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Shohei Ohtani of the Angels and Bryce Harper of the Phillies win the American League and National League Most Valuable Player awards. However, Jose Ramirez of the Indians led AL batters and Nick Castellanos of the Reds led NL batters in 2021 Box-Toppers points.

Ohtani, Harper win MVP Awards ahead of Box-Toppers batting leaders Ramirez, Castellanos

Shawn Plank November 18, 2021

Shohei Ohtani of the Angels and Bryce Harper of the Phillies were voted 2021 Most Valuable Players Thursday, ahead of other Box-Toppers points leaders.

Box-Toppers Most Valuable Player award ballot

Here are Box-Toppers' ballot selections for the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) 2021 Most Valuable Player awards. The ballot required voters to pick the top 10 players in each league.
Players are shown with their team and their Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2021.

AL Most Valuable Player  
Player Team BTP
1 Jose Ramirez Indians 13.0
2 Gerrit Cole Yankees 22.4
3 J.D. Martinez Red Sox 10.7
4 Brandon Lowe Rays 10.5
5 Aaron Judge Yankees 9.0
6 Robbie Ray Blue Jays 17.7
7 Xander Bogaerts Red Sox 8.5
8 Shohei Ohtani Angels 16.1
9 Jose Abreu White Sox 8.0
10 Matt Olson Athletics 8.0
NL Most Valuable Player  
Player Team BTP
1 Max Scherzer Dodgers 25.1
2 Nick Castellanos Reds 11.5
3 Zack Wheeler Phillies 21.1
4 Fernando Tatis Jr. Padres 10.2
5 Joey Votto Reds 9.7
6 Julio Urias Dodgers 19.1
7 Corbin Burnes Brewers 18.1
8 Nolan Arenado Cardinals 9.0
9 Paul Goldschmidt Cardinals 9.0
10 German Marquez Rockies 17.4
Box-Toppers gives batters a generous, if somewhat arbitrary, benefit of the doubt in these rankings. In cases where batters are directly compared to pitchers, Box-Toppers ranks batters as if their season Box-Toppers point total were doubled. For example, in rankings for AL MVP, Jose Ramirez ranks first with 13.0 points even though several pitchers have more points (most notably, Gerrit Cole of the Yankees, ranked second in AL MVP voting with 22.4). Though Ramirez has fewer points than Cole, Box-Toppers arbitrarily doubles batters point totals in figuring these rankings, which would give Ramirez 26.0 points, beating Cole’s 22.4. While MVP is traditionally a batter's award, it has been awarded to pitchers either when they have a dominant season, no batters particularly rise to the occasion—or both.

Ohtani, who ranked third in Box-Toppers points among all American League players with 16.1, was voted AL MVP. Harper, who ranked 28th among National League batters with 5.5 Box-Toppers points, was voted NL MVP.

Voting was done by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). The results were similar in the separate vote by the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA), in which Box-Toppers has a vote.

Box-Toppers points leaders were among the vote recipients for MVP in each league in BBWAA balloting. (See charts below American League Most Valuable Player Award voting and National League Most Valuable Player Award voting for voting results and how top candidates fared in Box-Toppers points and rankings.)

Box-Toppers chose Jose Ramirez of the Indians as AL MVP. He led AL batters in 2021 Box-Toppers points with 13.0 and finished sixth in AL MVP voting. Box-Toppers chose Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer as NL MVP. He led all players with 25.1 Box-Toppers points. He finished 14th in NL MVP voting. 

We chose Scherzer, a pitcher, for the award because he had more than twice as many Box-Toppers points as the top NL batter, Nick Castellanos of the Reds (11.5), who finished 12th in NL MVP voting.

AL Most Valuable Player

Ohtani won all 30 first-place votes for AL MVP and it is hard to argue he is not deserving.

He is a once-in-a-century marvel as an outstanding two-way player, hitting 42 home runs and driving in 100 runs as a designated hitter and starting 23 games as a pitcher with 156 strikeouts and a 3.18 earned run average. In a way, his 16.1 Box-Toppers point total reflected that—he ranked third among AL players.

But because he earned such an overwhelming majority of his Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors as a pitcher, he did not qualify to be ranked among batters.

Ohtani played 155 games in 2021, serving as designated hitter in 126 and starting 23 games as a pitcher. He earned Player of the Game honors 12 times—nine times as a starting pitcher and three times as a designated hitter. In order for players to be listed at a certain position, they need to have more than 25 percent of their Player of the Game honors at that position. Ohtani earned exactly 25 percent of his Player of the Game honors as a designated hitter and so was not ranked as a batter.

However, there was a period in 2021 in which Ohtani had more than 25 percent of his Player of the Game honors as a designated hitter. During that span, he was qualified to be ranked among batters. He took the lead among AL batters July 30 with 11.4 Box-Toppers points and held it through the weekly player rankings report of Sept. 2, when he had a fairly commanding lead. However, on Sept. 3, Ohtani earned Player of the Game honors as a pitcher for the ninth time of the season. That put him short of qualifying to be ranked as a batter. This meant that Ohtani went from ranking first among AL batters to being removed from batter rankings entirely because he no longer qualified. And it was his final Player of the Game honor of 2021, so his status didn’t change by the end of the season.

Ironically, Ohtani earned Player of the Game honors four times for batting this season, but one of those honors on April 26 came while he was a starting pitcher. It is one of five times this season a pitcher earned Player of the Game honors for batting.

Despite this, Box-Toppers still had Ohtani on our AL MVP ballot for his pitching prowess, ranking him eighth among all AL players. And Box-Toppers had him in third place on our AL Cy Young Award ballot, seeing him actually more deserving of that award.

We voted for Ramirez as AL MVP simply because, with 13.0 Box-Toppers points, he was the one AL batter who most often was the key player in his team’s wins. Ramirez earned Player of the Game honors in 11 Indians wins, including winning AL Batter of the Day honors four times (June 8, June 28, Aug. 9 and Sept. 19.) 

But Ramirez got little consideration for AL MVP in 2021, unlike three other seasons in which he was among the top three on the ballot—2017, 2018 and 2020. Interestingly, Ramirez did not rank among Box-Toppers’ top three candidates for AL MVP in any of those seasons:

  • In 2017, he finished third in AL MVP voting, but was fifth among AL batters with 10.0 Box-Toppers points.

  • In 2018, he finished third in AL MVP voting but was 17th among AL batters with 6.0 Box-Toppers points.

  • In 2020, he finished second in AL MVP voting but was 14th among AL batters with 3.5 Box-Toppers points in the pandemic-shortened season.

Rounding out the top three in AL MVP voting were Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Marcus Semien, both of the Blue Jays. While both had outstanding statistical seasons, they rarely were the key player in a Blue Jays win. Bo Bichette led Blue Jays batters in 2021 Box-Toppers points with 7.0 with Semien’s 6.2 the second-most. Guerrero’s 3.7 points was seventh among Blue Jays batters, as he earned Player of the Game honors only three times in 2021—April 27 (when he was AL Player of the Day), June 5 and Sept. 3.

Box-Toppers’ highest-ranking AL batter not to earn MVP votes was J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox, who ranked second among AL batters with 10.7 Box-Toppers points and led the category much of the season.

Box-Toppers’ third- through eighth-ranked AL batters did receive AL MVP votes:

  • 3. Brandon Lowe of the Rays, 10.5 Box-Toppers points, finished 10th in AL MVP voting.

  • 4. Aaron Judge of the Yankees, 9.0 points, finished fourth in voting.

  • 5. Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox, 8.5 points, finished 13th in voting.

  • 6. Jose Abreu of the White Sox, 8.0 points, finished 14th in voting.

  • 7. Matt Olson of the Athletics, 8.0 points, finished eighth in voting.

  • 8. Rafael Devers of the Red Sox, 7.5 points, finished 11th in voting.

Four pitchers received AL MVP votes and all were among Box-Toppers’ top six-ranked AL pitchers in 2021:

  • 1. Gerrit Cole of the Yankees, 22.4 Box-Toppers points, finished 17th in AL MVP voting.

  • 2. Robbie Ray of the Blue Jays, 17.7 points, finished tied for 15th in voting.

  • 3. Ohtani, 16.1 points, won the AL MVP.

  • 6. Nathan Eovaldi of the Red Sox, 14.1 points, finished tied for 15th in voting.

NL Most Valuable Player

Harper won 17 of 30 first-place votes for NL MVP. Four other players divided the rest.

Harper led the NL with 42 doubles, a .615 slugging percentage and an on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) of 1.044. He played in 141 games and hit 35 homers, 84 RBIs and hit for a .309 average.

But he had just 5.5 Box-Toppers points and ranked 28th among all NL batters. He earned Player of the Game honors only in four Phillies’ wins this season and all in the second half of the season—July 6, Aug. 4, Aug. 12 and Sept. 16. He wasn’t even the top Phillies batter in Box-Toppers points. That was catcher J.T. Realmuto, who had 7.2 Box-Toppers points, 12th among NL batters.

The Phillies were 71-70 in games he played. They were 11-10 in games he did not play.

By contrast, when Harper won the NL MVP in 2015 when he was with the Nationals, he earned 9.0 Box-Toppers points, seventh among NL batters.

Seven of Box-Toppers’ top 10 NL batters were among NL MVP vote-getters:

  • 1. Nick Castellanos of the Reds, 11.5 Box-Toppers points, finished 12th in NL MVP voting.

  • 2. Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres, 10.2 points, finished third in voting, receiving two first-place votes.

  • 3. Joey Votto of the Reds, 9.7 points, finished 16th in voting.

  • 5. Paul Goldschmidt of the Cardinals, 9.0 points, finished sixth in voting.

  • 6. Austin Riley of the Braves, 8.5 points, finished seventh in voting.

  • 8. Bryan Reynolds of the Pirates, 8.0 points, finished 11th in voting.

  • 9. Tyler O'Neill of the Cardinals, 8.0 points, finished eighth in voting.

Box-Toppers’ highest-ranking NL batter not to earn MVP votes was Nolan Arenado of the Cardinals, who ranked fourth among NL batters with 9.0 Box-Toppers points. 

Five pitchers received NL MVP votes, including these three who were among Box-Toppers’ top four-ranked NL pitchers in 2021:

  • 1. Scherzer, 25.1 Box-Toppers points, finished 14th in NL MVP voting.

  • 2. Zack Wheeler of the Phillies, 21.1 points, finished 19th in voting.

  • 4. Corbin Burnes of the Brewers, 18.1 points, finished 15th in voting.

IBWAA voting for MVP

The Internet Baseball Writers Association of America voted Ohtani and Harper as their 2021 Most Valuable Players. Here are the reported IBWAA results:

AL MVP

  • 1st Place: Shohei Ohtani, Angels - 685 points

  • 2nd Place: Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., Blue Jays - 623 points

  • 3rd Place: Marcus Semien, Blue Jays - 461 points

NL MVP

  • 1st Place: Bryce Harper, Phillies - 583 points

  • 2nd Place: Fernando Tatis, Jr., Padres - 562 points

  • 3rd Place: Juan Soto, Nationals - 550 points

Box-Toppers, as a member of the IBWAA, voted for Jose Ramirez of the Indians as AL MVP and Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer as the NL MVP.

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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Related

  • Box-Toppers’ picks for postseason awards include Max Scherzer, Gerrit Cole, Jose Ramirez

  • A look at 2021 awards finalists and how they fared in Box-Toppers rankings

  • Box-Toppers top 10 player lists, end-of-season 2021

  • Box-Toppers looks at previous year’s MVP voting: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013

American League Most Valuable Player Award voting

Shohei Ohtani of the Angels was voted AL Most Valuable Player. Below are the AL players in order of their voting finish, shown with their first- through 10th-place votes and their voting points total. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers points (BTP) for 2021 and their rank among AL batters (except in the case of pitchers, denoted with †, in which case their rank among AL pitchers is shown).

1st-10th place votes
AL player Team Pos 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Points BTP Rank
1 Shohei Ohtani Angels pi sp* 30 420 16.1 3†
2 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Blue Jays 1b 29 1 269 3.7 59
3 Marcus Semien Blue Jays 2b 24 4 2 232 6.2 19
4 Aaron Judge Yankees rf 3 5 9 7 5 1 171 9.0 4
5 Carlos Correa Astros ss 11 6 7 1 3 1 163 7.0 13
6 Jose Ramirez Indians 3b 4 8 3 6 4 3 133 13.0 1
7 Salvador Perez Royals ca 1 2 3 6 2 3 3 4 103 4.5 44
8 Matt Olson Athletics 1b 2 2 1 9 5 3 2 90 8.0 7
9 Cedric Mullins Orioles cf 1 2 2 3 9 9 1 87 3.5 69
10 Brandon Lowe Rays 2b 2 1 2 5 4 34 10.5 3
11 Rafael Devers Red Sox 3b 1 2 1 8 28 7.5 8
12 Bo Bichette Blue Jays ss 1 1 2 7 7.0 15
13 Xander Bogaerts Red Sox ss 2 3 7 8.5 5
14 Jose Abreu White Sox 1b 1 1 5 8.0 6
15 Robbie Ray Blue Jays pi sp 1 4 17.7 2†
15 Nathan Eovaldi Red Sox pi sp 1 4 14.1 6†
17 Gerrit Cole Yankees pi sp 1 1 4 22.4 1†
18 Jose Altuve Astros 2b 1 1 3 6.5 18
19 Teoscar Hernandez Blue Jays rf lf 1 2 4.5 39
20 Mitch Haniger Mariners rf 1 1 7.5 11
20 Kyle Tucker Astros rf 1 1 7.2 12
20 Mike Zunino Rays ca 1 1 3.0 80
20 Austin Meadows Rays lf dh 1 1 1.0 162
BTP: Box-Toppers points
* Shohei Ohtani played most of his games as a designated hitter in 2021, however, he won the overwhelming majority of his Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors as a starting pitcher (nine of 12). For players to be listed at a position in Box-Toppers rankings, they need to have more than 25 percent of their Player of the Game honors at that position. Since Ohtani had only 25 percent of his Player of the Game honors at DH, he did not qualify to rank at that position or among batters. He earned 12.1 of his 16.1 Box-Toppers points as a starting pitcher and 4.0 as a DH.
† When an AL pitcher received MVP votes, their Box-Toppers ranking is shown among AL pitchers.

National League Most Valuable Player Award voting

Bryce Harper of the Phillies was voted NL Most Valuable Player. Below are the NL players in order of their voting finish, shown with their first- through 10th-place votes and their voting points total. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers points (BTP) for 2021 and their rank among NL batters (except in the case of pitchers, denoted with †, in which case their rank among NL pitchers is shown).

1st-10th place votes
NL player Team Pos 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Points BTP Rank
1 Bryce Harper Phillies rf 17 9 2 1 1 348 5.5 28
2 Juan Soto Nationals rf 6 11 7 2 2 1 1 274 6.0 21
3 Fernando Tatis Jr. Padres ss 2 5 15 5 1 2 244 10.2 2
4 Brandon Crawford Giants ss 4 2 1 7 8 4 3 1 213 7.5 11
5 Trea Turner Dodgers ss 2b 1 3 3 10 3 4 2 1 1 185 2.5 75
6 Paul Goldschmidt Cardinals 1b 1 3 5 5 7 4 2 128 9.0 5
7 Austin Riley Braves 3b 1 4 6 6 7 2 1 111 8.5 6
8 Tyler O'Neill Cardinals lf 1 2 3 2 5 2 62 8.0 9
9 Freddie Freeman Braves 1b 1 2 2 5 1 2 43 4.5 36
10 Max Muncy Dodgers 1b 2b 1 3 1 6 6 38 6.0 23
11 Bryan Reynolds Pirates cf 3 2 6 3 33 8.0 8
12 Nick Castellanos Reds rf 1 1 5 2 24 11.5 1
13 Ozzie Albies Braves 2b 1 1 1 12 7.0 15
14 Max Scherzer Dodgers pi sp 1 1 1 11 25.1 1†
15 Corbin Burnes Brewers pi sp 1 3 9 18.1 4†
16 Joey Votto Reds 1b 1 1 2 8 9.7 3
17 Willy Adames Brewers ss 1 1 3 8 3.5 54
18 Manny Machado Padres 3b 1 1 2 7 5.9 25
19 Zack Wheeler Phillies pi sp 1 1 1 6 21.1 2†
20 Adam Wainwright Cardinals pi sp 1 3 12.0 18†
21 Kevin Gausman Giants pi sp 1 1 13.7 11†
21 Buster Posey Giants ca 1 1 6.5 20
21 LaMonte Wade Jr. Giants lf rf 1 1 2.0 107
BTP: Box-Toppers points
† When an NL pitcher received MVP votes, their Box-Toppers ranking is shown among NL pitchers.
TagsPostseason awards, Most Valuable Player Award, Shohei Ohtani, Bryce Harper, Jose Ramirez, Max Scherzer, Nick Castellanos, Cy Young Awards, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Marcus Semien, Bo Bichette, J.D. Martinez, Brandon Lowe, Aaron Judge, Xander Bogaerts, Jose Abreu, Matt Olson, Rafael Devers, Gerrit Cole, Robbie Ray, Nathan Eovaldi, J.T. Realmuto, Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, Fernando Tatis Jr., Joey Votto, Paul Goldschmidt, Austin Riley, Bryan Reynolds, Tyler O'Neill, Nolan Arenado, Zack Wheeler, Corbin Burnes, Juan Soto
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Box-Toppers

Tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score stats. A method to measure & compare baseball's top players.

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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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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