| Pos | American League | Team | BTP | Rank | Pos | National League | Team | BTP | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1B | Abreu, Jose 3308 | chi al | 8.0 | 75 | 1B | Votto, Joey 2366 | cin nl | 9.7 | 53 | |
| 2B | Lowe, Brandon 4108 | tb al | 10.5 | 42 | 2B | Albies, Ozzie 3953 | atl nl | 7.0 | 103 | |
| SS | Bogaerts, Xander 3383 | bos al | 8.5 | 73 | SS | Tatis, Fernando Jr. 4101 | sd nl | 10.2 | 45 | |
| 3B | Ramirez, Jose 3436 | cle al | 13.0 | 21 | 3B | Arenado, Nolan 3306 | stl nl | 9.0 | 62 | |
| CA | Stassi, Max 4038 | ana al | 4.5 | 219 | CA | Realmuto, J.T. 3491 | phi nl | 7.2 | 94 | |
| OF | Judge, Aaron 3767 | nyy al | 9.0 | 60 | OF | Castellanos, Nicholas 3349 | cin nl | 11.5 | 35 | |
| OF | Haniger, Mitch 3772 | sea al | 7.5 | 89 | OF | Duvall, Adam 3573 | atl nl | 8.0 | 76 | |
| OF | Tucker, Kyle 4277 | hou al | 7.2 | 93 | OF | Reynolds, Bryan 4169 | pit nl | 8.0 | 77 | |
| DH | Martinez, J.D. 2922 | bos al | 10.7 | 40 | DH | |||||
| SP | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | nyy al | 22.4 | 2 | SP | Scherzer, Max 2588 | lad nl | 25.1 | 1 | |
| SP | Ray, Robbie 3502 | tor al | 17.7 | 6 | SP | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | phi nl | 21.1 | 3 | |
| SP | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | ana al | 16.1 | 12 | SP | Urias, Julio 3652 | lad nl | 19.1 | 4 | |
| SP | Manaea, Sean 3637 | oak al | 15.7 | 13 | SP | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | mil nl | 18.1 | 5 | |
| CP | Hendriks, Liam 3339 | chi al | 7.0 | 96 | CP | Kennedy, Ian 2723 | phi nl | 8.7 | 70 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
The Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2021 regular season are led by overall Box-Toppers points leader, Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer.
Box-Toppers lead changes 2021
Max Scherzer of the Dodgers rose to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings on Sept. 12 with 23.1 Box-Toppers points. He finished leading with 25.1 points. Here are the lead changes in Box-Toppers season player rankings through the entire 2021 season, listed chronologically by the date the player took the overall lead, followed by their Box-Toppers point total on the day they took the lead.| Took lead | Player | Team | BTP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4/1 | Tyler Glasnow | tb al | 2.0 |
| 4/8 | Craig Kimbrel | chi nl | 2.7 |
| 4/9 | Joe Musgrove | sd nl | 3.0 |
| 4/11 | J.D. Martinez | bos al | 3.2 |
| 4/12 | Tyler Glasnow | tb al | 4.0 |
| 5/12 | Gerrit Cole | nyy al | 9.0 |
| 5/26 | Tyler Glasnow | tb al | 10.7 |
| 6/16 | Gerrit Cole | nyy al | 13.4 |
| 6/21 | Jacob deGrom | nym nl | 13.7 |
| 8/8 | Zack Wheeler | phi nl | 17.1 |
| 8/16 | Gerrit Cole | nyy al | 18.4 |
| 9/12 | Max Scherzer | lad nl | 23.1 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
The American League and National League All-Star teams are composed of the players with the highest Box-Toppers point totals by position in each league. In addition to the batters—eight in the NL and nine (including the designated hitter) in the AL—are the top four starting pitchers in each league and the top closing pitcher.
Scherzer, Box-Toppers Player of the Year for 2021, led all players with 25.1 Box-Toppers points. Scherzer had made seven straight Box-Toppers year-end All-Star teams from 2012 to 2018, but fell short in 2019—he ranked ninth among NL pitchers with 15.4 points with the Nationals, outside the top four NL pitchers making the All-Star team. In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Scherzer had 4.0 points, 18th among NL pitchers.
At July’s All-Star break, Scherzer ranked seventh among NL pitchers with 9.7 Box-Toppers points. He was traded from the Nationals to the Dodgers at the end of July and surged after that, winning Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in eight of his first nine starts for the Dodgers from Aug. 4 to Sept. 18, gaining 14.4 points over that span. He moved into first place overall Sept. 12 with 23.1 points, passing Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, who finished the season second place overall with 22.4 points.
Cole leads AL All-Stars
Cole leads all AL players and is the top-ranked pitcher among Box-Toppers’ AL All-Stars. Cole led all players during three different intervals in 2021, leading for a total of 51 days, second-most. Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow led all players the most days in 2021 (58, during three different intervals). But Glasnow was passed by Cole June 16 and did not pitch after that in 2021, undergoing season-ending Tommy John surgery. Despite leading Box-Toppers season player rankings the longest, Glasnow did not make the 2021 All-Star team, finishing eighth among AL pitchers with 12.7 Box-Toppers points.
Also not making the Box-Toppers’ All-Stars was Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom, who led players for the third-most days in 2021 (48, from June 21 to Aug. 7). He finished the season with 16.7 points, ninth overall and seventh among NL pitchers.
The top AL batter is Jose Ramirez of the Indians (13.0 Box-Toppers points, ranked 21st among all players). Top NL batter is Nick Castellanos of the Reds (11.5 Box-Toppers points, ranked 35th among all players).
Repeating as All-Stars
There are four players who appeared on Box-Toppers’ 2020 year-end All-Star teams who returned for the 2021 team:
Kyle Tucker of the Astros is the third-ranked AL outfielder (7.2 Box-Toppers points, ranked 93rd among all players). In 2020, Tucker also ranked third among AL outfielders with 5.0 points.
Liam Hendriks of the White Sox led AL closing pitchers (7.0 points, ranked 96th overall). In 2020, he also led AL closers with the Athletics with 4.0 points.
J.T. Realmuto of the Phillies led NL catchers (7.2 points, ranked 94th overall). In 2020, he also led NL catchers with 3.5 points.
Adam Duvall of the Braves ranked second among NL outfielders (8.0 points, 76th overall). In 2021, he ranked third among NL outfielders with 4.0 points. (Duvall finished 2020 with the Braves, began 2021 with the Marlins and was traded back to the Braves at midseason in 2021.)
Because 2020 was such a short season, truncated from 162 to just 60 games due to the coronavirus pandemic, Box-Toppers also compiled a 2019-20 All-Star team. This compared players’ Box-Toppers point totals over the combined 222 games of the 2019 and 2020 seasons, providing a better, more adequate sample size to determine All-Stars. There are five players on Box-Toppers’ 2019-20 All-Star teams who are also on Box-Toppers’ 2021 All-Star teams:
Jose Abreu of the White Sox led AL first basemen in 2021 (8.0 points, ranked 75th overall). He also led AL first basemen over 2019-20 with 12.0 points, 51st overall in that span.
Gerrit Cole of the Yankees led AL pitchers in 2021 (22.4 points, ranked second overall). He also led AL pitchers over 2019-20 with 39.6 points, first overall in that span.
Liam Hendriks of the White Sox led AL closing pitchers in 2021 (7.0 points, ranked 96th overall). He also led AL closers over 2019-20 with 11.0 points, 71st overall in that span.
Nolan Arenado of the Cardinals led NL third basemen in 2021 (9.0 points, ranked 62nd overall). He also led NL third basemen over 2019-20 with the Rockies with 10.0 points, 90th among players in that span.
J.T. Realmuto of the Phillies led NL catchers in 2021 (7.2 points, ranked 94th overall). He also led NL catchers over 2019-20 with 10.5 points, 79th among players in that span.
Realmuto has now been a Box-Toppers year-end All-Star for three straight seasons, the longest consecutive streak of any player on the 2021 team. In 2019, he led NL catchers with 7.0 Box-Toppers points, 106th among all players that season.
Phillies have most All-Stars
The Philadelphia Phillies have three players among the year-end All-Stars, most of any team:
Realmuto, top NL catcher with 7.2 points.
Zack Wheeler, second-ranked NL pitcher with 21.1 points.
Ian Kennedy, top NL closing pitcher with 8.7 points.
Seven other teams each have two representatives on the All-Star teams—Chicago White Sox (Jose Abreu—AL 1B and Liam Hendriks—AL CP), Boston Red Sox (Xander Bogaerts—AL SS and J.D. Martinez—AL DH), Los Angeles Angels (Max Stassi—AL CA and Shohei Ohtani—AL SP), New York Yankees (Aaron Judge—AL OF and Gerrit Cole—AL SP), Cincinnati Reds (Joey Votto—NL 1B and Nick Castellanos—NL OF), Atlanta Braves (Ozzie Albies—NL 2B and Adam Duvall—NL OF) and Los Angeles Dodgers (Max Scherzer and Julio Urias—NL SP).
Shohei Ohtani
There can be instances on Box-Toppers All-Star teams in which a player who played in more than one position is placed on the team in a spot that wasn’t necessarily his primary position. This season’s most notable example is Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, who is on Box-Toppers’ AL All-Star team as third-ranking pitcher with 16.1 Box-Toppers points.
Ohtani played 155 games in 2021, serving as designated hitter in 126 of them. However, Ohtani also served as starting pitcher in 23 games.
Ohtani earned Player of the Game honors 12 times—nine times as a starting pitcher and three times as a designated hitter. Though he played in far more games as a designated hitter, he only earned 4.0 total Box-Toppers points from that position, while earning the other 12.1 as a starting pitcher.
And though he served primarily as a designated hitter, he did not qualify to be ranked among batters since he earned the overwhelming majority of his Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors as a pitcher.
However, there was a period in 2021 in which Ohtani had more than 25 percent of his Player of the Game honors as a designated hitter. During that span, he was qualified to be ranked among batters. He took the lead among AL batters July 30 with 11.4 Box-Toppers points, passing previous leader J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (9.7).
Ohtani held that led through the weekly player rankings report of Sept. 2, when he had a fairly commanding lead over second-place Martinez of 15.1 points to 10.7 points. However, on Sept. 3, Ohtani earned Player of the Game honors as a pitcher for the ninth time of the season. In order for players to be listed at a certain position, they need to have more than 25 percent of their Player of the Game honors at that position. This was Ohtani’s 12th Player of the Game honor of the season, meaning only three such honors—exactly 25 percent—came as a designated hitter. And since such an overwhelming majority of his Player of the Game honors came as a pitcher, he was no longer listed even secondarily as a batter. This meant that Ohtani went from ranking first among AL batters to removed from the rankings entirely because he no longer qualified.
Ironically, Ohtani earned Player of the Game honors four times for batting this season, but one of those honors on April 26 came while he was a starting pitcher. It is one of five times this season a pitcher earned Player of the Game honors for batting.
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Eight of the 14 AL All-Stars made it to the postseason. Six of the 13 NL All-Stars made it to the postseason.
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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Related
Box-Toppers year-end All-Star teams: 2020 and 2019-20, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013.