As is usually the case, multiple things are true at the same time.

On Tuesday, we're going to (almost definitively) find out that Seattle Mariners legend Felix Hernandez is going to fall short of the 75 percent necessary to earn induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2026.

He's also going to receive enough of a jump from his 2025 total (20.6 percent) for us to believe that he's going to get in eventually, joining the likes of Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez and Ichiro Suzuki.

The question, for me, is: Hernandez is probably going to get into the Hall of Fame, but does he actually feel like a Hall of Famer? I talked a lot about my thoughts - and my changing thoughts - on the most recent 'Refuse to Lose' podcast.

"But, to this point, my way of thinking about the Hall of Fame really hasn't included Felix Hernandez. And here is why. Because I grew up looking at baseball cards, right? And every Hall of Famer that I would look at a baseball card of had a really long back of the baseball card, right? They played for a very long, long time.

So in my mind, basically being a Hall of Famer consists of two things. One, you played for a very long time and therefore accumulated a whole lot of stats. Or two, you were someone who maybe didn't play for as long a time, but you compiled kind of an ungodly laundry list of awards.

That's generally how I've thought about Hall of Famers for most of my life. Nolan Ryan, 324 wins, more than 5,000 strikeouts. 27 years, I believe. Boom. Hall of Famer. Randy Johnson, 22 years, 4,900 strikeouts, 10 All-Star games, 5 Cy Young's. Longevity, numbers, individual accomplishment. Boom. Hall of Famer.

Tom Seaver, 12-time All-Star, 20 years. Checks those boxes. Rookie of the Year, three Cy Young's. Boom. Hall of Famer. Bob Gibson, 17 years, 251 wins, more than 3,000 strikeouts. That's a magic number. Two Cy Young's. Oh, also an MVP. Check, check, check, check, check.

That is how I've always thought about Hall of Famers. Roy Halladay didn't do it for quite as long, but eight All Star appearances, two Cy Young's, multiple pieces of hardware. That, to me, is how I've thought of a Hall of Famer.

When it comes to Felix, through that lens, I had never really considered him as being Cooperstown bound. He played 15 years, which is a lot, but it's not 18, it's not 21. He struck out 2500, which is a lot, but it's 38th all time. Seven of his 15 seasons saw him have an ERA over three and a half. He "only" made six All-Star games. He only, in quotes, won one Cy Young.

So by those conditions, again, Felix hasn't felt like a Hall of Famer to me. There wasn't the longevity required to accumulate kind of massive stats, right? Like ungodly stats. And there wasn't this ransacking of individual awards either.

But here is the thing. The thoughts about the Hall of Fame, they are changing."

As baseball changes, mindsets like mine need to change as well. There will be less lengthy careers that allow for stat compilation. Less lengthy careers that allow for awards domination. The Hall of Fame standards will change to how good a player was over a certain time period. 

Well, Felix Hernandez was great over a seven-year period from 2009-15. He won 62 percent of his starts in that time, earning more than 100 wins. He pitched 200 innings or more in each of those seasons and made 30 starts or more in every year. He won a Cy Young and finished second two other times. He received MVP votes in five of seven years. He was truly at the apex of the sport for those seven years.

His durability is just about the last of a dying breed. His peak was basically at the top of the game. Comparing him to a Hall of Famer's resume in 1975 is not the fair thing to do, and Felix isn't at fault for doing that, I am.

The way we look at Hall of Famers is changing, and I'm changing my point of view.

'The King' belongs in Cooperstown. And he'll get there, eventually.

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