MLB

The numbers are now celebrated only in relevant context, and the comparisons to himself as a productive superstar are less frequent, replaced by comparisons to himself as an injured shell of one of the greatest hitters the sport has ever seen.

Jon Lester and Max Scherzer are about to cash in. 

Those aces headline the 2015 MLB free-agent class, but they're far from the only players destined for big paydays this winter. The following 25 big leaguers are ranked in order of the total value of the contracts that they're predicted to haul in. 

Updates from Tuesday, Sept. 2

A day after making his first plate appearance with the Dodgers, Joc Pederson will be making his first start according to the Dodgers:

Updates from Monday, Sept. 1

Joc Pederson received an at-bat in the bottom of the ninth in the Nationals' 6-4 win over the Dodgers on Monday. Pederson struck out on a called third strike to end the game. 

The Oakland Athletics just acquired slugger Adam Dunn from the Chicago White Sox on Sunday, Aug. 31, and the trade is already paying dividends.

In his first at-bat wearing the green and gold, Dunn skied a two-run bomb to right field.

The slugger continued his impressive debut with a single in the second inning.

This could be the shot in the arm the A's needed.

The Philadelphia Phillies have been abysmal for most of the 2014 MLB season, but Monday was a bright spot, as Cole Hamels and three relievers combined for a complete-game no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves.  

SportsCenter reported the final result when the score became official:

Matt Gelb of The Philadelphia Inquirer pointed out the significance of the game:

Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Wade Davis recently set a franchise record by recording 25 consecutive scoreless appearances, per MLB Stat of the Day.

Following a pair of scoreless innings against the Cleveland Indians over the weekend, his Royals record now stands at 27 straight appearances, covering 26.2 innings. Davis has pitched exactly one inning in all but one of those games, having thrown two-thirds of a frame July 31 against the Minnesota Twins.

For much of the first half of the 2014 regular season, the Pittsburgh Pirates looked lost as a team, falling as far out as nine games behind the Milwaukee Brewers on June 28.  

Cincinnati Reds outfielder Billy Hamilton matched a franchise rookie record Sunday, recording his 54th stolen base of the season in a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, per MLB Stat of the Day.

Jackie Robinson West (Chicago) almost became the first Little League World Series winner from Illinois last week. Their amazing journey was stopped short by Seoul in the title game, but the honors have kept coming in.

On Monday, the team paid a visit to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. To their surprise, the Cubs players were wearing their jerseys.

Detroit Tigers outfielder Rajai Davis swiped his 32nd bag of the season in Saturday's game against the Chicago White Sox, thus reaching 300 stolen bases for his career.

Stuck on 31 and 299 for nearly two weeks, the speedy outfielder recorded his milestone steal in the third inning of Saturday's game off White Sox pitcher Chris Bassitt—who has making his first career major league appearance—and catcher Adrian Nieto.