Which Hall of Famers Have the Most at Stake This October?

Great teams define seasons. Great players define generations.

Every year, October baseball comes into our lives where the samples are small and legends can be born overnight. You never know what pitcher will turn in that next gem, or which hitter will come through in the biggest spots.

The unpredictable nature of playoff baseball is what makes this sport stand out from all the rest as some of the best players in MLB history have failed to show up in October. Careers can be marred by playoff performance, whether it is far or not.

Clayton Kershaw should be a no-doubt unanimous inductee to the Hall of Fame whenever his career comes to an end. But you better believe if he is left off of a ballot or two, the only reason that writer can point to is his struggles in October.

When you look over each team in the playoffs right now, you can find players who are either already destined for Cooperstown, or have a chance to author a Hall of Fame resume but are just at the beginning.

Zack Wheeler‘s career regular-season numbers are far from Hall of Fame worthy at this stage, but his performance in October could one day lead a conversation on why he could get inducted.

With all of that in mind, let’s dive into the remaining superstars left in the dance while we are still in the divisional round, and see who has the most on the line when their teams face elimination.

Philadelphia Phillies

When looking over the Phillies roster, there are a few players who stand out as being guys who could one day receive consideration to be inducted into Cooperstown. Because of the strength of his position, J.T. Realmuto is a guy who could hang on a Hall of Fame ballot for a bit.

Trea Turner is a three-time All-Star, who already has a batting title and a World Series in his pocket with a long career ahead of him. Really though, there are two names that jump out on the Phillies roster when it comes to the level of prestige it takes to make the Hall of Fame.

And that is Bryce Harper and Zack Wheeler.

Bryce Harper

Let’s start with the no-doubt future Hall of Fame inductees. Having already played 13 seasons, Bryce Harper is well on his way to all of the milestones you’d look for to be a first ballot Hall of Famer.

He’s already over halfway to 3,000 career hits, and he’s two-thirds of the way to 500 career home runs, sitting at 336. He’s an eight-time All-Star and two-time MVP, who won the Rookie of the Year back in 2012. Next week, Harper will turn 32 years old, and he is still under contract for eight more seasons.

Harper has also been a big-time performer in October, with a career OPS over 1.000, and an NLCS MVP on his resume. The only thing missing from his trophy case, is a World Series ring, as he just missed that Washington Nationals title back in 2019, his first year in Philly.

Staring down elimination tonight, Harper will look to lead the Phillies back to Citizen’s Bank Park for a potential Game 5. Where we could see another great player on the mound looking to further author his own Hall of Fame legacy.

Zack Wheeler

Whenever we get to the point where we are arguing Wheeler’s Hall of Fame case, we will have reached a new point in discussing pitchers where length of resume may not be taken into account as seriously as it was in the past.

Looking at his career, Wheeler is missing a lot of the credentials you’d expect for a future Hall of Famer. Surprisingly enough, Wheeler made just his second All-Star team this season and the only hardware he has is the Gold Glove he won last year.

Wheeler has certainly pitched at a Cy Young-level before, finishing runner-up to Corbin Burnes back in 2021, and is set for potentially a similar fate this year opposite Chris Sale. The 34-year-old has a career 3.34 ERA, and is showing no signs of slowing down.

Still, the first place people will one day look when it comes to Wheeler being worthy of Cooperstown is toward his numbers in October. Across the last three years, Wheeler has been sensational in the playoffs, pitching to an ERA of 2.18 across 70 1/3 innings, with a 0.73 WHIP.

Wheeler is in line to start Game 5 of the NLDS, but if Ranger Suarez runs into any trouble in Game 4, don’t be surprised to see the Phillies ace called to duty pitching on short rest.

Los Angeles Dodgers

After the Phillies make their attempt at staving off elimination on Wednesday, the Los Angeles Dodgers will have to do the same, as they are currently trailing the San Diego Padres 2-1 in their own NLDS.

There will be plenty of Hall of Famers on the field for the Dodgers, with their trio of Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani all in the starting lineup.

While Betts and Freeman can certainly add to their playoff lore, they are both minted World Series champions, with 16 All-Star appearances split between the two of them. They both still have plenty of runway left in their careers, Betts in particular. But overall their narratives can only shift so much this October. For the newest member of the trio, things could not be any more different.

Shohei Ohtani

After spending the first six seasons of his career in a playoff purgatory in Anaheim, Shohei Ohtani has joined the big bad super-team on the other side of town and is playing in October for the first time.

Ohtani is fresh off a 54-59 season, where he closed out his third MVP campaign by hitting .393 with a .758 slugging percentage in September, hitting 10 home runs and stealing 16 bases. When he gets back on the mound next year, Ohtani is hands-down the best player in baseball, and is the very definition of a generational talent.

Still, if there is one last barrier he needs to cross in his career, it is performing under the bright lights in October. Through his first three games in the NLDS, Ohtani is 3-for-13 with no walks and six strikeouts. So clearly he’s horrible in October (JUST KIDDING).

Ohtani is going to be an amazing postseason player. It’s just a matter of when, not if.

Next year, Ohtani could pitch seven shutout innings of Game 7 of the World Series, while also hitting the game-winning three-run homer. Anything is possible with Shohei.

Going into October this year, the Dodgers saying there was a non-zero chance that Ohtani could pitch if they got deep in the playoffs made some dream of a world where Ohtani was able to close out a World Series on the mound.

Similar to how he won the World Baseball Classic for Japan last year.

If the Dodgers are eliminated today, Ohtani’s chance to author his first big story in October will have to wait another full calendar year.

New York Mets

While there could be a Hall of Fame conversation for Pete Alonso is he were to finish his career with 500 home runs, the Mets first baseman is more likely to go down as an all-time Met than an all-time great, and he has taken big steps to accomplishing that with some big playoff homers already.

But where Alonso has a lot to play for in a contract year, with hopes of staying with the team that drafted him, Francisco Lindor is in the midst of what could be a career-defining season on his Hall of Fame track.

Francisco Lindor

In a world where Shohei Ohtani still plays in the American League, Francisco Lindor may have won the first MVP of his career this season. Considering the fact that Ohtani is not going anywhere, Lindor may never get the chance to win that award, but many will look back and call this an MVP-caliber season.

Lindor has been the heartbeat of the New York Mets, leading his team into the playoffs for the second time in his four years with the franchise. Lindor got a taste of playoff magic when he was too young to even fully appreciate it, making the World Series as Cleveland’s shortstop back in 2016.

At 22-years old, Lindor fell short of his first World Series title in Game 7, in one of the greatest games in MLB history.

Lindor went 8-for-25 (.320) in the first six games of that World Series, but went 0-for-5 in the finale, as the Cubs broke their century-long World Series drought in extra innings by a score of 8-7.

This is the fifth time Lindor has made it to the playoffs since that 2016 season, and he has never made it past the divisional round in any of those previous chances. In fact, this is the first time Lindor has won a playoff series since 2016, and his team is one win away from grabbing another.

There is no doubt the 2024 season is going to go down as one if, if not the best of Lindor’s career based on how this thing ends. The best shortstop in baseball of the past decade has the chance to finally get to the mountaintop, and to do it with an underdog team that is easy to root for.

San Diego Padres

The San Diego Padres have a lot of great players, from guys on the back nine of their careers in Yu Darvish and Xander Bogaerts, to young All-Stars who are still establishing themselves as upper-echelon players in Fernando Tatis Jr., Dylan Cease and rookie Jackson Merrill.

If we are going to talk Hall of Fame though, there is really only one player you can look at and say that he is definitively on a Hall of Fame track. And that player is Manny Machado.

Manny Machado

Manny Machado is 100 hits away from 2,000 in his career, and he is already the Padres all-time franchise home run leader. Machado turned 32 years old back in July, and still has nine years left on the 11-year, $350 million extension he signed prior to the 2023 season.

One of the best defensive third basemen of this generation, Machado has won two Gold Gloves, and has a Silver Slugger to his name as well. He has never one the MVP, but he has four top-five finishes.

The part of Machado’s resume that is most lacking however is his performance in October.

Across 46 playoff games, Machado’s career .709 OPS is over 100 points lower than his career .826 OPS in the regular season. Machado played in the World Series with the Dodgers back in 2018, but he struggled mightily in the Fall Classic, posting a .390 OPS as L.A. lost the series to the Boston Red Sox in just five games.

Machado might have his best chance ever to win a ring this season, and if he can have a some big moments along the way, that could change the perception of him as a playoff performer.

This is certainly not going to be Machado’s last bite at the apple, but he is playing on a team that is clearly capable of winning the World Series. If Machado can help get them there, he will forever be a hero in San Diego.

Since no team will face elimination on the American League side today, on Oct. 9, we are going to wait a day until looking at the four teams still battling it out in the Junior Circuit.

Tomorrow we will update this piece with those AL teams, and will continue update it as teams and players get eliminated throughout October.