Baseball Hall of Fame 2026 results: Winners and losers

"Olney: Last year, Felix Hernandez polled at 20.6% of the vote in his first year on the ballot, and this year, he took a major step forward, to 46.1%, in what now appears to be a steady march toward election. There was a period of time in which King Felix was in the conversation for best pitcher on the planet, winning the AL Cy Young Award in 2010,"

"Castillo: Felix Hernandez and every other elite modern starting pitcher with dominant peaks lacking the historic prerequisites centered on counting stats for enshrinement. Not only does his jump this year suggest he'll eventually reach 75%, but that he'll reach that number sooner than previously expected after a career that concluded with a 3.42 ERA across 2,279 ⅔ innings. That's a victory for him and other future starting pitchers who didn't compile the huge counting stats of yesteryear's top starting pitchers."

"Doolittle: King Felix. I've been troubled by what I see as a potential under-representation for modern day starters in the Hall. (A lot more on that coming Thursday.) The jump in support for Hernandez is really encouraging. His career is almost certainly going to look more like the typical Hall of Fame starter in the future than those of Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw. If the bar is"

Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame's Class of 2026 with 84.2% and 78.4% of the vote, respectively. They join Jeff Kent, elected by the contemporary baseball era committee in December. Felix Hernandez's vote share increased from 20.6% to 46.1%, marking a major rise that suggests a steady march toward election. Hernandez's career included a 2010 AL Cy Young, a 3.42 ERA across 2,279 2/3 innings, 169 wins and 2,524 strikeouts. The increase in support signals greater acceptance of elite modern starters lacking historic counting statistics.

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