The Hall of Fame announces the Baseball Writers Association of America vote for the class of 2019 this evening at 6 PM on MLB Network. I believe you can stream it live if you do not have access to the channel otherwise. USA Today lists the votes of their writers here. Five of the seven writers there voted for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, as those two gained a bit in the public voting this year.

The latest tracker includes over 50% of the potential ballots, and it looks like Mariano Rivera, Roy Halladay, and Edgar Martinez are locks. Mike Mussina remains at about 81%; he dropped about 6% last year when the vote was announced, so he is on the edge. Given his jump in support among the public ballots, I suspect he will see some growth in the non-public ones as well. It’s going to be close. Bonds and Clemens managed to pick up a few public votes compared to last year, and new voters went for them strongly. There’s been a surge for Fred McGriff as well in his final year on the ballot, but not nearly enough to put him over the top.

I suspect Martinez’s surge has something to do with the Today’s Game committee electing Harold Baines. Once a designated hitter is in the Hall of Fame, there’s no reason a much better one should be shut out.

Finally, we will see if Mariano Rivera is a unanimous choice. My bet would be no. There are people out there who believe closers should not be in the Hall of Fame. I don’t agree with that. Closer and DH are modern positions, and the best at those should be recognized. There should just be very few of them. There is a hierarchy in the Hall based on how many ballots it took to get in, and the percentage of the vote on the first ballot. While I feel Rivera should be in, he shouldn’t be the first unanimous choice, and probably not a first ballot player. He’s in the right place at the right time.

It is sad Roy Halladay won’t see his election. Halladay was a man who finished what he started, leading the majors in complete games during the years of his major league career. As that stat quickly became an oddity, Halladay kept staying on the mound. His election will be a fine memorial.