sport’s official record.
As for this era ballot, obviously the eligibility region neither anoints anyone, nor rules out anyone. So all eight move onto the next region.
Region 2: Objective case
Far more has been written about the objective judgment of Hall of Fame candidates than any other consideration. And let’s face it, this is the fun part.
I want to be clear about one thing: WAR should never be the only consideration for Hall membership. Neither should win shares or home runs or hits or win probability added, or pitcher won-loss record or career saves. You must look at a player’s career holistically and in context, using various criteria and then go from there. In fact, the Hall’s guidelines explicitly prohibit the inclusion of anyone based strictly on some predetermined objective standard.
What we’re looking for are the outliers, both positive and negative — those who are no-brainers to get in, and those whose cases aren’t strong enough to move them into our third region. There won’t be any eliminations in this section today, but this step would help us sort out the primary ballot.
As for no-brainers, you can guess where this is headed.
Bonds: He ranks fourth all-time in bWAR (162.8), first in home runs (762), fifth in OPS (1.051), first in walks (2,558), first in runs created (2,892) … and so on. Recognition in one’s own time is a crucial indicator when looking at an era candidate, and of course Bonds has that too. His seven MVP awards are three more than anyone else and he ranks first in award shares for MVP voting.
Clemens: He ranks eighth in bWAR (139.2) and third in pitching bWAR (138.7), won 354 games, ranks third on the strikeout list (4,672) and ranks first in award shares for Cy Young voting.
Yeah, they’re in. These are the performance records of no-doubt Hall of Famers who should not be on this ballot in the first place. Either they should have been in long ago, or they should have been deemed ineligible. But here they are, and their cases remain as clear-cut as ever.
Everyone else moves onto the final region.
Region 3: Deep Dive (aka The Keltner List)
Now we’re into the gray area — candidates who might be Hall worthy or might not. Because of the presence of two no-brainers on the ballot, and the limitation of only being allowed to list three candidates, we’re down to one precious slot.
The Keltner List is a series of questions developed by Bill James in his seminal book on the Hall of Fame, “The Politics of Glory.” The questions are all closed-ended, so for each we land on yes or no. We’ll run through the questions and list the “yes” players for each one. Then we’ll tally it up and see where we land.
1. Was he ever regarded as the best player in baseball?
Remember, we’ve already anointed Bonds and Clemens above, so they are not subject to any of these questions. As for the rest, I give credit for this one to Mattingly and Murphy.
It’s not clear-cut, but Murphy won back-to-back MVPs and would clearly have been in any “best player” conversation during that time (1982 and 1983) and perhaps beyond. Mattingly was AL MVP in 1985, and from 1984 to 1986 he created 20 more runs than any other player in baseball and won two Glove Gloves. Many would have argued he was baseball’s best player at that time.
Yes: Mattingly, Murphy
2. Was he the best player on his team?
This is a yes for everyone except Kent, whose best seasons came as Bonds’ teammate. Kent did win NL MVP in 2000, but hitting behind Bonds (49 homers, .440 OBP) was a boost to his stat line and Bonds had a higher bWAR even in that season.
Perhaps worth mentioning is Valenzuela, who can at least stake claim to this category for his rookie season (1981) when he won the NL Cy Young Award and led the champion Los Angeles Dodgers in bWAR.
Yes: Sheffield, Murphy, Delgado, Mattingly, Valenzuela
3. Was he the best player in baseball (or in the league) at his position?
Everyone gets a yes here. Kent, Murphy and Mattingly won MVP awards. Valenzuela won a Cy Young. These are strong indicators. Sheffield was baseball’s best right fielder in 2003, at the very least. He was probably the top third baseman in 1992. Delgado was the top AL first baseman once or twice. Frankly, for a ballot like this one, this criteria is a fairly low bar.
Yes: Sheffield, Kent, Murphy, Delgado, Mattingly, Valenzuela
4. Did he have an impact on a number of pennant races?
Increasingly, because of the larger playoff formats of the recent era, I’d fold playoff appearances and performance into this question. The murky part is the “a number of” component. Murphy played on a lot of lousy teams and got into only one playoff series. Same for Mattingly, though he raked when he got there. Delgado had a huge 2006 postseason for the New York Mets but that was his only playoff appearance.
I’m giving a yes here to Valenzuela and Sheffield for coming up big for championship teams. Kent didn’t get a ring but hit well over 49 postseason games.
Yes: Valenzuela, Sheffield, Kent
5. Was he a good enough player that he could continue to play regularly after passing his prime?
This is a yes for all of them, as all played regular roles well into their 30s. Mattingly’s career was truncated because of his ongoing back trouble, but that shortened his peak more than anything. He still played until he was 34 and was the Yankees’ regular first baseman the entire time.
Yes: Sheffield, Kent, Murphy, Delgado, Mattingly, Valenzuela
6. Is he the very best player in baseball history who is not in the Hall of Fame?
As long as Bonds and Clemens are on the outside, this question probably will remain a no for everyone who becomes subject to this inquiry.
Yes: None
7. Are most players who have comparable career statistics in the Hall of Fame?
This is where we turn to Jay Jaffe’s JAWS data as it exists at baseball-reference.com. The answer for all is: No. None of our remaining six really come all that close to the average standards of existing Hall of Famers at their positions. There are some comparable Hall of Famers, but not most. This is not surprising, as an era ballot is by definition a second-chance process.
Yes: None
8. Do the players’ numbers meet Hall of Fame standards?
James’ systematized this question in an ingenious way, and we’ll lean on his standard of a score of 50 for our six hopefuls. We’re left with two players who clear that bar.
Yes: Sheffield, Kent
9. Is there evidence to suggest that the player was significantly better or worse than is suggested by his statistics?
I’m going to focus on peak value, which I’ve always weighed close to equal with career value, though with a higher bar. (Think: Sandy Koufax and his ilk of short-career greats.)
This helps Mattingly. His peak bWAR (35.7) is still below the Hall average at first base, but it’s better than David Ortiz and Orlando Cepeda, and virtually even with Tony Perez, Fred McGriff and Frank Chance. These are all Hall of Famers. Delgado (34.5 peak bWAR) isn’t far back, so it’s really about where you want to draw the lines.
Meanwhile, Sheffield had a higher peak bWAR (38.0) than Hall of Famers Dave Winfield, Dave Parker, Enos Slaughter, Willie Keeler and Kike Cuyler, plus some other 19th century types further down the list. When you consider that Sheffield topped 500 homers (509) and has a career bWAR (60.5) that is borderline, his case is building.
Finally, Murphy gets a similar bump. His peak bWAR (41.2) ranks 18th among center fielders. He’s above quite a few Hall of Famers.
Yes: Sheffield, Mattingly, Murphy
10. Is he the best player at his position who is eligible for the Hall of Fame but not in?
No one can claim to be the best hitter or pitcher not in. Zeroing in on specific positions, using JAWS, you can’t quite get there for any of the six. Even if you discount active players and PED-associated candidates at first base, Mattingly and Delgado still have to deal with the specter of Keith Hernandez, John Olerud, Will Clark and others who, at the very least, are hard to separate. Kent is blocked in this area by Lou Whitaker and Bobby Grich, to start. None of the six clear this bar.
Yes: None
11. How many MVP-type seasons did he have? Did he ever win an MVP Award? If not, how many times was he close?
We’ll fold in Cy Young voting for Valenzuela and defer to the awards-share figures. We have award winners — Valenzuela, Mattingly, Murphy and Kent — and those are enough for a yes. Sheffield had three top-three MVP finishes and had more MVP shares than any of the three who won the award. Delgado just missed winning the AL MVP Award in 2003.
Yes: Sheffield, Kent, Murphy, Delgado, Mattingly, Valenzuela
12. How many All-Star-type seasons did he have? How many All-Star Games did he play in? Did most of the other players who played in this many go into the Hall of Fame?
Delgado played in only two All-Star Games and there aren’t many Hall of Famers with only two ASG appearances. Everyone else played in many All-Star Games and land in peer groups comprising quite a few Hall of Famers.
Yes: Sheffield, Kent, Murphy, Mattingly, Valenzuela
13. If this man were the best player on his team, would it be likely that the team could win the pennant?
Yes: Sheffield, Kent, Murphy, Delgado, Mattingly, Valenzuela
14. What impact did the player have on baseball history? Was he responsible for any rule changes? Did he introduce any new equipment? Did he change the game in any way?
All of these players were historic in different ways, not all of them good. But I’m going to stay positive here and award one yes in a category that I view as extra credit. That goes to Valenzuela, whose impact in Latin America in general and Mexico in particular was immense, and it was pretty significant in Southern California as well.
Yes: Valenzuela
15. Did the player uphold the standards of sportsmanship and character that the Hall of Fame, in its written guidelines, instructs us to consider?
And so we come back, at the end, where many want to begin the discussion. And here, I’m OK with getting into traits such as clubhouse leadership and things like the Roberto Clemente Award and other areas of community impact. When you are comparing similar candidates, those are separating qualities and, I would argue, are germane to the primary task of baseball careers: winning games, pennants, and championships, but also establishing an identity in conjunction with the teams on which you play.
Even so, I’m loath to judge these players in these areas for the most part, so I will seek hard evidence. There, we find that Mattingly was a Yankees team captain. Murphy and Delgado were Clemente Award recipients.
Yes: Mattingly, Murphy, Delgado
So who gets the nod?
The Keltner List is meant to help you arrive at a thumbs-up or thumbs-down for each candidate put through that ringer. But here I’m taking a different approach. We’ve got three spots. Two of those were claimed early on by Bonds and Clemens, leaving me with one slot.
Well, the Keltner List left three players that landed nine yes votes among the 15 questions: Sheffield, Murphy and Mattingly. All of them are worthy Hall of Famers. But we have to whittle it down, so it comes down to picking one.
My pick: Murphy
Murphy had the highest peak value of the trio and had a stint in the conversation as the best player in the sport. He was an all-around player, as his five Gold Gloves will attest. His reputation in the sport, while not the top-line consideration for me, is something I very much honor.
I wish it didn’t have to be only three and I will always believe that all Hall votes shouldn’t be space-limited by rule. Either someone is a Hall of Famer, or they aren’t. But for now, we have only so many lines to fill in and I’d fill mine with Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Dale Murphy.
Whether you agree with this approach probably comes down to your stance on the character clause. For me, this is the simple, direct way to approach the murkiest and most glorious of all baseball debates — whether a player’s career merits Hall of Fame induction.
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Greg Wyshynski
The Winnipeg Jets will be without star goalie Connor Hellebuyck for four to six weeks as he undergoes a minor arthroscopic procedure on his knee, a source confirmed to ESPN.
Hellebuyck has been dealing with the injury since training camp. Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said the goalie has tried to play through it but felt soreness after games. The Jets and their star goalie felt it was best to address it now opposed to having it linger any longer. His surgery is scheduled for Saturday.
Hellebuyck, 32, has won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender for two straight seasons and was trying to become the first netminder since Hall of Famer Dominik Hasek (1996-99) to win the award three straight times.
Overall, Hellebuyck has three Vezina Trophy wins and has been a finalist for the award five times.
He’s 8-6-0 with a .913 save percentage and a 2.51 goals-against average in 14 games for the Jets, who are third in the Central Division with a .632 points percentage. Hellebuyck last played Saturday at Calgary, stopping 31 of 34 shots and then three more in the Jets’ shootout win over the Flames.
Winnipeg recalled goaltender Thomas Milic from the AHL Manitoba Moose, and he will tandem with backup goalie Eric Comrie in Hellebuyck’s absence.
Hellebuyck is expected to be the starting goaltender for Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy in February. He served in that role for the Americans at the 4 Nations Face-Off last season, losing in the gold medal game to Canada.
His injury was originally reported by TSN.
With another week of the 2025-26 NHL season in the books, ESPN’s panel of voters continues to believe the Colorado Avalanche are the top team in the league.
Beyond No. 1, there were some major swings this week, including the first top-10 appearance by the Chicago Blackhawks in quite some time, as Connor Bedard & Co. continue to be in the mix for a playoff spot with a quarter of the season complete.
Speaking of the quarter-season mark, as part of this week’s rankings we’ve identified the most valuable player for each team through 25% of the season.
How we rank: A panel of ESPN hockey commentators, analysts, reporters and editors sends in a 1-32 poll based on the games through Wednesday.
Note: Previous ranking for each team refers to the previous edition, published Nov. 14. Points percentages are through Thursday’s games.
Previous ranking: 1
Points percentage: 82.5%
Quarter-season MVP: Nathan MacKinnon. With all due respect to the monster season thus far from Cale Makar, we have to give the nod to MacKinnon, who is leading the league in both points (36) and goals (16).
Next seven days: @ NSH (Nov. 22), @ CHI (Nov. 23), vs. SJ (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 4
Points percentage: 70%
Quarter-season MVP: Seth Jarvis. Who else but the Hurricanes’ rising superstar, who continues to play in all situations and hover around a point-per-game pace while doing so.
Next seven days: @ WPG (Nov. 21), @ BUF (Nov. 23), vs. NYR (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 3
Points percentage: 64.3%
Quarter-season MVP: Leo Carlsson. The Ducks’ selection of Carlsson at No. 2 overall in the 2023 draft over Adam Fantilli was puzzling to some observers. It is puzzling no more, as the 20-year-old Swede is at the front of the proverbial Flying V for a Ducks team that is in the mix atop the Pacific Division.
Next seven days: vs. VGK (Nov. 22), vs. VAN (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 5
Points percentage: 69%
Quarter-season MVP: Mikko Rantanen. The Stars didn’t need to see how well Rantanen would perform on their roster before inking him to a long-term deal; that contract was signed the same day he was acquired from the Hurricanes. So far, so good.
Next seven days: @ CGY (Nov. 22), @ EDM (Nov. 25), @ SEA (Nov. 26)
0:43
Mikko Rantanen scores 300th career goal for Stars
Mikko Rantanen lights the lamp to score his 300th career goal for Stars.
Previous ranking: 2
Points percentage: 67.5%
Quarter-season MVP: Jesper Bratt. Unfortunately, Bratt and the other Devils have experience playing without Jack Hughes in the lineup. They’ll get more of it for the next several weeks following No. 86’s “freak injury” at a steakhouse in Chicago last week.
Next seven days: @ PHI (Nov. 22), vs. DET (Nov. 24), vs. STL (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 7
Points percentage: 63.2%
Quarter-season MVP: Mark Scheifele. The Jets’ top-line center has never hit the 50-goal or 100-point plateau in his NHL career, coming closest with 42 goals in 2022-23 and 87 points in 2024-25. He’s currently on pace for 50 tallies and 109 points.
Next seven days: vs. CAR (Nov. 21), vs. MIN (Nov. 23), @ WSH (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 10
Points percentage: 65%
Quarter-season MVP: Jack Eichel. Though he has fallen off of his perch atop the goals and points races, Eichel led the Knights with 24 points through 19 games, making a strong push for his first Hart Trophy nod.
Next seven days: @ ANA (Nov. 22), @ UTA (Nov. 24), vs. OTT (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 9
Points percentage: 63.2%
Quarter-season MVP: Sidney Crosby. Prior to the season, the trade rumors ran wild with potential new destinations for No. 87. Instead, he’s led a resurgent Penguins team to a spot near the top of the Metro Division, including six power-play goals for the NHL’s top man-advantage attack.
Next seven days: vs. MIN (Nov. 21), vs. SEA (Nov. 22), vs. BUF (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 14
Points percentage: 60%
Quarter-season MVP: Connor Bedard. The Blackhawks might have something in this kid, after all. With 29 points through 19 games in his third NHL season, Bedard is on pace for 118 — and Chicago is right in the mix for a playoff spot after a quarter of the season.
Next seven days: @ BUF (Nov. 21), vs. COL (Nov. 23), vs. MIN (Nov. 26)
1:18
Connor Bedard nets hat trick for Blackhawks
Connor Bedard scores three goals for Chicago on Tuesday night against Calgary.
Previous ranking: 18
Points percentage: 59.5%
Quarter-season MVP: Dylan Larkin. Larkin put the hockey world on notice with his performance during the 4 Nations Face-Off last season and has carried at least some of that momentum forward into this NHL season, scoring with 24 points (12 goals and 12 assists) through his first 20 games.
Next seven days: vs. CBJ (Nov. 22), @ NJ (Nov. 24), vs. NSH (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 11
Points percentage: 59.5%
Quarter-season MVP: Adrian Kempe. With a new contract extension now in hand, Kempe has been able to completely put the business aspect out of mind and focus on his on-ice performance. With 19 points, he’s the Kings’ leading scorer through 20 games.
Next seven days: vs. BOS (Nov. 21), vs. OTT (Nov. 24)
Previous ranking: 22
Points percentage: 61.9%
Quarter-season MVP: Matthew Schaefer. Honorable mention here to Bo Horvat and his team-leading 13 goals and 24 points, but the nod goes to the 2025 No. 1 pick, who leads the Isles in ice time per game (22:29), was recently added to Canada’s 90-man list of Olympic candidates, and may be responsible for a sudden positive surge in vibes on the Island.
Next seven days: vs. STL (Nov. 22), vs. SEA (Nov. 23), vs. BOS (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 12
Points percentage: 60%
Quarter-season MVP: Jake Guentzel. Like the team in general, Guentzel didn’t get off to the best start this season. But, he has picked it up in November (with seven goals and three assists through the month’s first eight games), as the Lightning look to climb back up the Atlantic Division standings.
Next seven days: @ WSH (Nov. 22), vs. PHI (Nov. 24), vs. CGY (Nov. 26)
1:02
Jake Guentzel completes Lightning late show with OT winner
Jake Guentzel lights the lamp to win it for the Lightning in overtime.
Previous ranking: 8
Points percentage: 54.6%
Quarter-season MVP: David Pastrnak. For the Bruins to make noise this season, a lot was going to have to go right. One of those factors was Pastrnak scoring like the top-tier player he is. So far, so good, as Pasta scored 27 points through his first 22 games, with the Bruins near the top of the division.
Next seven days: @ LA (Nov. 21), @ SJ (Nov. 23), @ NYI (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 6
Points percentage: 57.5%
Quarter-season MVP: Jakub Dobes. Although he has cooled off a bit after winning all six of his starts in October, the Czech 24-year-old appears to be the Habs’ better option in net this season, as he stakes his own claim in the Calder Trophy race.
Next seven days: vs. TOR (Nov. 22), @ UTA (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 17
Points percentage: 62.5%
Quarter-season MVP: Jaden Schwartz. The Kraken have been one of the season’s pleasant surprises, remaining in the mix for a playoff spot through the first quarter. It has been a full-team effort — only six players have double-digit points after 19 games, and no one is in double digits in the goals column — so we’ll give the nod to the venerable, 33-year-old who shared the team scoring lead through 19 games and led the team with a plus-8 rating.
Next seven days: @ PIT (Nov. 22), @ NYI (Nov. 23), vs. DAL (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 13
Points percentage: 54.8%
Quarter-season MVP: Nick Schmaltz. In the club’s first official season as the Mammoth, Schmaltz has led the team in scoring (22 points) and is tied for game-winning goals (two, with Clayton Keller) through the first 20 games.
Next seven days: vs. NYR (Nov. 22), vs. VGK (Nov. 24), vs. MTL (Nov. 26)
1:03
Schmaltz nets second career hat trick in Mammoth’s win
Nick Schmaltz scores a trio of goals to lead Utah to a 6-3 win over San Jose.
Previous ranking: 15
Points percentage: 60%
Quarter-season MVP: Tim Stutzle. The Sens had captain Brady Tkachuk for three games before the forward’s upper-body injury sidelined him. Stutzle answered the call to fill the scoring gap, with a point-per-game pace through 19 games and double-digit goals.
Next seven days: @ SJ (Nov. 22), @ LA (Nov. 24), @ VGK (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 27
Points percentage: 57.1%
Quarter-season MVP: Jesper Wallstedt. Sure, Kirill Kaprizov has been incredible, but that was expected. Let’s give some credit to rookie netminder Wallstedt, who has gone 5-0-2 in seven starts, with a 2.10 goals-against average (second in the league) and .926 save percentage (first).
Next seven days: @ PIT (Nov. 21), @ WPG (Nov. 23), @ CHI (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 19
Points percentage: 57.1%
Quarter-season MVP: Logan Thompson. Thompson was the last line of defense for a team that nearly won the Presidents’ Trophy in 2024-25. He isn’t winning as often this season, but his other numbers are even better: a league-leading 1.85 goals-against average, and .920 save percentage (third).
Next seven days: vs. TB (Nov. 22), vs. CBJ (Nov. 24), vs. WPG (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 24
Points percentage: 57.5%
Quarter-season MVP: Brad Marchand. The Panthers headed into this season defending two straight Stanley Cup championships, but without captain Aleksander Barkov (out until April) and Matthew Tkachuk (December). The team’s big trade deadline addition from last season (and playoff star) has stepped up, scoring a team-leading 23 points through 18 games; that puts him on pace for 99 points, one shy of a career high set back in 2018-19.
Next seven days: vs. EDM (Nov. 22), @ NSH (Nov. 24), vs. PHI (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 16
Points percentage: 60.5%
Quarter-season MVP: Trevor Zegras. Who knew that a change of scenery was all it took to get Zegras’ career back on an upward trajectory? The No. 9 pick of the 2019 draft had hit a wall in Anaheim, but is soaring in Philly.
Next seven days: vs. NJ (Nov. 22), TB (Nov. 24), @ FLA (Nov. 26)
0:18
Trevor Zegras goes five-hole for Flyers’ shootout winner
Trevor Zegras goes between the legs to score the lone goal in the shootout for the Flyers vs. the Blues.
Previous ranking: 26
Points percentage: 57.1%
Quarter-season MVP: Jet Greaves. Are we witnessing a changing of the guard in Columbus’ crease in real time? Greaves finished the 2024-25 season strong, and has been the goalie of choice for Columbus thus far this season, with 12 starts to Elvis Merzlikins‘ eight (and better stats as well).
Next seven days: @ DET (Nov. 22), @ WSH (Nov. 24), vs. TOR (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 21
Points percentage: 50%
Quarter-season MVP: Igor Shesterkin/Jonathan Quick. The Rangers are still trying to figure out the right formula on offense, but the goal-suppression effort has been superb. Shesterkin is putting forth another superb effort, with a 7-7-2 record, 2.43 goals-against average and .911 save percentage; Quick has him beat in both of the ratios — 1.42 and .951 (!) — though he has fallen victim to the same lack of goal support, with a 3-2-0 mark. Things would be much worse for the Blueshirts without them.
Next seven days: @ UTA (Nov. 22), vs. STL (Nov. 24), @ CAR (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 20
Points percentage: 50%
Quarter-season MVP: Connor McDavid. Ho hum, another season of elite scoring from the game’s greatest talent. Through 22 games, McDavid’s 32 points are six clear of second-best on the team (Leon Draisaitl‘s 26), as the Oil look to climb out of another early-season hole in the standings.
Next seven days: @ FLA (Nov. 22), vs. DAL (Nov. 25)
Previous ranking: 23
Points percentage: 54.8%
Quarter-season MVP: Macklin Celebrini. Celebrini went first overall in the 2024 draft — so we knew he’d be good. Did anyone expect him to be on pace to break the Sharks’ all-time scoring record in his second pro season?
Next seven days: vs. OTT (Nov. 22), vs. BOS (Nov. 23), @ COL (Nov. 26)
0:32
Macklin Celebrini’s hat trick wins it for Sharks in OT
Macklin Celebrini scores on the power play for San Jose Sharks
Previous ranking: 25
Points percentage: 50%
Quarter-season MVP: William Nylander. It hasn’t been the greatest season in the storied history of the Maple Leafs — what with injuries to key skaters such as Auston Matthews and Chris Tanev, and the appearance of four goaltenders on the seasonal stat sheet due to injuries in the crease. But Nylander has been Mr. Reliable, with an impressive 27 points through 17 games, including some eye-popping highlights.
Next seven days: @ MTL (Nov. 22), @ CBJ (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 28
Points percentage: 45.5%
Quarter-season MVP: Quinn Hughes. Rare is the team led in scoring by a defenseman, but such has been the case for the Canucks this season, with their captain leading the way en route to (likely) another Norris Trophy finalist spot.
Next seven days: vs. CGY (Nov. 23), @ ANA (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 30
Points percentage: 45%
Quarter-season MVP: Tage Thompson. Some day, the Sabres will return to the playoffs, providing a payoff to one of the most passionate fan bases in the sport. For now, Thompson keeps scoring goals (10 of them so far), and might earn a spot to represent Team USA at the Milan-Cortina Olympics.
Next seven days: vs. CHI (Nov. 21), vs. CAR (Nov. 23), @ PIT (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 29
Points percentage: 42.9%
Quarter-season MVP: Robert Thomas. Not a lot has gone right for the Blues this season after they snuck into the playoffs last season (and nearly knocked off the Jets). So, we’ll give the nod to Thomas, the only player on the roster who has played in more than one game and has a positive plus/minus rating (along with his 13 points through 16 games).
Next seven days: @ NYI (Nov. 22), @ NYR (Nov. 24), @ NJ (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 31
Points percentage: 40%
Quarter-season MVP: Filip Forsberg. At this point, GM Barry Trotz needs to figure out who is going to be a part of the next competitive version of the Predators and who is not. We think that Forsberg — who has been around the past few versions — will still be there when Nashville makes the playoffs again.
Next seven days: vs. COL (Nov. 22), vs. FLA (Nov. 24), @ DET (Nov. 26)
Previous ranking: 32
Points percentage: 34.1%
Quarter-season MVP: Nazem Kadri. It has been a rough season for the Flames, and this roster could look quite a bit different by season’s end (with trade rumors already circling Kadri, Rasmus Andersson, Blake Coleman and others). So, as the leading scorer, the veteran center earns the quarter-season MVP honors here.
Next seven days: vs. DAL (Nov. 22), VAN (Nov. 23), @ TB (Nov. 26)
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