Blog
Jose Abreu of the White Sox and Freddie Freeman of the Braves were voted 2020 Most Valuable Players Thursday, ahead of other Box-Toppers points leaders.
Abreu, who ranked sixth in Box-Toppers points among American League batters with 4.5, was voted AL MVP. Freeman, who ranked eighth in Box-Toppers points among National League batters with 3.5, was voted NL MVP.
Read MoreBox-Toppers has cast votes for postseason honors for Shane Bieber, Luke Voit and for Trevor Bauer—twice.
I have cast my vote in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) for Reds pitcher Bauer to be both National League Cy Young Award winner and NL Most Valuable Player.
Read MoreTo get a reward, you need to complete a task. As other nations sacrificed to bring coronavirus case counts down, to flatten the curve, we didn’t. Cases increased. It seems crazy to reward ourselves now with baseball, putting many at risk, simply because we want it. We are not worthy.
And yet, here we are: So here’s an opening day introduction to Box-Toppers, tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score statistics. We begin our 26th season of tracking and our eighth season on the web.
Read MorePitchers led their team’s players in Box-Toppers points on 25 of 30 teams in 2019. Batters led all team’s players on the other five. Chart shows the players who led his team’s pitchers and batters in Box-Toppers points in 2019.
Read MoreAnalyzing 25 years of Box-Toppers points leaders among American League and National League pitchers and batters each season.
Read MoreNo Box-Toppers points leaders were among the winners in six major postseason awards for 2019.
In fact, looking at Box-Toppers’ ballot in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, none of the 10 candidates we chose for awards based on Box-Toppers points won an award.
Read MoreCody Bellinger of the Dodgers, who ranked third among National League batters in Box-Toppers points in 2019 with 11.2, was voted NL Most Valuable Player Thursday.
And Mike Trout of the Angels, who ranked ninth among American League batters in Box-Toppers points in 2019 with 8.7, was voted AL Most Valuable Player.
Read MoreThe players who played the most key roles in helping their teams win the most games in 2019, for the most part, are not among the finalists for baseball’s postseason awards.
Gerrit Cole of the Astros, who led American League pitchers in Box-Toppers points with 32.2, is one of three finalists for the AL Cy Young Award. He is the only Box-Toppers point leader in any of the six categories to even be named as a finalist.
Read MoreAs the 2019 Major League Baseball season opens, Box-Toppers begins its 25th season tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score statistics. Here is an introduction to Box-Toppers.
Read MoreAnalyzing 24 years of Box-Toppers points leaders in pitching & batting in both leagues
Read MoreDepending on how you look at it, Box-Toppers points leaders took home two (or three or four) of the six major postseason awards for 2018.
There were two awards won outright by Box-Toppers points leaders in their categories:
Read MoreChristian Yelich of the Brewers, who led National League batters in Box-Toppers points in 2018 with 11.5, was voted NL Most Valuable Player Thursday.
And Mookie Betts of the Red Sox, who ranked second among American League batters in Box-Toppers points with 10.9, was voted AL Most Valuable Player. Teammate J.D. Martinez, who led AL batters with 12.5 Box-Toppers points, finished fourth in AL MVP voting.
Read MoreBaseball’s postseason award finalists named this week are also among Box-Toppers’ top-ranked players for 2018.
The lone exception: J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox, who led all batters in 2018 with 12.5 Box-Toppers points, is not among the three finalists for the American League Most Valuable Player Award.
Read MoreNo batters are deserving of the Most Valuable Player Award this year.
Collectively, batters are faring worse, with their statistics trending downward in recent years. This year has been an even lower point.
Box-Toppers is voting pitcher Max Scherzer as NL MVP and Blake Snell as AL MVP.
Read MoreSix of the 10 leaders in baseball’s Wins Above Replacement statistic for 2017 are among the top 100 players in Box-Toppers points for the season.
However, four of the top 10 in WAR, including overall leader, Jose Altuve, rank well outside Box-Toppers’ top 100 players for 2017.
Read MoreAn analysis of 23 years of Box-Toppers points leaders in pitching & batting in both leagues.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Max Scherzer has more Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons than any other player.
Scherzer has earned 50.7 Box-Toppers points over 2016 and 2017. He ranked first in 2016 with 25.7 and second in 2017 with 25.0. Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who led players in Box-Toppers two-season point totals for each of the past four seasons, falls to second place this year with 47.5 points.
Read MoreSadly, Jose Fernandez leads the list of players whose Box-Toppers point total declined most from 2016 to 2017. The 22.4-point decline is 8.0 points more than the next biggest decline which was the highest among players active in 2017—that belongs to Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto, whose 2017 point total dipped 14.4 points, from 16.4 in 2016 to 2.0 in 2017.
Read MoreBox-Toppers points leaders took home three of the six major postseason awards in 2017 as voted by baseball writers—both Rookie of the Year honors and the NL Cy Young Award.
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.