With the 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame class set to be announced Tuesday, nine of theScore's news editors submitted their own mock ballots with the players they believe are worthy of enshrinement in Cooperstown.
Inducted
We increased Cooperstown's population by three. Ramirez and Rodriguez - two of the greatest players of their, or any, generation - get our call despite their ties to performance-enhancing drugs. Ramirez and Rodriguez both saw their support rise significantly in our vote after they each fell 11% short last year. Jones, meanwhile, makes the cut in our vote for a second straight year; he also received 78% from our writers in 2025.
Missed the cut
Surprisingly, Beltrán - the overwhelming favorite to get a call Tuesday - missed the cut again. Last year, he fell one vote short in our election; this time, his vote share fell by nearly 20%. The big winner was Hernández, who narrowly missed election. Hamels also had a strong showing in his debut on the ballot.
Notables falling off our ballot
This year's crop of first-time candidates is very weak, and it showed in our vote. Aside from Hamels, none of the newcomers received votes from our editors. Seven returnees also failed to earn our vote this year.
