People sometimes ask if I actually love baseball. And yes, absolutely I do. But maybe not for the regular reasons. It gave me something to hold on to during a childhood of brief homelessness, isolation and abuse. I'll always be grateful. Happy Opening Day. www.newsday.com/sports/colum...

Laura Albanese: How I became a baseball lifer

Newsday's Mets beat writer on how the game has impacted her life from a young age.

newsday.com

Public results from 2026 Hall of Fame voters are now fully available. Here are five things we learned:

5 Things We Learned From Public 2026 Baseball Hall Of Fame Votes

J.J. Cooper digs into Baseball Hall of Faming voting data from this year's balloting to identify a number of key trends about voters.

buff.ly

Here is the BBWAA ballot release: bbwaa.com/26-hof-ballo... Looks like about 100 ballots that will be new to the Tracker. We'll have them in the Tracker later this afternoon.

Carlos Beltran on trying not to think too much about his HOF chance the last few weeks: "Let me tell you, my wife Jessica, she spent hours and time trying to basically stay in contact with the Hall of Fame baseball tracker." CC: @notmrtibbs.com @tonycal.bsky.social @shutthedore.bsky.social

Center stage with our newest Hall of Famers.

Good lede, in my opinion. apnews.com/article/hall...

Carlos Beltrán's wife intently followed Hall of Fame vote-tracker

Carlos Beltrán's wife closely followed the Hall of Fame vote-tracker, celebrating each gain. Beltrán received 84.2% of the votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, surpassing the 75% n...

apnews.com

New from me: 5 Things We Learned from the Hall of Fame election www.nytimes.com/athletic/698...

Five things we learned from the 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame election

Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones have changed the landscape of modern Hall of Fame voting. But there is so much more to discuss.

nytimes.com

We finish at 245 pre-results ballots. Thank you for following!

Ballot #245 is from Anthony McCarron, via SNY’s Baseball Night in NY. He votes again for his seven holdovers, with no changes. Carlos Beltrán ends the pre portion of the program at 89.8%, Andruw Jones at 83.3%. In the Tracker: tracker.fyi

Ballot #244 is from John Harper, live on SNY’s Baseball Night in New York. He selects Beltrán, Jones, and Pettitte. No adds or drops for returning candidates and no first-timers selected In the Tracker: tracker.fyi

For posterity, here are my final 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame projections. Thanks as ever to @notmrtibbs.com, @shutthedore.bsky.social, and @tonycal.bsky.social for all their hard work. Hall of Fame season wouldn’t really exist without them!

Update at 243 ballots. Less than a half hour to go. We think we'll have our usual final two ballots from SNY right at the top of the hour. Anything else...?

Ballot #243 is from Bob Nightengale. He again votes for his three holdovers - Carlos Beltrán, Andruw Jones, and Omar Vizquel - with no adds, drops, or first-timers selected. In the Tracker: tracker.fyi

Ballot #242 is from Tom Verducci, revealed moments ago on MLB Network’s pre-announcement special. After voting for Wagner, CC, Ichiro and Beltrán last year, he adds Jones (+16), Rollins (+17), and Utley (+26) Current %: Beltrán 89.7 Jones 83.1 Utley 69.4 Rollins 27.3 In the Tracker: tracker.fyi

Ballot #241 is from John Shea. Holdovers Andruw Jones and Jimmy Rollins get carried over and are joined by Andy Pettitte (now +37) and Chase Utley (+25). Shea's column on his ballot will be published in the coming days at the San Francisco Standard. In the Tracker: tracker.fyi

Ballot #240 is from Ryan Fagan. Félix gains again for his 50th add (net +49). Hamels gets a vote & is at 31.7%. This is the 3rd time (1st since ‘18) with 240 pre ballots. Félix now t-9th ever in full cycle net gain & 2nd pre-announce. His column: theanalyst.com/articles/bas... Tracker: tracker.fyi

It's a weird feeling, measuring time in decades. My ballot for the @baseballhall.org Class of 2026 marks a full decade of having the honor/privilege of voting for the Hall. Never, ever something I'll take for granted. My ballot column, on @optaanalyst.optajoe.com theanalyst.com/articles/bas...

Ballot #239 is from Joe Smith. He selects seven holdovers following the election of three candidates from his group of ten last year. No adds, drops, or first-year candidates selected In the Tracker: tracker.fyi

Ballot #238 is from Jon Meoli, our 37th first-time voter. He selects ten candidates. Beltrán remains perfect here, while Jones is at 91.9%, Utley 83.8%, Félix 75.7% and Pettitte 70.7% Meoli’s column: www.thebanner.com/sports/oriol... In the Tracker: tracker.fyi

Ballot #237 is from Tom Haudricourt. Four of his holdover make it back to his 2026 ballot, but Pedroia is dropped and falls to net +21. Carlos Beltrán inches closer to 90%. In the Tracker: tracker.fyi

Ballot #236 is from Ben Reiter. Bobby Abreu (+19), Mark Buehrle (+13), and Cole Hamels (31.4%) join seven holdovers. This is the most common 10-player ballot, submitted now 8 times. In the Tracker: tracker.fyi

Here’s my 2026 Hall of Fame ballot. I continue to think starting pitchers haven’t received enough recognition in recent years.

Ballot #235 is from Troy Renck. Chase Utley joins holdovers Beltrán, Jones, and Rollins. He moves to +24 and sits at 68.5% overall in his third year of eligibility. In the Tracker: tracker.fyi

It’s that time of year. My @officialBBWAA Hall of Fame ballot: @DPostSports The 2026 class is announced today

Ballot #234 is from Randy Miller. Beltrán (+13) and Pettitte (+36) both gain votes, however, Andruw Jones suffers his first drop and falls back to +15. He sits at 82.5% In the Tracker: tracker.fyi

Ballot #233 is from Rob Bradford. Seven holdovers are joined by King Félix, who gains yet again and improves to +48. He is now tied with 2019 Larry Walker for second place on the pre-announcement net gains leaderboard Bradford’s reveal: x.com/bradfo/statu... In the Tracker: tracker.fyi

Ballot #232 is from the 2026 BBWAA Career Excellence Award winner Paul Hoynes. Along with 7 holdovers, Hoynes adds Hamels in his first year of eligibility along with Félix (+47) and Rollins (+16). Via the Cleveland Baseball Talk Pod: www.cleveland.com/guardians/20... In the Tracker: tracker.fyi

Ballot #231 is from a voter who wishes to remain anonymous. As always, we are unable to report on adds or drops, if any, on anonymous ballots. Beltrán and Jones are at 76.9% with anonymous voters. In the Tracker: tracker.fyi

Ballot #230 is from Joe Posnanski. Six of his seven holdovers earn his vote once again, with Wright (net +14) losing a vote. Hamels climbs to 31.3% while each of Abreu (+18), Pedroia (+22), and Pettitte (+35) gain support Via JoeBlogs: www.joeposnanski.com/p/its-hall-o... Tracker: tracker.fyi