The players who played the most key roles in helping their teams win the most games in 2019, for the most part, are not among the finalists for baseball’s postseason awards.
Award finalists
Here are finalists for the Cy Young, Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year awards to be given this week, as named by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Players are listed by their Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2019 and their Box-Toppers rank in their award category.| Cy Young finalists | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| AL finalists | Team | BTP | Rank* |
| Gerrit Cole | Astros | 32.2 | 1 |
| Justin Verlander | Astros | 27.5 | 2 |
| Charlie Morton | Rays | 18.8 | 3 |
| NL finalists | Team | BTP | Rank* |
| Jacob deGrom | Mets | 19.1 | 2 |
| Hyun-Jin Ryu | Dodgers | 17.4 | 4 |
| Max Scherzer | Nationals | 15.4 | 9 |
| **Stephen Strasburg | Nationals | 20.7 | 1 |
| Most Valuable Player Awards finalists | |||
| AL finalists | Team | BTP | Rank* |
| Alex Bregman | Astros | 10.0 | 5 |
| Mike Trout | Angels | 8.7 | 9 |
| Marcus Semien | Athletics | 8.7 | 10 |
| **Nelson Cruz | Twins | 12.5 | 1 |
| NL finalists | Team | BTP | Rank* |
| Christian Yelich | Brewers | 11.7 | 2 |
| Cody Bellinger | Dodgers | 11.2 | 3 |
| Anthony Rendon | Nationals | 5.0 | 32 |
| **Marcell Ozuna | Cardinals | 12.0 | 1 |
| Rookie of the Year finalists | |||
| AL finalists | Team | BTP | Rank† |
| John Means | Orioles | 7.0 | 5 |
| Yordan Alvarez | Astros | 2.5 | 31 |
| Brandon Lowe | Rays | 1.0 | 85 |
| **Eloy Jimenez | White Sox | 7.5 | 2§ |
| NL finalists | Team | BTP | Rank† |
| Pete Alonso | Mets | 7.0 | 4 |
| Mike Soroka | Braves | 11.4 | 2†† |
| Fernando Tatis Jr. | Padres | 3.0 | 24 |
| **Chris Paddack | Padres | 15.8 | 1 |
* Rank shows a player’s rank among potential players eligible for the award. For example, AL Cy Young finalists are ranked among AL pitchers, AL MVP finalists are ranked among AL batters.
** Player led the league category in Box-Toppers points but is not among the three finalists for the award.
† Rookie of the Year finalists are ranked among players in their league who made their Box-Toppers debut in 2019. There were 100 AL players who made their Box-Toppers debut in 2018 and 83 NL players.
§ Pitcher Trent Thornton of the Blue Jays actually led all AL players who made their Box-Toppers debut in 2019, but since Rookie of the Year compares pitchers and batters and is often considered a batters’ award, Box-Toppers doubles batters’ Box-Toppers point totals in comparing them to pitchers. So we deemed second-ranked rookie Jimenez with 7.5 points as AL Rookie of the Year over Thornton with 8.7 points.
†† Mike Soroka made his Box-Toppers debut in 2018 but still has rookie status in 2019. His 11.4 Box-Toppers points would have ranked second among the 83 NL players who made their Box-Toppers debut in 2019.
Gerrit Cole of the Astros, who led American League pitchers in Box-Toppers points with 32.2, is one of three finalists for the AL Cy Young Award. He is the only Box-Toppers point leader in any of the six categories to even be named as a finalist.
The Box-Toppers points leaders for the other categories—American and National league Most Valuable Players, AL and NL Rookies of the Year and NL Cy Young Award—are absent from the list of finalists.
The Baseball Writers’ Association of America, which votes on the award-winners, announced the finalists, the top three in voting for each award. Rookie of the Year Awards will be given Monday, Cy Young Awards on Wednesday and MVP Awards on Thursday.
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.
AL Cy Young
Cole led AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points with 32.2. He also led all players in points and had the fourth-highest single-season point total since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began.
The other finalists:
Astros pitcher Justin Verlander ranked second among AL pitchers (and overall) with 27.5 Box-Toppers points.
Rays pitcher Charlie Morton ranked third among AL pitchers with 18.8 points, fifth overall.
NL Cy Young
Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg led NL pitchers in Box-Toppers points with 20.7 (ranked third overall) but is not among the three finalists for the NL Cy Young Award. They are:
Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom, who ranked second among NL pitchers with 19.1 Box-Toppers points, fourth among all players.
Dodgers pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu, who ranked fourth among NL pitchers with 17.4 Box-Toppers points, 10th among all players.
Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, who ranked ninth among NL pitchers with 15.4 Box-Toppers points, 15th among all players.
AL MVP
Nelson Cruz of the Twins led AL batters in Box-Toppers points with 12.5, 26th among all players, but was not among the three finalists for AL Most Valuable Player. They are:
Alex Bregman of the Astros, who ranked fifth among AL batters with 10.0 Box-Toppers points, 48th among all players.
Mike Trout of the Angels, who ranked ninth among AL batters with 8.7 Box-Toppers points, 68th among all players.
Marcus Semien of the Athletics, who ranked 10th among AL batters with 8.7 Box-Toppers points, 74th among all players.
Box-Toppers actually picked Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole to win both the AL Cy Young Award and the AL Most Valuable Player Award. While Cole is an AL Cy Young finalist, he is not an AL MVP finalist.
NL MVP
Marcell Ozuna of the Cardinals led NL batters in Box-Toppers points with 12.0, 29th among all players, but was not among the three finalists for NL Most Valuable Player. They are:
Christian Yelich of the Brewers who ranked second among NL batters with 11.7 Box-Toppers points, 31st among all players.
Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers who ranked third among NL batters with 11.2 Box-Toppers points, 35th among all players.
Anthony Rendon of the Nationals who ranked 32nd among NL batters with 5.0 Box-Toppers points, 169th among all players.
AL Rookie of the Year
Box-Toppers chose Eloy Jimenez of the White Sox as its AL Rookie of the Year. He had 7.5 Box-Toppers points, which was actually second among players who made their Box-Toppers debut in 2019 by earning Player of the Game honors for the first time. The first-place AL player making his Box-Toppers debut in 2019 was Blue Jays pitcher Trent Thornton with 8.7 points. But since Rookie of the Year is an award in which batters and pitchers can be compared, we give the usually lower scoring batters the benefit of a doubt and double their Box-Toppers point total when comparing them to pitchers. That gave Jimenez the edge.
But it still doesn’t matter because Jimenez, who ranked 100th among all players, is not one of three AL Rookie of the Year finalists. They are:
Orioles pitcher John Means, who had 7.0 Box-Toppers points, fifth among AL players who made their Box-Toppers debut in 2019.
Yordan Alvarez of the Astros, who had 2.5 Box-Toppers points, 31st among AL players making their Box-Toppers debut in 2019.
Brandon Lowe of the Rays, who had 1.0 Box-Toppers point, 85th among AL players making their Box-Toppers debut in 2019.
NL Rookie of the Year
Padres pitcher Chris Paddack had 15.8 Box-Toppers points, most among NL players who made their Box-Toppers debut in 2019.
But Paddack was not among the finalists for NL Rookie of the Year. They are:
Pete Alonso of the Mets, whose 7.0 Box-Toppers points ranked fourth among NL players who made their Box-Toppers debut in 2019.
Braves pitcher Mike Soroka who had 11.4 Box-Toppers points in 2019. Soroka actually made his Box-Toppers debut in 2018 (and earned 3.0 points last season) but retained his rookie status in 2019. His 11.4 points would have ranked second among NL players making their debut in 2019.
Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres, whose 3.0 Box-Toppers points ranked 24th among NL players who made their Box-Toppers debut in 2019.
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