Could 2023 be the season Clayton Kershaw passes Randy Johnson for the “all-time” lead in career Box-Toppers points?
Top 100 ‘All-Time’ Players
Here are the 100 players with the most career Box-Toppers points since record keeping began in 1995. Players are listed in order of their career Box-Toppers point total. Also shown is their Box-Toppers point total for 2022 and their career ranking in Box-Toppers points at the end of the 2021 season.Player | Pos | Team | All BTP |
22 BTP |
21 rank |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Johnson, Randy 15 | pi sp | retired | 282.5 | 1 | |
2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 259.3 | 10.7 | 2 |
3 | Martinez, Pedro J. 18 | pi sp | retired | 244.8 | 3 | |
4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | nym nl | 236.3 | 10.0 | 4 |
5 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 232.6 | 26.0 | 6 |
6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | kc al | 222.5 | 4.7 | 5 |
7 | Pujols, Albert 1438 | 1b | stl nl | 207.8 | 3.0 | 7 |
8 | Sabathia, CC 1492 | pi sp | retired | 203.4 | 8 | |
9 | Schilling, Curt 74 | pi sp | retired | 194.1 | 9 | |
10 | Rodriguez, Alex | 3b | retired | 187.0 | 10 | |
11 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | retired | 179.3 | 11 | |
12 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | retired | 175.1 | 12 | |
13 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | free agent | 174.2 | 13 | |
14 | Halladay, Roy 1178 | pi sp | retired | 170.7 | 14 | |
15 | Santana, Johan 1448 | pi sp | retired | 166.6 | 15 | |
16 | Ramirez, Manny 17 | lf | retired | 166.2 | 16 | |
17 | Clemens, Roger 334 | pi sp | retired | 164.8 | 17 | |
18 | Smoltz, John 61 | pi sp | retired | 160.9 | 18 | |
19 | Cabrera, Miguel 1776 | dh 1b | det al | 159.4 | 1.0 | 19 |
20 | Hudson, Tim 1231 | pi sp | retired | 157.0 | 20 | |
21 | Colon, Bartolo | pi sp | retired | 155.9 | 21 | |
22 | Mussina, Mike 175 | pi sp | retired | 155.6 | 22 | |
23 | Maddux, Greg 83 | pi sp | retired | 152.7 | 23 | |
24 | Wainwright, Adam 2150 | pi sp | stl nl | 152.3 | 10.0 | 30 |
25 | Bonds, Barry 95 | lf | retired | 152.2 | 24 | |
26 | Jones, Chipper 269 | 3b | retired | 149.0 | 25 | |
27 | Vazquez, Javier 1146 | pi sp | retired | 148.3 | 26 | |
28 | Thome, Jim 77 | 1b dh | retired | 146.7 | 27 | |
29 | Ortiz, David | dh | retired | 145.9 | 28 | |
30 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 144.6 | 29 | |
31 | Peavy, Jake 1635 | pi sp | retired | 141.8 | 31 | |
32 | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | ari nl | 139.1 | 3.7 | 33 |
33 | Pettitte, Andy 336 | pi sp | retired | 138.5 | 32 | |
34 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 138.3 | 15.4 | 45 |
35 | Price, David 2593 | pi mr cp | lad nl | 134.0 | 1.0 | 36 |
36 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 133.8 | 34 | |
37 | giambi, jason | 1b | retired | 133.4 | 35 | |
38 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 131.5 | 9.4 | 46 |
39 | Hoffman, Trevor 342 | pi cp | retired | 128.4 | 37 | |
40 | Guerrero, Vladimir | rf | retired | 128.3 | 38 | |
41 | Weaver, Jered 2178 | pi sp | retired | 127.8 | 39 | |
42 | Burnett, A.J. 1300 | pi sp | retired | 127.8 | 40 | |
43 | Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | retired | 127.2 | 41 | |
44 | Oswalt, Roy 1469 | pi sp | retired | 127.2 | 42 | |
45 | rivera, mariano | pi cp | retired | 126.4 | 43 | |
46 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | tb al | 125.1 | 11.0 | 57 |
47 | sheffield, gary | lf | retired | 124.1 | 44 | |
48 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 124.0 | 16.8 | 70 |
49 | Lee, Cliff 1798 | pi sp | retired | 119.1 | 47 | |
50 | Delgado, Carlos | 1b | retired | 118.7 | 48 | |
51 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | chi al | 118.2 | 6.4 | 62 |
52 | Zito, Barry 1415 | pi sp | retired | 117.4 | 49 | |
53 | Beltre, Adrian 1141 | 3b | retired | 116.8 | 50 | |
54 | Buehrle, Mark 1407 | pi sp | retired | 116.7 | 51 | |
55 | Helton, Todd 1060 | 1b | retired | 116.4 | 52 | |
56 | Hunter, Torii 1190 | cf | retired | 115.9 | 53 | |
57 | Lincecum, Tim 2288 | pi sp | retired | 115.0 | 54 | |
58 | Beckett, Josh 1544 | pi sp | retired | 114.9 | 55 | |
59 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi mr sp | free agent | 114.4 | 56 | |
60 | Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | chi al | 113.8 | 9.7 | 76 |
61 | Carpenter, Chris | pi sp | retired | 113.3 | 58 | |
62 | Haren, Danny 1787 | pi sp | retired | 113.2 | 59 | |
63 | Sosa, Sammy 43 | rf | retired | 113.2 | 60 | |
64 | Brown, Kevin J. 246 | pi sp | retired | 112.8 | 61 | |
65 | Glavine, Tom 288 | pi sp | retired | 110.6 | 62 | |
66 | Kent, Jeff 280 | 2b | retired | 110.2 | 63 | |
67 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | nym nl | 109.8 | 9.7 | 87 |
68 | Wagner, Billy | pi cp | retired | 108.7 | 65 | |
69 | Gonzalez, Gio 2626 | pi sp | retired | 108.6 | 66 | |
70 | Beltran, Carlos 1194 | cf | retired | 108.6 | 67 | |
71 | Millwood, Kevin | pi sp | retired | 108.3 | 68 | |
72 | Berkman, Lance 1261 | 1b lf rf | retired | 108.1 | 69 | |
73 | Shields, James 2157 | pi sp | retired | 106.4 | 71 | |
74 | Liriano, Francisco 2104 | pi sp | retired | 106.2 | 72 | |
75 | Thomas, Frank 141 | dh 1b | retired | 106.2 | 73 | |
76 | Ramirez, Aramis 1364 | 3b | retired | 105.8 | 74 | |
77 | Kazmir, Scott 1947 | pi sp | free agent | 105.1 | 75 | |
78 | moyer, jamie | pi sp | retired | 104.0 | 77 | |
79 | Tejada, Miguel | ss | retired | 102.3 | 78 | |
80 | griffey, ken jr. | cf | retired | 102.2 | 79 | |
81 | Wakefield, Tim 296 | pi sp | retired | 101.4 | 80 | |
82 | Teixeira, Mark 1738 | 1b | retired | 101.3 | 81 | |
83 | schmidt, jason | pi sp | retired | 101.2 | 82 | |
84 | Holliday, Matt 1836 | lf | retired | 100.8 | 83 | |
85 | Cain, Matt 2081 | pi sp | retired | 100.7 | 84 | |
86 | Konerko, Paul 1107 | 1b | retired | 100.7 | 85 | |
87 | bagwell, jeff | 1b | retired | 100.4 | 86 | |
88 | Walker, Larry 165 | rf | retired | 100.1 | 88 | |
89 | Edmonds, Jim 353 | cf | retired | 99.8 | 89 | |
90 | Braun, Ryan J. 2300 | lf | retired | 98.7 | 90 | |
91 | Howard, Ryan 2040 | 1b | retired | 98.7 | 91 | |
92 | Rolen, Scott | 3b | retired | 97.6 | 92 | |
93 | Wolf, Randy 1235 | pi sp | retired | 97.4 | 93 | |
94 | Jones, Andruw | cf | retired | 96.5 | 94 | |
95 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | retired | 95.9 | 95 | |
96 | Abreu, Bobby | rf | retired | 95.5 | 96 | |
97 | Nomo, Hideo 307 | pi sp | retired | 95.5 | 97 | |
98 | Piazza, Mike 114 | ca | retired | 95.4 | 98 | |
99 | Dempster, Ryan 1109 | pi sp | retired | 95.2 | 99 | |
100 | Ordonez, Magglio | rf | retired | 94.5 | 100 |
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
This chart is sortable: Click or tap any of the headers to sort. For example, click the Player header to sort players alphabetically by last name, click again to sort in reverse alphabetical order. Refresh the page to return to standard order.
Or could this coming season be the year when Kershaw loses the lead among active players in career Box-Toppers points to either Max Scherzer or Justin Verlander?
Johnson still leads all players, earning 282.5 Box-Toppers points from the time Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995 until he retired in 2009.
But Dodgers pitcher Kershaw, who will be 35 when the 2023 season starts, finished 2022 with 259.3 career points, just 23.2 points behind Johnson. Kershaw has earned 23.2 or more points in four different seasons, but hasn’t done it since 2016:
2011—26.1 points, first overall.
2014—31.5, first overall.
2015—25.7, second overall and second among National League pitchers.
2016—24.4, second overall and second among NL pitchers.
Kershaw earned a combined 24.1 points in the past two seasons (2021—13.4 and 2022—10.7). At that rate, Kershaw would pass Johnson in 2024.
But even if Kershaw reaches Johnson’s 282.5-point total, he still wouldn’t match Johnson’s actual career total. Since Box-Toppers didn’t track Johnson’s career from 1988 to 1994, he would likely have many more career Box-Toppers points. A revised rough projection puts his actual career Box-Toppers point total at about 385.
Box-Toppers points are a measure of how much a player provides key contributions to his team’s wins. Specifically, 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.
The chart here shows the rankings of the top 100 players since record keeping began in 1995, along with their career Box-Toppers point total and, where applicable, their Box-Toppers points for 2022. The chart also shows each player’s roster status as of the end of the 2022 season and players’ rank in career Box-Toppers points at the end of the 2021 season, to show their rise or fall in rankings since last season.
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While it is possible for Kershaw to take the lead in career Box-Toppers points since 1995, it is also possible he could lose the lead among active players in career points in 2023.
Two players—Mets pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander—are within 27.0 Box-Toppers points of Kershaw. However, for either player to rise to the lead in active career points, it would require Kershaw to earn few or no points in 2023 and for Scherzer or Verlander to have one of their best seasons ever.
Scherzer, 38, currently fourth in career Box-Toppers points since 1995 with 236.3, is second among active players, 23.0 points behind Kershaw. Scherzer has earned more than 23.0 points in a season four times—2018 (25.7), 2017 (25.0), 2018 (25.1) and 2021 (25.1). In 2022, he earned 10.0 Box-Toppers points.
Verlander, 39, currently fifth in career Box-Toppers points since 1995 with 232.6, is third among active players, 26.7 points behind Kershaw. Verlander has earned more than 26.7 points in a season just once—2019 (27.5), but he led all players in 2022 with 26.0 points, his second-highest single-season total.
Kershaw has led all active players in career points since April 14, 2017.
Top 10 notables
Five of the 10 players with the most career Box-Toppers points were active and earned points in 2022:
Kershaw, second overall, earned 10.7 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 46th overall and 21st among National League pitchers, and now has 259.3 points.
Scherzer, fourth overall, earned 10.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 52nd overall and 24th among NL pitchers, and now has 236.3 points.
Verlander, rose from sixth to fifth overall during the 2022 season, the only player among the top 10 to rise in overall rankings during the past year. Verlander led all players in 2022 with 26.0 Box-Toppers points with the Astros, giving him 232.6 points, just 3.7 points behind Scherzer, who will be his teammate in 2023 on the Mets.
Royals pitcher Zack Greinke, 39, sixth overall, earned 4.7 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 198th overall and 68th among American League pitchers, and now has 222.5 points. Greinke fell from fifth to sixth overall during the season, passed by Verlander on June 29. Greinke is returning to the Royals for 2023.
Albert Pujols of the Cardinals, 43, seventh overall, earned 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 316th overall and 66th among NL batters, and now has 207.8 points. Pujols retired at the end of 2022, leaving just four active players in the “all-time” career points top 10 for 2023. Pujols leads all batters in career points, ahead of Alex Rodriguez (187.0), who ranks 10th overall since 1995.
Biggest jumps in rankings
These six players made the biggest jump up the career Box-Toppers points list in 2022:
Padres pitcher Yu Darvish rose 22 spots, most of any player, from 70th at the end of 2021 to 48th at the end of 2022. Darvish, 36, has 124.0 career Box-Toppers points, earning 16.8 in 2022, 10th among all players and seventh among NL pitchers.
Mets pitcher Carlos Carrasco rose 20 spots from 87th at the end of 2021 to 67th at the end of 2022. Carrasco, 35, has 109.8 career Box-Toppers points, earning 9.7 in 2022, 58th among all players and 27th among NL pitchers.
White Sox pitcher Lance Lynn rose 16 spots from 76th at the end of 2021 to 60th at the end of 2022. Lynn, 35, has 113.8 career Box-Toppers points, earning 9.7 in 2022, 56th among all players and 26th among AL pitchers.
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole rose 11 spots from 45th at the end of 2021 to 34th at the end of 2022. Cole, 32, has 138.3 career Box-Toppers points, earning 15.4 in 2022, 17th among all players and eighth among AL pitchers.
Rays pitcher Corey Kluber rose 11 spots from 57th at the end of 2021 to 46th at the end of 2022. Kluber, 36, has 125.1 career Box-Toppers points, earning 11.0 in 2022, 44th among all players and 21st among AL pitchers. Kluber has signed with the Red Sox for 2023.
White Sox pitcher Johnny Cueto rose 11 spots from 62nd at the end of 2021 to 51st at the end of 2022. Cueto, 36, has 118.2 career Box-Toppers points, earning 6.4 in 2022, 116th among all players and 43rd among AL pitchers. Cueto has signed with the Marlins for 2023.
No new players joined the top 100 career points list in 2022. The highest-ranking player outside the top 100 is currently 102nd-ranked player, Braves pitcher Charlie Morton, whose 94.1 Box-Toppers points is within 0.4 points of 100th-ranked player Magglio Ordonez (94.5). Morton, 39, earned 10.4 points in 2022.
Here are the next four currently signed, active players with the most career Box-Toppers points just outside the “all-time” top 100:
Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola, 29, ranks 112th with 89.7 career Box-Toppers points. He earned 16.0 points in 2022, ninth among NL pitchers.
Rangers closing pitcher Ian Kennedy, 38, ranks 114th with 89.2 career Box-Toppers points. He earned 1.0 point in 2022 with the Diamondbacks.
Nelson Cruz, 42, of the Padres ranks 117th with 88.4 career Box-Toppers points, the highest-ranking batter outside the top 100. Cruz earned 5.5 points in 2022 with the Nationals, 24th among NL batters.
Twins pitcher Sonny Gray, 33, ranks 120th with 87.5 career Box-Toppers points. Gray earned 12.1 points in 2022, 16th among AL pitchers.
Pitcher Anibal Sanchez, 38, currently listed as a free agent, ranks 119th with 87.7 career Box-Toppers points. He earned 5.0 points in 2022 with the Nationals.
Other risers
Eleven active players rose at least one spot in the “all-time” top 100 career points rankings. In addition to Verlander and the six previously mentioned biggest risers, the other four are:
Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright, who rose to 24th place with 152.3 career Box-Toppers points, from 30th at the end 2021. Wainwright earned 10.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 53rd overall and 25th among NL pitchers.
Diamondbacks pitcher Madison Bumgarner, who rose to 32nd place with 139.1 career Box-Toppers points, from 33rd at the end of 2021. Bumgarner earned 3.7 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 261st overall and 82nd among NL pitchers.
Dodgers pitcher David Price, who rose to 35th place with 134.0 career Box-Toppers points, from 36th at the end of 2021. Price earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point in 2022. Price is currently listed as a free agent.
Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom, who rose to 38th place with 131.5 career Box-Toppers points, from 46th at the end of 2021. deGrom earned 9.4 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 59th overall and 28th among NL pitchers. deGrom has signed with the Rangers for 2023.
Active players
There are 18 players among the “all-time” top 100 in career Box-Toppers points who were active and signed with a team at the end of 2022. They are:
2. Kershaw, 259.3 points.
4. Scherzer, 236.3.
5. Verlander, 232.6.
6. Greinke, 222.5.
7. Pujols, 207.8.
19. Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers, 159.4.
24. Wainwright, 152.3.
30. Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale, 144.6.
32. Bumgarner, 139.1.
34. Cole, 138.3.
35. Price, 134.0.
36. Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg, 133.8.
38. deGrom, 131.5.
46. Kluber, 125.1.
48. Darvish, 124.0.
51. Cueto, 118.2.
60. Lynn, 113.8.
67. Carrasco, 109.8.
Sixteen of these 18 active players earned Box-Toppers points in 2022. The two who didn’t—Sale and Strasburg. Two earned just 1.0 point each in 2022—Cabrera and Price. Five of the 16 earned less than 5.0 points in 2022. Seven of the 16 earned 10.0 or more points in 2022.
Biggest drop
There were 20 players who each fell three spots on the top 100 list, tied for the most among all players. Nineteen of them were retired and one finished 2022 listed as a free agent.
Among those 20 players, the one with the most career Box-Toppers points is retired left fielder Gary Sheffield with 124.1 career Box-Toppers points. He fell from 44th at the end of 2021 to 47th at the end of 2022, passed by Cole, deGrom and Kluber during 2022.
Pitcher Ervin Santana is the only one of the 20 players who fell three spots who was listed as a free agent at the end of 2022. He fell from 56th to 59th with 114.4 career points.
There were three active, signed players whose ranking dropped in the career points top 100 list.
Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg dropped two spots, most among active players, falling from 34th to 36th place with 133.8 career points. He earned no points in 2022.
Falling one spot each were these active players:
Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale, from 29th to 30th with 144.6 career points. He earned no points in 2022.
Royals pitcher Zack Greinke, from fifth to sixth with 222.5 career points. Greinke was passed by Verlander during 2022. Greinke earned 4.7 points in 2022, the only player to earn points during the season to drop in the rankings.
Top 100 for 2022 & ‘All-time’
There are 10 players on the “all-time” top 100 list who also appeared in Box-Toppers top 100 player list for 2022. They are shown in the chart below, listed in order by their Box-Toppers career points ranking.
Those 10 players include two of the top 10 players on the 2022 list—Verlander (first with 26.0 points) and Darvish (10th with 16.8). Verlander is the only player in the top 10 on both the 2022 and “all-time” lists.
Breakdown: Active vs. Inactive
Of the 100 players on the “all-time” list, 79 of them ended the season as retired. That is an net increase of five from the end of 2021. Among the top 100 joining the ranks of the retired since the end of 2021 are:
11. Pitcher Jon Lester, 179.3 career Box-Toppers points.
12. Pitcher Felix Hernandez, 175.1. Hernandez, 36, while not officially retired, has not played since 2019 and has accepted induction into the Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame this year.
21. Pitcher Bartolo Colon, 155.9. Colon, 49, last pitched in the Majors in 2018, but has pitched in Mexico and the Dominican winter league in recent years. His Wikipedia page indicates he intended to retire after the most recent Dominican season, which ended this winter.
74. Pitcher Francisco Liriano, 106.2.
95. Pitcher Jake Arrieta, 95.9.
Seventh-ranked Albert Pujols (207.8 career points) will join the list of retired players in 2023.
Three active players on the top 100 ended 2022 not affiliated with a Major League team, all listed as free agents:
Pitcher Cole Hamels, ranked 13th with 174.2 career points. He last earned Box-Toppers points in 2019 with the Cubs. Hamels, 39, has signed a minor league deal with the Padres for 2023.
Pitcher Ervin Santana, ranked 59th with 114.4 career points. He last earned Box-Toppers points in 2021 with the Royals.
Pitcher Scott Kazmir, ranked 77th with 105.1 career points. He last earned Box-Toppers points in 2016 with the Dodgers. He last played in 2021 for the Giants.
Top teams
The New York Mets had three players on the career points top 100 list at the end of 2022, most of any team:
Pitcher Max Scherzer, ranked fourth with 236.3 career points
Pitcher Jacob deGrom, ranked 38th with 131.5 points.
Pitcher Carlos Carrasco, ranked 67th with 109.8 points.
The Mets will continue to have three players among the career points top 100 to begin 2023. However, deGrom has left the Mets, signing with the Rangers and fifth-ranked Justin Verlander (232.6 points) is joining the Mets after leaving the Astros.
Three teams—the White Sox, Dodgers and Cardinals—had two players each among the “all-time” top 100 to close 2022, tied for second-most among all teams. The White Sox players include 51st-ranked Johnny Cueto (118.2 points) and 60th-ranked Lance Lynn (113.8), the Dodgers players include second-ranked Clayton Kershaw (259.3) and 35th-ranked David Price (134.0) and the Cardinals players include seventh-ranked Albert Pujols (207.8) and 24th-ranked Adam Wainwright (152.3).
Nine other teams each had one player each among the top 100. Seventeen of the 30 teams have no representatives among the top 100.
There were only 18 active, signed players on the top 100 list to close 2022 and there are currently only 16 on the list to open 2023. The two players subtracted are Albert Pujols of the Cardinals retired and Dodgers pitcher David Price is currently listed as a free agent.
Breakdown by position
Pitchers outnumber batters on the “all-time” list. There are 64 pitchers and 36 batters. For comparison, on the top 100 list for the 2022 season, there were 78 pitchers and 22 batters.)
Here is a breakdown of players by their primary position on the “all-time” list:
59—Starting pitcher
15—Outfield (5 CF, 5 LF, 5 RF)
10—First base
5—Third base
3—Closing pitcher
3—Designated hitter
2–Middle reliever
1—Second base
1—Catcher
1—Shortstop
There was no change in the number of pitchers and batters in the top 100 since last year, as there were no new players in the list this season. However, there were some position shifts since last season: There was one more player listed as a starting pitcher, one fewer player listed as first baseman, one more player listed as designated hitter, two fewer players listed as closing pitchers and one more player listed as primarily a middle reliever.
Pitchers tend to dominate Box-Toppers statistics especially in the short term. Over the longer term, batters tend to do better in Box-Toppers points because top batters tend to have longer, more productive careers than top pitchers. Also, in the first 15 years of Box-Toppers record keeping from 1995 to about 2009, batters in general did a lot better, earning 50 percent or more of all Box-Toppers points awarded. In fact, batters share of Box-Toppers points earned collapsed precipitously during the decade of the 2010s from the previous decade, as batters share of points earned fell from 51.7 percent during the 2000s down to 42.4 percent in the 2010s. During the 2010s, batters made year-end overall top 10 lists 23 times, while in the 2010s, there was only one such instance. Further, there were 35 times in the decade of the 2000s when a batter reached 15.0 or more Box-Toppers points in a season; during the 2010s, there were just seven such instances. There have been none so far in the 2020s, though Pete Alonso of the Mets came close in 2022 with 14.9 points.
In 2022, pitchers earned 61.89 percent of all Box-Toppers points awarded, compared to batters earning 38.11 percent. That set the all-time record for highest share of Box-Toppers points earned in a single season by pitchers, breaking the previous record in 2014, when pitchers earned 60.86 percent of all points.
Box-Toppers methodology
Keep in mind that these are only statistics since 1995. For many players who debuted before then (such as Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux), their career Box-Toppers totals would likely be far higher if the years before 1995 were tracked. On the other hand, for a player like Chipper Jones (ranked 26th), Box-Toppers covers virtually his entire career—he only played in eight games before 1995, so Box-Toppers covers 2,491 games of his 2,499-game career.
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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Related
Top 100 “all-time” lists at season’s end: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014.
Overlapping players
Here are the 10 players who are on both the Box-Toppers’ top 100 list of “all-time” (above) and the Box-Toppers top 100 list for the 2022 season. Players are listed here in order of career Box-Toppers points with their predominant position played during the 2022 season and the team with whom they finished the 2022 season. Shown are their career Box-Toppers point (BTP) total, their rank among players in career points, their Box-Toppers point total for 2022 and their rank among players in 2022.All-time | 2022 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Pos | Team | BTP | Rank | BTP | Rank |
Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 259.3 | 2 | 10.7 | 46 |
Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | nym nl | 236.3 | 4 | 10.0 | 52 |
Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 232.6 | 5 | 26.0 | 1 |
Wainwright, Adam 2150 | pi sp | stl nl | 152.3 | 24 | 10.0 | 53 |
Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 138.3 | 34 | 15.4 | 17 |
deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 131.5 | 38 | 9.4 | 59 |
Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | tb al | 125.1 | 46 | 11.0 | 44 |
Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 124.0 | 48 | 16.8 | 10 |
Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | chi al | 113.8 | 60 | 9.7 | 56 |
Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | nym nl | 109.8 | 67 | 9.7 | 58 |
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
This chart is sortable: Click or tap any of the headers to sort. For example, click the Player header to sort players alphabetically by last name, click again to sort in reverse alphabetical order. Refresh the page to return to standard order.