2017 Baseball Hall of Fame: Announcement time, TV schedule, and streaming info

And I think “inductees” is likely to be the right word. Ryan Thibodaux has been doing his usual job, and tracking the ballots whose authors have made them public. Next year, all ballots will end up that way, though not released until the week after results have been announced - it will be interesting to see if that makes much impact on the numbers. For now, it looks like two veterans of the ballot will make it in: Jeff Bagwell, in his seventh year, is currently sitting at 88.2%, and Tim Raines, in his 10th and final year of eligibility, is at 89.9%. Both figures are subject to change, but they’re solidly above the 75% cutoff, and it would be a surprise if they’re not included.

Less certain are relative newcomers. Ivan Rodriguez (1st year) is at 78.1%, so could still go either way, while Trevor Hoffman (2nd, 72.8%) and Vlad Guerrero (1st, 71.9%) will need a boost from the secret ballot college. The much-touted boost for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens looks likely to fall short: though they did improve significantly over the mid-40’s recorded last year, they’re still only at about 62%. [Edgar Martinez actually got a bigger boost this year than either] Though both have been named on 12 of 13 first-time voters’ ballots, which augurs well for their chances in the five remaining attempts.

We’ve also got the SnakePit Hall of Fame to announce, though the results of that will take some collation, because of the need to winnow out anyone who voted for Bonds those who are not members of the SnakePit. I’d expect that later in the week. Or maybe next week. [Look, I’m enjoying the off-season as much as anyone else.] But tomorrow, it’s the real thing, and we’ll find out how many people voted for the two former Diamondbacks on this year’s ballot, Curt Schilling and Melvin Mora.

2017 Baseball Hall of Fame announcement

• When: 2-4 p.m. AZ time, Wednesday, Jan. 18 (announcement at 3 p.m.)
• Channel: MLB Network
• Stream: MLB.com