Sometimes, you just have to do one for yourself.

One of the most superfluous posts I’ve ever written is also one of my favorites–this little one from Viva El Birdos on February 2018, based on a thought exercise devised by Russell Carleton in which you must construct a full roster for your favorite team based on the prevoius 25 seasons (at the time, MLB rosters had 25 players) in which you could pick a player out of each of the last 25 seasons but you could not repeat seasons nor players. It was a fun little thing in which people got mad at me for not including 2003 Edgar Rentería even though this would have meant removing the greatest Albert Pujols season of them all from the team.

Anyway, it’s a few years later and the roster is now 26 players large, so I decided to create it for the Cardinals again. Obviously, there is considerable overlap, but it is not absolute. But I didn’t just stop there. I created a 26-man roster for twenty-eight MLB teams, and a 24-man roster for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays (the two teams which have only played for 24 seasons).

I listed my teams below for each franchise, but here are a few caveats.

  • The 2020 season is a complicated one, but by and large, I extrapolated the 60-game season to a 162-game pace. Yes, this creates some small sample size theater, but in the end I’m going to wind up representing 2020 by necessity on every team anyway, so I’d rather do this than just put the final relief pitcher on every roster as a 2020 guy in order to preserve some kind of Wins Above Replacement equilibrium.
  • I gave priority to starting lineups and starting rotations. My whole objective is construct an actual team and these guys have more of an impact than bench players or deep bullpen guys. I gave, say, closers priority over bench bats, but was more receptive to bench bats over fifth or sixth guys out of bullpens. There are exceptions–elite relief pitchers who are just that much better than other candidates, for instance–but this is my general philosophy.
  • Each 26-man roster has 14 position players–this is not necessarily the way most rosters are constructed in 2021, but it is the way most rosters would likely have been constructed throughout the bulk of the 1996-2021 period covered in this exercise. For AL teams, I worked in a designated hitter, though it was not always a real-life committed DH, and for both leagues, I tried to include enough positional versatility that the 14 players included at least two players who could plausibly handle each position. Each 24-man roster has 13 position players.
  • The Houston Astros and Milwaukee Brewers don’t get a DH, based on spending a majority of the time frame in the National League.
  • Each team has six starters–this was my compromise to avoid filling out an entire pitching staff of starting pitchers under the probably-true logic that most of a team’s sixth through twelfth best starting pitchers (or eleventh, for the Diamondbacks and Rays) would be worthy of bullpen roles. In most cases, though, the sixth starter was whatever season I had left over. That said, it’s usually a pretty good pitcher, anyway.
  • Every team includes at least one left-handed relief pitcher. And also at least one right-handed relief pitcher, though that was never a significant hurdle to clear.

Here we go. Please feel free to create your own team(s) and yell at me in the comments or on Twitter about them.

St. Louis Cardinals

C: 2012 Yadier Molina

1B: 1998 Mark McGwire

2B: 2013 Matt Carpenter

SS: 2014 Jhonny Peralta

3B: 2004 Scott Rolen

LF: 2003 Albert Pujols

CF: 2002 Jim Edmonds

RF: 2015 Jason Heyward

Bench: 1996 Tom Pagnozzi, 2000 Plácido Polanco, 2008 Troy Glaus, 2010 Matt Holliday, 2017 Tommy Pham, 2018 Paul DeJong

SP #1: 2005 Chris Carpenter

SP #2: 2001 Matt Morris

SP #3: 2009 Adam Wainwright

SP #4: 1997 Andy Benes

SP #5: 2019 Jack Flaherty

SP #6: 1999 Darren Oliver

Bullpen: 2006 Braden Looper, 2007 Randy Flores, 2011 Jason Motte, 2016 Seung-hwan Oh, 2020 Alex Reyes, 2021 Giovanny Gallegos

Arizona Diamondbacks

C: 2012 Miguel Montero

1B: 2013 Paul Goldschmidt

2B: 2019 Ketel Marte

SS: 2010 Stephen Drew

3B: 1999 Matt Williams

LF: 2001 Luis Gonzalez

CF: 2015 A.J. Pollock

RF: 2011 Justin Upton

Bench: 1998 Devon White, 2009 Mark Reynolds, 2016 Jean Segura, 2020 Kole Calhoun, 2021 Carson Kelly

SP #1: 2004 Randy Johnson

SP #2: 2002 Curt Schilling

SP #3: 2006 Brandon Webb

SP #4: 2008 Dan Haren

SP #5: 2018 Patrick Corbin

SP #6: 2014 Josh Collmenter

Bullpen: 2000 Greg Swindell, 2003 Matt Mantei, 2005 José Valverde, 2007 Brandon Lyon, 2017 Archie Bradley

Atlanta Braves

C: 2008 Brian McCann

1B: 2020 Freddie Freeman

2B: 2003 Marcus Giles

SS: 1997 Jeff Blauser

3B: 1999 Chipper Jones

LF: 2019 Ronald Acuña Jr.

CF: 2005 Andruw Jones

RF: 2004 J.D. Drew

Bench: 2006 Edgar Rentería, 2013 Justin Upton, 2014 Jason Heyward, 2017 Tyler Flowers, 2018 Ozzie Albies, 2021 Austin Riley

SP #1: 1996 John Smoltz

SP #2: 1998 Greg Maddux

SP #3: 2009 Javier Vázquez

SP #4: 2001 John Burkett

SP #5: 2007 Tim Hudson

SP #6: 2000 Tom Glavine

Bullpen: 2002 Chris Hammond, 2010 Billy Wagner, 2011 Eric O’Flaherty, 2012 Craig Kimbrel, 2015 Jason Grilli, 2016 Jim Johnson

Baltimore Orioles

C: 2011 Matt Wieters

1B: 2013 Chris Davis

2B: 2005 Brian Roberts

SS: 2004 Miguel Tejada

3B: 2015 Manny Machado

LF: 2003 Melvin Mora

CF: 1996 Brady Anderson

RF: 2008 Nick Markakis

DH: 2014 Nelson Cruz

Bench: 1999 Mike Bordick, 2006 Ramón Hernández, 2017 Jonathan Schoop, 2020 José Iglesias, 2021 Cedric Mullins II

SP #1: 2000 Mike Mussina

SP #2: 1998 Scott Erickson

SP #3: 2007 Erik Bedard

SP #4: 2019 John Means

SP #5: 2002 Rodrigo López

SP #6: 2009 Brad Bergesen

Bullpen: 1997 Randy Myers, 2001 Buddy Groom, 2010 Koji Uehara, 2012 Darren O’Day, 2016 Zack Britton, 2018 Mychal Givens

Boston Red Sox

C: 2005 Jason Varitek

1B: 1998 Mo Vaughn

2B: 2008 Dustin Pedroia

SS: 2000 Nomar Garciaparra

3B: 2010 Adrián Beltré

LF: 2003 Manny Ramírez

CF: 2011 Jacoby Ellsbury

RF: 2018 Mookie Betts

DH: 2007 David Ortiz

Bench: 1997 John Valentin, 2009 Kevin Youkilis, 2012 Jarrod Saltalamacchia, 2016 Jackie Bradley Jr., 2019 Xander Bogaerts

SP #1: 1999 Pedro Martínez

SP #2: 2017 Chris Sale

SP #3: 1996 Roger Clemens

SP #4: 2004 Curt Schilling

SP #5: 2021 Nathan Eovaldi

SP #6: 2002 Derek Lowe

Bullpen: 2001 Ugueth Urbina, 2006 Jonathan Papelbon, 2013 Koji Uehara, 2014 Andrew Miller, 2015 Junichi Tazawa, 2020 Ryan Brasier

Chicago Cubs

C: 2010 Geovany Soto

1B: 2005 Derrek Lee

2B: 2008 Mark DeRosa

SS: 2018 Javier Báez

3B: 2016 Kris Bryant

LF: 2007 Alfonso Soriano

CF: 2004 Corey Patterson

RF: 2001 Sammy Sosa

Bench: 1996 Brian McRae, 1997 Mark Grace, 1998 Mickey Morandini, 1999 Henry Rodríguez, 2000 Joe Girardi, 2012 Starlin Castro

SP #1: 2003 Mark Prior

SP #2: 2020 Yu Darvish

SP #3: 2015 Jake Arrieta

SP #4: 2002 Matt Clement

SP #5: 2011 Matt Garza

SP #6: 2009 Ted Lilly

Bullpen: 2006 Bob Howry, 2013 Pedro Strop, 2014 Héctor Rondón, 2017 Wade Davis, 2019 Kyle Ryan, 2021 Craig Kimbrel

Chicago White Sox

C: 2021 Yasmani Grandal

1B: 2020 José Abreu

2B: 2001 Ray Durham

SS: 2000 José Valentín

3B: 1996 Robin Ventura

LF: 1998 Albert Belle

CF: 2004 Aaron Rowand

RF: 2016 Adam Eaton

DH: 1997 Frank Thomas

Bench: 2006 A.J. Pierzynski, 2008 Carlos Quentin, 2011 Alexei Ramírez, 2017 Yolmer Sánchez, 2018 Yoán Moncada

SP #1: 2003 Esteban Loaiza

SP #2: 2005 Mark Buehrle

SP #3: 2015 Chris Sale

SP #4: 2019 Lucas Giolito

SP #5: 2014 José Quintana

SP #6: 2012 Jake Peavy

Bullpen: 1999 Keith Foulke, 2002 Antonio Osuna, 2007 Bobby Jenks, 2009 Matt Thornton, 2010 J.J. Putz, 2013 Jesse Crain

Cincinnati Reds

C: 2009 Ryan Hanigan

1B: 2015 Joey Votto

2B: 2011 Brandon Phillips

SS: 1996 Barry Larkin

3B: 2010 Scott Rolen

LF: 2004 Adam Dunn

CF: 2000 Ken Griffey Jr.

RF: 2002 Austin Kearns

Bench: 1998 Willie Greene, 2005 Felipe López, 2008 David Ross, 2016 Billy Hamilton, 2018 Scooter Gennett, 2021 Nick Castellanos

SP #1: 2020 Trevor Bauer

SP #2: 2006 Aaron Harang

SP #3: 2013 Mat Latos

SP #4: 2019 Sonny Gray

SP #5: 2014 Johnny Cueto

SP #6: 2003 Paul Wilson

Bullpen: 1997 Jeff Shaw, 1999 Scott Williamson, 2001 Danny Graves, 2007 David Weathers, 2012 Aroldis Chapman, 2017 Raisel Iglesias

Cleveland Indians

C: 2007 Victor Martinez

1B: 2002 Jim Thome

2B: 2001 Roberto Alomar

SS: 2018 Francisco Lindor

3B: 2020 José Ramírez

LF: 2014 Michael Brantley

CF: 2006 Grady Sizemore

RF: 1999 Manny Ramírez

DH: 2005 Travis Hafner

Bench: 1997 Sandy Alomar, 2000 Travis Fryman, 2009 Asdrúbal Cabrera, 2010 Shin-Soo Choo, 2013 Jason Kipnis

SP #1: 2017 Corey Kluber

SP #2: 2008 Cliff Lee

SP #3: 2019 Shane Bieber

SP #4: 1996 Charles Nagy

SP #5: 2011 Justin Masterson

SP #6: 2003 CC Sabathia

Bullpen: 1998 Michael Jackson, 2004 Rafael Betancourt, 2012 Vinnie Pestano, 2015 Cody Allen, 2016 Andrew Miller, 2021 Emmanuel Clase

Colorado Rockies

C: 2021 Elias Díaz

1B: 2000 Todd Helton

2B: 2016 D.J. LeMahieu

SS: 2019 Trevor Story

3B: 2018 Nolan Arenado

LF: 1996 Ellis Burks

CF: 2017 Charlie Blackmon

RF: 1997 Larry Walker

Bench: 2001 Jeff Cirillo, 2003 Charles Johnson, 2004 Clint Barmes, 2007 Matt Holliday, 2009 Troy Tulowitzki, 2013 Carlos Gonzalez

SP #1: 2020 German Márquez

SP #2: 2010 Ubaldo Jiménez

SP #3: 2008 Aaron Cook

SP #4: 2006 Jason Jennings

SP #5: 1999 Pedro Astacio

SP #6: 2015 Chad Bettis

Bullpen: 1998 Chuck McElroy, 2002 José Jiménez, 2005 Brian Fuentes, 2011 Rafael Betancourt, 2012 Matt Beslisle, 2014 Adam Ottavino

Detroit Tigers

C: 2004 Iván Rodríguez

1B: 2012 Prince Fielder

2B: 2016 Ian Kinsler

SS: 2006 Carlos Guillén

3B: 2013 Miguel Cabrera

LF: 2017 Justin Upton

CF: 2007 Curtis Granderson

RF: 2015 J.D. Martinez

DH: 2003 Dmitri Young

Bench: 1996 Bobby Higginson, 1998 Damion Easley, 2005 Plácido Polanco, 2011 Alex Avila, 2021 Jeimer Candelario

SP #1: 2009 Justin Verlander

SP #2: 2014 Max Scherzer

SP #3: 1997 Jason Thompson

SP #4: 2002 Mark Redman

SP #5: 2001 Jeff Weaver

SP #6: 2019 Matthew Boyd

Bullpen: 1999 Doug Brocail, 2000 Todd Jones, 2008 Bobby Seay, 2010 Phil Coke, 2018 Joe Jiménez, 2020 José Cisnero

Florida/Miami Marlins

C: 2018 J.T. Realmuto

1B: 1996 Jeff Conine

2B: 2003 Luis Castillo

SS: 2008 Hanley Ramírez

3B: 2006 Miguel Cabrera

LF: 2001 Cliff Floyd

CF: 2014 Marcell Ozuna

RF: 2017 Giancarlo Stanton

Bench: 1998 Mark Kotsay, 1999 Mike Redmond, 2011 Emilio Bonafacio, 2012 José Reyes, 2015 Dee Gordon, 2019 Brian Anderson

SP #1: 1997 Kevin Brown

SP #2: 2005 Dontrelle Willis

SP #3: 2016 José Fernández

SP #4: 2010 Josh Johnson

SP #5: 2002 A.J. Burnett

SP #6: 2011 Aníbal Sánchez

Bullpen: 2004 Armando Benítez, 2007 Lee Gardner, 2009 Kiko Calero, 2013 Mike Dunn, 2020 Yimi García, 2021 Dylan Floro

Houston Astros

C: 2013 Jason Castro

1B: 1999 Jeff Bagwell

2B: 1997 Craig Biggio

SS: 2021 Carlos Correa

3B: 2018 Alex Bregman

LF: 1998 Moises Alou

CF: 2000 Richard Hidalgo

RF: 2006 Lance Berkman

Bench: 1996 Brad Ausmus, 2007 Hunter Pence, 2008 Ty Wigginton, 2009 Michael Bourn, 2012 Jed Lowrie, 2014 Jose Altuve

SP #1: 2019 Gerrit Cole

SP #2: 2004 Roy Oswalt

SP #3: 2005 Roger Clemens

SP #4: 2015 Dallas Keuchel

SP #5: 2020 Zack Greinke

SP #6: 2002 Wade Miller

Bullpen: 2001 Octavio Dotel, 2003 Billy Wagner, 2010 Wilton López, 2011 Mark Melancon, 2016 Chris Devenski, 2017 Ken Giles

Kansas City Royals

C: 2020 Salvador Perez

1B: 2002 Mike Sweeney

2B: 2018 Whit Merrifield

SS: 1997 Jay Bell

3B: 2015 Mike Moustakas

LF: 2011 Alex Gordon

CF: 2003 Carlos Beltrán

RF: 2014 Lorenzo Cain

DH: 2019 Jorge Soler

Bench: 1998 José Offerman, 2000 Johnny Damon, 2001 Gregg Zaun, 2004 Joe Randa, 2006 Mark Grudzielanek

SP #1: 2009 Zack Greinke

SP #2: 1996 Kevin Appier

SP #3: 2008 Gil Meche

SP #4: 2013 James Shields

SP #5: 1999 Jose Rosado

SP #6: 2010 Luke Hochevar

Bullpen: 2005 Mike MacDougal, 2007 Joakim Soria, 2012 Greg Holland, 2016 Kelvin Herrera, 2017 Mike Minor, 2021 Scott Barlow

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim/Anaheim Angels/Los Angeles Angels

C: 2017 Martín Maldonado

1B: 2009 Kendrys Morales

2B: 2014 Howie Kendrick

SS: 2018 Andrelton Simmons

3B: 2020 Anthony Rendon

LF: 2000 Darin Erstad

CF: 2013 Mike Trout

RF: 2004 Vladimir Guerrero

DH/SP #6: 2021 Shohei Ohtani

Bench: 1997 Tim Salmon, 1998 Matt Walbeck, 1999 Randy Velarde, 2002 David Eckstein, 2012 Torii Hunter, 2015 David Freese

SP #1: 2011 Dan Haren

SP #2: 2010 Jered Weaver

SP #3: 2008 Ervin Santana

SP #4: 2006 John Lackey

SP #5: 1996 Chuck Finley

Bullpen: 2001 Troy Percival, 2003 Brendan Donnelly, 2005 Scot Shields, 2007 Francisco Rodríguez, 2016 José Álvarez, 2019 Hansel Robles

Los Angeles Dodgers

C: 1997 Mike Piazza

1B: 2017 Cody Bellinger

2B: 2019 Max Muncy

SS: 2016 Corey Seager

3B: 2004 Adrián Beltré

LF: 2000 Gary Sheffield

CF: 2011 Matt Kemp

RF: 2020 Mookie Betts

Bench: 1996 Raúl Mondesi, 2001 Shawn Green, 2005 Jeff Kent, 2008 Russell Martin, 2013 Hanley Ramírez, 2018 Justin Turner

SP #1: 2014 Clayton Kershaw

SP #2: 1999 Kevin Brown

SP #3: 2021 Walker Buehler

SP #4: 2015 Zack Greinke

SP #5: 2002 Odalis Pérez

SP #6: 1998 Darren Dreifort

Bullpen: 2003 Eric Gagné, 2006 Takashi Saito, 2007 Joe Beimel, 2009 Jonathan Broxton, 2010 Hong-Chih Kuo, 2012 Kenley Jansen

Milwaukee Brewers

C: 2014 Jonathan Lucroy

1B: 2009 Prince Fielder

2B: 2010 Rickie Weeks

SS: 2006 Bill Hall

3B: 1998 Jeff Cirillo

LF: 2011 Ryan Braun

CF: 2013 Carlos Gómez

RF: 2019 Christian Yelich

Bench: 1999 Dave Nilsson, 2002 José Hernández, 2003 Scott Podsednik, 2005 Geoff Jenkins, 2012 Aramis Ramírez, 2016 Jonathan Villar

SP #1: 2004 Ben Sheets

SP #2: 2021 Corbin Burnes

SP #3: 2017 Jimmy Nelson

SP #4: 2008 CC Sabathia

SP #5: 1996 Ben McDonald

SP #6: 2001 Jimmy Haynes

Bullpen: 1997 Doug Jones, 2000 Bob Wickman, 2007 Francisco Cordero, 2015 Will Smith, 2018 Josh Hader, 2020 Devin Williams

Minnesota Twins

C: 2009 Joe Mauer

1B: 2010 Justin Morneau

2B: 1996 Chuck Knoblauch

SS: 2007 Jason Bartlett

3B: 2001 Corey Koskie

LF: 2002 Jacque Jones

CF: 2021 Byron Buxton

RF: 2008 Denard Span

DH: 2019 Nelson Cruz

Bench: 1998 Matt Lawton, 2013 Pedro Florimón, 2015 Trevor Plouffe, 2016 Brian Dozier, 2017 Jason Castro

SP #1: 2005 Johan Santana

SP #2: 2014 Phil Hughes

SP #3: 2020 Kenta Maeda

SP #4: 2004 Brad Radke

SP #5: 1997 Bob Tewksbury

SP #6: 1999 Eric Milton

Bullpen: 2000 Travis Miller, 2003 LaTroy Hawkins, 2006 Joe Nathan, 2011 Glen Perkins, 2012 Brian Duensing, 2018 Taylor Rogers

New York Mets

C: 2000 Mike Piazza

1B: 1998 John Olerud

2B: 1999 Edgardo Alfonzo

SS: 2008 José Reyes

3B: 2007 David Wright

LF: 1996 Bernard Gilkey

CF: 2006 Carlos Beltrán

RF: 2020 Michael Conforto

Bench: 1997 Todd Hundley, 2001 Robin Ventura, 2002 Rey Ordóñez, 2010 Ángel Pagán, 2011 Daniel Murphy, 2014 Lucas Duda

SP #1: 2018 Jacob DeGrom

SP #2: 2013 Matt Harvey

SP #3: 2005 Pedro Martínez

SP #4: 2016 Noah Syndergaard

SP #5: 2012 R.A. Dickey

SP #6: 2009 Johan Santana

Bullpen: 2003 David Weathers, 2004 Braden Looper, 2015 Jeurys Familia, 2017 Jerry Blevins, 2019 Seth Lugo, 2021 Edwin Díaz

New York Yankees

C: 2000 Jorge Posada

1B: 2002 Jason Giambi

2B: 2012 Robinson Canó

SS: 1999 Derek Jeter

3B: 2007 Álex Rodríguez

LF: 2010 Brett Gardner

CF: 2011 Curtis Granderson

RF: 2017 Aaron Judge

DH: 2020 Luke Voit

Bench: 1998 Scott Brosius, 2003 Alfonso Soriano, 2006 Johnny Damon, 2008 José Molina, 2016 Didi Gregorius

SP #1: 1997 Andy Pettitte

SP #2: 2001 Mike Mussina

SP #3: 2009 CC Sabathia

SP #4: 2018 Luis Severino

SP #5: 2021 Gerrit Cole

SP #6: 2005 Randy Johnson

Bullpen: 1996 Mariano Rivera, 2004 Tom Gordon, 2013 David Robertson, 2014 Dellin Betances, 2015 Andrew Miller, 2019 Aroldis Chapman

Oakland Athletics

C: 2008 Kurt Suzuki

1B: 2001 Jason Giambi

2B: 2018 Jed Lowrie

SS: 2019 Marcus Semien

3B: 2013 Josh Donaldson

LF: 2006 Nick Swisher

CF: 2012 Yoenis Céspedes

RF: 2009 Ryan Sweeney

DH: 1996 Mark McGwire

Bench: 1998 Rickey Henderson, 1999 Randy Velarde, 2010 Cliff Pennington, 2015 Stephen Vogt, 2021 Matt Chapman

SP #1: 2004 Tim Hudson

SP #2: 2007 Joe Blanton

SP #3: 2003 Mark Mulder

SP #4: 2011 Brandon McCarthy

SP #5: 2002 Barry Zito

SP #6: 2016 Rich Hill

Bullpen: 1997 Billy Taylor, 2000 Jeff Tam, 2005 Justin Duchscherer, 2014 Sean Doolittle, 2017 Ryan Madson, 2020 Liam Hendriks

Philadelphia Phillies

C: 2019 J.T. Realmuto

1B: 2006 Ryan Howard

2B: 2009 Chase Utley

SS: 2007 Jimmy Rollins

3B: 1998 Scott Rolen

LF: 2002 Pat Burrell

CF: 1999 Doug Glanville

RF: 2000 Bobby Abreu

Bench: 2003 Plácido Polanco, 2004 Jim Thome, 2010 Jayson Werth, 2012 Carlos Ruiz, 2016 Cesar Hernandez, 2020 Bryce Harper

SP #1: 2011 Roy Halladay

SP #2: 1997 Curt Schilling

SP #3: 2021 Zack Wheeler

SP #4: 2013 Cliff Lee

SP #5: 2018 Aaron Nola

SP #6: 1996 Sid Fernandez

Bullpen: 2001 José Mesa, 2005 Billy Wagner, 2008 Brad Lidge, 2014 Jonathan Papelbon, 2015 Ken Giles, 2017 Pat Neshek

Pittsburgh Pirates

C: 2014 Russell Martin

1B: 1999 Kevin Young

2B: 1996 Jeff King

SS: 2004 Jack Wilson

3B: 2001 Aramis Ramírez

LF: 2005 Jason Bay

CF: 2013 Andrew McCutchen

RF: 2000 Brian Giles

Bench: 1997 Jason Kendall, 2002 Pokey Reese, 2006 Freddy Sánchez, 2008 Nate McLouth, 2019 Kevin Newman, 2021 Bryan Reynolds

SP #1: 2015 Gerrit Cole

SP #2: 2018 Jameson Taillon

SP #3: 2009 Paul Maholm

SP #4: 2012 A.J. Burnett

SP #5: 1998 Francisco Córdova

SP #6: 2010 James McDonald

Bullpen: 2003 Julián Tavárez, 2007 Matt Capps, 2011 Joel Hanrahan, 2016 Juan Nicasio, 2017 Felipe Rivero, 2020 Chris Stratton

San Diego Padres

C: 2014 René Rivera

1B: 2009 Adrián González

2B: 2004 Mark Loretta

SS: 2021 Fernando Tatis Jr.

3B: 2012 Chase Headley

LF: 1999 Reggie Sanders

CF: 1996 Steve Finley

RF: 2005 Brian Giles

Bench: 1997 Tony Gwynn, 2001 Phil Nevin, 2002 Mark Kotsay, 2006 Josh Bard, 2011 Orlando Hudson, 2013 Everth Cabrera

SP #1: 1998 Kevin Brown

SP #2: 2007 Jake Peavy

SP #3: 2020 Dinelson Lamet

SP #4: 2010 Mat Latos

SP #5: 2015 Tyson Ross

SP #6: 2003 Adam Eaton

Bullpen: 2000 Trevor Hoffman, 2008 Heath Bell, 2016 Ryan Buchter, 2017 Brad Hand, 2018 Craig Stammen, 2019 Kirby Yates

San Francisco Giants

C: 2012 Buster Posey

1B: 2013 Brandon Belt

2B: 2000 Jeff Kent

SS: 2001 Rich Aurilia

3B: 2011 Pablo Sandoval

LF: 2002 Barry Bonds

CF: 2010 Andres Torres

RF: 2020 Mike Yastrzemski

Bench: 1996 Matt Williams, 1999 Brent Mayne, 2004 Ray Durham, 2006 Omar Vizquel, 2008 Randy Winn, 2014 Hunter Pence

SP #1: 2009 Tim Lincecum

SP #2: 2003 Jason Schmidt

SP #3: 2015 Madison Bumgarner

SP #4: 2016 Johnny Cueto

SP #5: 2021 Kevin Gausman

SP #6: 2007 Matt Cain

Bullpen: 1997 Rod Beck, 1998 Robb Nen, 2005 Scott Eyre, 2017 Hunter Strickland, 2018 Will Smith, 2019 Sam Dyson

Seattle Mariners

C: 2017 Mike Zunino

1B: 2002 John Olerud

2B: 2001 Bret Boone

SS: 2000 Álex Rodríguez

3B: 2014 Kyle Seager

LF: 2003 Randy Winn

CF: 1996 Ken Griffey Jr.

RF: 2004 Ichiro Suzuki

DH: 1998 Edgar Martinez

Bench: 2005 Jeremy Reed, 2008 Adrián Beltré, 2016 Robinson Canó, 2019 Tom Murphy, 2021 J.P. Crawford

SP #1: 1997 Randy Johnson

SP #2: 2009 Félix Hernández

SP #3: 1999 Jamie Moyer

SP #4: 2010 Cliff Lee

SP #5: 2013 Hisashi Iwakuma

SP #6: 2011 Michael Pineda

Bullpen: 2006 J.J. Putz, 2007 George Sherrill, 2012 Tom Wilhelmsen, 2015 Carson Smith, 2018 Edwin Díaz, 2020 Anthony Misiewicz

Tampa Bay Rays/Devil Rays

C: 2021 Mike Zunino

1B: 2007 Carlos Peña

2B: 2020 Brandon Lowe

SS: 2005 Julio Lugo

3B: 2013 Evan Longoria

LF: 2010 Carl Crawford

CF: 2008 B.J. Upton

RF: 2009 Ben Zobrist

DH: 2002 Randy Winn

Bench: 2003 Toby Hall, 2004 Aubrey Huff, 2016 Logan Forsythe, 2017 Tim Beckham

SP #1: 2019 Charlie Morton

SP #2: 2015 Chris Archer

SP #3: 2011 James Shields

SP #4: 2018 Blake Snell

SP #5: 2012 David Price

SP #6: 2000 Bryan Rekar

Bullpen: 1998 Jim Mecir, 1999 Roberto Hernández, 2001 Esteban Yan, 2006 Tyler Walker, 2014 Jake McGee

Texas Rangers

C: 1999 Iván Rodríguez

1B: 2005 Mark Teixeira

2B: 2011 Ian Kinsler

SS: 2002 Álex Rodríguez

3B: 2012 Adrián Beltré

LF: 1997 Rusty Greer

CF: 2010 Josh Hamilton

RF: 1998 Juan González

DH: 2003 Hank Blalock

Bench: 2001 Rafael Palmeiro, 2008 Milton Bradley, 2015 Roughned Odor, 2016 Ian Desmond, 2020 Samuel Huff

SP #1: 2019 Lance Lynn

SP #2: 1996 Ken Hill

SP #3: 2013 Yu Darvish

SP #4: 2000 Kenny Rogers

SP #5: 2006 Kevin Millwood

SP #6: 2021 Kyle Gibson

Bullpen: 2004 Francisco Cordero, 2007 Joaquin Benoit, 2009 C.J. Wilson, 2014 Joakim Soria, 2017 Alex Claudio, 2018 José Leclerc

Toronto Blue Jays

C: 2016 Russell Martin

1B: 1998 Carlos Delgado

2B: 2021 Marcus Semien

SS: 2009 Marco Scutaro

3B: 2015 Josh Donaldson

LF: 2000 Shannon Stewart

CF: 2006 Vernon Wells

RF: 2011 José Bautista

DH: 2012 Edwin Encarnación

Bench: 1999 Shawn Green, 2002 Eric Hinske, 2004 Orlando Hudson, 2010 Álex González, 2018 Luke Maile

SP #1: 1997 Roger Clemens

SP #2: 2003 Roy Halladay

SP #3: 2020 Hyun-Jin Ryu

SP #4: 1996 Pat Hentgen

SP #5: 2008 A.J. Burnett

SP #6: 2005 Josh Towers

Bullpen: 2001 Paul Quantrill, 2007 Jeremy Accardo, 2013 Steve Delabar, 2014 Brett Cecil, 2017 Roberto Osuna, 2019 Ken Giles

Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos

C: 2011 Wilson Ramos

1B: 2004 Brad Wilkerson

2B: 2016 Daniel Murphy

SS: 2020 Trea Turner

3B: 2019 Anthony Rendon

LF: 2006 Alfonso Soriano

CF: 2014 Denard Span

RF: 2015 Bryce Harper

Bench: 2000 Vladimir Guerrero, 2003 Orlando Cabrera, 2005 Brian Schneider, 2009 Ryan Zimmerman, 2013 Ian Desmond, 2021 Juan Soto

SP #1: 1997 Pedro Martínez

SP #2: 2018 Max Scherzer

SP #3: 2001 Javier Vázquez

SP #4: 2017 Stephen Strasburg

SP #5: 1996 Jeff Fassero

SP #6: 2012 Gio González

Bullpen: 1998 Ugueth Urbina, 1999 Anthony Telford, 2002 Scott Stewart, 2007 Jon Rauch, 2008 Saul Rivera, 2010 Tyler Clippard

2 thoughts on “Constructing a dream 26-man roster for the last 26 years for every team in Major League Baseball

  1. This is an amazing thing you did here! I am an avid reader of your blog and enjoy it very much.

    But as an A’s fan I have my disagreements…and that’s fine, but what’s up with 2009 Ryan Sweeney in RF? He had some pretty pedestrian stats that year, and I think most Oakland fans would say the guy with 23 career homers kind of sucked. I don’t want to be nitpicky but this is all so very confusing.

    Like

    1. Oakland had a weird outfield assortment—four seasons of precisely 4 fWAR at the top of the leaderboard plus five more between 3.7-3.9. Realistically, Sweeney probably would’ve seemed more palatable in CF, though I stayed loyal to their positions in that season and I couldn’t fit everyone optimally. Certainly could see an argument for some Josh Reddick seasons but I didn’t want to sacrifice the guys I chose in those years.

      Liked by 1 person

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