While some fans love to root for and against familiar names, some of us enjoy seeing newer, younger players having success-even if it’s only a flash. It helps if the success doesn’t come at the expense of the teams I root for. It’s impossible to predict who can sustain success in any professional sports. Take Timmy Smith for example. If you’re younger than fifty, you’ve probably never heard of this former NFL running back and it’s not just because of his common surname.

I’ll argue that success in the biggest moments is something every athlete dreams about, regardless of the sport. Having a longer career is more financially satisfying but doesn’t meet the love for the game standard and what youngsters dream about in their backyards. The pinnacle of Smith’s pro career came when he rushed for 204 yards in Super Bowl XX when his Redskins defeated the Broncos 42-10. That’s a pretty high high even if few people remember it.

Sustained statistical success is most difficult in MLB because of the length of the season. 162 games is a sufficiently large sample size, and a lot can happen over a six-month season. If one looks at the league leaders for most of offensive categories in April, you’re likely to see a slew of different names at the end of the season. In some cases, it will be guys playing to the backs of their baseball cards. Often these successful months or weeks contribute to their teams’ successes, but other times it’s a blip in a season. Getting back to my original premise, if a guy’s momentary success doesn’t negatively affect my team’s success, I’m going to celebrate these moments.

In what feels like a season ago, but was only back in April, Ildemaro Vargas of the Diamondbacks, had a month to remember. At the time, I said that I hoped his run would continue and that he’d be rewarded with an All-Star appearance. He did earn player of the week and POM honors though. That his numbers have fallen off doesn’t take away from that early success. He’s still contributing to Arizona’s push for the postseason.

Last season, Cal Raleigh aka The Big Dumper, had an offensive season for the ages, especially for a catcher. Some of us believed he earned the AL MVP for what he did and not what he had done in the past or might do in the future. It’s okay to be a one-off. Instead, voters gave the award to the default favorite, Aaron Judge. This year Raleigh has been more Big Dumpster than hero, but that doesn’t take away from his ’25 season.

Even in Wrigleyville, the fans are quick to dismiss Jorge Soler’s career. The slugger earned a WS ring with the 2016 Cubs because he didn’t star in the postseason his name doesn’t come up as often as others. Folks forget who manned LF for much of the regular season when Schwarbs was MIA, and of the Cubs young core (at the time) he is the only one to win a WS ring after leaving the Cubs. In fact, he was the WS MVP of the Braves championship run. No matter how many times he gets DFA’d by mediocre teams, he’s got those rings on his fingers.

In some cases, players are best remembered for failure (on the biggest stage) and for whatever reason, others overcome those big fails. Bill Buckner’s WS gaffe in 1986 haunted him for decades while Herman Munster’s failure to catch a “can of corn” in the 2024 World Series never comes up.