Albert Pujols could break record for most consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points in 2020

Albert Pujols has the chance in 2020 to break the record for most consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points.

Box-Toppers season streaks

Here are the players who have earned Box-Toppers points in the most consecutive seasons. In 2019, Albert Pujols and CC Sabathia tied Carlos Beltran and Jason Giambi for the longest streak—19 straight seasons. Players are listed by length of their streak. Also shown is the duration of their streak and their career Box-Toppers point (BTP) total. (Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.)
 
Streak
Player
Pos
Duration		 Career
BTP
1 19 Jason Giambi 1b 1995‑2013 133.4
1 19 Carlos Beltran rf 1999‑2017 108.6
1 19 CC Sabathia pi sp 2001‑2019 203.4
1 19 Albert Pujols* 1b 2001‑2019 201.8
5 18 Jim Thome 1b dh 1995‑2012 146.7
5 18 Chipper Jones 3b 1995‑2012 149.0
5 18 Johnny Damon lf 1995‑2012 63.0
5 18 Alex Rodriguez 3b 1996‑2013 187.0
9 17 Mariano Rivera pi cp 1995‑2011 126.4
9 17 Derek Jeter ss 1996‑2012 76.4
9 17 Paul Konerko 1b 1998‑2014 100.7
9 17 Tim Hudson pi sp 1999‑2015 157.0
9 17 Torii Hunter cf 1999‑2015 115.9
9 17 David Ortiz dh 2000‑2016 145.9
9 17 Miguel Cabrera* dh 1b 2003‑2019 150.9
16 16 Manny Ramirez lf 1995‑2010 167.2
16 16 Andy Pettitte pi sp 1995‑2010 138.5
16 16 Jamie Moyer pi sp 1995‑2010 104.0
16 16 Scott Rolen 3b 1996‑2011 97.6
16 16 Kevin Millwood pi sp 1997‑2012 108.3
16 16 Derek Lowe pi sp 1998‑2013 91.5
16 16 Aramis Ramirez 3b 2000‑2015 105.8
16 16 Mark Buehrle pi sp 2000‑2015 116.7
16 16 Ichiro Suzuki rf 2001‑2016 53.7
25 15 Randy Johnson pi sp 1995‑2009 278.8
25 15 Garret Anderson lf 1995‑2009 86.5
25 15 Ivan Rodriguez ca 1995‑2009 79.0
25 15 Tony Clark 1b 1995‑2009 63.8
25 15 Gary Sheffield lf 1995‑2009 124.1
25 15 Jason Kendall ca 1996‑2010 40.9
25 15 Vladimir Guerrero rf 1997‑2011 128.3
25 15 Bobby Abreu rf 1997‑2011 95.5
25 15 Mike Cameron cf 1997‑2011 70.3
25 15 Miguel Tejada ss 1997‑2011 102.3
25 15 Jorge Posada ca 1997‑2011 79.5
25 15 Livan Hernandez pi sp 1997‑2011 76.7
25 15 Kyle Lohse pi sp 2001‑2015 89.0
25 15 Jake Peavy pi sp 2002‑2016 141.8
25 15 Joe Mauer 1b 2004‑2018 82.6
25 15 Felix Hernandez* pi sp 2005‑2019 175.1
25 15 Edwin Encarnacion* dh 2005‑2019 87.2
25 15 Robinson Cano* 2b 2005‑2019 84.4
BTP: Box-Toppers points
* Active streak of a player active in 2020.
(Chart updated April 26, 2020)
Details of Box-Toppers season streaks as of June 12, 2019

If Pujols of the Angels earns Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors once in 2020, he will have earned Box-Toppers points for 20 straight seasons (2001-2020). Pujols is currently tied for the longest streak at 19 seasons with three other players—CC Sabathia, Jason Giambi and Carlos Beltran.

In 2019, Pujols and Sabathia both reached the 19-season milestone, both earning points each season from 2001 to 2019. However, Yankees pitcher Sabathia, 39, retired at the end of 2019, ending his streak at 19 seasons, the longest such streak that came to an end last season (see the chart elsewhere on this page Streaks ended after 2019). Sabathia had just 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2019, the second-lowest single-season total of his career. He barely kept the streak alive in 2014, when he had just 1.0 point.

Pujols, 40, signed with the Angels through 2021, is the only active player among the four leaders with 19 consecutive seasons with a chance to break the record in 2020. (Of course, given the uncertainties with the coronavirus, this is provided there is a season in 2020.) Pujols not only extended his streak of consecutive seasons in 2019, he did it with his largest single-season Box-Toppers point total (11.0) since he had 12.5 in 2011 with the Cardinals. Pujols ranked third among American League batters in Box-Toppers points in 2019. In 2018, Pujols earned just 3.0 Box-Toppers points, the fewest in any of the 19 years of his streak.

Jason Giambi’s 19-season streak ran from 1995 to 2013. Carlos Beltran’s 19-season streak ran from 1999 to 2017. (Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, the same year Giambi began his Major League career.)

Giambi, Beltran, Sabathia and Pujols are atop the chart of 42 players (elsewhere on this page, Box-Toppers season streaks) who have had streaks of 15 or more consecutive seasons earning Player of the Game honors. There are five active players, including Pujols, who have earned points for 15 or more straight seasons. The others are:

  • Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers, who has earned points in 17 straight seasons from 2003 to 2019. Cabrera, 37, has barely kept the streak alive for the past three seasons with the three lowest single-season point totals of his career—he had 2.0 points in 2017, 1.0 in 2018 and 3.0 in 2019.

  • Felix Hernandez, signed with the Braves for 2020, who has earned points in 15 straight seasons from 2005 to 2019. Hernandez, 34, barely kept the streak alive in 2019, earning just 1.0 Box-Toppers point on Sept. 14, in his 15th and final season with the Mariners. It is the fewest points he has earned in any of his 15 consecutive seasons.

  • Edwin Encarnacion, signed with the White Sox for 2020, who has earned points in 15 straight seasons from 2005 to 2019. Encarnacion, 37, reached the 15-season milestone on May 19, 2019, with the Mariners, with his only Player of the Game honor of the season (earning 1.5 points as AL Batter of the Day). It is the fewest points he’s earned in a season since he had 1.0 in his first season, 2005.

  • Robinson Cano of the Mets, who has earned points in 15 straight seasons from 2005 to 2019. Cano, 37, barely kept the streak alive in 2019, earning just 2.0 Box-Toppers points, his lowest-single season total.

Other than Pujols, the four active in 2020 players who extended their streaks of 15 or more consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points last season had only 6.5 combined Box-Toppers points in 2019.

While those four players seem to be limping along late in their careers, the Box-Toppers season streaks chart showing the 42 players with streaks of 15 or more consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points is generally an indication of baseball’s most durable, consistent and injury-free players over the past 25 seasons.

Active season streaks

Here are the 10 players who have earned Box-Toppers points for 14 or more consecutive seasons who have a chance to extend their streaks in 2020. Players are listed by the length of their streak and with their current team status. Also shown is the duration of their streak and their career Box-Toppers point (BTP) total.
 
Streak Player Pos Team Duration BTP*
19 Albert Pujols 1b Angels 2001‑2019 201.8
17 Miguel Cabrera 1b Tigers 2003‑2019 150.9
15 Felix Hernandez pi sp Braves 2005‑2019 175.1
15 Edwin Encarnacion dh Mariners 2005‑2019 87.2
15 Robinson Cano 2b Mets 2005‑2019 85.4
14 Justin Verlander pi sp Astros 2006‑2019 205.6
14 Cole Hamels pi sp Braves 2006‑2019 174.2
14 Jon Lester pi sp Cubs 2006‑2019 172.6
14 Nelson Cruz dh Twins 2006‑2019 74.2
14 Ryan Zimmerman 1b Nationals 2006‑2019 67.2
BTP*: Career Box-Toppers points

The second chart on the page Active season streaks, shows the 10 players with currently active streaks of 14 consecutive seasons or more earning Box-Toppers points through the 2019 season.

In addition to the five players previously mentioned with active streaks of 15 or more seasons, the Active season streaks chart includes five players who all have earned Box-Toppers points for 14 straight seasons (2006-2019), who have a chance to extend the streak to 15 seasons in 2020. They are Astros pitcher Justin Verlander, Braves pitcher Cole Hamels, Cubs pitcher Jon Lester, Nelson Cruz of the Twins and Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals.

The third chart on this page, Streaks ended after 2019, shows the 10 players whose streaks of 11 consecutive seasons or more earning Box-Toppers points came to an end at the end of 2019, either because they retired at the end of the season or because they failed to earn points during the season, thus ending their streak as of 2018.

Streaks ended after 2019

Here are 10 players who had 11 or more consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points who saw those streaks end after 2019 either because they retired at season’s end or because they did not earn points in 2019.
 
Streak Player Pos Team Duration BTP*
19 CC Sabathia pi sp Retired 2001‑2019 203.4
14 Ian Kinsler 2b Retired 2006‑2019 71.6
13 James Shields pi sp Free agent 2006‑2018 106.4
13 Matt Kemp lf Marlins 2006‑2018 68.1
13 Brandon Phillips 2b 3b Free agent 2006‑2018 67.6
13 Jose Bautista rf Free agent 2006‑2018 67.4
13 Nick Markakis rf Braves 2006‑2018 50.6
12 Yovani Gallardo pi sp Free agent 2007‑2018 92.7
12 Mark Reynolds 1b 3b 2b ph Retired 2007‑2018 63.9
11 Justin Upton lf Angels 2008‑2018 63.6
BTP*: Career Box-Toppers points

Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia leads the list of players whose streaks ended after 2019. He earned points for the record-setting 19th straight season in 2019 before retiring at season’s end. Ian Kinsler of the Rangers had the second-longest streak to end after 2019 at 14 seasons (2006-2019). Kinsler, like Sabathia, earned points in 2019, his final season before retiring. (Kinsler earned 2.0 in 2019 with the Padres, his second-lowest single-season point total after the 1.5 he earned in 2017 with the Tigers.)

Sabathia and Kinsler are the only players among those 10 who earned points in 2019. The other eight players all saw their streaks come to an end because they did not earn points in 2019. That includes four players who were not on a roster in 2019 and who were listed as free agents during 2019—pitcher James Shields (13 seasons, 2006-2018), infielder Brandon Phillips (13 seasons, 2006-2018), outfielder Jose Bautista (13 seasons, 2006-2018) and pitcher Yovani Gallardo (12 seasons, 2007-2018). All four are still currently listed as free agents.

There are four players on the Streaks ended after 2019 chart who were active in 2019 and who saw their streaks end in 2018 because they did not earn points in 2019—outfielder Matt Kemp of the Marlins (13 seasons, 2006-2018), outfielder Nick Markakis of the Braves (13 seasons, 2006-2018), outfielder Justin Upton of the Angels (11 seasons, 2008-2018) and infielder Mark Reynolds (12 seasons, 2007-2018). Reynolds played briefly with the Rockies in 2019, earning no points, and retired at season’s end.

Streak leaders

Of the four players now tied with the most consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points, Sabathia has the most career points (203.4), followed by Pujols (201.8), Giambi (133.4) and Beltran (108.6):

Sabathia has the longest consecutive season streak earning Box-Toppers points among all pitchers since 1995. His 19-season streak is two seasons longer than the second-longest by a pitcher—17 seasons by closer Mariano Rivera from 1995-2011.

Sabathia barely kept his streak alive in 2014 when he had just 1.0 Box-Toppers point. The fewest points Pujols had in any season in his streak was 3.0 in 2018. Giambi had two seasons in which he had 1.5 or fewer points (2011 with 1.5 and 2012 with 1.0). And Beltran had two seasons in which he extended his streak earning just 1.0 point (2010 and 2014).

Sabathia and Pujols have both earned Box-Toppers points in each of the 19 seasons in which they’ve played (both from 2001 to 2019). Beltran earned Box-Toppers points in all but his first season in his Major League career. However, in 1998, he played in just 14 games and in 1999, his first full season with the Royals, was named AL Rookie of the Year. Giambi earned Box-Toppers points in all but his final season in his Major League career. In 2014, with the Indians, Giambi played in just 26 games.

Many players on the list began their consecutive seasons streak in 1995. Several of those players could likely have had longer streaks if Box-Toppers tracking began earlier than 1995. For example, Jim Thome ranks second with a streak of 18 straight seasons, but he began his career in 1991. Jamie Moyer (16 straight seasons) and Randy Johnson (15 straight seasons) both began their careers in the late 1980s and would also likely have longer streaks.

Active streaks

With Sabathia’s retirement, Pujols now takes the sole lead in active players with his 19-season streak.

He has a two-season lead over second-place Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers, who has earned Box-Toppers points for 17 straight seasons (2003-2019).

Also with Sabathia’s retirement, Braves pitcher Felix Hernandez now assumes the active season streak lead among pitchers—his 15-season streak (2005-2019) is now one season longer than the 14-season streaks by Justin Verlander of the Astros, Cole Hamels of the Braves and Jon Lester of the Cubs (all 2006-2019).

Other notable facts about consecutive streaks

Other notable facts about players with lengthy consecutive seasons streaks earning Box-Toppers points:

  • Jason Kendall has the fewest career Box-Toppers points among the 42 players with the longest streaks since 1995. Kendall earned Box-Toppers points in 15 straight seasons from 1996 to 2010 (tied for the 25th-longest streak) but only has 40.9 career Box-Toppers points. His best year was 1998 with the Pirates when he had 10.0 Box-Toppers points, ranking 15th among NL batters. But Kendall had six seasons in which he had only 1.0 Box-Toppers point—2001 and 2002 with the Pirates, 2005 and 2006 with the Athletics, 2007 with the Athletics and Cubs and 2008 with the Brewers.

  • Pedro Martinez is the player with the most Box-Toppers points who doesn’t appear in the consecutive streak list. Martinez ranks second among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995 with 244.8. Martinez had a streak of 11 straight seasons with Box-Toppers points from 1995 to 2006. He missed earning points in 2007 and 2008 before earning 3.7 in 2009. Martinez started his career in 1992, before Box-Toppers tracking, and would likely have had a streak of 13 straight seasons (from 1993 onward) if those seasons were tracked.

  • Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers leads all active players in career Box-Toppers points with 227.5, third among all players since 1995. However, Kershaw does not appear on these consecutive streak lists because he has only played in 12 seasons, making his debut in 2008. Kershaw, 32, has earned Box-Toppers points in each of his 12 seasons, including nine straight seasons with at least 10.0 Box-Toppers points (2009-2017), eight straight seasons with at least 15.0 points (2010-2017) and seven straight seasons with at least 20.0 points (2011-2017). Kershaw has led all players in Box-Toppers points three times—in 2011 (26.1), 2013 (21.7) and 2014 (31.5).

Batters vs. Pitchers

Interestingly, the list of players with the most consecutive years earning Box-Toppers points is made up largely of batters (69 percent). Of the 42 players listed, 29 are batters and 13 are pitchers. Of the 10 longest active streaks, six are batters while there are four pitchers.

In most Box-Toppers categories comparing pitchers to batters, pitchers dominate as they win Player of the Game and Player of the Day honors more frequently. (For example, among the top 42 players in career Box-Toppers points since 1995, 32 are pitchers while just 10 are batters.) But spread out over the longer period of time, batters tend to gain a few advantages. Batters’ careers tend to be longer than pitchers and with fewer interruptions because of injury. That allows them to be more likely to rank high in a list like this that prizes both longevity and consistency.

About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.

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From last year: Sabathia, Pujols join Giambi, Beltran earning Box-Toppers points in a record 19 straight seasons