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Yankees 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 29.8 Box-Toppers points combined in 2020 and 2021 to lead all players in that span, while Scherzer earned 120.3 from 2016-2021, most in that span.
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Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer tops Box-Toppers list of the top 100 players of 2021.
Scherzer had 25.1 Box-Toppers points during the regular season. It is his fourth season with 25.0 or more Box-Toppers points. Only two other players have as many or more seasons with 25.0 or more points.
Read MoreThough Box-Toppers would not have voted David Ortiz as a first-ballot Hall of Famer, it’s hard to argue that his performance on the field was not worthy.
Yet, several other candidates with Hall-of-Fame worthy careers were not voted for induction Tuesday because of their ties to the steroid era. In fact, it can be argued that righteous baseball writers did a noble thing Tuesday by blocking three such candidates—Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa—for their 10th and final time on the ballot.
Read MoreDavid Ortiz is the only player inducted into internet baseball writers’ Hall of Fame for 2022.
None of the nine candidates Box-Toppers voted for Hall induction received the necessary 75 percent support. And Box-Toppers also did not vote for Ortiz.
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Pitchers won fewer Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors after a Major League Baseball sticky-substance rule crackdown in June, but pitchers still dominated in 2021.
Even after the June 21 rules crackdown, pitchers still won the vast majority of Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. But the rate of their dominance decreased from 65.5 percent prior to the crackdown and 56.5 percent after.
Read MorePadres pitcher Dinelson Lamet had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2020 to 2021.
Lamet, who earned 9.0 Box-Toppers points in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season (fifth among all players and third among National League pitchers), earned 2.0 points in 2021. After a stellar 2020 season, he battled injury early in 2021, struggled and went from a starter to a bullpen pitcher.
Read MoreAnalyzing 27 years of Box-Toppers points leaders among American League and National League pitchers and batters each season.
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During the 2021 season, Clayton Kershaw rose to second place and Max Scherzer rose to fourth place on Box-Toppers’ “all-time” career points top 10 list.
Kershaw was ranked third overall and among all pitchers at the end of 2020 with 235.2 career Box-Toppers points. The Dodgers pitcher rose to second place on June 27, 2021, with 246.6 points, passing Pedro Martinez, who had continuously held the second-place spot for 22 years. Kershaw finished 2021 with 13.4 points for the season and 248.6 career points.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Max Scherzer leads players in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2016.
Scherzer has 120.3 Box-Toppers points over the period 2016-2021, 26.8 points ahead of second-ranked player Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, who has 93.5 points over that span.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Gerrit Cole has more Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons than any other player.
Cole has earned 29.8 Box-Toppers points over 2020 and 2021. He ranked second among all players in 2021 with 22.4 Box-Toppers points and 12th among all players with 7.4 in 2020, a season shortened to 60 games by the coronavirus pandemic. Cole led American League pitchers in 2021 and ranked fifth among AL pitchers in 2020.
Read MoreHere is a detailed look at Box-Toppers point leaders for 2021.
The chart accompanying this post shows points leaders for the season by several different categories and classifications,
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The Milwaukee Brewers are the top-ranked team going into 2022, leading Box-Toppers offseason team rankings as of mid-December.
Players currently signed to the Brewers 40-man roster accumulated 111.1 Box-Toppers points during the 2021 season, most of any team. The Chicago White Sox rank second overall with 109.2 Box-Toppers points, leading all American League teams.
Read MoreBox-Toppers is voting for nine players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in the 2022 Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) ballot.
Of the nine players, three are in their first year on the ballot—Tim Lincecum, Jake Peavy and Mark Teixeira. The other six all return after not receiving the necessary votes to make the hall last year, including Curt Schilling, who is on the ballot for his 10th and final year.
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These six players were selected for the 16-member All-MLB First Team and were also Box-Toppers’ choices for the All-MLB team: Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres, Aaron Judge of the Yankees, Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer, Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole and White Sox pitcher Liam Hendriks.
Six Box-Toppers points leaders are among players selected for 2021’s 16-member “All-MLB” team announced Tuesday.
Another three Box-Toppers leaders were chosen for the “All-MLB” Second Team.
Read MoreTrey Mancini of the Orioles and Buster Posey of the Giants were named Comeback Players of the Year for 2021 Monday.
Both ranked far outside Box-Toppers’ 25 most-improved players list for 2021 and neither were among Box-Toppers’ top candidate in either league for the player who had the biggest bounce back to a successful season this year.
Read MoreBox-Toppers points leaders won none of the six major postseason awards for 2021.
Baseball writers have awarded Most Valuable Player, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in both leagues and Box-Toppers leaders failed to win any of them.
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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.
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.
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.
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Robbie Ray of the Blue Jays and Corbin Burnes of the Brewers were voted winners of the 2021 Cy Young Awards. They beat Box-Toppers top-ranked pitchers, Gerrit Cole of the Yankees in the American League and Max Scherzer of the Dodgers in the National League.
Robbie Ray of the Blue Jays and Corbin Burnes of the Brewers won 2021 Cy Young Awards over Box-Toppers’ two top-ranked pitchers for 2021.
Ray won the American League Cy Young Award after ranking second in 2021 Box-Toppers points among AL pitchers, behind Gerrit Cole of the Yankees. Burnes won the National League Cy Young Award after ranking fourth in 2021 Box-Toppers points among NL pitchers, behind Max Scherzer of the Dodgers.
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Randy Arozarena of the Rays and Jonathan India of the Reds were voted Rookies of the Year. They beat Box-Toppers top-ranked rookies, Bobby Dalbec of the Red Sox in the American League and Trevor Rogers of the Marlins in the National League.
Randy Arozarena of the Rays and Jonathan India of the Reds were voted 2021 Rookies of the Year by baseball writers.
Neither were among Box-Toppers’ top-ranked rookies in 2021. Arozarena was Box-Toppers’ eighth-ranked American League rookie and India was Box-Toppers’ second-ranked National League rookie.
Read MoreHere is a look at Box-Toppers choices for the All-MLB Team for 2021.
Unlike the midseason All-Star Game choices, players are chosen regardless of league, meaning the All-MLB Teams will likely be a mix of both American League and National League players. Box-Toppers did choose end-of-season 2021 All-Star teams based on league in October.
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.