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Randy Johnson leads all players in career Box-Toppers points and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Johnson earned 282.5 Box-Toppers points from the time Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995 until he retired in 2009. The most likely rival to Johnson’s throne at the moment is Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw who has 235.2 career Box-Toppers points, third among all players since 1995 and most among active players.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player over the past two seasons while Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer ranks first in points over the past six seasons.
Cole earned 39.6 Box-Toppers points combined in 2019 and 2020 to lead all players in that span, while Scherzer earned 116.2 from 2015-2020, most in that span.
Read MoreIndians pitcher Shane Bieber tops Box-Toppers list of the top 100 players of 2020.
Bieber had 11.4 Box-Toppers points during the pandemic-shortened regular season. And because it was such a short season—reduced from 162 games to 60—it is the lowest total to lead all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, beating the previous low set by Royals pitcher Zack Greinke, who led all players with 21.5 points in 2009.
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On Jan. 14, 2020, for the sixth time ever and the first time in more than 40 years, there was only one manager who had won a World Series on the team he currently managed (Dave Martinez of the Nationals).
Dave Roberts of the Dodgers became the second active incumbent World Series-winning manager on Oct. 27. Still, going from six such managers at the end of 2019 to just two in 2020 is the biggest-ever decline from the end of one season to the next.
Read MoreSelections for Major League Baseball’s 2020 “All-MLB” teams announced this past week rarely coincided with the season’s Box-Toppers points leaders.
Only one All-MLB First Team batter was among the Box-Toppers points leaders at his position—Marcell Ozuna of the Braves led all designated hitters with 4.5 Box-Toppers points. However, three of the four All-MLB First Team starting pitchers were also among the top three players in Box-Toppers points for 2020—Shane Bieber of the Indians (11.4), Trevor Bauer of the Reds (10.0) and Yu Darvish of the Cubs (9.7).
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Corbin Burnes had the biggest gain in Box-Toppers point totals from 2019 to 2020.
Burnes earned 7.7 Box-Toppers points in 2020 after earning no points in 2019. Burnes had earned 3.0 Box-Toppers points in his 2018 rookie season.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Justin Verlander had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2019 to 2020.
Verlander, who earned 27.5 Box-Toppers points in 2019 (second among all players), earned 1.0 point in 2020. His decline of 26.5 points was ahead of Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, whose 7.4 points in 2020 represented a 24.8-point drop from the 32.2 points he earned to lead all players in 2019.
Read MoreA detailed look at Box-Toppers points leaders for 2020, including overall top 10 leaders and the top 10 in both the American League and National League. Also includes the top 10 overall batters, plus top 10 in both AL and NL, plus top batters by position in each league. Also includes top 10 biggest dippers and risers—players whose Box-Toppers point increased and decreased most from 2019.
Read MoreBox-Toppers is voting for seven players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) ballot—Todd Helton, Tim Hudson, Torii Hunter, Jeff Kent, Aramis Ramirez, Curt Schilling and Billy Wagner.
Read MoreBox-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.