| American League | Team | BTP | Rank | National League* | Team | BTP | Rank | ||
| 1B | Cabrera, Miguel 1776 | det al | 12.0 | 33 | Votto, Joey 2366 | cin nl | 10.5 | 49 | |
| 2B | Altuve, Jose 3007 | hou al | 12.5 | 26 | Carpenter, Matt 2987 | stl nl | 9.5 | 60 | |
| SS | Machado, Manny 3087 | bal al | 12.7 | 21 | Story, Trevor 3607 | col nl | 6.5 | 147 | |
| 3B | Donaldson, Josh 3144 | tor al | 9.7 | 57 | Arenado, Nolan 3306 | col nl | 10.7 | 42 | |
| CA | Wieters, Matt 2643 | bal al | 11.0 | 38 | Grandal, Yasmani 3058 | lad nl | 7.2 | 106 | |
| OF | Trout, Mike 2949 | ana al | 12.5 | 25 | Bryant, Kris 3465 | chi nl | 10.5 | 46 | |
| OF | Trumbo, Mark 2851 | bal al | 8.2 | 77 | Braun, Ryan J. 2300 | mil nl | 10.5 | 47 | |
| OF | Mazara, Nomar 3614 | tex al | 7.0 | 125 | Bruce, Jay 2453 | nym nl | 8.5 | 73 | |
| DH | Morales, Kendrys 2142 | kc al | 8.5 | 71 | |||||
| SP | Kluber, Corey 3200 | cle al | 21.2 | 5 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | dc nl | 25.7 | 1 | |
| SP | Hamels, Cole 2135 | tex al | 17.8 | 6 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | lad nl | 24.4 | 2 | |
| SP | Happ, J.A. 2536 | tor al | 14.7 | 11 | Lester, Jon 2173 | chi nl | 22.1 | 4 | |
| SP | Verlander, Justin 2112 | det al | 14.7 | 12 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | nym nl | 16.7 | 7 | |
| MR | Miller, Andrew 2436 | cle al | 8.0 | 92 | Nicasio, Juan 2888 | pit nl | 9.0 | 67 | |
| CP | Colome, Alex 3189 | tb al | 9.0 | 66 | Familia, Jeurys 3446 | nym nl | 8.0 | 83 |
* Jose Fernandez of the Marlins was third-ranked NL pitcher (22.4 Box-Toppers points) at the time of his death, Sept. 25.
Nationals' Max Scherzer is Box-Toppers All-Star for the 5th straight year; Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw is All-Star for 6th straight year
The Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2016 regular season are led by overall Box-Toppers points leader, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer.
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, the top middle relief pitcher and the top closing pitcher.
Scherzer, Box-Toppers Player of the Year for 2016, led all players with 25.7 Box-Toppers points. It is the fifth straight year Scherzer has earned a spot on Box-Toppers end-of-season All-Star teams. He was on the AL team in 2012, 2013 and 2014 when he was with the Tigers, as one of the top four AL pitchers, and he was on the NL team in 2015 with the Nationals.
Indians pitcher Corey Kluber leads all AL players with 21.2 Box-Toppers points, ranking fifth among all players. Kluber also led all AL players in Box-Toppers points in 2014.
The top AL batter is Orioles shortstop Manny Machado (12.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked 21st among all players). Top NL batter is Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado (10.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked 42nd among all players).
While Scherzer earns a spot on a year-end Box-Toppers All-Star team for the fifth year in a row, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw has now earned a spot for his sixth straight year—he’s been on each Box-Toppers year-end NL All-Star team since 2011. In 2016, Kershaw had 24.4 Box-Toppers points, finishing second among all players, behind only Scherzer.
The next-longest streak earning a spot on Box-Toppers year-end All-Star team is three years, belonging to Mike Trout of the Angels, who has been an All-Star AL outfielder since 2014. In 2016, Trout led AL outfielders with 12.5 Box-Toppers points, second among AL batters and 25th among all players.
Of the 29 players who earned spots on the 2016 American League and National League end-of-season All-Star teams, only four also earned spots in Box-Toppers’ 2015 end-of-season All-Star teams—Scherzer, Kershaw, Trout and one other player, Alex Colome of the Rays. In 2015, he led AL middle relievers with 5.0 Box-Toppers points (186th among all players) and in 2016, he led AL closers with 9.0 points (66th among all players).
There are five players who return to the 2016 team from the 2014 team—Scherzer, Kershaw, Trout, plus AL third baseman Josh Donaldson of the Blue Jays and AL starting pitcher Kluber of the Indians.
There are three teams that each had three players who earned spots on the teams, most of any team—the Orioles, Blue Jays and Mets. Six other teams each had two players make a team—the Tigers, Rangers, Indians, Rockies, Dodgers and Cubs.
Ten of the 15 AL All-Stars made it to the postseason. Eight of the 14 NL All-Stars made it to the postseason.
Jose Fernandez, who was killed in a boating accident in the final week of the season, by all rights should be on the NL All-Star team as the third-ranked pitcher. Fernandez had 22.4 Box-Toppers points in 2016, third among all players. Removing him from the Marlins roster after his death also technically removes him from the National League, the same as another player who was released. But in this case, special note should be made that Fernandez was one of the NL’s best pitchers in 2016. He also made Box-Toppers’ 2013 year-end NL All-Star team in his rookie season with 19.0 Box-Toppers points.
Box-Toppers 2015 year-end All-Star teams
Box-Toppers 2014 year-end All-Star teams
Box-Toppers 2013 year-end All-Star teams
Box-Toppers top 10 player lists, end-of-season 2016
About Box-Toppers—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.
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