Overall Box-Toppers points leader Max Scherzer of the Nationals was voted National League Cy Young Award winner Wednesday.
However, the American League Cy Young winner Rick Porcello of the Red Sox was ranked just 31st among AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points (8.0), far behind AL pitching leader Corey Kluber of the Indians (21.2), who finished third in voting. (See the charts below for voting finishes and Box-Toppers rankings.)
The awards are voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Scherzer led all players in 2016 with 25.7 Box-Toppers points and earned 25 of 30 first-place votes to win the NL Cy Young Award.
This is Scherzer’s second Cy Young Award. He was voted American League Cy Young Award winner in 2013 with the Tigers when he led AL pitchers with 18.1 Box-Toppers points.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who ranked second in Box-Toppers points (24.4), finished fifth in voting. Kershaw dominated the first half of the season, earning 20.0 Box-Toppers points before July 1 and was on a record-shattering pace, but then missed two months with a back injury before returning. Despite his time away, Kershaw was in contention to pass Scherzer in Box-Toppers rankings in the final week of the season. Cy Young voters, perhaps taking into consideration his time away with injury, voted him only fifth-best NL pitcher.
The late Jose Fernandez finished seventh in NL Cy Young voting. Fernandez, who was killed Sept. 25 in a boating accident, ranked third among all players in Box-Toppers points for 2016 with 22.4, behind only Scherzer and Kershaw.
Three pitchers for the World Series champion Chicago Cubs received NL Cy Young votes:
- Jon Lester (22.1 Box-Toppers points, ranked third among NL pitchers active at season’s end), finished second in voting.
- Kyle Hendricks (13.4 Box-Toppers points, ranked 10th among NL pitchers active at season’s end), finished third in voting.
- Jake Arrieta (15.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked sixth among NL pitchers active at season’s end), finished ninth in voting. Arrieta was 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner.
Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is Box-Toppers’ highest-rated NL pitcher who did not receive NL Cy Young Award votes. Strasburg had 15.1 Box-Toppers points in 2016, seventh among NL pitchers active at season’s end.
AL pitchers ranked higher than Rick Porcello
Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello ranks 31st among American League pitchers in Box-Toppers points for 2016. He won the 2016 AL Cy Young Award. Here are the 30 pitchers who rank ahead of Porcello in Box-Toppers points:| AL pitcher | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 21.2 |
| 2 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 17.8 |
| 3 | Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 14.7 |
| 4 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | det al | 14.7 |
| 5 | Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 | pi sp | nyy al | 14.1 |
| 6 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 13.4 |
| 7 | Fulmer, Michael 3640 | pi sp | det al | 12.7 |
| 8 | Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 12.5 |
| 9 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | bos al | 12.4 |
| 10 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 12.4 |
| 11 | Pomeranz, Drew 3061 | pi sp | bos al | 12.4 |
| 12 | Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 11.4 |
| 13 | Santiago, Hector 3109 | pi sp | min al | 11.4 |
| 14 | Nolasco, Ricky 2125 | pi sp | ana al | 11.4 |
| 15 | Estrada, Marco 2847 | pi sp | tor al | 11.0 |
| 16 | Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | bal al | 10.8 |
| 17 | McHugh, Collin 3316 | pi sp | hou al | 10.7 |
| 18 | Duffy, Danny 2915 | pi sp | kc al | 10.7 |
| 19 | Sanchez, Aaron 3392 | pi sp | tor al | 10.7 |
| 20 | Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi al | 10.4 |
| 21 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | tex al | 10.4 |
| 22 | Kennedy, Ian 2723 | pi sp | kc al | 10.0 |
| 23 | Gonzalez, Miguel 3062 | pi sp | chi al | 9.1 |
| 24 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 9.0 |
| 25 | Colome, Alex 3189 | pi cp | tb al | 9.0 |
| 26 | Wright, Steven 3224 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 |
| 27 | Liriano, Francisco 2104 | pi sp | tor al | 8.0 |
| 28 | Rodon, Carlos 3494 | pi sp | chi al | 8.0 |
| 29 | Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | bos al | 8.0 |
| 30 | Tillman, Chris 2754 | pi sp | bal al | 8.0 |
| 31 | Porcello, Rick 2573 | pi sp | bos al | 8.0 |
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AL Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello of the Red Sox led all pitchers in wins with 22.
But looking at his games one by one, Porcello was often not the key player in determining the outcome of the game. Box-Toppers points are awarded to the one player who most helped contribute to a team’s win. And in Red Sox wins in which Porcello pitched, it was often some other player who provided those key contributions.
After his 20th win in mid-September, Box-Toppers examined why Porcello had so few Box-Toppers points even though he led all pitchers in wins. He earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in only seven of his first 20 wins. In the other 13 wins, a Red Sox batter with a higher Box-Toppers game score beat him out for Player of the Game.
Porcello narrowly missed earning Player of the Game honors eight times up to that point, which would have given him 15.0 or more Box-Toppers points for the season, putting him in somewhat better position to be deserving of the AL Cy Young Award.
But given the criteria Box-Toppers uses, determining the one top player in each win, Porcello had 30 AL pitchers ranking ahead of him, including four teammates, none of whom received Cy Young votes:
- David Price, 12.4 Box-Toppers points, ninth among AL pitchers (17 wins).
- Drew Pomeranz, 12.4 points, 11th among AL pitchers (11 wins, eight with Padres before trade).
- Steven Wright, 8.4 points, 26th among AL pitchers (13 wins).
- Craig Kimbrel, closer, 8.0 points, 29th among AL pitchers (two wins, 31 saves).
Cy Young voters are often wowed by win totals, seeing them as shiny and pretty without taking into consideration how the statistic is often misleading as to a pitcher’s contribution to the game or forgetting to take into consideration other players’ perhaps more important contributions to that win.
Box-Toppers had Indians pitcher Corey Kluber the clear leader among AL pitchers in 2016. Kluber, the 2014 AL Cy Young winner, had 21.2 Box-Toppers points, the only AL player with more than 20 points. He finished ahead of second-place AL pitcher, Cole Hamels of the Rangers (17.8). Hamels, incidentally, is the highest-ranked AL pitcher to receive no AL Cy Young votes.
Kluber finished third in AL Cy Young voting, picking up three first-place votes.
Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, who finished second in AL Cy Young voting, actually had more first-place votes than winner Porcello (14 vs. 8). Verlander had 14.7 Box-Toppers points in 2016, fourth among AL pitchers.
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.
Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.
National League Cy Young Award voting
Max Scherzer of the Nationals was voted NL Cy Young Award winner for the league’s top pitcher. Below are the NL pitchers in order of their voting finish, shown with their first- through fifth-place votes and their voting points total. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2016 and their rank in points among NL pitchers.| NL pitcher | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Points | BTP | Rank | |
| 1 | Max Scherzer | Nationals | pi sp | 25 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 192 | 25.7 | 1 | |
| 2 | Jon Lester | Cubs | pi sp | 1 | 16 | 9 | 2 | 102 | 22.1 | 3 | |
| 3 | Kyle Hendricks | Cubs | pi sp | 2 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 85 | 13.4 | 10 |
| 4 | Madison Bumgarner | Giants | pi sp | 2 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 46 | 13.0 | 12 | |
| 5 | Clayton Kershaw | Dodgers | pi sp | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 30 | 24.4 | 2 | |
| 6 | Johnny Cueto | Giants | pi sp | 3 | 3 | 4 | 19 | 16.4 | 5 | ||
| 7 | Jose Fernandez | Marlins | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 18 | 22.4 | 3† | |
| 8 | Noah Syndergard | Mets | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 16.7 | 4 | |
| 9 | Jake Arrieta | Cubs | pi sp | 1 | 2 | 15.7 | 6 | ||||
| 10 | Tanner Roark | Nationals | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 12.7 | 14 |
† When Jose Fernandez died Sept. 25, his Box-Toppers point total was removed from the Marlins’ team total the same as any other player who is released or no longer on the team. When that happened, he was no longer ranked among NL pitchers. However, his 22.4 points would rank third among NL pitchers for 2016. That also means all other NL pitchers ranked third or below would rank one spot lower for the season. For example, Jon Lester, ranked third, would rank fourth.
American League Cy Young Award voting
Rick Porcello of the Red Sox was voted AL Cy Young Award winner for the league’s top pitcher. Below are the AL pitchers in order of their voting finish, shown with their first- through fifth-place votes and their voting points total. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2016 and their rank in points among AL pitchers.| AL pitcher | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Points | BTP | Rank | |
| 1 | Rick Porcello | Red Sox | pi sp | 8 | 18 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 137 | 8.0 | 31 |
| 2 | Justin Verlander | Tigers | pi sp | 14 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 132 | 14.7 | 4 |
| 3 | Corey Kluber | Indians | pi sp | 3 | 6 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 98 | 21.2 | 1 |
| 4 | Zach Britton | Orioles | pi cp | 5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 72 | 5.0 | 59 |
| 5 | Chris Sale | White Sox | pi sp | 1 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 40 | 13.4 | 6 | |
| 6 | J.A. Happ | Blue Jays | pi sp | 3 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 14.7 | 3 | ||
| 7 | Aaron Sanchez | Blue Jays | pi sp | 1 | 3 | 6 | 10.7 | 19 | |||
| 7 | Masahiro Tanaka | Yankees | pi sp | 1 | 4 | 6 | 14.1 | 5 | |||
| 9 | Andrew Miller | Indians* | pi cp mr | 1 | 3 | 8.0 | 32 | ||||
| 10 | Michael Fulmer | Tigers | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 12.7 | 7 | ||||
| 10 | Jose Quintana | White Sox | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 10.4 | 20 |
* Andrew Miller finished the season with the Indians. He was traded from the Yankees July 31.