Twitter's Best All-Time MLB Lineup
Viral social media campaign cross-published in full on WhatIfSports.com and MLB Marathon: featuring simulations, game theory, strategy, and analysis.
What this is
In the spring of 2020, with MLB shut down and baseball fans filling the void with fantasy lineups, polls, and sim games, The Athletic’s Marc Carig tweeted out a challenge: top his must-win, all-time MLB lineup. The universe answered back with thousands of responses, and MLB shared some of them from current players.
I wondered which of them would actually win. So I reached out to WhatIfSports.com, set up a 32-team single-elimination bracket, drafted full 25-man rosters for each lineup (applying consistent rules across the board), and simmed every game. I posted each box score along with a short recap of how the game unfolded. WhatIfSports published the full piece on their platform in collaboration with MLB Marathon.
Marc’s lineup won the whole thing. Way to stick to your guns on Rickey.
What it demonstrates
| Analytical framework under constraints | Every lineup required a set of judgment calls — handling DHs, peak vs. career seasons, non-sim-able players (Josh Gibson), batting order construction for lineups submitted in positional order — and each decision had to be applied consistently across all 32 teams. Documenting the decision logic up front and following it without exception is as much an analytical skill as the sim work itself. |
| Public-facing writing about data | Each game recap translates a box score into a readable narrative without inventing drama that wasn’t there or burying the lede in statistical hedging. The writing is the analysis. |
| Collaboration with a platform | WhatIfSports provided the sim infrastructure and published the piece on their site. Managing that relationship — scoping the project, delivering content on their platform, cross-promoting with MLB Marathon — is part of what this piece shows. |
| Audience engagement at scale | The original tweet generated thousands of responses. Selecting the lineups, framing the bracket, and writing about it in a way that served both the casual fan and the baseball obsessive was the editorial challenge. |
The setup: key decisions
The intro to the piece lays these out in full, but the short version:
| No DH | If you included one, I ignored it. Real baseball. |
| Peak seasons | Used each player’s best season rather than career stats, choosing the version that best fit the spirit of the lineup. |
| Josh Gibson | No sim-able peak season exists. Replaced with 1935 Jimmie Foxx (.346/.461/.636, 36 HR, .992 FLD%) — the closest realistic proxy. |
| Full rosters | Drafted identical 25-man benches to fill out each team. Bench quality players who weren’t expected to appear, but the rules required full rosters to run. |
| Pitching staffs | Drafted the three best seasons for each lineup’s named pitcher, then filled with the best relief seasons of all time: Rivera, Eckersley, Hoffman, Wagner, Sutter, Gagne, Lee Smith. |
| Neutral ballpark | All games in a neutral stadium to eliminate park effects. Home team randomized with the bracket. |
Tournament results
| Matchup | Final | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | ||
| Jon Heyman @ Marc Carig | Carig 6 – Heyman 1 | Pedro K’d the side in the 1st; Rickey finished 2-3, 2 BB, 2 SB, 2 R |
| CC Sabathia @ Evan Grant | Grant 10 – Sabathia 9 (12) | Rickey HR tied it in the 9th; Aaron walked it off in the 12th |
| Fergie Jenkins @ Nathalie Alonso | Alonso 6 – Jenkins 3 | Jenkins’ team went scoreless after the 1st |
| Alex Brockman @ Bill Plunkett | Brockman 5 – Plunkett 3 | Verlander gave up 2 HR then shut Plunkett’s team out the rest |
| Bryce Harper @ Tyler Kepner | Harper 7 – Kepner 5 | Cliff Lee: no walks, no HR — the only starter to accomplish that |
| Homer Bush @ Christian Yelich | Yelich 8 – Bush 1 | Nolan Ryan: 2nd starter not to allow a longball |
| Lin Brehmer @ David Adler | Brehmer 22 – Adler 0 | First shutout AND first blowout; Koufax allowed 4 hits |
| Max Wildstein @ Ben Shpigel | Shpigel 4 – Wildstein 1 | Walter Johnson: 7 Ks, 3 baserunners, all singles |
| Jack Flaherty @ Ian Browne | Flaherty 4 – Browne 0 | Bob Gibson: 7 Ks, 3 hits — second shutout |
| Chris O’Connell @ Wayne Randazzo | O’Connell 7 – Randazzo 1 | Dave Stewart outdueled Randy Johnson; O’Connell had the cheapest team ($144M) |
| Larry Stone @ Jared Carrabis | Carrabis 7 – Stone 5 | Carrabis’ team batted around in the 8th to erase a 5-2 deficit |
| Blake Silvers @ Josh Donaldson | Silvers 4 – Donaldson 1 | 3 of Blake’s 4 runs were unearned off Maddux — Griffey dropped a fly |
| Ernie Acosta @ Kevin Frandsen | Frandsen 4 – Acosta 0 | Gibson vs Gibson; Bonds–Ruth–Mays did all the damage |
| Mark Saxon @ Blake Snell | Snell 8 – Saxon 7 (10) | Aaron walk-off HR in the 10th, his second of the game |
| Voros McCracken @ Bill Baer | McCracken 9 – Baer 4 | One of two lineups over $200M; relentless offense |
| Ben Nicholson-Smith @ Brandon Wilhoite | Wilhoite 8 – Nicholson-Smith 2 | Arky Vaughan 2-run HR in the 3rd broke the game open |
| Round 2 | ||
| Marc Carig @ Evan Grant | Carig 6 – Grant 3 | Ruth stayed in long enough this time; Marc takes a 9th-inning lead and holds |
| Nathalie Alonso @ Alex Brockman | Alonso 6 – Brockman 5 | Vlad HR in the 1st, Pudge 3-run blast in the 2nd; Rivera closed it out |
| Bryce Harper @ Christian Yelich | Harper 10 – Yelich 5 | Ryan’s 6 walks proved fatal; Foxx & Griffey both hit 2-run shots in the 7th |
| Lin Brehmer @ Ben Shpigel | Shpigel 17 – Brehmer 5 | Biggest winner in R1 becomes biggest loser in R2; Ben batted around in the 6th |
| Jack Flaherty @ Chris O’Connell | Flaherty 6 – O’Connell 5 (11) | Best game of the tournament; Bonds tagged out at home in the 11th sealed it |
| Jared Carrabis @ Blake Silvers | Silvers 4 – Carrabis 0 | All 4 runs scored in a single chaotic half-inning — wild pitch, error, HR |
| Kevin Frandsen @ Brandon Wilhoite | Frandsen 7 – Wilhoite 1 | Gibson walked 5 in 3 IP; Maddux didn’t record a strikeout but walked no one |
| Voros McCracken @ Brandon Wilhoite | Wilhoite 7 – McCracken 3 | The matchup I feared — won it anyway |
| Quarterfinals | ||
| Marc Carig @ Nathalie Alonso | Carig 3 – Alonso 0 | Pedro shut Nathalie’s All-Latino team down; Adrian Beltre was the only one with a hit |
| Bryce Harper @ Ben Shpigel | Shpigel 7 – Harper 4 | Walter Johnson matches up with Cliff Lee; Ripken drove in Gibson for Harper’s first run |
| Jack Flaherty @ Blake Silvers | Flaherty 10 – Silvers 5 | Maddux had a rough first, then was gone — Jack never looked back |
| Kevin Frandsen @ Brandon Wilhoite | Wilhoite 7 – Frandsen 1 | Maddux: no walks, no strikeouts, no runs; Gibson walked 5 in 3 IP |
| Semifinals | ||
| Marc Carig @ Ben Shpigel | Carig 20 – Shpigel 0 | Walter Johnson dominated through 6, but Marc’s lineup put up 6 in the 7th to go 20 ahead |
| Jack Flaherty @ Brandon Wilhoite | Flaherty 3 – Wilhoite 2 | Best pitcher’s duel of the tournament; Gibson–Maddux head-to-head for the third time |
| Final | ||
| Marc Carig @ Jack Flaherty | Carig 5 – Flaherty 3 | Rickey leadoff double, Ruth HR — same formula, every game. Pedro was perfect through 4. |
Final standings
Complete standings including the losers bracket, which I also simmed out in full.
| # | Lineup Owner | # | Lineup Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marc Carig | 17 | Wayne Randazzo |
| 2 | Jack Flaherty | 18 | Ben Nicholson-Smith |
| 3 | Ben Shpigel | 19 | David Adler |
| 4 | Brandon Wilhoite | 20 | Bill Plunkett |
| 5 | Blake Silvers | 21 | Larry Stone |
| 6 | Kevin Frandsen | 22 | Mark Saxon |
| 7 | Bryce Harper | 23 | Tyler Kepner |
| 8 | Nathalie Alonso | 24 | CC Sabathia |
| 9 | Lin Brehmer | 25 | Fergie Jenkins |
| 10 | Alex Brockman | 26 | Ian Browne |
| 11 | Evan Grant | 27 | Josh Donaldson |
| 12 | Christian Yelich | 27 | Bill Baer |
| 13 | Chris O’Connell | 29 | Ernie Acosta |
| 13 | Voros McCracken | 30 | Max Wildstein |
| 15 | Jared Carrabis | 31 | Homer Bush |
| 15 | Blake Snell | 32 | Jon Heyman |
Stats & notes
Most-used players
Barry Bonds appeared on 16 of the 32 lineups — more than any other player. The next tier: A-Rod, Johnny Bench, and Mike Trout each appeared on 13. The bottom of the list is a museum of one-lineup wonders: including John McGraw and King Kelly, which appeared exclusively on mine.
Salary range
Average lineup salary (using WhatIfSports’ player values): $174,281,300. Low: $144M (Chris O’Connell). High: $244M (mine). The top salary didn’t win. The cheapest lineup won two rounds. The correlation between salary and result was essentially nothing.
Most similar lineups
Wayne Randazzo and Ian Browne shared six players by position (Bench, Gehrig, Schmidt, Williams, Aaron, Mays). By construction, Jared Carrabis had the least unique lineup: only Roberto Clemente and Rogers Hornsby appeared on fewer than 12 other rosters.
Most unique lineup
Nathalie Alonso’s All-Latino team had only four players appearing on four or more rosters: Roberto Alomar was her most-common player, appearing on seven others.
Media coverage
The bracket generated enough interest that two of the participants appeared on the MLB Marathon podcast to discuss their lineups, their time playing on WhatIfSports, and their current sportswriting work.
| Marc Carig | The Athletic. Carig’s lineup was the original challenge that sparked the whole tournament and the one that won it. His MLB Marathon appearance covered how he built his roster, his history with WIS, and his broader sportswriting career. |
| Ben Shpigel | New York Times. Shpigel reached the semifinals before falling to Carig 20-0 in what became the tournament’s most dominant performance. His appearance on MLB Marathon covered his lineup construction, WIS background, and work at the Times. |