Christmas is around the corner, and while the MLB offseason is getting ready to put the Hot Stove on the back burner for at least a few days, the true sickos among us know that baseball never takes a day off. After all, the holiday season and our national pastime are a match made in heaven — just look at how many Major League players past and present have sported some very Christmas-y names.
In order to get into the spirit of the season, we've put together an entire starting lineup of players who wore the holidays on the backs of their jerseys. Would this team be able to make the postseason? You tell us.
MLB's All-Holiday Team
Catcher: Steve Christmas
I'll be honest: Catcher is the thinnest position group when it comes to holiday-themed names. So we're going to keep it down the middle here and simply go with the guy whose last name was literally Christmas. A Twins draft pick back in 1975, Christmas didn't make his MLB debut until nearly a decade later, ultimately appearing in 24 games over parts of three seasons with the Reds, White Sox and Cubs.
First base: JT Snow
An unsung hero on the Barry Bonds-led Giants teams of the late 90s and early 00s, Snow hit 189 homers over 16 big-league seasons. He came up with the Yankees and spent his first four years with the Angels, but it was in San Francisco that he became a household name, slashing .273/.369/.438 over a decade as the team's starting first baseman while winning six straight Gold Glove awards.
Second base: Dasher Troy
You could nearly build a whole starting nine just out of Santa's reindeer (Cupid Childs, anyone?), but we just couldn't resist the temptation of including an infielder named Dasher. Troy played for four different organizations across five Major League seasons in the 1880s. He peaked in 1884, when he posted a 119 OPS+ while helping lead the New York Metropolitans to the World Series.
Third base: Buddy Bell
There have been many, many Bells (and Belles) over the course of MLB history. But we needed a third baseman, and Buddy is the best of the bunch there: One of the slickest defenders of his day at the hot corner, he won six Gold Gloves while making five All-Star teams over nearly two decades in the bigs.
Shortstop: Billy Klaus
Billy is one of two Klauses in MLB history, alongside his younger brother Bobby. Both were middle infielders, but Billy had the superior career, spending over a decade in the Majors in the 1950s and 60s and finishing second in AL Rookie of the Year voting for the Red Sox in 1955. He wasn't much at the plate, but he was sturdy with the glove while playing all over the diamond.
Left field: Matt Holliday
Now we arrive at the heart of our holiday-themed order. If they were to ever actually construct a Hall of Very Good, Holliday might be in the inaugural class, an elite all-around hitter who made seven All-Star appearances while winning four Silver Slugger Awards, a batting title and 2007 NLCS MVP honors. (Just don't try to convince Padres fans that he actually touched home.)
Center field: Corbin Carroll
Is it possible that Carroll has become somehow underrated? After bursting onto the scene as a rookie in 2023 (a year in which he finished top-five in NL MVP voting and led Arizona to a World Series appearance), he suffered a sophomore slump in 2024, in large part thanks to a shoulder injury. But he was back to his old self this year, going 30/30 with an MLB-leading 17 triples and a 140 OPS+. He's one of the best position players in the game, full stop, and he's still just 25 years old.
Right field: Rob Deer
Before "three true outcomes" even had a name, Deer was the archetype, consistently hitting 25-30 homers in the light-hitting late 80s while drawing tons of walks (and, it should be said, racking up a ton of strikeouts). He peaked with the Tigers in 1992, putting up a 145 OPS+ with 32 homers in just 110 games.
DH: Jhonkensy Noel
It was a rough 2025 season for the man they call Big Christmas, who was DFA'd by the Guardians after putting up a .480 OPS with 52 strikeouts to just four walks in 69 games. But he's just a year removed from a very strong 2024 campaign, one that featured one of the more memorable postseason homers in recent history.
Here's hoping we see this power back in an MLB lineup sooner rather than later, and not just because of his excellent last name.
Starting pitcher: Frosty Thomas
Thomas has the slightest of MLB resumes: Just two appearances, and one start, for the 1905 Detroit Tigers, in which he allowed five earned runs on 10 hits over six innings. But his place in MLB history is secure nonetheless, for a very peculiar reason: Thomas is the inventor of the knuckleball. He never had much success with it himself, but he passed it down to Eddie Cicotte, who popularized the pitch over 14 years in the Majors.
Relief pitcher: Don Rudolph
Of the many Rudolphs who have played Major League baseball, we're going with Don, a left-handed pitcher who appeared in 124 games over parts of six seasons. More than half of those games were spent in relief, and his 2.05 ERA over three years out of the 'pen for the White Sox is enough to make him our closer.