The 2014 MLB regular season is officially something that happened. With its passing comes the need to get our affairs in order, for the lists, they are coming. They will be many, they will be tenacious. You, there! Guard that outpost! Get those archers ready, there’s no time to lose! The first of the lists are coming over the horizon. Brace yourselves, there is no end in sight.

Here are the most-improved (qualified) hitters of 2014, by the metric of wRC+:

Name	2013 wRC+	2014 wRC+	Diff
Victor Martinez	112	167	54
Michael Brantley	103	155	52
Jose Altuve	85	135	50
Anthony Rizzo	103	153	50
Alcides Escobar	49	95	45
Starlin Castro	72	115	43
Adeiny Hechavarria	53	82	28
Jose Bautista	133	159	26
Adam LaRoche	102	127	25
Giancarlo Stanton	135	159	24
Todd Frazier	100	122	22
Justin Morneau	101	123	21
Denard Span	97	117	20
Trevor Plouffe	92	112	19
Nick Markakis	88	106	18
Alex Gordon	104	122	18
Brian Dozier	100	118	18
Jimmy Rollins	85	102	18
Jonathan Lucroy	117	133	17
Neil Walker	114	130	16

Seeing names like Martinez, Brantley, and Altuve on this list shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise, given the news surrounding their 2014 efforts. Some other interesting names pop up, however. Anthony Rizzo has taken a significant jump. Alcides Escobar has gone from loathesome to respectable, and Jose Bautista got better which doesn’t seem very fair.

In contrast, here are 2014’s least-improved (again, qualified) batters. You could also say these batters got the most worse, but that doesn’t sound either correct or pleasing.

Name	2013 wRC+	2014 wRC+	Diff
Chris Davis	168	94	-74
Allen Craig	134	69	-65
Shin-Soo Choo	151	100	-51
Domonic Brown	123	75	-48
Miguel Cabrera	192	147	-44
Chris Johnson	127	82	-44
Jason Kipnis	129	86	-43
Jean Segura	105	67	-38
Jay Bruce	117	79	-38
Joe Mauer	143	106	-38
Matt Carpenter	146	117	-29
Marlon Byrd	137	109	-28
Jed Lowrie	120	94	-27
Evan Longoria	133	107	-26
Matt Dominguez	88	63	-25
Zack Cozart	79	56	-23
Austin Jackson	107	85	-22
Chase Utley	127	106	-21
Eric Hosmer	120	100	-21
Billy Butler	117	97	-20

The top three names here offer an interesting juxtaposition of two sluggers falling to around league-average, and a pretty-good hitter falling off like a Clayton Kershaw curveball. The inclusion of Davis and Craig on this list is notable, as if I expand the search to the last 20 years, they also make the cut.

Name	Season 1	Yr1 wRC+	Season 2	Yr2 wRC+	Diff
Scott Brosius	1996	131	1997	50	-81
Adam Dunn	2010	136	2011	60	-75
Chris Davis	2013	168	2014	94	-74
Adrian Beltre	2004	161	2005	90	-71
Willie McGee	1985	151	1986	85	-66
Brook Jacoby	1987	144	1988	78	-66
Allen Craig	2013	134	2014	69	-65
Cal Ripken	1991	154	1992	90	-64
Ray Durham	2006	126	2007	62	-63
Jose Hernandez	2002	119	2003	58	-61
Howard Johnson	1989	166	1990	106	-60
Roberto Alomar	2001	151	2002	91	-60
Larry Sheets	1987	141	1988	83	-58
Chipper Jones	2008	174	2009	116	-58
Gary Gaetti	1988	144	1989	86	-58
Edgardo Alfonzo	2000	150	2001	93	-58
Aubrey Huff	2008	134	2009	77	-58
Derek Bell	1998	129	1999	72	-57
Casey Kotchman	2011	127	2012	70	-57
Darin Erstad	2000	140	2001	83	-56

Both Chris Davis and Allen Craig rank in the top seven of worst hitting drop-offs of the last 20 years. The reasons why should warrant some deeper digging. This is neither the time nor place for such digging — with these things typically being left for the cold, dark expanses of winter. For now, let us gaze upon these lists, acknowledge that they are indeed lists, and glean whatever value or joy we desire from them.