The Box-Toppers pitching points leaders in both leagues are among the finalists for baseball’s Cy Young Awards to be announced this week.
Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers, the overall Box-Toppers points leader in 2014, is one of three finalists for the National League Cy Young Award. Kershaw had 31.5 Box-Toppers points in 2014.
And Corey Kluber of the Indians, the overall Box-Toppers points leader in the American League, is one of three finalists for the AL Cy Young Award. Kluber had 25.8 Box-Toppers points, ranked second overall, behind Kershaw.
The Cy Young Awards, voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, will be announced Wednesday.
While the highest-ranked pitchers in Box-Toppers player rankings from each league are finalists for the awards, the pitchers with the second-highest Box-Toppers point total in each league was excluded from the finalist list:
• Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner ranks second among NL pitchers with 22.6 Box-Toppers points, third place overall. Cy Young voting only takes into account what the pitcher did during the regular season, so Bumgarner’s impressive postseason run, in which he was World Series Most Valuable Player and was Box-Toppers Player of the Game three times during the Fall Classic and five times during the postseason, is not taken into consideration. Still, Bumgarner had an impressive regular season and had more regular season Box-Toppers points than two of the three finalists—Johnny Cueto of the Reds (22.4, ranked fourth overall) and Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals (18.7, ranked eighth overall).
• Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer ranks second among AL pitchers with 22.1 Box-Toppers points, fifth place overall. Scherzer won the 2013 Cy Young and also led in Box-Toppers points among AL pitchers in 2013. Scherzer led AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points much of this season until he was passed by Kluber in late September. Scherzer has more Box-Toppers points than two of the three finalists—Felix Hernandez of the Mariners (20.8, ranked sixth overall) and Chris Sale of the White Sox (17.4, ranked ninth overall).
Cy Young Award finalists
Here are the three finalists for the Cy Young Award in each league and their 2014 Box-Toppers point (BTP) totals. Also included is their overall rank among all players. Also listed are Box-Toppers’ top-ranked pitchers from each league who were not named finalists.
| AL finalists | Team | Pos | BTP | Rank | NL finalists | Team | Pos | BTP | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Felix Hernandez | Mariners | pi sp | 20.8 | 6 | Johnny Cueto | Reds | pi sp | 22.4 | 4 | |
| Corey Kluber | Indians | pi sp | 25.8 | 2 | Clayton Kershaw | Dodgers | pi sp | 31.5 | 1 | |
| Chris Sale | White Sox | pi sp | 17.4 | 9 | Adam Wainwright | Cardinals | pi sp | 18.7 | 8 | |
| *Max Scherzer | Tigers | pi sp | 22.1 | 5 | *Madison Bumgarner | Giants | pi sp | 22.6 | 3 |
* These players were Box-Toppers' highest-ranking pitchers in each league who were not named as finalists for the award. Both players had the second-highest Box-Toppers point total among pitchers in their respective leagues.