The 2021 regular season is nearly upon us, and it's time for us -- on pain of termination -- to rank the top 100 players in baseball. The rankings you'll soon be yelling about are based upon reasonable expectations, using things like age, trajectory, scouting profile, and recent performance history to arrive at those expectations. In e sence, we're making educated gue ses at which players will provide the most value in 2021. While a player's performance in 2020 is very relevant to these rankings, it's not the sole consideration. This time around, the prior season is far le s of a consideration than it usually is. That's of course because the 2020 season was played in the middle of a pandemic and entailed a sample size of just 60 regular season games. We won't ignore it entirely, but we'll put much le s emphasis on it than we would a standard season. Again, these are in e sence predictions of which players will be the very best in the season to come, and there's always more to it than just eyeballing last year's outputs. As for what matters, with position players it's a mix of batting, defense, and base-running. On offense, we're not concerned with things like RBI. Getting on base Jamal Crawford Jersey and hitting for power matter above all, as do playing time, context of the player's home ballpark, and production relative to positional peers (e.g., the offensive bar is lower for shortstops and catchers than it is for first basemen and DHs). For pitchers, run prevention and workload will be the drivers, but we'll also give some consideration to underlying fundamental indicators like strikeouts and walks. Also, we're ranking players based on actual baseball considerations as opposed to anything having anything to do with fantasy (although there's obviously some overlap). We're furthermore not concerned with how these players will fare in seasons beyond the upcoming one. This is all about anticipated value in 2021 alone. Above all, remember that this is Internet Street, and only righteous grievances live here. Let us commence. 100 Minnesota Twins 2B Arraez, who soon turns 24, boasts excellent bat-to-ball skills and the ability to man a middle infield Jordan Bowden Jersey position.99 Boston Red Sox SP Sale's coming back from Tommy John surgery, and he hasn't pitched since 2019, when his effectivene s was compromised by those elbow i sues. Still, he's not that deep into his thirties, and he's not that far removed from a dominant run with Boston from 2017-18. We'll bet on the track record. The Red Sox seem primed to play it conservatively with him in 2021, which will mean something le s than a full season's innings load. We'll still say Sale accrues enough value to justify top-100 status.98 Boston Red Sox DH It's hard to hold 2020 against Martinez for a number of obvious reasons. He's not far removed from an outstanding first two seasons in Boston from 2018-19.97 Houston Astros DH We'll fade him because of the major knee problems, but Alvarez has done nothing but display elite power and patience at the dish through his first 89 MLB games. If he proves he can stay healthy, then he'll be much higher on the next edition of this list.96 Cincinnati Reds DH Winker, 27, owns a slash Spencer Dinwiddie Jersey line of .280/.380/.479 acro s parts of four major-league seasons in Cincy. Pair that with his former standing as a top-50 overall prospect, and Winker has a bright outlook for 2021 and beyond.95 Seattle Mariners CF Lewis took home AL Rookie of the Year laurels last season, and that's not surprising given that he's a former 11th overall pick and top-100 prospect. He's a center fielder with power and patience at the plate.94 Atlanta Braves SP Soroka is a bit of an unknown after tearing his Achilles last season, but the gue s here is he comes close to a full season and gets back to keeping runs off the board thanks to his sinker-slider attack.93 Houston Astros DH Remember when it seemed like Brantley's career might be effectively over after the 2017 season because of injuries? He's now churned out three straight highly productive seasons and stayed mostly healthy.92 Chicago Cubs 1B Rizzo didn't hit up to his usual standards last season, but the overall body of work is much stronger. As well, there's no reason to think any kind of deep decline has set in given that he's in his early thirties.91 New York Mets 1B The Mets' thumper is 26 year of age, and he has 69 home runs through his first 218 MLB games. His nickname? Petaters. You see, he's named Pete, and he hits taters.90 Minnesota Twins 3B Donaldson Chris Chiozza Jersey 's 35, which is cause for a conservative ranking even in light of his resurgence since the start of the 2019 season. That said, Donaldson figures to be a good source of power and capable defense at the hot corner for Minny.89 Chicago Cubs 3B Bryant struggled badly last season, with an OPS+ of just 73. As noted, however, there are all sorts of reasons to be largely dismi sive of 2020 struggles. Prior to last season, Bryant boasted a career OPS+ of 137 acro s a sample of more than 3,000 plate appearances. A suming he's healthy, he should find his true level again in 2021.88 Chicago White Sox SP Since 2016, Keuchel has an ERA+ of 116, and that stretch doesn't include his Cy Young campaign of 2015. He'll once again be a rotation stabilizer for the White Sox.87 Chicago White Sox LF Sure, he's not much in the field or on the bases -- indeed, he might be actively harmful to himself in the outfield -- but the power is jaw-dropping. The 24-year-old Jimenez may contend for the AL home run crown this season.86 Milwaukee Brewers SP Burnes pivoted to heavy usage of his sinker and cutter last season, and it went quite well. That plus a nice array of secondary offerings bode quite well for the near- to long-term.85 New York Yankees 1B Since the Yankees acquired him from the Cardinals, Voit has been on another level: a .915 OPS and 57 home runs in 213 games.84 New York Mets CF Nimmo can patrol all three outfield positions, he owns a career OBP of .390, he rarely hits into double plays, and he takes the extra base more than half the time.83 Los Angeles Dodgers 3B Turner's 36, yes, but he's shown no signs of slippage at the plate or in the field.82 Minnesota Twins CF Injuries will always be a subplot with Buxton, but he remains an elite defensive center fielder and base-runner, and he's also tapping into his power potential.81 Cleveland Indians SP Through the first 29 starts of his career in Cleveland, Plesac boasts an ERA+ of 142. Last season, he struck out 57 against just six walks in 55 1/3 innings.80 Toronto Blue Jays 2B The son of the Hall of Famer in two seasons boasts a .368 OBP Nate Sestina Jersey and 20 steals in 20 attempts. As well, Biggio has spent time at six different positions.79 Atlanta Braves SP The 27-year-old is coming off a fifth-place finish in the NL Cy Young vote, and he's got an ERA+