| American League | Team | BTP | Rank | Pos | National League | Team | BTP | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *Healy, Ryon 3685 | sea al | 16.7 | 55 | 1B | *Rizzo, Anthony 3063 | chi nl | 25.5 | 16 |
| *Odor, Rougned 3336 | tex al | 16.2 | 61 | 2B | Gennett, Scooter 3254 | cin nl | 16.7 | 56 |
| *Lindor, Francisco 3586 | cle al | 13.1 | 89 | SS | *Baez, Javier 3395 | chi nl | 15.2 | 70 |
| Ramirez, Jose 3436 | cle al | 16.0 | 66 | 3B | Arenado, Nolan 3306 | col nl | 14.2 | 83 |
| Perez, Salvador 2972 | kc al | 10.5 | 156 | CA | Posey, Buster 2745 | sf nl | 11.0 | 146 |
| Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 | nyy al | 20.7 | 32 | OF | *Yelich, Christian 3334 | mil nl | 16.5 | 57 |
| *Martinez, J.D. 2922 | bos al | 18.0 | 44 | OF | Harper, Bryce 3011 | dc nl | 14.5 | 77 |
| *Betts, Mookie 3404 | bos al | 16.9 | 52 | OF | Conforto, Michael 3622 | nym nl | 12.5 | 95 |
| Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 | cle al | 18.6 | 40 | DH | ||||
| *Sale, Chris 2806 | bos al | 45.2 | 2 | SP | *Scherzer, Max 2588 | dc nl | 50.1 | 1 |
| *Kluber, Corey 3200 | cle al | 43.7 | 3 | SP | *Nola, Aaron 3569 | phi nl | 36.9 | 7 |
| Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | cle al | 40.9 | 4 | SP | Greinke, Zack 1871 | ari nl | 33.1 | 8 |
| *Verlander, Justin 2112 | hou al | 38.8 | 5 | SP | *deGrom, Jacob 3343 | nym nl | 32.5 | 9 |
| Diaz, Edwin 3690 | sea al | 18.0 | 45 | CP | *Hader, Josh 3881 | mil nl | 14.7 | 75 |
What are those numbers after players' names?
* Player who is also on Box-Toppers’ 2018 year-end All-Star team
(Note: This post does not take into account any Box-Toppers statistics from the 2019 season. It is our annual two-year All-Star team story that was meant to be compiled and posted prior to the start of the 2019 season. But we got sidetracked, spending substantial time in the offseason working on an unrelated-to-baseball Christmas song—as heard on The Dr. Demento Show—and correcting several Box-Toppers statistical errors from the 2018 season. So we’re playing catch up and just now getting around to compiling and posting it. Last year’s two-year All-Star team story for 2016-17 was posted in January 2018.)
The Box-Toppers All-Star teams for 2017-18 consist of the best players at each position in each league over those previous two seasons.
Among the 27 players included on the American and National League teams are 15 who are also on Box-Toppers 2018 All-Star teams (those players are denoted in the chart above with an asterisk).
Leading the 2017-18 All-Stars is Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, who ranks first in Box-Toppers points over 2017-18 with 50.1.
The Cleveland Indians have the most players of any team on the 2015-16 All-Stars—five. The World Series champion Boston Red Sox have three players on the team.
The All-Star teams are composed of the players with the highest Box-Toppers point total by position in each league. In addition to the batters—eight in the National League and nine (including the designated hitter) in the American League—are the top four starting pitchers in each league and the top closing pitcher. Players are listed with the team with whom they finished the 2018 season.
The two-year view of All-Stars, as opposed to the single-season view, provides a better indication of proven players with sustained quality. Scherzer, who leads all players over the past two seasons, ranked second overall in Box-Toppers points in both 2017 (25.0) and 2018 (25.1). The second-ranked player, Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale, who has 45.2 Box-Toppers points, ranked first overall in 2017 (25.1) and sixth in 2018 (20.1). Sale has the most Box-Toppers points over 2017-18 of all American League players.
The NL batter with the most Box-Toppers points over the previous two seasons is Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs with 25.5. Rizzo ranked first among NL batters in 2017 (15.5) and second in 2018 (10.0). He ranks 16th among all players in Box-Toppers points over 2017-18.
The AL batter with the most Box-Toppers points over the previous two seasons is Giancarlo Stanton of the Yankees with 20.7. Stanton ranked second among NL batters in 2017 (14.2) when he was with the Marlins and 11th among AL batters in 2018 (6.5) after being traded to the Yankees. Stanton ranks 32nd among all players in Box-Toppers points over 2017-18.
The Indians have five players among the 2017-18 Box-Toppers All-Stars, most of any team:
Starting pitcher Corey Kluber, 43.7 Box-Toppers points.
Starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco, 40.9 points.
Designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion, 18.6 points (Encarnacion was traded to the Mariners in the offseason and traded to the Yankees this week.)
Third baseman Jose Ramirez, 16.0 points.
Shortstop Francisco Lindor, 13.1 points.
The Boston Red Sox have the next-most players——three—among the 2017-18 All-Stars: Sale and two outfielders, J.D. Martinez (18.0 points, ranked 44th) and Mookie Betts (16.9, ranked 52nd).
All eight starting pitchers on the AL and NL teams for 2017-18 are among the top 10 overall players in Box-Toppers points for 2017-18. (The highest-ranked player not on the teams is sixth-ranked player, Yankees pitcher Luis Severino, who had 38.8 Box-Toppers points.)
All but two of the 27 players on the All-Star teams are among the overall top 100 players in Box-Toppers points for 2017-18. The two who rank outside the top 100 are:
NL catcher Buster Posey of the Giants, who with 11.0 Box-Toppers points ranks 146th over 2017-18.
AL catcher Salvador Perez of the Royals, who with 10.5 Box-Toppers points ranks 156th over 2017-18. Perez is the lowest-ranked player on the 2017-18 AL All-Star team.
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.
Related:
Box-Toppers’ 2018 year-end All-Star teams
Top 10 players by category (AL, NL pitching and batting) for 2017-18
Last year’s comparable post: Box-Toppers 2016-17 All-Star teams