Clayton Kershaw rockets up ‘All-Time' Top 100 list, earning 36.7 Box-Toppers points since last year's All-Star break

Top 100 ‘All-Time’ Players

Here are the 100 (actually 102) players with the most career Box-Toppers points since record keeping began in 1995. Players are listed in order of their career Box-Toppers point (BTP) total. Also shown is their Box-Toppers point total for 2016 (’16).

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP	’16
1	Johnson, randy	pi sp	Retired	278.8
2	Martinez, Pedro J.	pi sp	Retired	244.8
3	schilling, curt	pi sp	Retired	194.1
4	Rodriguez, Alex	dh	nyy al	187.0
5	Sabathia, C.C. 1492	pi sp	nyy al	182.0	3.0
6	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	179.3	20.0
7	Pujols, Albert 1438	1b dh	ana al	176.3	2.0
8	Halladay, Roy 1178	pi sp	Retired	170.7
9	Ramirez, manny	lf	Retired	167.2
10	Santana, Johan 1448	pi sp	free agent	166.6
11	clemens, roger	pi sp	Retired	164.8
12	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	164.7	2.0
13	smoltz, john	pi sp	Retired	160.9
14	Hudson, Tim 1231	pi sp	Retired	157.0
15	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	ari nl	156.1	9.7
16	mussina, Mike	pi sp	Retired	155.6
17	bonds, barry	lf	Retired	153.2
18	maddux, greg	pi sp	Retired	151.7
19	jones, chipper	3b	Retired	149.0
20	Vazquez, Javier 1146	pi sp	Retired	148.3
21	thome, jim	1b dh	Retired	146.7
22	Colon, Bartolo	pi sp	nym nl	143.8	3.7
23	Ortiz, David	dh	bos al	142.9	5.0
24	Peavy, Jake 1635	pi sp	sf nl	141.8	5.0
25	pettitte, andy	pi sp	Retired	138.5
26	Cabrera, Miguel 1776	1b	det al	136.9	4.0
27	Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	136.6	10.4
28	giambi, jason	1b	Retired	133.4
29	Lester, Jon 2173	pi sp	chi nl	130.8	9.7
30	hoffman, trevor	pi cp	Retired	129.4
31	Verlander, Justin 2112	pi sp	det al	128.6	4.0
32	Guerrero, Vladimir	rf	Retired	128.3
33	Burnett, A.J. 1300	pi sp	Retired	127.8
34	Oswalt, Roy 1469	pi sp	Retired	127.2
35	rivera, mariano	pi cp	Retired	126.4
36	Weaver, Jered 2178	pi sp	ana al	125.1	2.0
37	sheffield, gary	lf	Retired	124.1
38	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	120.0	14.0
39	Lee, Cliff 1798	pi sp	free agent	119.1
40	Delgado, Carlos	1b	Retired	117.7
41	Zito, Barry 1415	pi sp	retired	117.4
42	Lackey, John 1640	pi sp	chi nl	117.2	9.4
43	Buehrle, Mark 1407	pi sp	free agent	116.7
44	Helton, Todd 1060	1b	Retired	116.4
45	Hunter, Torii 1190	cf	Retired	115.9
46	Lincecum, Tim 2288	pi sp	ana al	115.0
47	Beckett, Josh 1544	pi sp	Retired	114.9
48	Carpenter, Chris	pi sp	Retired	113.3
49	Haren, Danny 1787	pi sp	retired	113.2
50	sosa, sammy	rf	Retired	113.2
51	brown, kevin j.	pi sp	Retired	112.8
52	glavine, tom	pi sp	Retired	110.6
53	kent, jeff	2b	Retired	109.7
54	Wagner, Billy	pi cp	Retired	108.7
55	Millwood, Kevin	pi sp	Retired	108.3
56	Berkman, Lance 1261	1b lf rf	Retired	108.1
57	Wainwright, Adam 2150	pi sp	stl nl	107.3	5.5
58	thomas, frank	dh 1bã	Retired	106.2
59	Beltre, Adrian 1141	3b	tex al	105.8	4.0
60	Ramirez, Aramis 1364	3b	Retired	105.8
61	moyer, jamie	pi sp	Retired	104.0
62	Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	sf nl	103.7	11.0
63	Kazmir, Scott 1947	pi sp	lad nl	103.4	7.0
64	Tejada, Miguel	ss	Retired	102.3
65	Price, David 2593	pi sp	bos al	102.2	8.4
66	griffey, ken jr.	cf	Retired	102.2
67	Beltran, Carlos 1194	rf dh	nyy al	101.9	3.0
68	wakefield, tim	pi sp	Retired	101.4
69	schmidt, jason	pi sp	Retired	101.2
70	Konerko, Paul 1107	1b	Retired	100.7
71	bagwell, jeff	1b	Retired	100.4
72	walker, larry	rf	Retired	100.1
73	Liriano, Francisco 2104	pi sp	pit nl	99.2	4.0
74	Teixeira, Mark 1738	1b	nyy al	98.8	1.5
75	edmonds, jim	cf	Retired	98.8
76	Holliday, Matt 1836	1b lf dh	stl nl	97.8	6.0
77	Rolen, Scott	3b	Retired	97.6
78	Shields, James 2157	pi sp	chi al	97.4	1.0
79	Wolf, Randy 1235	pi sp	retired	97.4
80	Cain, Matt 2081	pi sp	sf nl	97.0
81	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	96.8	13.4
82	Howard, Ryan 2040	1b	phi nl	96.7
83	Jones, Andruw	cf	Retired	96.5
84	piazza, mike	ca	Retired	95.7
85	Abreu, Bobby	rf	Retired	95.5
86	nomo, hideo	pi sp	Retired	95.5
87	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	95.3	2.0
88	Dempster, Ryan 1109	pi sp	Retired	95.2
89	Ordonez, Magglio	rf	Retired	94.5
90	Dunn, Adam 1512	lf	Retired	94.3
91	williams, bernie	cf	Retired	93.8
92	Lilly, Ted 1452	pi sp	Retired	93.3
93	giles, brian	rf	Retired	92.5
94	Wood, Kerry	pi sp	Retired	92.4
95	Glaus, Troy 1132	3b	Retired	91.6
96	Lowe, Derek	pi sp	Retired	91.5
97	Ibanez, Raul 1137	lf dh	Retired	89.7
98	Lohse, Kyle 1487	pi sp cp	tex al	89.0
99	Gallardo, Yovani 2333	pi sp	bal al	88.7	1.0
100	alou, moises	lf	Retired	87.5
101	belle, albert	rf	Retired	87.5
102	wells, david	pi sp	Retired	87.5

BTP: Box-Toppers points
What are those numbers after players' names?

Since last year’s All-Star break, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw has earned 36.7 Box-Toppers points, more than any other player has earned in a single season, rocketing from 20th to sixth on Box-Toppers All-Time Top 100 chart.

Kershaw has 179.3 career Box-Toppers points and ranks third among active players in career points. He earned 16.7 points after 2015’s All-Star break en route to earning 25.7 for the season, second among all players. In 2016, he dominates season player rankings with 20.0 points.

The 36.7 points Kershaw has earned in the past year would break the single season record of 33.7 points, by all-time career Box-Toppers points leader Randy Johnson, who did it twice in 2000 and 2002. With 20.0 points just over halfway into the 2016 season, Kershaw is on pace to break Johnson’s single-season record. However, Kershaw has been on the disabled list since June 30 but is expected to return as soon as next week.

Last year at the All-Star break, Kershaw had 142.6 career Box-Toppers points and ranked 20th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. By the end of 2015, he had 159.3 points and rose to 13th place. He rose to 10th, passing Roger Clemens (164.8) on May 1 and now ranks sixth with 179.3.

Kershaw’s 20.0 Box-Toppers points in 2016 leads all players by 5.6 points, even though it has been nearly a month (June 20) since he last earned Player of the Game honors.

Randy Johnson remains Box-Toppers all-time career points leader, earning 278.8 Box-Toppers points from the time Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995 until his retirement in 2009. (Johnson would likely have about 380 career points if his entire career from 1988 were tracked, based on rough estimates).

Box-Toppers points are a measure of how much a player provides key contributions to his team’s wins. Specifically, 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. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point 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.

The chart here shows the rankings of the top 102 players since record keeping began in 1995, along with their career Box-Toppers point total and, where applicable, their Box-Toppers points for 2016. The chart also shows each player’s current roster status—retired, free agent or current team.

Some notable players on the top 100 list:

• Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees has more career points than any other active player with 187.0, ranked fourth among players since 1995. However, Rodriguez has yet to earn any Box-Toppers points so far in 2016. Until this year, Rodriguez has earned Box-Toppers points in every season he’s played from 1996 to 2013 and in 2015. He was suspended under baseball’s performance enhancing drug policy in 2014.
• CC Sabathia of the Yankees leads all active pitchers in career Box-Toppers points with 182.0 and has earned 3.0 points in 2016. Sabathia ranks fifth on the “all-time” top 100, now just 2.7 points ahead of Kershaw.
• Albert Pujols of the Angels ranks second among active batters and fourth among active players in career Box-Toppers points with 176.3. However, Pujols was passed June 11 by Kershaw on the career points list and fell from sixth to seventh.
• Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer rose from 57th in career points at the end of 2015 to 38th place now with 120.0, earning 14.0 points so far in 2016, third in season rankings.
• Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner rose from 90th in career points at the end of 2015 to 62nd now with 103.7, earning 11.0 points so far in 2016, sixth in player rankings.
• Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto rose from 109th in career points at the end of 2015 to 81st now with 96.8, earning 13.4 points so far in 2016, fourth in player rankings.

There are 14 players on the career top 100 list who also appear on the list of top 100 players for the 2016 season. Those players have 4.5 or more Box-Toppers points for 2016.

There are 28 players in the top 100 who have earned Box-Toppers points this season. There are five other active players who have yet to earn points this season:

• Alex Rodriguez, Yankees (187.0 career Box-Toppers points, fourth place)
• Tim Lincecum, Angels (115.0, 46th)
• Matt Cain, Giants (97.0, 80th)
• Ryan Howard, Phillies (96.7, 82nd)
• Kyle Lohse, Rangers (89.0, 98th)

Nearly two-thirds of the career top 100 (66) are retired. The New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants each have four players on the career top 100, most of any team. The Yankees on the list:

• Alex Rodriguez (187.0 career Box-Toppers points, fourth place)
• CC Sabathia (182.0, fifth)
• Carlos Beltran (101.9, 67th)
• Mark Teixeira (98.8, 74th)

The Giants on the list:

• Jake Peavy (141.8 career Box-Toppers points, 24th place)
• Madison Bumgarner (103.7, 62nd)
• Matt Cain (97.0, 80th)
• Johnny Cueto (96.8, 81st)

Two other teams—the Angels and the Rangers—each have three players in the top 100. There are also three players on the top 100 currently listed as free agents, all pitchers, hoping to be eventually signed by a Major League club:

• Johan Santana (166.6 career Box-Toppers points, ranked 10th, last Box-Toppers point earned June 30, 2012)
• Cliff Lee (119.1, 39th, last Box-Toppers point earned April 21, 2014)
• Mark Buehrle (116.7, 43rd, last Box-Toppers point earned July 1, 2015)

Most players among the top 102 are pitchers—60, including three closing pitchers.

It should be noted that Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995 and so many players who debuted before then (such as Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux), would likely have far more career Box-Toppers points if the years before 1995 were tracked. On the other hand, for a player like Chipper Jones (ranked 19th), Box-Toppers covers virtually his entire career—he only played in eight games before 1995, so Box-Toppers covers 2,491 games of his 2,499-game career. 

If you note how the names are listed in the chart—some all lowercase, some properly capitalized, some with numbers after them—the inconsistencies might make your inner copy editor cringe. But there is an unintentional method to this madness. In early days of keeping the Box-Toppers database from 1995 to 1997, names were inputted into a slow-functioning computer as quickly as was then possible, often with no capitalization—Box-Toppers' e.e. cummings phase, if you will. In about 1997, names were pretty consistently properly capitalized. And in 1998, numbers were added at the ends of names to denote their order of first appearance in the Box-Toppers database (the first time they earned Player of the Game).

So today, when you see player names like "rivera, mariano," (now ranked 35th) you'll know that Rivera first appeared early in Box-Toppers history (in his case, the first year, 1995). "Ortiz, David," (properly capitalized) made his Box-Toppers debut in 1997 (now ranked 23rd). And "Helton, Todd 1060," was one of the first players with the debut order number appended, when he first appeared in 1998 (now ranked 44th).

(Editor’s note: In the chart are references to teams “ana al” and “fla nl,” referring to the Angels and the Marlins. We realize those teams are now known as Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim) and the Miami Marlins, but we keep the old abbreviations around since those name changes were largely for marketing or political purposes and involved no substantial change in the actual geography of the team. Plus, change is hard.)