Max Scherzer takes lead in Box-Toppers points over 2 seasons, passing Kershaw

Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer has more Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons than any other player.

Box-Toppers points leaders for 2016-17

 

 OVERALL LEADERS POS TEAM BTP
1 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 50.7
2 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 47.5
3 Kluber, Corey 3200 pi sp cle al 43.2
4 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 38.5
5 Strasburg, Stephen 2736 pi sp dc nl 37.6
6 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 34.2
7 Lester, Jon 2173 pi sp chi nl 32.8
8 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 29.8
9 Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 29.4
10 Hamels, Cole 2135 pi sp tex al 27.2
AL PITCHERS POS TEAM BTP
1 Kluber, Corey 3200 pi sp cle al 43.2
2 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 38.5
3 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 34.2
4 Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 29.4
5 Hamels, Cole 2135 pi sp tex al 27.2
6 Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 pi sp nyy al 25.5
7 Severino, Luis 3567 pi sp nyy al 23.1
8 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp bal al 21.9
9 Bauer, Trevor 3065 pi sp cle al 21.1
10 Pomeranz, Drew 3061 pi sp bos al 20.8
AL BATTERS POS TEAM BTP
1 Andrus, Elvis 2582 ss tex al 20.2
2 Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 dh 1b cle al 20.1
3 Machado, Manny 3087 3b bal al 19.7
4 Bruce, Jay 2453 rf cle al 18.5
5 Hosmer, Eric 2886 1b kc al 18.0
6 Donaldson, Josh 3144 3b tor al 17.7
7 Trout, Mike 2949 cf ana al 17.5
8 Odor, Rougned 3336 2b tex al 15.2
9 Morales, Kendrys 2142 dh tor al 15.0
10 Altuve, Jose 3007 2b hou al 15.0
NL PITCHERS POS TEAM BTP
1 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 50.7
2 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 47.5
3 Strasburg, Stephen 2736 pi sp dc nl 37.6
4 Lester, Jon 2173 pi sp chi nl 32.8
5 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 29.8
6 Hill, Rich 2215 pi sp lad nl 27.1
7 deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp nym nl 25.4
8 Quintana, Jose 3040 pi sp chi nl 25.4
9 Darvish, Yu 3003 pi sp lad nl 23.4
10 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 22.7
NL BATTERS POS TEAM BTP
1 Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 rf fla nl 20.7
2 Arenado, Nolan 3306 3b col nl 19.9
3 Rizzo, Anthony 3063 1b chi nl 18.5
4 Bryant, Kris 3465 3b chi nl 16.5
5 McCutchen, Andrew 2637 cf pit nl 16.0
6 Shaw, Travis 3544 3b mil nl 15.0
7 Murphy, Daniel 2589 2b dc nl 15.0
8 Votto, Joey 2366 1b cin nl 14.5
9 Ozuna, Marcell 3190 lf fla nl 14.2
10 Braun, Ryan J. 2300 lf mil nl 14.0
BTP: Box-Toppers points
What are those numbers after players' names?

Scherzer has earned 50.7 Box-Toppers points over 2016 and 2017. He ranked first in 2016 with 25.7 and second in 2017 with 25.0 (behind overall leader Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale’s 25.1).

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who led players in Box-Toppers two-season point totals for each of the past four seasons, falls to second place this year with 47.5 points. Kershaw ranked second in 2016 with 24.4 and third in 2017 with 23.1.

Kershaw led all players in Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons for each of the previous four seasons:

Indians pitcher Corey Kluber leads American League players in two-season Box-Toppers point totals with 43.2, third overall. Kluber led AL players in 2016 with 21.2 points (fifth overall) and ranked second among AL players in 2017 with 22.0 points (again, fifth overall). Kluber ranked fourth in two-season totals at the end of last season—he had 34.6 points over 2015 and 2016.

Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale, who led all players in 2017 with 25.1 Box-Toppers points, ranks fourth among players in two-season totals with 38.5. He had 13.4 points in 2016, sixth among AL pitchers. Sale ranked eighth in two-season totals at the end of last season—he had 32.2 points over 2015 and 2016.

Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins leads National League batters in Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons with 20.7. Stanton ranked 19th among NL batters in 2016 with 6.5 and second in 2017 with 14.2. Last year, Stanton ranked 13th among NL batters in two-season totals with 12.0 points over 2015 and 2016.

Elvis Andrus of the Rangers leads AL batters in Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons with 20.2. Andrus ranked 10th among AL batters in 2016 with 9.2 and third among AL batters in 2017 with 11.0. Last year, Andrus ranked 42nd among AL batters in two-season totals with 9.2 over 2015 and 2016 (he earned no points in 2015).

Interestingly, Box-Toppers two-season point totals were a slightly better barometer than the single-season 2017 point totals to reflect the winners of baseball’s major postseason awards—both leagues’ Cy Young Awards and Most Valuable Player Awards. Box-Toppers points category leaders for 2017 won just one of four postseason awards but category leaders for 2016-17 won three of the four awards.

The only player to lead a Box-Toppers category in 2017 to win one of the four major postseason awards was Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, who led NL pitchers with 25.0 Box-Toppers points and also won the NL Cy Young Award.

But three of the four category leaders in two-season totals (2016-17) won 2017 postseason awards:

  • Scherzer, who led NL pitchers with 50.7 Box-Toppers points over 2016-17, won the NL Cy Young Award.
  • Kluber, who led AL pitchers with 43.2 points over 2016-17 won the AL Cy Young Award.
  • Stanton, who led NL batters with 20.7 points over 2016-17 won the NL MVP Award.

And in fact, Jose Altuve of the Astros, who won the AL MVP Award, fared far better in the two-season Box-Toppers point total rankings than he did in the single-season rankings for 2017. Altuve had just 2.5 Box-Toppers points in 2017, ranking 90th among AL batters. But his total for 2016-17 was 15.0, which ranked 10th among AL batters for the past two seasons. (Why Altuve fared so poorly in 2017 Box-Toppers point totals despite wining AL MVP.)

Other notable players in the list:

  • Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians led AL batters in Box-Toppers points in 2017 with 12.1. He ranks second among AL batters over the past two seasons with 20.1 over 2016-17, just 0.1 behind AL batting leader for the period, Elvis Andrus of the Rangers (20.2).
  • Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs led NL batters in Box-Toppers points in 2017 with 15.5. He ranks third among NL batters over the past two seasons with 18.5 over 2016-17.

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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