Top players
Through Thursday, Aug. 14| OVERALL LEADERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | det al | 20.1 |
| 3 | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 17.9 |
| 4 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | cin nl | 16.4 |
| 5 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 15.8 |
| 6 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 15.4 |
| 7 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | det al | 15.1 |
| 8 | Wainwright, Adam 2150 | pi sp | stl nl | 15.0 |
| 9 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 14.7 |
| 10 | Richards, Garrett 3042 | pi sp | ana al | 14.7 |
| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | det al | 20.1 |
| 2 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 15.8 |
| 3 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 15.4 |
| 4 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | det al | 15.1 |
| 5 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 14.7 |
| 6 | Richards, Garrett 3042 | pi sp | ana al | 14.7 |
| 7 | Kazmir, Scott 1947 | pi sp | oak al | 13.1 |
| 8 | Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 | pi sp | nyy al | 12.7 |
| 9 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | tex al | 12.4 |
| 10 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | oak al | 12.0 |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |
| 1 | Abreu, Jose 3308 | 1b | chi al | 13.0 |
| 2 | Donaldson, Josh 3144 | 3b | oak al | 9.0 |
| 3 | Cabrera, Miguel 1776 | 1b | det al | 8.5 |
| 4 | Jones, Adam 2347 | cf | bal al | 8.5 |
| 5 | Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 | 1b dh lf | tor al | 8.0 |
| 6 | Carter, Chris 2828 | dh | hou al | 8.0 |
| 7 | Cespedes, Yoenis 3008 | lf | bos al | 8.0 |
| 8 | Trout, Mike 2949 | cf | ana al | 7.5 |
| 9 | Murphy, David 2348 | rf | cle al | 6.5 |
| 10 | Colabello, Chris 3235 | 1b dh rf | min al | 6.2 |
| NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.1 |
| 2 | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 17.9 |
| 3 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | cin nl | 16.4 |
| 4 | Wainwright, Adam 2150 | pi sp | stl nl | 15.0 |
| 5 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.8 |
| 6 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 11.7 |
| 7 | Teheran, Julio 3176 | pi sp | atl nl | 11.4 |
| 8 | Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | atl nl | 11.0 |
| 9 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | atl nl | 11.0 |
| 10 | Colon, Bartolo | pi sp | nym nl | 10.7 |
| NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |
| 1 | Tulowitzki, Troy 2308 | ss | col nl | 11.6 |
| 2 | Freeman, Freddie 2887 | 1b | atl nl | 7.7 |
| 3 | Murphy, Daniel 2589 | 2b | nym nl | 7.0 |
| 4 | McCutchen, Andrew 2637 | cf | pit nl | 6.5 |
| 5 | Yelich, Christian 3334 | lf | fla nl | 6.5 |
| 6 | Howard, Ryan 2040 | 1b | phi nl | 6.2 |
| 7 | Snider, Travis 2532 | rf lf ph | pit nl | 6.2 |
| 8 | Smith, Seth 2489 | lf rf | sd nl | 6.0 |
| 9 | Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 | rf | fla nl | 5.7 |
| 10 | Lucroy, Jonathan 2744 | ca | mil nl | 5.7 |
With six weeks to go in the season, the players atop Box-Toppers four main categories have such commanding leads, they may have already wrapped up Box-Toppers Players of the Season honors.
And that includes a player—Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies, who leads National League batters in Box-Toppers points—who is now out for the season and who, in the end, will have played only slightly more than half the season.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw continues to lead all players with 22.1 Box-Toppers points. His nearest rival among NL pitchers, Madison Bumgarner of the Giants, has 17.9 Box-Toppers points, 4.2 points behind.
Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer continues to lead American League pitchers in Box-Toppers points with 20.1. His nearest rival, Felix Hernandez of the Mariners, has 15.8 Box-Toppers points, 4.3 points behind.
Jose Abreu of the White Sox continues to lead AL batters in Box-Toppers points, with 13.0. His nearest rival, Josh Donaldson of the Athletics, has 9.0 Box-Toppers points, 4.0 points behind.
And most notably, Tulowitzki continues to lead NL batters with 11.6 Box-Toppers points. His nearest rival, Freddie Freeman of the Braves, has 7.7 Box-Toppers points, 3.9 points behind.
If any of these four players were to stop playing now, there would be a good chance that no player in their category would catch up to them in Box-Toppers points.
In other words, now, in mid-August, the picture seems pretty clear on who the favorites should be for Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards.
But naming Tulowitzki NL MVP may be problematic because he has not played since July 19 and now will not play the rest of the year because he is having season-ending hip surgery today. He has played in only 91 games this season. The fact that he is playing for a team with the worst winning percentage in the NL (.388) probably could be forgiven when it came time for MVP voting. But his limited playing time probably can not and will not.
And yet, it’s not just Box-Toppers that says Tulowitzki was and is the most dominant player among NL batters this year. Baseball-Reference.com lists him as the top NL batter in the Wins Above Replacement statistic, with 5.7.
Can some NL batter equal or surpass his Box-Toppers point total for the season. It’s possible. But if Freeman, his closest rival, earns Box-Toppers points at the same rate he’s earned them this season, he will only have earned about 10.3 by the end of the season—still more than a point behind Tulowitzki.
Given Tulowitzki’s absence at the end of the season and the fact that no other NL batters have pulled away from the pack and given the fact that Kershaw is so dominating NL pitchers, 2014 may be the year voters decide to give both the Cy Young and MVP award to a pitcher—Kershaw.
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. 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.