Category: Sports

The Indian Premier League certainly isn’t among the oldest professional sports leagues in the world, but it is already one of the most popular. Each year, 10 teams battle it out for the IPL championship and the valuation of the league is now several billion dollars. Along the way, there have been some truly great players, with some establishing themselves as legends.

Out of the many IPL players in the early parts of the league, which ones have been the best? Taking their contributions and production into consideration, there are five players that have separated themselves from the rest of the pack to be considered the best IPL players of all time.

5. Shane Watson

The other non-Indian-born player on the list is Shane Watson, who hails from Ipswich, Australia. Watson is one of the most influential cricket players of all time and spent eight years playing professionally before making his way to the IPL when it began in 2008. Watson started his IPL career with the Rajasthan Royals where he stayed for seven years, and has since played for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings during his IPL career.

Watson is tied for third all-time in the IPL with four centuries which spanned from 2008 to 2020 in 141 innings. Watson collected 3,874 runs and 92 wickets, joining just a handful of players to assemble 500 runs and 20 wickets, playing away the milestone. Watson is also one of a select few to record a hat trick.

4. Suresh Raina

A batsman who joined the Indian national team in 2005, Suresh Raina stuck around for 13 years while also having a long career in the IPL. At the advent of the league, Raina joined the Chennai Super Kings where he played until 2015, and rejoined the team in 2018 after spending two years with the Gujarat Lions. 

Raina finds himself close to the top of the leaderboard in many IPL career marks, including runs. In fact, Raina holds the team record for most career runs on two different teams. Raina also set the record for best strike rates in an inning with 1.5 that he set in May 2011. 

3. Dwayne Bravo

One of just two players on the list that were born outside of India, Dwayne Bravo is a native of Trinidad and Tobago, with the all-rounder representing the West Indies. Bravo was around for the start of the IPL, starting with the Mumbai Indians before also playing for the Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Lions. During that time, Bravo also spent time playing professionally outside of India.

Bravo holds the IPL record for most wickets taken at 183, with no other player being particularly close. 33 of those wickets have come against the Mumbai Indians and another 22 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

2. MS Dhoni

The former captain of India’s national team made his international debut in 2004 and played domestically before the formation of the IPL. In 2008, he was part of the first Chennai Super Kings team (squad no. 7) where he remained through 2015. MS Dhoni would return to the team in 2018, and for those two years in between, he was a member of the Rising Pune Supergiant team.

Dhoni is sixth-all time in the list of most career sixes with 229, which he did in 206 innings. He also dominates a couple of career records, recording 170 dismissals and 131 catches to go along with 39 career stumpings. 

1. Virat Kohli

At the top of just about everybody’s list for best IPL player of all time is Virat Kohli, the New Dehli-born legend who came into the professional ranks at the right time. Kohli was beginning to hit his prime when the IPL was formed, and he joined Royal Challengers Bangalore at their inception and has remained with the team ever since.

Kohli holds the IPL record for the most runs in his career and has feasted on teams like Rising Pune Supergiant and the Delhi Capitals, holding the record for most runs against both franchises. Kohli has a career-high of 108, which occurred on May 7, 2016, against RPS, and he’s third all-time in half-centuries with 44.

The Baltimore Orioles have a long history that dates back to the late 19th century, and though the franchise has just three World Series titles, they have also had some of the best players in Major League Baseball. In terms of the best Orioles players of all time, you can probably guess who number one is, but where do the rest rank? Here are our picks for the five greatest Orioles in franchise history.

5. George Sisler

Starting the top five is George Sisler, who began his career way back in 1915 and held the American League record for hits in a season for a very long time before Ichiro Suzuki set the new standard in the 2000s. Sisler played with the Orioles before their move to Baltimore, spending 12 seasons with what was then the St. Louis Browns.

During his career with the franchise, Sisler posted a .344 batting average with 93 home runs and 962 runs batted in, collecting an MVP Award in 1922. Sisler won two batting titles and was a master of stolen bases, swiping a career-high 51 bags during his MVP season. Sisler was even the Browns’ manager for three seasons and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.

4. Eddie Murray

“Steady” Eddie Murray is one of just a handful of players that’s hit 500 home runs while recording 3,000 career hits. Murray had two stints with the Orioles, starting his career in Baltimore from 1977 to 1988 and returning for the 1996 season. Murray was a seven-time All-Star with the Orioles and took home the Rookie of the Year Award with a .283 batting average and 27 home runs.

In his overall Orioles career, Murray slugged 363 home runs and knocked in 1,224 runs with a .294 batting average. Murray was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003 in his first year on the ballot. He has also been inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame and has his jersey number 33 retired by the franchise.

3. Jim Palmer

The only pitcher on the list is Jim palmer, who spent his entire career with the Orioles between 1968 and 1984, only taking off the 1968 season. Palmer was named an American League All-Star six times during his career, winning four Gold Gloves and learning the league in wins for three years in a row between 1975 and 1977.

The crown jewel of Palmer’s career is being a three-time AL Cy Young Award winner, taking home the title in 1973, 1975, and 1976. After retiring in 1984, Palmer was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1990 and had his number 22 jersey retired as he was inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame.

2. Brooks Robinson

There’s a reason Brooks Robinson was known as the “Human Vacuum Cleaner” thanks to his tremendous defensive play that won him 16 Gold Glove Awards, the most by a non-pitcher in baseball history. Robinson played his entire career with the Orioles that spanned from 1955 to 1977 and included a long list of non-Gold Glove Awards, too.

Robinson was named to the American League All-Star Team 18 times during his career and won the MVP Award in 1964 thanks to a .317 batting average, 28 home runs, and 118 runs batted in. Like the others on the list, Robinson was a first-ballot Hall of Famer and was inducted in 1983, and the number five jersey is retired in his honor.

1. Cal Ripken Jr.

It’s probably no surprise that the number one player on the list is Cal Ripken Jr., who will always be known for his consecutive games played record that’s almost guaranteed to never be broken. Ripken played all 21 of his Major League Baseball seasons with the Orioles, and the former Rookie of the Year was named to the American League All-Star Team 19 times.

Ripken was an eight-time Silver Slugger winner for being one of the best-hitting shortstops of all time, while also winning a pair of Gold Glove Awards. Ripken won two MVP Awards, the first coming in 1983 and the second in 1991. Ripken was nearly a unanimous Hall of Fame entry on his first time on the ballot in 2007 and no Oriole will wear number eight again.

There are certain sports uniforms that are seen as iconic since they haven’t changed with each passing generation. Teams in the NFL like the Jacksonville Jaguars or Atlanta Falcons seem to have a new uniform every year, but then there are teams like the New York Giants or Pittsburgh Steelers that remain largely unchanged.

Out of all of those classic uniforms, many consider the Chicago Bears to have the best of the bunch. While some minor details might change every few years or so, the overall concept remains the same. Let’s take a look at the Bears uniform, how it came to be, and some details that are still included as part of the uniform today.

The Staley Days

The early days of organized professional football didn’t offer a lot of variations between teams. Back when they first started, the Bears were known as the Decatur Staleys and their uniforms featured red jerseys with gold highlights for a few years before the iconic blue and orange colors became a staple.

The original Staleys uniforms featured three vertical stripes at the front of the jersey which was popular back then before switching to numbers upon becoming the Bears. In fact, the franchise was the first to feature jersey numbers.\

The Sleeves

Those that are watching the Chicago Bears play for the first time might ask why the Bears play with the letters “GSH” on their sleeves. While there have been memorial patches for plenty of NFL teams, the “GSH” on the Bears uniform is permanent and has been there since 1984. That was the first full season following the death of George Stanley “Papa Bear” Halas.

Halas wasn’t just the owner of the team but was also the founder. On top of that, Halas coached the team from their time in Decatur starting in 1920 all the way until 1967 with a few brief breaks in the action including World War II. The eight-time NFL champion will forever be etched onto the Bears uniforms with the “GSH” initials.

The Wings

The winged helmet in football is something that dates back to the early 1930s, and these days is more synonymous with the University of Michigan Wolverines football team. During the early days of the winged helmet concept, though, the Chicago Bears were among the pioneers with two seasons bearing the pattern.

Leather helmets were still in use by football teams during that time, and the Bears wanted to add some color to stand out. Though the concept was ultimately abandoned after a couple of years, the Bears throwback uniforms do feature the winged helmets.

The Helmet Logo

Though advertisements as part of sports uniforms are much more common these days, the Chicago Bears were one of the first teams to feature advertising. That was before they were the Bears, though. During the time of the Decatur Staleys, the team had the A.E. Staley Manufacturing Company logo for a year.

Since the early 1960s, though, the Bears have had the iconic ‘C’ logo on their helmets. The wishbone-style letter has a bit of an underbite, which has irked some people, though the origins are a bit difficult to find for historians. The logo is most synonymous with the Bears, but is also used by the Cincinnati Reds and had already been used by several colleges before the Bears got their hands (or paws) on it.

The Alternates

Just like every other franchise in the NFL, the Chicago Bears have experimented with a lot of alternate uniforms over the years. In addition to their Staleys throwbacks, the Bears have used orange as the primary jersey color for many of the alternates. The helmets, outside of the winged helmet, have largely remained untouched until 2022.

That was when the Bears debuted an orange alternate helmet for the first time, catching a lot of attention. For the most part, though, the uniforms have remained true to their classic look or have thrown back to the early 20th century look.

As the second oldest team in the NFL behind only the Cardinals, the Chicago Bears are among the most storied franchises in North American professional sports. With a history that has spanned over a century, there are bound to be plenty of eventual legends, including many Hall of Fame members to make their way through Chicago.

Out of the hundreds of people to don a Chicago Bears uniform, which ones rank among the best? It’s hard to narrow it down to just a handful, but we’ve picked the five best in Chicago Bears’ history. First, we’ll take a look at some of the members that almost made the list.

Honorable Mentions: Sid Luckman, Bill George, Brian Urlacher, Mike Singletary, Dan Hampton, Lance Briggs, Steve McMichael, Richard Dent

5. Mike Ditka

While most people from younger generations think of Mike Ditka as a coach or analyst, many forget that he was a tremendous player for the Bears, as well. Ditka was drafted with the fifth overall pick in 1961, playing his first six NFL seasons for the Bears. The tight end was an NFL Champion and four-time All-Pro in Chicago before ending his playing career with the Eagles and Cowboys.

Following his retirement, Ditka went into coaching with Dallas and remained there for nearly a decade before returning to the Bears sideline as the head coach. Ditka would win Super Bowl XX with one of the best football rosters ever assembled. Adding that to his playing career made Ditka a Bears legend.

4. Sid Luckman

Sid Luckman would change the game of football forever thanks to his passing ability during the first half of the 20th century. After attending Columbia, Luckman was drafted second overall by the Bears in 1939, and he played his entire career with the team. Luckman won four NFL Championships during that time, dominating the NFL.

Luckman led the NFL in passing three times and was a six-time All-Pro selection. His number 42 was retired by the Bears after his retirement, finishing with 137 touchdowns and nearly 15,000 career passing yards in an era where that was unheard of.

3. Gale Sayers

Known as the “Kansas Comet,” Gale Sayers didn’t have the longest career, but he put on a heck of a show during his NFL career. The fourth overall pick out of Kansas by the Bears, Sayers would play for seven seasons in Chicago, two of which he led the NFL in rushing yards.

Sayers set the rookie record for rushing touchdowns with 22 and is one of just three players to ever score six times in one game. Sayers was a five-time All-Pro selection who has his number 40 jersey retired by the Bears and was named to the NFL’s 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.

2. Dick Butkus

One of the most recognizable faces and, of course, names in the NFL belongs to Dick Butkus, the hardnosed linebacker that was a hometown hero. After growing up in Chicago, Butkus attended the University of Illinois and became the third overall selection in the 1965 NFL Draft. Butkus spent his entire career with the Bears and was a Pro Bowl selection in all but one of them.

Butkus was also an eight-time All-Pro and two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year. His number 51 jersey is retired by the Bears, and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot.

1. Walter Payton

Many consider Walter Payton to be not just the greatest Chicago Bear of all time, but one of the greatest NFL players, too. “Sweetness” played all 13 of his NFL seasons with the Bears, and was an eight-time All-Pro that set a then-NFL record for career rushing yards with 16,726. Payton also won a Super Bowl (XX) and the Most Valuable Player Award (1977).

Perhaps the greatest part of Payton’s legacy is winning the NFL Man of the Year Award. Due to his philanthropic efforts, the award was named after Payton and is one of the most prestigious honors given by the NFL each year.

There’s nothing quite as frustrating as a supporter than having a player that you know is among the best in the world, but never reaches their full potential due to a string of injuries. Fans of almost every Premier League team have been through that with at least one player, but watching some players deal with injuries can be more devastating because you knew they were once bound to be all-time greats.

Out of all of the players that have dealt with injuries throughout their careers in the Premier League, these five were the ones that seemed to be on their way to being legends, only to have setback after setback as they were hampered by injuries.

Owen Hargreaves

Canadian-born Owen Hargreaves made his way to Europe from North America as a teenager, entering Bayern Munich’s youth system in 1997. He would begin his professional career with Bayern, as well, and after lengthy negotiations, he would join Manchester United in 2007 in one of the most anticipated transfers ever.

The injury problems for Hargreaves began before he even suited up for Man U, though. In the year leading up to his joining the squad, Hargreaves was dealing with several minor injuries and then broke his leg, which never fully recovered. Hargreaves then dealt with painful patellar tendinitis and had some of the worst knees that doctors had ever seen. Physicians attempted to help Hargreaves, but there was no recovery in sight and he retired in 2011 with just 29 EPL appearances.

Jack Wilshere

There is perhaps no great example of a great career that was derailed by injury quite like Jack Wilshere’s. While coming up through Arsenal’s youth academy, Wilshire was one of the finest midfield prospects that some had ever seen. He made his senior club debut in 2008 and appeared in a total of 125 matches with Arsenal before joining West Ham in 2018.

Wilshere remained with West Ham until 2020 and ended his career with AFC Bournemouth and finally AGF in Denmark. During the 2011-12 season, Wilshere fractured his ankle in a friendly, which started his long list of problems. Wilshire picked up injury after injury, and he expressed his frustrations about not being able to stay healthy.

Dean Ashton

Dean Ashton began his professional football career with Crewe Alexandra, and made his English Premier League debut in 2005 with Norwich City. He appeared in 44 matches with the club, and finished out his career with 46 more appearances with West Ham from 2006 to 2009 before retiring at just 26 years old.

Ashton had lingering injuries throughout his career, but there was one in particular that essentially ruined his career. While training with the English national team in 2006, Ashton broke his ankle and it never fully recovered. Surgeons advised Ashton to cut his career short or else he’d be unable to walk eventually.

Daniel Sturridge

Daniel Sturridge was just six years old when he joined the Aston Villa academy, while also spending time with Coventry City and Manchester City’s youth academies. He would join the latter’s senior squad in 2006 and made 21 appearances before joining Chelsea in 2009. Sturridge also spent time with Bolton, Liverpool, and West Brom during his English career.

Sturridge often missed weeks at a time with various injuries, which really started to pick up in 2013. He’s missed extended time due to groin strains, sprained ankles, and much more. One hip injury, in particular, kept him out for nearly six months. Sturridge simply couldn’t stay on the pitch long enough to reach his full potential.

Abou Diaby

After spending time with five different youth academies, Abou Diaby made his senior debut in France where he made just 10 appearances over three different years, and then made his way to Arsenal. Arsenal was the only EPL team that Diaby played for, as he ended his career with Marseille from 2015 to 2017.

Diaby’s injury problems started before he even made it to Arsenal, but the club was willing to take a chance on him due to his talents. It’s difficult to list all of the injuries that Diaby sustained, as he underwent multiple surgeries that slowed him down and kept him off the pitch. 

Even the most casual of wrestling fans tune in each year for “The Grandest Stage of Them All” at WrestleMania. The largest event in wrestling, WrestleMania is typically capped off by a match that fans around the world have been clamoring to see with some of the most iconic names in the industry. Which main events were the best, though? Here are our picks for the top five.

5. Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle (XIX)

One of the more unique settings for a WrestleMania, the 19th edition took place at Seattle’s Safeco Field and featured a match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. However, that rematch was the penultimate match on the card, with “The next big thing” Brock Lesnar getting his coronation match against Kurt Angle.

The battle showed off Lesnar’s athleticism, even if it included one of the most notable botches in WrestleMania history when Lesnar came up short on a shooting star press. Lesnar ultimately won the match by giving Angle a third F-5, picking up the pinfall, and giving Lesnar the WWE Championship that he would lose to Angle and recapture throughout the rest of 2003.

4. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H (XX)

The third WrestleMania to be held at Madison Square Garden, WrestleMania XX opened with John Cena winning the United States title over the Big Show and Eddie Guerrero defeating Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship. The main event featured one of the best triple-threat matches of all time, with Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit being pitted against then-champion Triple H.

Prior to this WrestleMania, no other main event had ended with a tap out. Triple H would be the first to tap after his Pedigree was reversed into a Crippler Crossface. It was a huge night for former WCW stars as Benoit and Guerrero were both victorious in a moment of positivity before tragedy struck for both wrestlers.

3. Batista vs. Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan (XXX)

A decade after one of the best triple-threat matches ever, fans were treated to another one at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. Originally scheduled to be a Batista vs. Orton main event, Daniel Bryan was added in the weeks leading up to the event due to a massive swell of fan support for the underdog. After defeating Triple H to officially enter the match earlier in the night, the stage was set.

After more than 20 minutes of brawling, it looked like Batista was going to get the win after tossing Bryan out of the ring. However, Bryan hopped back into the ring after Batista delivered his finisher on Orton. Bryan then gave Batista his finisher and placed him into the Yes! Lock to end the match, highlighted by Michael Cole’s pleading with Batista to tap out and secure the win for Bryan.

2. Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels (XXVI)

Not every final match in a legend’s career lives up to the hype, but Shawn Michaels’s certainly did. Featuring a memorable video package leading up to the match, Undertaker vs. Michaels was built on the Undertaker’s then-undefeated streak at WrestleMania against Michaels’s career. If he lost, Michaels had to retire.

Naturally, as Michaels’s final match, the Undertaker would end up victorious. It was a classic last-stand match for Michaels in his vintage defiant fashion. It took three Tombstone Piledrivers to defeat Michaels, who was left in the ring following the match to show his appreciation for the fans one last time before calling it a career.

1. Steve Austin vs. The Rock (XVII)

Taking place in the Houston Astrodome, many consider WrestleMania X-Seven to be the greatest wrestling pay-per-view of all time. Of course, to be considered that great, there had to have been a classic match as the main event. Thankfully, that’s just what we got when The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin faced off in a no-disqualification match for the WWF Championship.

The Rock was the champion heading into the match that lasted for nearly a half hour and resulted in a major heel turn for Austin as he joined forces with Vince McMahon. It was the end of an era for many wrestling fans, but will still be considered among the greatest matches ever based on the hype alone.

While we’re well into the 21st century, many of us baseball fans think about the rich history of America’s pastime and recall watching some of the greatest players of the previous century. Between lights-out pitchers and big boppers, there were iconic players in every decade. We’re not talking about the best players, though, when we say iconic. We’re talking about the ones that had the most star power and the ability to transcend the sport into the mainstream. Let’s take a look back at the greatest stars of the twentieth century and what made them stand out so much:

5. Willie Mays

Among the sweetest swings in baseball history is the one of Willie Mays, a.k.a. The Say Hey Kid. Mays, a two-time MVP, was named to two dozen All Star Games during his long career that started with the Giants in 1951. 

Mays is one of the career home run leaders with 660, while also batting an unheard-of .384 over more than two decades. To this day, there are some that consider him to be the greatest hitter of all time.

4. Joe DiMaggio

Whether you call him the Yankee Clipper, Joltin’ Joe, or just Joe DiMaggio, he was one of the greatest pure hitters in baseball history. A three-time most valuable player recipient, DiMaggio had a .325 career batting average with 361 home runs. He even missed three seasons of his prime due to World War II, but still managed to be an All-Star in every season he played. 

Naturally, you can’t mention DiMaggio without mentioning his mainstream appeal. He was referenced in music, movies, books, and even received attention for his marriage to actress Marilyn Monroe.

3. Alex Rodriguez

Making your Major League debut as a teenager is almost unheard of, but that’s what Alex Rodriguez did in 1994 when he was dubbed as the next big thing for the Seattle Mariners. Instantly becoming a star in baseball, Rodriguez spent the final parts of the 20th century with Seattle where he was a three-time All-Star.

Though Rodriguez made his biggest splash in the following century, even non-baseball fans knew who he was while playing with the Mariners. Rodriguez would end up playing for both the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees, finishing with 696 career home runs. His post-playing career has involved broadcasting and an engagement to singer/actress Jennifer Lopez which kept him in the public eye.

2. Hank Aaron

Though he’s second in career home runs after being surpassed by Barry Bonds, many consider Hank Aaron to be the true home run king due to playing after baseball became integrated and before the steroid era. There’s certainly a lot of merit to that, as Aaron slugged 733 home runs over his 23-year career, 21 of which were spent playing for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves.

Aaron passed away in early 2021, but not before he left his mark on the game of baseball forever. He joined the Braves’ front office and worked in various positions around baseball, while also owning car dealerships and restaurants that bore his name. 

1. Babe Ruth

Of course, you can’t talk about the game of baseball without mentioning Babe Ruth. His career started in 1914 and lasted 22 seasons, though his most notable years came when he was a member of the New York Yankees. By the time he retired, “The Babe” was the all-time home run king with 714 career home runs and seven World Series titles.

When you ask someone that doesn’t know a thing about baseball to name the first player that comes to mind, Ruth is usually the first answer. From references in movies like “The Sandlot” to even having a candy bar named after him, Ruth isn’t just a baseball legend. He’s an American cultural icon.

While on the surface sports seem like a competition to see who the fastest and strongest are, there are a lot of life lessons that can be learned when participating in a sport. Perhaps no sport teaches more life lessons than basketball, where you rely on your team to help get you to the mountaintop of whichever league you’re participating in.

To become the best both on and off the court, every basketball player needs a great coach. Coaches do more than make you run sprints and have you practice free throws until the sun comes up. They teach life lessons at all levels. Out of all of the great basketball coaches, here are five of the biggest life lessons that everyone can take away.

5. Empower Everyone

In basketball, much of the team may revolve around a single person who has the most talent. However, not even the best players are able to play every minute of every game. People get tired or hurt, just like in real life. With that in mind, it’s important to empower everyone on the team so that when it’s their opportunity to contribute, they have the confidence to deliver. If a coach hasn’t done a good job of building up that confidence, that player is more likely to become overwhelmed with the situation since they don’t feel like a part of the actual team. Draymond Green noted that this is Steve Kerr’s strong point, saying “it’s on everybody to come together and empower that next man.”

4. Leaders Care

The late, great Dean Smith of North Carolina basketball said that “The most important thing in good leadership is truly caring,” adding that this is true in all aspects of life. “The best leaders in any profession care about the people they lead, and the people who are being led know when the caring is genuine and when it’s faked or not there at all.” So whether you’re in the NBA Finals or leading a team of salespeople, you have to care to lead.

3. Don’t Coast On Success

We’ve all had that time where we’ve had success, only to get a bit complacent or develop an ego instantly. When this success happens, people tend to think that they were the biggest reason behind a team’s success, it can be by pure chance that all of the right pieces fell into place. You have to continue to grow as a person. As hall of fame coach Pat Riley said, “Success is often the first step toward disaster.”

2. Communicate With Trust

Communication is more important than just about any aspect of life when building relationships both professional and personal. If you can’t communicate and do so with trust, then you’ll lose those around you in a heartbeat. Duke legend Mike Krzyzewski said that you don’t get to that level of trust “when you look each other in the eye and tell the truth. If you do that on a consistent basis, the element of trust is developed…and that becomes part of your culture.”

1. Success is Measured By Effort

The final lesson to take away is that you don’t have to reach the pinnacle of success to truly succeed. Too often, people are hard on themselves because they aren’t the best in the world at what they do. Even if you’re not the best at something in your building, you’re still succeeding if you’re doing one thing: giving the best that you can. The best college basketball of all time, UCLA’s John Wooden, said that “Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you were capable of becoming.” Wooden won 10 NCAA Championships, but all he remembered was the effort given, not the end result.

Perhaps more than batting, pitching is something that’s very fleeting. Seemingly out of nowhere, a pitcher comes through and dominates for a year and then can fade into obscurity or completely burn out of the league. A big part of this is due to injuries sustained by pitchers. If even so much as a fingernail is just a nanometer too short or long, it can seemingly affect a pitcher.

There were some dominant years that took place in the 2010s for pitchers. Some of them really stood out as being all-time performances, too. Let’s take a look at the best individual seasons for pitchers during one of baseball’s most exciting decades.

Kershaw’s Dominance

Throughout the 2010s, no pitcher was as dominant overall as Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Of the top 11 pitching seasons of the decade, four of those belonged to Kershaw. Two seasons sit at the top as the best of his career, with 2014 and 2015 taking the fourth and third spots overall, respectively. In those two seasons combined, Kershaw finished with a record of 37-10 and a combined 16.5 wins above replacement.

Cy Snubs

Speaking of Kershaw’s 2015 season, he surprisingly didn’t win the National League Cy Young Award that year. That honor belonged to Chicago Cubs starter Jake Arrieta, who surprisingly had the 14th-best season of the decade. Those who watched Arrieta that season know that he had one of the most dominating second halves in MLB history. Arrieta finished 22-6 that year with an astonishing 1.77 earned run average.

Having the highest WAR total doesn’t always translate into a Cy Young. In addition to Kershaw, there were several other pitchers that led the league in that category without winning the Cy Young. In the National League, this includes Roy Halladay in 2011, Matt Harvey in 2013, and Max Scherzer in 2018. As for the American League, Chris Sale (2017) Gerrit Cole (2019), Cliff Lee (2010), and Justin Verlander (2012) were some of the Cy Young snubs.

Strikeout Kings

There were a total of 11 pitchers that had seasons where they struck out at least 12 batters for every nine innings pitched. Max Scherzer accomplished this three times. Gerrit Cole, Robbie Ray, and Justin Verlander did it twice while Jose Fernandez (2016) and Chris Sale (2017) did it once each. Justin Verlander (2019) and Max Schezer (2018) were perhaps the most impressive as they were the only two pitchers to accomplish this feat in 220 or more innings.

The Two Best Seasons

While the assumption is that the best single-season performance of the 2010s probably belongs to Clayton Kershaw, his top season actually registered third overall on Fangraphs. The number two spot belongs to the late Roy Halladay when he was a member of the Philadelphia Phillies. Halladay didn’t blow anyone away in terms of strikeouts but also didn’t let batters get good contact or take walks.

Halladay helped get the Phillies to 100 wins on the season thanks to his 19-6 record with an earned run average of 2.35. Kershaw would end up winning the Cy Young Award that season in what was considered the eighth-best individual season of the decade by Fangraphs.

The top season of the 2010s belonged to a pitcher entering his prime and surprisingly only finished with a record of 10-9. That, of course, is Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom, and the record certainly doesn’t indicate just how good he was in 2018. deGrom had the lowest ERA for any qualifying pitcher at 1.70 and a strikeout rate of 11.16 per nine innings. For deGrom, it was the first of back-to-back Cy Young wins, with his 2019 campaign ranked as the 15th best of the 2010s.

In the 21st century, baseball became more analytics-focused thanks to the advent of the internet and mathematicians determining what traits were more valuable for players. With that, new statistics were created thanks to websites and companies like FanGraphs. One statistic that has gained a lot of traction over the years is wins above replacement, or WAR, for short. FanGraphs uses a system to determine WAR, and some of the finest seasons for a batter in baseball history have come during the 2010s. A few, however, really stood out above the rest over the decade.

The Brilliance of Mike Trout

Of the 15 best individual seasons of the 2010s, Mike Trout was responsible for an amazing seven of them. The lowest of the bunch was Trout’s 2014 season when he put up an impressive 8.3 wins above replacement. He even outdid that season in 2019 despite playing in 23 fewer games. The most impressive feat for Trout, however, came in 2013.

It was then that Trout had the second-best season of the decade, posting a batting average of .323 with 27 home runs and 97 runs batted in. When you add in 33 stolen bases, terrific defense, and an on-base percentage of .432, it’s easy to see why Trout was considered to be the best player of the 2010s by a longshot. Sadly, despite his individual success, the Angels made just one postseason appearance in the decade and the team was swept by Kansas City in the American League Division Series.

No Triple Crown

Surprisingly, when Detroit Tiger Miguel Cabrera won the American League’s triple crown in 2012, his season wasn’t even top 30 of the decade in terms of WAR. Instead, it was the following season when he nearly repeated his triple crown performance that ranks highly, landing at number 11 in the decade.

Varied at the Back End

With Trout taking up four of the top 10 spots of the decade, there weren’t many spots left open, but nobody else had more than one season, making it a varied list of names. At the 10th spot is Josh Donaldson’s 2015 campaign with the Toronto Blue Jays when he mashed 41 home runs and hit for a .297 average en route to an MVP season.

Aaron Judge’s 2017 season was one to remember with 52 home runs for the Yankees, placing him in the ninth position. Trout’s 2015 then appears at eighth, but that same year, Bryce Harper was just a little bit better with the Nationals. That year, Harper hit an impressive .330 with 42 home runs to win the National League’s MVP award. Rounding out the bottom half of the top 10 was Jacoby Ellsbury’s 2011 season. Boosted by his stellar defense and power-hitting, Ellsbury finished second in MVP voting that year behind Justin Verlander.

Best Non-Trout Seasons

The top three batting seasons of the 2010s indeed feature Mike Trout, whose previously mentioned 2013 was his best. The third overall spot was taken by catcher Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants. Hitting .336 on the season with 24 home runs and 103 RBIs, Posey got a big boost from his impressive defense behind the dish to launch him to an MVP win.

The best batting season of the 2010s, though, belongs to Mookie Betts while he was a member of the Boston Red Sox. Winning the American League’s MVP award that year in a landslide, Betts collected 10.6 wins above replacement while batting .346 with 32 home runs. Though he had just 80 runs batted in, Betts crossed the plate a whopping 129 times and stole 30 bases. Add in a walk rate that was almost higher than his strikeout rate and you can see why this was the best season of the 2010s.