A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2024

A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season leaders chart for each of the past 30 seasons, including the leaders in Box-Toppers points each season among four main categories—American League and National League pitchers and batters.

Also, a look at how often Box-Toppers leaders win major postseason awards (Cy Young and Most Valuable Player), what players have led a Box-Toppers season category most often since tracking began in 1995 and what teams have had the most category leaders in 30 seasons. Also, a look at the lowest point totals to lead a season category, which includes 2024 leaders.

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A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2023

Analyzing 29 years of Box-Toppers points leaders in pitching and batting in both leagues.

In 2023, Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, American League Most Valuable Player, was the only player who won a major postseason award and also led his Box-Toppers category (leading AL batters with 19.4). Also, Pete Alonso of the Mets became the ninth batter since 1995 to lead his league’s batters in Box-Toppers points more than once, leading NL batters for the second straight season.

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Brewers’ Burnes tops players for Thursday, July 20; Strider extends NL pitching lead

Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fifth in season player rankings.

Also Thursday, Braves pitcher Spencer Strider rises to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings, extending his lead among National League pitchers, after earning Player of the Game honors.

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A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2022

In 2022, Justin Verlander led American League pitchers in season Box-Toppers points for the third time in his career, tied for the seventh-most times a player has led a season points category.

Also in 2022, the New York Mets and Miami Marlins each had their first Box-Toppers points category leader—Pete Alonso and Sandy Alcantara— leaving the Pittsburgh Pirates as the only team to never have a player lead a category since tracking began in 1995.

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A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2021

Analyzing 27 years of Box-Toppers points leaders among American League and National League pitchers and batters each season.

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A look at how 2021 Reliever of the Year winners Hendriks, Hader fared in Box-Toppers points

White Sox closing pitcher Liam Hendriks led American League relievers in Box-Toppers points and also was named AL’s 2021 Reliever of the Year.

But the National League winner, Brewers reliever Josh Hader, ranked sixth among NL closers in Box-Toppers season player rankings.

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A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2020

Analyzing 26 years of Box-Toppers points leaders among American League and National League pitchers and batters each season.

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A detailed look at Box-Toppers points leaders for 2019: Top players by position in each league

Here is a detailed look at Box-Toppers point leaders for 2019.

The chart accompanying this post shows points leaders for the season by several different categories and classifications.

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A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2019

Analyzing 25 years of Box-Toppers points leaders among American League and National League pitchers and batters each season.

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A look at Box-Toppers’ top 100 players for 2019

Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole tops Box-Toppers list of the top 100 players in 2019.

Cole had 32.2 Box-Toppers points during the regular season, which is the fourth-highest single-season point total in the 25 seasons of Box-Toppers tracking, which began in 1995. It was 1.5 points short of the record, 33.7, set by Randy Johnson of the Diamondbacks in both 2000 and 2002.

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Box-Toppers 2019 year-end All-Star teams

The Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2019 regular season are led by overall Box-Toppers points leader, Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole.

The American League and National League All-Star teams are composed of the players with the highest Box-Toppers point totals by position in each league. In addition to the batters—eight in the NL and nine (including the designated hitter) in the AL—are the top four starting pitchers in each league and the top closing pitcher.

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Players ranking highest in Box-Toppers points in 2019 fail to win any postseason awards

No 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.

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Verlander, deGrom win 2019 Cy Young Awards over Box-Toppers leaders Cole, Strasburg

Gerrit Cole of the Astros, who led all players in 2019 Box-Toppers points and had the fourth-highest single-season point total in Box-Toppers’ 25-year tracking history, fell short of winning baseball’s top pitching prize Wednesday.

Teammate Justin Verlander, who ranked second overall in Box-Toppers points, edged Cole to win the 2019 American League Cy Young Award. Cole finished second in voting. In the National League, Jacob deGrom of the Mets won the Cy Young Award for the second straight year. He finished second among NL pitchers in Box-Toppers points behind leader Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals.

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Yates, Hendriks win Reliever of the Year Awards from internet baseball writers group

Kirby Yates of the Padres and Liam Hendriks of the Athletics are winners of this year’s reliever of the year awards as voted on by the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA).

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Milwaukee Brewers face Washington Nationals in NL Wild Card Game Tuesday

The Milwaukee Brewers visit the Washington Nationals in the National League one-game Wild Card playoff game Tuesday.

Starting pitchers are:

Brewers—Brandon Woodruff, 7.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked 94th among all players, 40th among NL pitchers.

Nationals—Max Scherzer, 15.4 Box-Toppers points, ranked 15th among all players, ninth among NL pitchers.

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Box-Toppers picks Astros’ Gerrit Cole for AL Cy Young & MVP: A look at our postseason awards ballot

Box-Toppers is casting a vote for the American League Cy Young Award to Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole.

We are also casting our vote for AL Most Valuable Player to … Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole.

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Marlins’ Yamamoto tops players for Thursday, Sept. 26; Nationals’ Strasburg increases lead among NL pitchers

Marlins pitcher Jordan Yamamoto is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Thursday, Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg increases his lead among National League pitchers in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Brewers pitcher Josh Hader rises to eighth place in player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

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Strasburg tops players for Saturday, Aug. 31, extends B-T lead among NL pitchers; Pujols reaches 200 career points

Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, extending his lead among National League pitchers in season player rankings.

Also Saturday, Albert Pujols of the Angels becomes the sixth player—and first batter—to reach 200 career Box-Toppers points since player tracking began in 1995. Pujols rises to sixth place on Box-Toppers’ “all-time” career points, passing Astros pitcher Justin Verlander.

In addition Saturday, Brewers pitcher Josh Hader rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning his first Player of the Game honor in more than a month.

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