2024 was a thrilling, downright giddy year of baseball, with historic individual seasons, riveting playoff chases, hair-raising postseason games and a World Series with the biggest stars in the sport.

But to our eyes, there were 10 players who made their mark on the sport more than any other, 10 players who, when we look back on 2024, will be the ones we think of first.

Here are the 10 signature players of the 2024 MLB season.

1. Shohei Ohtani, DH, Dodgers

He joined the richest, most successful team in baseball and made it better. He won his third MVP Award. He became the first 50-50 player in baseball history. He made it to his first postseason -- and won his first World Series title. He even got married and introduced us to his very, very cute dog. He did all that in one year in Los Angeles, despite dealing with an off-the-field situation that would have served as an understandable distraction to just about anyone else. Imagine what he’ll do when he starts pitching again!

2. Aaron Judge, CF, Yankees

In 2022, Judge hit 62 homers and captivated the entire country as he set the American League home run record and became the toast of the greatest city in the world. In 2024, he was better. Seriously, Judge improved on that 2022 season in every way except for his homer total (a still-impressive 58): His average was 11 points higher (.322), his OBP was 33 points higher (.458), his SLG was 15 points higher (.701), and his OPS+ was 13 points higher (223; the best by a right-handed hitter in modern AL/NL history). He also drove in 13 more runs, struck out four fewer times and hit eight more doubles and a triple. And oh, yeah: He led his team to the World Series for the first time in his career and won his second AL MVP Award.

3. Tarik Skubal, LHP, Tigers

Skubal had finished 2023 incredibly strong, so it wasn’t a total shock that he came out of the gates storming in 2024. But that he was able to sustain his brilliance all year was jaw-dropping. Skubal didn’t just win a pitching Triple Crown -- the first AL pitcher to do so in a full season since 2011 -- he helped lead a young Tigers team to its first playoff appearance since 2014 thanks to a post-Trade Deadline surge. (And to think, so much of the buzz before that Deadline was about Skubal getting dealt.) Skubal carried his success into October, throwing 13 scoreless innings against the Astros and Guardians in his first two postseason starts. To top it off, he was a unanimous pick for the AL Cy Young Award.

4. Chris Sale, LHP, Braves

Sale finished in the top six of AL Cy Young Award voting every single season from 2012-18 -- but somehow never actually won it -- before injuries derailed him. From 2020-22, he threw fewer than 50 innings over a three-season stretch. That makes what he did in 2024 that much more remarkable. Sale, at the age of 35, was a brilliant counter to Skubal’s exploits in the AL. The veteran lefty won the NL pitching Triple Crown (18 wins, 2.38 ERA, 225 strikeouts), while throwing his most innings (177 2/3) since 2017. He helped the Braves survive a tumultuous, injury-plagued season and won the NL Comeback Player of the Year Award. But that wasn’t the best award he got: Yep, he finally won himself that elusive Cy Young.

5. Freddie Freeman, 1B, Dodgers

Remember when we worried that, surrounded by Ohtani and Mookie Betts, Freeman might be overshadowed? It turned out that Freeman became the emotional hero of the Dodgers’ championship team. He faced one of the most terrifying things a person can face when his son Max was hospitalized with a serious infection in July, and spoke eloquently and movingly about how much his family had gone through. Then he returned to the team, put up his usual splendid numbers and got to the postseason just in time to sprain his ankle. He fought his way back and ended up not only hitting one of the most dramatic homers in Dodgers postseason history but ultimately winning the World Series MVP Award. We’re chanting “Fred-die! Fred-die!” right now, still, in December.

6. Juan Soto, RF, Yankees

Yes, we’re still counting him as a Yankee here. Was this his finest year in the Majors? He was the perfect running mate for Judge, though in the postseason, it was Soto who was the top-performing Yankee, including a classic Soto plate appearance in ALCS Game 5, capped by a dramatic homer that would have secured his place in Yankees lore if, uh, well, if what happened this offseason had happened differently. Soto had an all-timer of a walk year. Yankees fans may not be thinking of Soto fondly right now. But they can’t complain one bit about what he gave them in 2024.

7. Francisco Lindor, SS, Mets

Remember when Mets fans booed Lindor, when he first arrived? (“I came to New York to win,” Lindor said at the time, “and I’m going to do whatever it takes to win.”) Mets fans will never admit it, and you can hardly blame them: Lindor may be the most purely enjoyable player to root for in the entire sport. This year, he had the best season of his career for a Mets team that shocked the world to make it all the way to Game 6 of the NLCS … and is poised to perhaps take over their city over the next decade. Lindor was a clutch hitter, a leader and the NL MVP Award runner-up to Ohtani. And now he has a running mate in Queens. The Mets are a winning franchise. Lindor will forever be known as the guy who established that simple fact.

8. Bobby Witt Jr., SS, Royals

It took a moonshot year from Judge to keep Witt away from the AL MVP Award, but the 24-year-old phenom made it obvious in 2024 that he’s going to win one eventually. Witt is just fantastic at everything on a baseball field, leading the Majors in both batting average (.332) and hits (211) while posting a 30-30 season and capturing AL Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards. (He even won the Heart & Hustle Award.) Oh, and he elevated a Royals team coming off a 106-loss season to the franchise’s first playoff appearance since its 2015 World Series title.

9. Paul Skenes, RHP, Pirates

In June 2023, Skenes was leading LSU to a Men’s College World Series title. Before June 2024 rolled around, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 Draft was already dominating in the Major Leagues. Not only did Skenes take NL Rookie of the Year honors, but he finished third in the NL Cy Young Award race. There was no more joyous traveling road show this year than the Skenes Show, as the swagger he showed on the mound was almost as impressive as his pitching. Almost. Skenes took the league by storm, is a social media star and is primed to be the best pitcher in baseball in 2025. And 2026. And for a long time after all that. Just please don’t lose the mustache, Paul.

10. Emmanuel Clase, RHP, Guardians

This was the third consecutive season in which Clase led the American League in saves, but there is no question that he has never had a year like he did in 2024. His 47 saves did lead the AL, but his numbers beyond that were staggering: a 0.61 ERA, just two homers given up all season, a 6.6 K/BB ratio, a 0.66 WHIP. He also may have been the single biggest reason the Guardians won a surprisingly competitive AL Central race. It was pure dominance, start to finish … well, at least if you ignore the postseason.