As another NFL season nears its kickoff, the league’s best young players are working hard to continue their ascents. Some are already among the NFL’s elite. Others have exhibited promise and appear destined for stardom.

So, who are the NFL’s top 25 players who are 25 and younger? We reached out to 12 league front-office members, coaches or scouts for their thoughts, and they were granted anonymity so they could speak freely about the players. The participants were given a list of 35 potential players for inclusion and asked for feedback on where each might rank. Any player who met our age qualification and had earned All-Rookie, All-Pro or Pro Bowl honors was included for consideration.

Players had to be 25 or younger as of Week 1 of the 2024 NFL regular season. That criteria eliminated some talented young stars, including quarterbacks Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts, who both made this team last year but turned 26 in recent months.

Competition was thick, as every talent evaluator views players differently. But we narrowed it down to this robust group of players who have already established themselves as the game’s best, or are the closest to this accolade.

We also assembled an All-25-and-Under team, since the overall top 25 didn’t include a player at every position. You can find the All-25-and-Under team below as well.

Top 25

1. Justin Jefferson, WR, Minnesota Vikings. Age: 25 (DOB: 6/16/99)

A hamstring injury caused him to miss seven games last year, and Jefferson still posted the fourth 1,000-yard season of his career. That helped him earn a four-year, $140 million deal from the Vikings this summer, which made him the highest-paid wideout in the league. Jefferson was No. 1 on the 25-and-under list last year as well.

2. Micah Parsons, LB/DE, Dallas Cowboys. Age: 25 (5/26/99)

The unstoppable Parsons last season recorded a career-high 14 sacks. That brought him up to 40 1/2 for his career, and put him in elite company: Reggie White, Derrick Thomas, Aldon Smith and Dwight Freeney are the only other players in NFL history to tally 40 sacks in their first three NFL seasons. Parsons was No. 2 on last year’s 25-and-under list but, like Jefferson, he will age out next year.

3. Ja’Marr Chase, WR, Cincinnati Bengals. Age: 24 (3/1/00)

Despite Joe Burrow’s injury-shortened 2023, Chase still delivered his third consecutive 1,000-yard season. He and Jefferson belong to an extremely exclusive club of game-changing wide receivers.

4. CeeDee Lamb, WR, Dallas Cowboys. Age: 25 (4/8/99)

Lamb led the NFL with 135 catches while recording a career-best 1,749 yards last season, helping him earn first-team All-Pro honors for the first time in his four-year career.

5. Pat Surtain II, CB, Denver Broncos. Age: 24 (4/14/00)

Three straight seasons of 10-plus passes defended and two Pro Bowl appearances top Surtain’s resume. He is the definition of a shutdown corner.

6. Penei Sewell, RT, Detroit Lions. Age: 23 (10/9/00)

A true franchise cornerstone and catalyst for Detroit’s turnaround, Sewell garnered first-team All-Pro honors last season. He also appeared in his second Pro Bowl, and this offseason signed a four-year, $112 million contract extension.

7. Tristan Wirfs, LT, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Age: 25 (1/24/99)

Wirfs was asked last season to move from right tackle to left. He did so without batting an eye, and delivered the same elite-level production  protecting Baker Mayfield’s blindside as he did while blocking for Tom Brady on the right. Tampa Bay rewarded Wirfs this offseason with a five-year, $140.6 million contract, making him the highest-paid offensive lineman in the game.

8. C.J. Stroud, QB, Houston Texans. Age: 22 (10/3/01)

The reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, Stroud took the league by storm in 2023. He not only rewrote the rookie record books, he also ranked among the league leaders in passing yards, passer rating and completion percentage while directing a surprising playoff run.

9. Kyle Hamilton, S, Baltimore Ravens. Age: 23 (3/16/01)

A first-team All-Pro in only his second season in the league, Hamilton is a difference-maker whether in pass coverage, lining up in the box or rushing the passer. He had 81 tackles, three sacks and four interceptions last season.

10. Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR, Detroit Lions. Age: 24 (10/24/99)

As a third-year pro, St. Brown racked up career highs in catches (119), yards (1,515) and touchdowns (10). That helped him earn Pro Bowl honors for a second straight season and All-Pro status for the first time. He enters Year 4 on a mission to join Jefferson, Chase and Lamb as one of the truly elite wideouts in the game.

Jordan Love led Green Bay to a 9-8 regular-season record and a playoff win in his first year as starter. (Ken Blaze / USA Today)

11. Jordan Love, QB, Green Bay Packers. Age: 25 (11/2/98)

Love went on a tear to close out his first season as a starter and propelled the Packers into the playoffs, where they upset the Cowboys in the wild-card round, then suffered a narrow 24-21 loss to the 49ers in the divisional round. Love (4,159 yards, 32 touchdowns, 11 interceptions) appears poised to take another massive leap forward in 2024.

12. Brock Purdy, QB, San Francisco 49ers. Age: 24 (12/27/99)

Purdy is 17-4 as a regular-season starter and 4-2 in the postseason, where he has appeared in the NFC Championship Game twice. The 49ers pushed the Chiefs to overtime in February’s Super Bowl before losing 25-22. Last season, Purdy carved up defenses for 31 touchdowns.

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13. Sauce Gardner, CB, New York Jets. Age: 23 (8/31/00)

Some critics question Gardner’s chops because the Jets play zone coverage so often. But Gardner is still a fantastic cover man, with 31 pass breakups (20 as a rookie) the last two seasons combined. He has earned Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors in each of his first two NFL seasons.

14. Aidan Hutchinson, DE, Detroit Lions. Age: 24 (8/9/00)

Hutchinson followed up a solid rookie season with a Pro Bowl campaign that featured 11 1/2 sacks and 33 quarterback hits. Hutchinson also recorded a combined three sacks in three Lions playoff games last season. Look for another leap forward in Year 3 as the Lions aim to make another deep playoff run.

15. Trent McDuffie, CB, Kansas City Chiefs. Age: 23 (9/13/00)

The versatile young corner is already one of the best at his position after just two seasons. Last season, in addition to his prowess in pass coverage, the All-Pro recorded five forced fumbles, three sacks, nine quarterback hits and three tackles for loss.

16. Jaylen Waddle, WR, Miami Dolphins. Age: 25 (11/25/98)

Despite his pairing with the prolific Tyreek Hill, Waddle has recorded 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first three seasons in the league. If not for injury, which limited him to 14 games last season, Waddle likely would have topped the 1,356 yards he recorded in 2022.

17. Trevor Lawrence, QB, Jacksonville Jaguars. Age: 24 (10/6/99)

The first pick of the 2021 draft reached his first Pro Bowl in 2022, then regressed slightly as Jacksonville went 9-8 and missed the playoffs. But Lawrence has all of the tools necessary to continue to ascend and should capitalize on another offseason and year under head coach Doug Pederson.

Sam LaPorta broke rookie tight end records after the Lions made him the 34th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. (Lon Horwedel / USA Today)

18. Sam LaPorta, TE, Detroit Lions. Age: 23 (1/12/01)

Talk about an immediate impact — LaPorta, drafted in the second round, posted one of the best seasons for a rookie tight end in NFL history with his 86 catches, 889 yards and 10 touchdowns.

19. Jahmyr Gibbs, RB, Detroit Lions. Age: 22 (3/20/22)

The Lions’ other instant-impact star, Gibbs started just three games in 2023 but still rushed for 945 yards and 10 touchdowns and also caught 52 passes for 316 yards and a touchdown en route to Pro Bowl honors. We’ll have to watch the hamstring injury he suffered in practice on Monday.

20. Jalen Carter, DT, Philadelphia Eagles. Age: 23 (4/4/01)

Carter made a seamless transition from the University of Georgia to the NFL, accumulating six sacks and 33 tackles (eight for loss) while serving as a rotational player. With Fletcher Cox retired, the Eagles will lean heavily on Carter and Jordan Davis to anchor their defensive line this season.

21. Garrett Wilson, WR, New York Jets. Age: 24 (7/22/00)

Wilson owns a pair of 1,000-yard seasons despite the Jets’ well-documented quarterback woes, so what might he accomplish with a healthy Aaron Rodgers throwing to him? The Jets hope to quickly find out. Talent evaluators around the league predict Wilson will make another big leap forward in 2024 and join the ranks of the elite young wide receivers.

22. Bijan Robinson, RB, Atlanta Falcons. Age: 22 (1/30/02)

After just one season, Robinson looks like one of the most well-rounded backs in the league. He rushed for 976 yards and four touchdowns and added 58 catches for 487 yards and four touchdowns as a rookie.

23. Puka Nacua, WR, Los Angeles Rams. Age: 23 (5/29/01)

The 2023 fifth-round pick may have been the steal of the draft. All he did was shatter the rookie record books with 105 catches for 1,486 yards and six touchdowns while helping the Rams go 10-7 and return to the playoffs after 2022’s losing campaign.

24. Creed Humphrey, C, Kansas City Chiefs. Age: 25 (6/28/99)

One of the toughest and smartest young interior linemen in the NFL, Humphrey has never missed a game in three seasons with the Chiefs and has garnered Pro Bowl honors in each of the last two campaigns (both of which ended with Super Bowl victories).

25. Will Anderson Jr., DE, Houston Texans. Age: 22 (9/2/01)

The Alabama product recorded seven sacks, 22 quarterback hits and 45 tackles last season as the tone-setter for Houston’s defense, and he earned NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and Pro Bowl honors.

All-25-and-Under Team

QB: C.J. Stroud

Stroud was one of the most effective passers in the league regardless of experience last season, executing with a level of precision and poise that stunned the NFL. Now, thanks to the Texans’ additions of wide receiver Stefon Diggs and running back Joe Mixon, Stroud could take another step forward. He obviously faced stiff competition for the top QB spot here. Love must show he can play at a high level for an entire season, but he also seems poised for another leap forward. And though Purdy is as steady as they come, Stroud has a few more tricks in his bag.

RB: Jahmyr Gibbs

The electrifying Gibbs delivered 1,261 all-purpose yards and 11 touchdowns for the Lions, despite sharing the backfield with David Montgomery. Robinson also put up great numbers but did so with more touches than Gibbs. What will Year 2 hold for these two rising stars?

WRs: Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, CeeDee Lamb

It’s tough to keep St. Brown off, but Jefferson, Chase and Lamb truly are the cream of the crop at wide receiver.

TE: Sam LaPorta

It’s scary to consider just how high LaPorta’s ceiling is based on the instant impact he had on the Lions.

Offensive line: LT Tristan Wirfs, LG Tyler Smith, C Creed Humphrey, RG O’Cyrus Torrence, RT Penei Sewell

Wirfs and Sewell are already among the best at their positions, as is Humphrey. The 23-year-old Smith turned into a Pro Bowl left guard for Carolina last season after beginning his career as a tackle. Buffalo’s Torrence (age 24) stepped right in as a rookie last season and played like a seasoned vet.

Texans linebacker Will Anderson Jr. won Defensive Rookie of the Year last season. (Troy Taormina / USA Today)

Defensive ends: Will Anderson Jr. and Aidan Hutchinson

These two are on their way to joining the ranks of the league’s elite edge rushers.

Defensive tackles: Jalen Carter and Kobie Turner

Big, powerful, athletic and well-rounded, Carter and Turner make their presences felt against the run and the pass. The Rams’ Turner turned 25 in April.

Linebackers: Micah Parsons and Quay Walker

Dallas’ Parsons terrorizes offensive linemen and quarterbacks regardless of where he lines up. Green Bay’s Walker, 23, has great range and makes plays all over the field. Walker has 239 tackles (12 for loss), nine quarterback hits, 10 pass deflections, three forced fumbles and an interception in two seasons.

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CB/DBs: Pat Surtain II, Sauce Gardner, Trent McDuffie

Good luck against this trio of crafty cover guys, who already are among the best in the league despite their youth.

Safeties: Kyle Hamilton and Jevon Holland

Hamilton is already a star, and if the Dolphins’ Holland (age 24) can capitalize on a full season of health, he won’t be too far behind his Ravens counterpart.

Specialists: K Cameron Dicker, P Ryan Stonehouse, KR/PR Marvin Mims

The Chargers’ Dicker, at 24, is among the most accurate kickers in the league. The Titans’ Stonehouse (age 25) is already one of the NFL’s best punters. The 22-year-old Mims shined as a rookie kick and punt returner last season for the Broncos.

(Top illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic. Photos of Justin Jefferson, C.J. Stroud and Puka Nacua: Stephen Maturen, Michael Owens, Ric Tapia / Getty Images)

Josh Allen has yet to bring the Buffalo Bills to a Super Bowl victory, but that doesn’t stop him from imagining what a parade in downtown Buffalo would look like.

“Oh my God, I joke about it a lot with guys on the team, what the city would look like after the parade. I have vivid dreams about it.” Allen said on a recent appearance on “Green Light with Chris Long.” 

“Every square inch of downtown Buffalo being just absolutely packed with people. People ride the bus, I don’t know if I would ride the bus, I would just walk.”

The closest Allen has come to making a Super Bowl was the 2020-2021 season, when the Bills were defeated by the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game.

The two-time Pro Bowler doesn’t think buses would be necessary if the Bills were to win the big game.

“It’s like that scene in ‘Spider-Man’… Where’s he got the train, he’s holding the train, and all of the sudden he falls forward and they grab him and just kind of lift him on back. I feel like that would be a lot of players, just crowd surfing.”

EX-NFL STAR DREW BLEDSOE THINKS PLAYING OLYMPIC FLAG FOOTBALL MIGHT BE FUN, WOULD WANT TYREEK HILL ON TEAM

Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills looks to pass against the Chicago Bears during a preseason game at Highmark Stadium on Aug. 10, 2024, in Orchard Park, New York. (Rich Barnes/Getty Images)

Allen’s Bills have been eliminated in the AFC divisional round the last three seasons, this last year losing again to the Chiefs.

If the Bills were to win the Super Bowl this season, it would be after they traded away Allen’s favorite target, Stefon Diggs.

Diggs was traded to the Houston Texans along with the Bills’ 2024 sixth-round pick and 2025 fifth-round pick in exchange for a 2025 second-round pick.

Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills speaks with media after mini camp on June 11, 2024, in Orchard Park, New York. (Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images)

The Bills drafted wide receiver Keon Coleman, in addition to signing free agents Curtis Samuel and Marquez-Valdes Scantling to try and replace the production of Diggs. 

The Bills’ quest to bring a Super Bowl parade to Buffalo begins with a Week 1 matchup at home against the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 8 at 1 p.m. ET.

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CLEVELAND — Four hours before first pitch, José Ramírez, the face of the franchise and instigator to the stars, is singing Daft Punk’s earworm, “One More Time,” as strikingly off-key as possible. He intentionally butchers the simple hook as he leans back in the black leather chair at his corner locker.

Josh Naylor walks past the JBL PartyBox speaker in the center of the room and triggers the DJ sound effect, which prompts at least one teammate to fist pump like he’s raving on a sticky dance floor at a Jersey Shore nightclub.

Emmanuel Clase is FaceTiming family back home in rural Río San Juan, D.R., and the clucking of chickens would echo throughout the clubhouse if not for Ramírez’s disharmony.

One more time!

Tyler Freeman and David Fry are battling on a Mario Kart arcade machine, an undercard match before Ramírez — who possesses unparalleled skill at swerving Bowser’s stout frame around turtle shells and banana peels — begins challenging teammates for more money than they’ve earned in the big leagues.

One more time!

Austin Hedges strides into the room wearing a red, self-hemmed crop top that reveals his bellybutton and a tease of the shag carpet that covers his chest, and clutches a leather-bound notebook full of scouting reports and other secrets.

One more time!

And then silence — save for the speaker, now shuffling through a Bob Marley medley.

The bustling ceases. The bodies vanish. The room is empty.

Catchers, pitchers, coaches and analysts cram into a room across the hall to review the opposing club’s hitters. Hedges, Fry and Bo Naylor, the club’s catching triumvirate, share the intel they’ve scribbled in their notebooks. Then the pitchers trot out to the left-field grass for an afternoon catch session. Hitters head to the cages to pore over video and take their first hacks.

Manager Stephen Vogt, the new head of the operation, fulfills a slate of media obligations. He reveals just enough charm to remind reporters why he was a beloved player and he guards minor injury details like nuclear codes.

There’s nothing groundbreaking unfolding in Cleveland, where the Guardians have amassed one of baseball’s best records. There’s no secret formula, even for a team with a long-envied starting pitching factory. (Starting pitching has actually been the club’s Achilles’ heel during this wild joyride.)

Ramírez has spurred “Guards Ball,” as Fry calls it — the slashing-and-dashing style of offense that pressures pitchers and defenses until they cave. It propelled them to the playoffs two years ago. This season, aside from more meetings, they’ve added more muscle, more reliable relievers and more magic.

Night after night, it’s working. Chaos, then concentration, then conquering another opponent.

One more time!

The Guardians, implausibly, have been the story of the 2024 MLB season.

“There’s something special here,” Hedges says.

Three hours before first pitch, Guardians infielders join Kai Correa outside the dugout for work with a red machine that sounds like a swarm of scorned hornets as it revs up.

Correa, the club’s field coordinator, oversees everything from the daily bus schedule to infield shifting.

But now he’s sitting on a bucket and resting his red cleats on the black legs of The Heater Slider Lite 360. Thwoop. The apparatus spits out a one-hopper to a kneeling Brayan Rocchio, who’s wearing a white glove that doesn’t quite cover his left hand. Correa toggles a couple dials that alter the speed and angle of the grounder. If the expert level is cranked up during practice, any eighth-inning hop will be a breeze.

Evan Longoria swore by the gadget after partnering with Correa in San Francisco. The three-time Gold Glove Award winner pleaded to use it daily.

In Cleveland, the buy-in started before spring training, when almost the entire roster reported to Goodyear, Ariz., weeks before camp. That included Ramírez, the perennial All-Star. “That guy leads by example better than anybody I’ve ever been around,” Hedges says.

Ramírez is capricious before games, one day offering a reporter his Tesla Cybertruck for $100,000 cash and the next day sizing up Clase for snooping in his locker. But he quickly snaps into game mode and teammates strive to mimic his relentless work ethic, which has fueled a career path that could end in Cooperstown.

“He’s the accountability guy for everything,” Kwan says. “He’s always the lead dog.”

Ramírez swings by Correa’s station to stab at a few choppers from the machine. Later, he huddles with coach J.T. Maguire at a desk outside the clubhouse to study video of a potential tell from that night’s opposing pitcher. A decade into his career, Ramírez still craves every sliver of information that might give him an edge. He says he doesn’t care that he climbed into second place in franchise history in home runs; he just wants to break the club’s 76-year championship hex.

The Guardians have laid the groundwork for that quest with preparation. They hold more pregame meetings than ever before. Players embrace extra defensive work and time in the cage.

A new coaching staff isn’t taking that investment for granted. The Guardians might be the most surprising team in the league, but Hedges says it stems from treating every day like a playoff game. To do that, bench coach Craig Albernaz says, the Guardians must maximize every nanosecond before first pitch.

“We don’t have the experience like Terry Francona does or Bob Melvin does,” Albernaz says, “so we have to err on the side of being over-prepared.”

Two and a half hours before first pitch, coaches file into the manager’s office, one by one. Albernaz has already claimed a seat, with a laptop resting on his thighs. Bullpen coach Brad Goldberg enters, then assistant pitching coach Joe Torres, then a couple of pitching analysts and, finally, pitching coach Carl Willis, who has worked in the organization for much of the last quarter-century.

Other teams pluck pitching gurus from Cleveland’s directory on an annual basis — Matt Blake, Ruben Niebla and Brian Sweeney became pitching coaches for the Yankees, Padres and Royals in recent years — but Willis, a figurehead with decades of experience and an appetite for forward thinking, remains. Fellow coaches refer to him as a “Walking TrackMan,” the device that supplies instant data on a pitcher’s mechanics.

The Guardians’ rotation has uncharacteristically struggled, a result of losing ace Shane Bieber a week into the schedule, missing Gavin Williams for three months and receiving rocky efforts from Triston McKenzie and Logan Allen.

The club’s bullpen, however, has masked many of the team’s shortcomings. Cleveland’s relievers lead the league in ERA by a massive margin. Cade Smith learned he made the Opening Day roster while playing cards with his siblings in a hotel room eight hours before the first pitch of the season. Now, he fills the role of stopper anytime an opponent mounts a rally, whether in the fourth inning or the eighth.

Hunter Gaddis has evolved, without warning, from a scuffling spot starter to a prolific setup man. Tim Herrin, teased by teammates for his baby face and calm demeanor, has worked to improve the quality of his primal shouts as he walks off the mound following an inning-ending strikeout. There have been plenty; he boasts a 2.25 ERA in his first full season.

No reliever presents a more daunting task for hitters than Clase. With magenta-tinted locks dangling beneath his navy cap, he pumps 101-mph cutters past anyone who occupies the batter’s box.

“Clase is the best pitcher in baseball,” Hedges says.

Two hours before first pitch, teammates surround Hedges on a dugout bench as he waxes poetic about the twisted beauty of baseball, a sport that revolves around failure.

It took Hedges years to develop into a leader. In San Diego, he’d scan the lineup while praying his name was absent. He was burdened by the pressure of 162 games, of 150 nightly decisions hinging on how many fingers he flashed his pitcher. During an injured list stint for a balky elbow in 2018, he questioned whether he even wanted to return to the roster.

“So much anxiety of wanting to perform,” he says, “wanting to win, and also being like, ‘I don’t know what’s happening to my brain. I can’t freaking think.’ Luckily, eventually, in time and experience, all you can have is awareness that this is happening. So, it’s, ‘This is normal. Am I going to be a gangster, or am I going to give in?’”

Austin Hedges, who has become a key part of the Guardians on and off the field, congratulates Emmanuel Clase earlier this season. (Nick Cammett / Getty Images)

Hedges needed to come to Cleveland, to win in Cleveland, to leave Cleveland and to win a World Series last fall with Texas to understand what the Guardians were lacking and how he could provide it. He’s Vogt’s lieutenant in the clubhouse. When the two connected for a 10-minute call over the winter as the Guardians recruited Hedges back to the organization, Vogt hung up and said to himself, “This is the guy.”

The notebook Hedges constantly grips in his left hand was a wedding gift from ex-teammate Clayton Richard, who taught him how to make a difference on days he wasn’t in the lineup. This season, Hedges has been as much a mental coach, guidance counselor and senior motivation coordinator as catcher, but he cherishes the role. It’s a position Vogt held for 15 years in the minors and the majors, a catcher with a coach’s brain.

“He’s my voice,” Vogt says.

As teammates flock to him in the dugout, Hedges recommends a book about daily stoicism, a tenet this team has adopted. Vogt says he loves managing a team of clichés, players who not only rely on trite mantras to autopilot their way through interviews, but also actually adhere to them. One day at a time. Caring for each other. Turning the page after a win or loss. Banal, sure. But rooted in truth, Vogt says.

The players appreciate that Vogt shows no panic — not when they lost Bieber to elbow surgery, nor when they dropped three straight to the historically inept White Sox in May, nor when their once-massive AL Central lead dwindled last week after a seven-game skid. An early-season closed-door meeting was really just a chance to commend Hedges on eight years of service time, which alleviated some tension after a couple of defeats.

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The wild highs and lows that prepared Stephen Vogt to be the Cleveland Guardians’ manager

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Vogt has geared up for this opportunity since he was a middling A-baller eyeing a coaching future, when blossoming into a two-time All-Star seemed delusional. He has made a seamless transition to his new seat, one previously occupied by Francona, a future Hall of Famer. Hedges marvels at the way Vogt delivers the right message to the right person at the right time.

Of course, Vogt downplays his influence, insisting he’s “just a pretty face” who lets players be themselves, even if that means Scott Barlow standing in his “fish flip flops” while creating chainsaw noises into a semi-crushed Red Bull can or a group of players barking like dogs in the dugout. Fry and Hedges welcomed trade acquisition Alex Cobb to his new team in early August and Fry figured Cobb was thinking, “These weirdos, these guys are a bunch of losers.”

Really, though, it’s a tight-knit group. One day, Canadian-born Bo Naylor is teaching a card game to Jhonkensy Noel, a native of the Dominican Republic, in fluent Spanish. Another day, Fry and Ben Lively shout at the clubhouse TV until Tommy Fleetwood’s drive settles in the thickest cut of rough. Every day, in the first inning, the relievers engage in a cutthroat round of trivia, centering on anything from Venezuelan athletes to Olympic history to how many triangles can be found in a particular picture.

After a Noel missile to the outfield seats fueled a win in late June, Tanner Bibee and three relievers waited at the clubhouse entrance to supply the linebacker-sized slugger with high-fives while urging him to give a speech. House music blared as Hedges and Gaddis argued over whether the catcher’s recent stolen base should have been deemed defensive indifference. Kwan walked past Noel, hopped and punched the air, mimicking the team’s Super Mario-themed home run celebration. Ramírez stepped onto the edge of his locker in his brown Louis Vuitton loafers to answer reporters’ questions and meet Clase’s gaze.

“You can tell when people genuinely, actually want to be around each other,” Vogt says.

Manager Stephen Vogt (left) and bench coach Craig Albernaz don’t often vary their pregame routine. (Jason Miller / Getty Images)

One hour before first pitch, Vogt and Albernaz reunite in the manager’s office, down the hall from the clubhouse nuttiness and last-minute plotting. They say goodnight to their kids over FaceTime. They review Albernaz’s notes on the running game, the pitching matchups, pinch-hit scenarios and bullpen deployment. They toast to the night ahead and take a swig of Arctic Vibe-flavored Celsius. The routine can’t change — and neither can the drink flavor — unless they lost the night before.

“We’re a little ‘stitious,” Albernaz says.

Fifteen minutes before the national anthem, Vogt darts to the dugout. He has arrived at the calmest part of his day. The empty dugout is his oasis.

His days are filled with organizational meetings and media interviews and office visits and strategizing sessions. His late nights are spent stirring in bed, sometimes until 3 a.m. as he mentally replays decisions or contemplates advice to supply a struggling player. It takes an episode or two of “Banshee” to hush the inner monologue.

As the game inches closer, though, he finds clarity. He leans against the dugout railing and, for 15 minutes or so, he can exhale.

He watches fans find their seats. He initiates off-topic banter with players as they pass by on their way to stretch. He cycles through his memories from whichever ballpark he’s calling home for a few days. He can’t patrol the visitors dugout in Kansas City without reflecting on the 2014 Wild Card Game with Oakland.

He calls this “the calm before the storm,” a therapeutic reset before the real thing, far away from Ramírez’s toneless melody, Hedges’ ceaseless banter and any other noise.

By this point, the hard work is complete. It’s time for first pitch.

 (Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic. Photos: Jason Miller, Rich Storry / Getty)