Kershaw breaks record for most consecutive seasons with 20 or more Box-Toppers points

In 2017, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw broke the record for most consecutive seasons with 20 or more Box-Toppers points.

Most consecutive seasons with 20+ Box-Toppers points

In 2017, Clayton Kershaw had his seventh straight season earning 20 or more Box-Toppers points, passing the record of six by Randy Johnson. Here are all the players who have earned 20 or more points in two or more straight seasons. The length of the streak is shown followed by the seasons in which the streak happened. (Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.)

 

	Player	Streak	Seasons
1	Clayton Kershaw	7	2011‑2017*
2	Randy Johnson	6	1997‑2002
3	Pedro Martinez	4	1997‑2000
	Max Scherzer	4	2014‑2017*
5	Johan Santana	3	2004‑2006
6	Roger Clemens	2	1997‑1998
	Curt Schilling	2	2001‑2002
	Pedro Martinez	2	2002‑2003
	Roy Halladay	2	2010‑2011
	Justin Verlander	2	2011‑2012
	Corey Kluber	2	2016‑2017*

* Current streak as of 2017.

Kershaw earned 23.1 points in 2017, his seventh straight season with at least 20 points. Previously, pitcher Randy Johnson held the record, earning 20 points or more for six straight seasons, from 1997 to 2002. (Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.)

Kershaw began his streak in 2011, when he led all players that season with 26.1 Box-Toppers points. During his streak, he has finished first in season rankings three times (2011, 2013 with 21.7 and 2014 with 31.5), he’s finished second three times (2012 with 20.8, 2015 with 25.7 and 2016 with 24.4) and finished third once (23.1 in 2017).

Johnson was more dominant during his six-year streak, finishing first five times in a row from 1998 to 2002 and finishing fourth in 1997 with 23.0. Only three players have finished first to win Box-Toppers Player of the Year honors in consecutive seasons and Johnson’s five-season streak is the longest. Johan Santana won three years in a row with the Twins from 2004 to 2006. Kershaw’s two-season streak atop rankings in 2013 and 2014 ranks third.

During Johnson’s six-year streak with 20 or more points, he had 30 or more points three times, including earning 33.7 points twice, in 2000 and 2002, the highest single-season point total recorded in Box-Toppers tracking history. Only six times since 1995 has a player earned 30 or more points in a season—Johnson has done it three times, Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez did it twice (31.4 in 1999 and 33.5 in 2000, both times finishing second to Johnson) and Kershaw did it once (2014 with 31.5).

Though Kershaw’s streak with 20 or more points is longer than Johnson’s, Johnson still has more combined points in his six-year streak than Kershaw has in his seven-year streak. Johnson earned 177.7 from 1997 to 2002, while Kershaw has 173.3 from 2011 to 2017.

Johnson is the “all-time” leader in career Box-Toppers points with 278.8. Kershaw ranks third with 206.8. However, since Box-Toppers didn’t track Johnson’s career from 1988 to 1994, he would likely have many more career Box-Toppers points. A rough projection puts his actual career Box-Toppers point total at about 380.

Ten players—all pitchers—have earned 20 or more Box-Toppers points in consecutive seasons. One player has two separate streaks—Pedro Martinez ranks tied for third with four straight seasons earning 20 or more points (from 1997 to 2000 with the Expos and Red Sox). Martinez also had a two-season streak (in 2002 and 2003 with the Red Sox), which is tied for the sixth-longest streak.

Other streaks:

• Max Scherzer ranks tied for third with a four-season streak (from 2014 to 2017 with the Tigers and Nationals).
• Santana rank fifth with a three-season streak (from 2004 to 2006).
• Six other players earned 20 points in back-to-back seasons—Roger Clemens (1997 and 1998 with the Blue Jays), Curt Schilling (2001 and 2002 with the Diamondbacks), Martinez (2002-2003), Roy Halladay (2010-2011 with the Phillies), Justin Verlander (2011-2012 with the Tigers) and Corey Kluber (2016-2017 with the Indians).

There are three players with active streaks of consecutive seasons with 20 or more points. The only other time in Box-Toppers tracking history there have been three active streaks like this was 1998. Kershaw, Scherzer and Kluber all have active streaks with 20 or more points as of 2017. In 1998, Johnson, Martinez and Clemens each had active streaks, as all three earned 20 or more points for their second year in row.

Most seasons with 20+ Box-Toppers points

Randy Johnson and Clayton Kershaw lead all players in the most seasons with 20 or more Box-Toppers points with seven each (Kershaw has earned his seven in consecutive seasons). Here are all the players who have earned 20 or more points in two or more seasons. (Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.)

 

	Player	20‑pt seasons
1	Randy Johnson	7
	Clayton Kershaw	7
3	Pedro Martinez	6
4	Curt Schilling	4
	Max Scherzer	4
6	Johan Santana	3
	Zack Greinke	3
	Corey Kluber	3
9	Roger Clemens	2
	Jon Lester	2
	Felix Hernandez	2
	Justin Verlander	2
	Stephen Strasburg	2

Johnson and Kershaw are tied for the lead in most seasons earning 20 or more Box-Toppers points with seven. Kershaw has earned his seven in consecutive seasons. Johnson had 23.7 points in 1995, Box-Toppers’ inaugural season and also had 20 or more points for six straight years from 1997 to 2002.

Thirteen players have earned 20 or more points at least twice:

• Pedro Martinez ranks third with six seasons.
• Curt Schilling and Max Scherzer are tied for fourth with four seasons.
• Johan Santana, Zack Greinke and Corey Kluber are tied for sixth with three seasons. Greinke has the most seasons with 20 or more points without having earned any of them in consecutive seasons.
• Five players rank ninth, earning 20 points twice—Roger Clemens, Jon Lester, Felix Hernandez, Justin Verlander and Stephen Strasburg.

Seasons with most players with 20+ Box-Toppers points

In 2017, eight players had 20 or more Box-Toppers points, the most in Box-Toppers' 23-season tracking history. Here are the seasons in which the most players earned 20 or more Box-Toppers points.

 

	Season	Players
1	2017	8
2	2015	7
3	2014	6
4	2002	5
	2011	5
	2016	5
7	1997	4
8	1998	3
	2001	3
	2003	3
	2010	3
	2012	3

More players than ever earned at least 20 points this season—eight. That breaks the record of seven players who had 20 points in 2015. In fact, each of the past four years rank among the top four in seasons with most players earning at least 20 points:

• 2014 ranks third with six players.
• 2015 ranks second with seven.
• 2016 ranks tied for fourth with five.
• 2017 ranks first with eight.

Since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, 3,926 different players have earned Player of the Game honors (worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point). Forty different players have earned at least 20 Box-Toppers points in a single season. The feat of 20 points in a season has been accomplished 74 times, including by the 13 players who have done it more than once.

Top 10 players

Here are final rankings of the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of Oct. 1:  

 

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	25.1
2	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	25.0
3	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	23.1
4	Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	22.5
5	Kluber, Corey 3200	pi sp	cle al	22.0
6	Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	21.8
7	Severino, Luis 3567	pi sp	nyy al	21.1
8	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	ari nl	20.1
9	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	16.1
10	Ray, Robbie 3502	pi sp	ari nl	16.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Only three times has a batter earned 20 or more points in a single season:

• In 2006, Lance Berkman of the Astros had 20.8 Box-Toppers points (ranking second behind Santana’s 25.7), the highest single-season point total by a batter in Box-Toppers’ 23-season tracking history.
• In 2002, Barry Bonds of the Giants had 20.7 points (ranking fourth that season).
• In 1996, Albert Belle of the Indians had 20.4 points (ranking second behind John Smoltz of the Braves with 26.1).

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.