We think we\u2019ve done that. So here are our choices \u2014 which even we\u00a0didn\u2019t agree on initially. Luckily, we\u2019re confident that everyone reading this will be in full agreement. But if for some reason you\u2019re not, just let us know in the comments section below. We\u2019ll start ducking for cover.<\/p>\n
And yes, we\u2019re aware of the technicality that the year 2000 was actually the end of the previous century, not the start of this one. But can we all agree that 1999 was the end of the 1900s, and 2000 was the beginning of the 2000s? In selecting this team, we looked at postseason performance from 2000 through 2024.<\/p>\n
Oh, and one more thing: The position-player part of this was a Stark writing assignment. The pitchers section was a Kepner production. Not that it matters to most of you, but if you think any of these picks are dopey, disgraceful or just outright wrong, our stance will be: Don\u2019t blame me. It was HIS fault.<\/p>\n
First base: Albert Pujols![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP0410210900.jpg\")
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Albert Pujols, the NLCS MVP in 2004, gets the nod at first base. (Tom Gannam \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Yeah, we could have gone with Freddie Freeman here \u2014 if walk-off grand slams<\/a> were the 2-billion-bonus-point tie-breaker. But with all proper admiration for Freeman, the winner here has to be Sir Albert.<\/p>\n Compare the postseason credentials for these two and you\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n CATEGORYPUJOLS\u00a0FREEMAN<\/p>\n HR<\/p>\n 19\u00a0<\/p>\n 14<\/p>\n AVG\u00a0<\/p>\n .319\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n .277<\/p>\n OBP<\/p>\n .422\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n .373<\/p>\n SLUG<\/p>\n .572\u00a0<\/p>\n .519<\/p>\n OPS<\/p>\n .995\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n .893<\/p>\n RBI\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n 54<\/p>\n 36<\/p>\n RUNS\u00a0<\/p>\n 57<\/p>\n 31<\/p>\n INT BB<\/p>\n 20<\/p>\n 3<\/p>\n They each were the first baseman on two World Series winners. And they each have postseason MVP trophies on their shelves (although Freeman was a World Series MVP, while Pujols \u201conly\u201d won an NLCS MVP). So if you\u2019d like to tell us they both deserve this, you\u2019re right. But if there\u2019s an argument in there that Pujols\u00a0shouldn\u2019t\u00a0win, sorry. We couldn\u2019t find one.<\/p>\n Second base: Jose Altuve<\/p>\n All right, let it all out. Go find your trash-can lid and bang it. Go hook up your favorite buzzer and push it. Go find your asterisk collection and spray it in our direction. Yes, we know how obsessed thousands of you are with the clouds that hover over the 2015-24 Astros.<\/p>\n Got it. Duly acknowledged. Appreciate your concern. But just as we didn\u2019t disqualify Altuve from his spot on the regular-season version of this team<\/a>, we\u2019re ruling he\u2019s equally eligible for the Mr. October Club.<\/p>\n And if he\u2019s eligible, then guess what? He\u00a0has\u00a0to be the second baseman on this team if only because \u2026 he\u2019s one of the greatest postseason hitters of all time.<\/p>\n He\u2019s 5-foot-6 \u2026 and he\u2019s hit 27 postseason homers. He ranks in the top four, among all postseason players ever, in hits, runs, homers and total bases.<\/p>\n He has piled up more postseason hits and homers (27 and 118) than Chase Utley and Dustin Pedroia combined (95 and 15). And he owns the highest 21st-century postseason OPS (.841) of any full-time second baseman who has won at least one World Series.<\/p>\n We know there are questions about the Buzzergate stuff that lingers around his greatest October moment ever \u2014 the shocking, game-ending, next-stop-is-the-World Series homer off Aroldis Chapman in 2019. But we don\u2019t recall the league stripping him or his team of any hits, homers, wins or titles.<\/p>\n So here\u2019s the deal: That \u2026 happened. And since it did, there\u2019s just not a compelling enough case for anyone else \u2014 not Utley, not Pedroia, not Robinson Can\u00f3, not bounce-around-the-field types like Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez and Ben Zobrist. Sorry. You know where to express your alternate viewpoints.<\/p>\n Shortstop: Derek Jeter<\/p>\n This one seemed so obvious \u2026 but was it?<\/p>\n Corey Seager: two-time World Series MVP. And how exclusive is that list? The only guys on it are Seager and three Hall of Famers (Bob Gibson, Reggie Jackson and that Sandy Koufax guy.)<\/p>\n But also \u2026 Carlos Correa: 18 postseason homers \u2014 two of them unforgettable walk-off bombs. And was he clutch enough for you? According to Baseball Reference, he ranks No. 3 all time in postseason Win Probability Added. That seems good.<\/p>\n So there was so much to ponder, until that lightning bolt zapped us, as if to ask:\u00a0What the heck are you dopes thinking?<\/p>\n Of course, Derek Jeter is the shortstop on this team. He was the MVP of the first World Series in the 2000s. He was a human October highlight reel \u2014 and\u00a0he was Mr. November.<\/p>\n We also thought about this: Suppose Francis Ford Coppola wasn\u2019t available, and we were asked to produce the epic major motion picture on postseasons in the 2000s, \u201cThe Lord of the October Rings.\u201d Wouldn\u2019t the very first player on the screen be The Captain of the New York Yankees?<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t just live for October. He\u00a0was\u00a0October. And as he\u2019s said so many times, he rose to those moments because he was always himself in those moments.<\/p>\n Jeter in the 2000s Postseason<\/p>\n .301\u00a0<\/p>\n .366\u00a0<\/p>\n .467<\/p>\n .833\u00a0<\/p>\n 23\u00a0<\/p>\n 109<\/p>\n Regular season<\/p>\n .307\u00a0<\/p>\n .374\u00a0<\/p>\n .432<\/p>\n .806\u00a0<\/p>\n 15<\/p>\n 110<\/p>\n (*per 162 games)<\/p>\n OK, case closed. Apologies to Seager, Correa and yes, even David Eckstein.<\/p>\n Third base: David Freese The David Freese Game is one for the history books. (Doug Pensinger \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Have you noticed that all the choices so far were the same players who populated three-quarters of this infield on our regular-season All-Quarter Century Team<\/a>? Well, even if you hadn\u2019t, that trend ends here.<\/p>\n When we began to consider third base, we realized we had an important philosophical debate to sort out. Is this going to be a Career October Achievement Award? Or are we allowed to be swayed by the shorter-term case for a guy who, let\u2019s just say, has his own World Series game named after him?<\/p>\n Do we really have to remind you about The David Freese Game? Game 6, 2011 World Series. Not just a tremendous evening of October theater. Might even be the greatest World Series game ever played<\/a>.<\/p>\n And we can thank the third baseman for the Cardinals, who fired a game-tying two-out, two-strike triple in the ninth and then a staggering, season-saving, history-rewriting, walk-off homer in the 11th. The Cardinals won an improbable World Series because Freese did those things.<\/p>\n And as you can see, we came around to the idea that a World Series MVP who airlifts his team onto the parade floats can make this lineup \u2014 even if it\u2019s mostly for that. You know why? Because nothing about the postseason matters more than that.<\/p>\n That said, Freese was a great October player, period. Only five third basemen in postseason history hit more homers than he did (10). His career postseason OPS was .919. His career World Series OPS was .962. And he ranks No. 1 in history\u00a0in career postseason Win Probability Added.<\/p>\n So even though we had some great choices at this position (Pablo Sandoval, Troy Glaus, Mike Lowell, Alex Bregman, even Alex Rodriguez), we\u2019re making a statement with this pick.<\/p>\n Left field: Kyle Schwarber\u00a0\u00a0 Kyle Schwarber, pictured in the 2016 World Series. It\u2019s not October if he\u2019s not playing. (Elsa \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n We could have gone with Barry Bonds, except whoops \u2014 he never won a World Series. We could have gone with Randy Arozarena, except \u2026 see above. We decided when we started this project that winning it all at least once was the non-negotiable cutoff point.<\/p>\n So this wound up coming down to Schwarber versus Manny Ramirez (with Hideki Matsui somewhere in that mix). And on one level, it was hard\u00a0not\u00a0to go with the guy with the .338\/.442\/.604 slash line (Ramirez).<\/p>\n But as we mentioned in the regular-season portion of this project, we had a different standard for \u201cPED guys\u201d who got dinged\u00a0after\u00a0the testing era kicked in. And Manny\u2019s most dominant October of them all came with the 2008 Dodgers, when he hit .520, with a ridiculous 1.747 OPS. Whereupon \u2026 he tested positive\u00a0the next spring training!<\/p>\n So that led us to Schwarber, and why the heck not. The only complication is that he also has DH\u2019d and even played first base at this time of year. But he played left field more than any other position, so that was another one of our qualifiers.<\/p>\n And since he qualifies in this spot, he\u2019s in. You know who this generation\u2019s true Mr. October is? The Schwarbino! It\u2019s not October if this guy isn\u2019t playing. In his first 10 big-league seasons, he suited up in the postseason in nine of them \u2014 and he\u2019ll do it again any day now.<\/p>\n But also \u2026 only three players have hit more postseason homers than he has (22). No one\u00a0has led off more postseason games with a homer than he has (five). And Schwarber has this awesome claim to fame: He has homered in every possible postseason series \u2014 World Series, NLCS, ALCS, NLDS, ALDS, NL wild card and AL wild card.<\/p>\n Plus he allows us to elevate at least one guy from the curse-busting 2016 Cubs into this lineup. So why not the dude who tore up his knee, was supposed to be out for the year and then willed himself to heal up, come back and hit .412 in that World Series?<\/p>\n Will this honor earn him an extra $10 million or so as a free agent this winter? Ya never know.<\/p>\n Center field: George Springer<\/p>\n Yet another dastardly member of the Trash Can Astros makes this team. And we apologize to the runners-up \u2014 Bernie Williams, Jim Edmonds, Darin Erstad, Johnny Damon, etc. \u2014 for not punishing heinous can-banging mischief the way America seems to want us to.<\/p>\n But refer back to the Altuve section of this piece for a reminder on our reasoning. As long as the sport was going to allow all the Astros\u2019 October glories to stand, Springer was impossible to leave off this team.<\/p>\n Couldn\u2019t overlook those 19 postseason homers. Sorry. Couldn\u2019t pretend that World Series MVP award never happened. Sorry.<\/p>\n Only one player in the 2000s (Altuve) has hit more postseason home runs that either tied a game or gave his team the lead than Springer hit (10). His career postseason OPS is 1.023 with men in scoring position, 1.308 in one-run games and 1.295 in 14 World Series games. (And for the record, his leadoff double and second-inning homer essentially won Game 7 of that 2019 World Series \u2026 about 1,500 miles away from those trash cans in Houston.)<\/p>\n So America, we hear you. We\u2019re just doing what we have to do, as much as that seems to irritate you. One more time: Sorry!<\/p>\n Right field: Lance Berkman<\/p>\n Hey, we bet you didn\u2019t expect to see this choice. This was another fun debate, with Mookie Betts, Carlos Beltr\u00e1n, Jayson Werth, Jermaine Dye and even Juan Soto giving us lots to think about.<\/p>\n So how did Berkman rise to the top of that heap? Well, he was already possibly the least-hyped great player of this century. So we might as well honor him for something.<\/p>\n Did you know that Berkman\u2019s career postseason slash line was .317\/.417\/.532\/.949? That\u2019ll work. He played in five postseasons \u2014 and hit .300 or better in four of them. And his career postseason on-base percentage (.417) ranks No. 1 among every right fielder who has won a World Series in this quarter-century.<\/p>\n OK, now let\u2019s talk about that World Series his 2011 Cardinals won. Freese wasn\u2019t the only October hero in Game 6 who rescued the Cardinals from one-strike-away catastrophe. That night Berkman became the only player in history to get a game-tying hit\u00a0in extra innings\u00a0with his team one strike away from losing the World Series.<\/p>\n He hit .423\/.516\/.577 in that World Series, coming to the plate 31 times and reaching base in 16 of those at-bats. And here\u2019s one more Did You Know: He ranks No. 3 all time in Championship Win Probability Added. Only Mickey Mantle \u2014 and Freese \u2014 are ahead of him.<\/p>\n So Beltr\u00e1n\u2019s overall numbers (.307\/.412\/.609) may look more compelling. But the only time he won a World Series, for those 2017 Astros, he was just a bit player \u2014 and also was the only player ever directly tied to those trash cans in MLB\u2019s summation of its investigation.<\/p>\n This wasn\u2019t easy. But we get paid to make the hard choices around here. If you don\u2019t agree, just tap your trash can. We\u2019ll listen.<\/p>\n Catcher: Carlos Ruiz<\/p>\n We went into this thing expecting Buster Posey to strap on his gear and step into this spot in our lineup. But that isn\u2019t where we landed. And not just because we love to surprise and aggravate you.<\/p>\n Posey would have been a fine choice, based on his three rings alone. Except he was also a guy with a .230\/.288\/.328 slash line in those three World Series.<\/p>\n Yadier Molina, our regular-season pick for catcher of the quarter-century, would have been another easy choice, since he won two World Series himself and had memorable swings of the bat in both of them. We love and appreciate Yadi. But we went with somebody else.<\/p>\n Carlos Ruiz wasn\u2019t the biggest star on those 2007-11 Phillies. And he definitely wasn\u2019t the loudest. But he had a huge October presence. His teams won one World Series and played in another. He had a walk-off World Series hit. (Who cares if it traveled about 26 feet.) And he caught the only complete-game postseason no-hitter since Don Larsen (by Roy Halladay in 2010).<\/p>\n Just 10 men have caught at least 50 postseason games in the 2000s. Ruiz is the only one of them with an .800-plus OPS (.802). He\u2019s also rocking a .353\/.488\/.706\/1.194 World Series slash line. And he was the heartbeat of a Phillies juggernaut that deserves some sort of presence on this team.<\/p>\n So yeah, it would have made lots of you happy if we\u2019d gone with Posey, Molina or even Jorge Posada. But you know that guy they called \u201cChooch?\u201d He was better than you think.<\/p>\n DH: David Ortiz David Ortiz, the most clutch postseason hitter ever. (Ezra Shaw \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Do we even have to explain this? It won\u2019t take long.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s David Ortiz\u2019s OPS in his three postseasons that led the Red Sox to the duckboats:<\/p>\n 2004 \u2014 1.278 Now here come just those three World Series:<\/p>\n 2004 \u2014 .308\/.471\/.615 If Win Probability Added is a tool that can help us answer the question \u2014 Who\u2019s the most clutch postseason hitter ever? \u2014 then the answer is Big Papi. He ranks No. 1 in the history of baseball \u2013 and did it for a team that was consumed by curses and ghosts until he showed up.<\/p>\n So if you were worried that nobody from those Red Sox teams was going to crack this glorious roster \u2026 never mind!<\/p>\n Pitching staff<\/p>\n The last game of the first 2000s postseason brought Al Leiter to his knees<\/a>. Leiter, the Mets\u2019 redoubtable lefty, had thrown his 142nd and final pitch of the night \u2014 a bouncer up the middle that spun him around as he watched the World Series skip away with two outs in the ninth inning of Game 5.<\/p>\n Leiter took a hard-luck loss for his gem as the Yankees wrapped up the title. His start was the 11th of the 2000 postseason to last more than 120 pitches \u2014 a once-common threshold no pitcher has reached since Justin Verlander in Game 2 of the 2017 ALCS.<\/p>\n Verlander\u2019s gem was the last of the 35 postseason complete games in the 2000s \u2014 and all five starters on our team threw at least one shutout. It\u2019s a staff so dominant that some big-game stalwarts, like Chris Carpenter and others named below, didn\u2019t quite make the cut.<\/p>\n We still see standout individual performances these days. Starters threw shutout ball 14 times in the last postseason \u2014 in outings ranging from two innings (Matthew Boyd) to seven (Jack Flaherty, Michael King, Tarik Skubal, Zack Wheeler). It\u2019s just more of a team effort now, with setup men like Andrew Miller (2016), Bryan Abreu (2022) and so many others playing bigger roles than ever.<\/p>\n
\n AVGOBP\u00a0SLGOPSHR*RUNS<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-130661006.jpg\")
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2007 \u2014 1.204
2013 \u2014 1.206<\/p>\n
2007 \u2014 .333\/.412\/.533
2013 \u2014 .688\/.760\/1.188<\/p>\n
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