These are not your father’s Atlanta Braves.
The Braves who won the 2021 World Series seem very different from the last Braves team that won the World Series in 1995.
Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, the season in which the Braves won the World Series previously, so we can provide a look at how the team that won that title fared in the debut season of player tracking. (See chart below Atlanta Braves 2021 vs. 1995.)
Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux led all Braves that season with 24.4 Box-Toppers points, which was second among all players, behind Randy Johnson, then of the Mariners, with 27.4. Maddux led all National League players in Box-Toppers points, ahead of second-place player, Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo (19.7).
By contrast, the top 2021 Braves player, pitcher Charlie Morton, had just over half the Box-Toppers points that Maddux earned in 1995. Morton earned 12.7 Box-Toppers points in 2021, 25th overall and 16th among NL pitchers.
While the 1990s Braves are remembered for their ace, Hall of Fame pitching staff of Maddux, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine, two of those three pitchers had relatively down years in 1995 as measured by Box-Toppers. Smoltz had 8.4 Box-Toppers points in 1995, tied for 53rd among all players, 10th among NL pitchers and fifth among Braves players. Glavine had 5.7 points, tied for 126th among all players, tied for 31st among NL pitchers and eighth among Braves players.
John Smoltz
Smoltz had nine subsequent seasons with more Box-Toppers points than he had in 1995, most notably in 1996 when he had 26.1 points, first among all players and in 2006 when he had 19.1 points, third among all players and first among NL pitchers. Among the three ace Braves starters of Maddux, Smoltz and Glavine, Smoltz had the most career Box-Toppers points from 1995 onward, 160.9, 18th among all players since 1995 and 15th among all pitchers in that span. (Box-Toppers projects he would have about 255 career points if his entire career from 1988 were tracked.)
Tom Glavine
Glavine had eight subsequent seasons with more Box-Toppers points than he had in 1995, most notably 1998, when he had 15.1 points, seventh among NL pitchers. Glavine had 110.6 career Box-Toppers points from 1995 onward, 63rd among all players since 1995 and 47th among all pitchers in that span. (Box-Toppers projects he would have about 170 career points if his entire career from 1987 were tracked.)
Greg Maddux
The Braves’ World Series season of 1995 was Maddux’s best as measured by Box-Toppers, when he had 24.4 points. He had five subsequent seasons with 10 or more points, the best in 1998, when he had 16.7 points, sixth overall and fourth among NL pitchers. Maddux had 152.7 career Box-Toppers points from 1995 onward, 23rd among all players since 1995 and 19th among all pitchers in that span. (Box-Toppers projects he would have about 250 career points if his entire career from 1986 were tracked.)
While Maddux was the Braves’ top-ranked pitcher, the second-ranked was neither Glavine nor Smoltz, but reliever Mark Wohlers, who had 9.0 Box-Toppers points, tied for 42nd among all players and ninth among all NL pitchers.
Comparing starting pitchers, 1995 vs. 2021
While the Braves starting pitchers of 1995 are remembered for being dominant, the four top starting pitchers that season didn’t have substantially more combined Box-Toppers points than the top four starters from 2021. The top four starters in 1995 had a combined 42.5 Box-Toppers points, while the top four starters in 2021 had 39.5.
The top four starters from 1995 include Maddux (24.4), Smoltz (8.4), Glavine (5.7) and Kent Mercker (4.0).
The top four starters from 2021 include Morton (12.7), Max Fried (11.8), Drew Smyly (8.0) and Ian Anderson (7.0). (It should be noted that while Smyly had the third-most points among Braves starters, Anderson with 7.0 points served as starter in the postseason ahead of Smyly, who pitched in relief.)
Top batters, 1995 vs. 2021
The 1995 Braves also had two batters with 10 or more Box-Toppers points: Fred McGriff had 10.7 points (tied for 22nd overall and seventh among NL batters) and Ryan Klesko with 10.0 points (tied for 29th overall and 11th among NL batters). The top Braves batter in 2021, Austin Riley, had 8.5 Box-Toppers points, 72nd among all players and sixth among NL batters.
Chipper Jones
One other notable player from the 1995 Braves is then-rookie Chipper Jones, who had 6.0 Box-Toppers points, tied for 109th among all players. Jones had 13 subsequent seasons with more points than he earned in 1995, most notably in 2001, when he had 16.7 points, ninth overall and second among NL batters, behind Todd Helton of the Rockies (17.0). Jones retired after 2012 with 149.0 career Box-Toppers points, 25th among all players since 1995 and sixth among all batters in that span. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2018.
Braves among top 100 players, 1995 vs. 2021
As a team, the 2021 Braves had more combined Box-Toppers points than the 1995 team—122.4 vs. 112.1. But it should be noted the 1995 season was shortened to 144 games from 162 because of the baseball strike that delayed the start of the season to the end of April.
The 2021 team had seven players among the overall top 100 players for the season, while the 1995 team had six players among that season’s overall top 100 players.
The 1995 team had these players among the top 100 in that season:
Maddux, 24.4 points, second overall.
Fred McGriff, 10.7 points, tied 22nd overall.
Ryan Klesko, 10.0, tied 29th overall.
Wohlers, 9.0, tied 42nd overall.
Smoltz, 8.4, tied 53rd overall.
David Justice, 6.0, tied 99th overall.
The 2021 team had these players among the top 100 in that season:
Morton, 12.7, 25th overall.
Fried, 11.8, 30th overall.
Riley, 8.5, 72nd overall.
Adam Duvall, 8.0, 78th overall.
Smyly, 8.0, 81st overall.
Anderson, 7.0, 98th overall.
Dansby Swanson, 7.0, 100th overall.
Box-Toppers changing landscape, 1995 vs. 2021
The Box-Toppers landscape has changed substantially since 1995. Back then, batters earned half or more of all Box-Toppers points awarded and a batter much more frequently could earn 10 or more points in a season. Since about 2010, batters earn about 40 percent or fewer of all points awarded, meaning far fewer are reaching 10 Box-Toppers points in a season. In 1995, there were 32 players with 10 or more Box-Toppers points and 23 of them were batters. In 2021, by contrast, 49 players reached 10 Box-Toppers points, including only five batters.
Today, a pitcher almost always needs more than 10 Box-Toppers points to be ranked among his league’s top 10 pitchers. But in the early days of Box-Toppers tracking from 1995 to 2004, pitchers with fewer than 10 points often made their league’s top 10 pitchers list. (For example, Braves pitcher Wohlers and Smoltz both had fewer than 10.0 Box-Toppers points in 1995 and both ranked among the top 10 NL pitchers that season.)
By contrast, a batter with 10 or more Box-Toppers points is today almost guaranteed a spot high among their league’s top 10 batters. But in 1995, Klesko, with 10.0 points, ranked outside that season’s top 10 NL batters.
While 1995 was the beginning of Box-Toppers player tracking (we marked the 25th anniversary of that in April 2020), Box-Toppers did not make its debut on the web until 2013.
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:
Atlanta Braves 2021 vs. 1995
Here is how the 1995 and 2021 Atlanta Braves World Series championship teams compared in Box-Toppers points and rankings. Both teams are shown ranked by the players’ Box-Toppers points earned each season, followed by the players’ ranking for that season. The 2021 team (at left) was led by pitcher Charlie Morton with 12.7 Box-Toppers points, 25th among all players. The 1995 team (at right) was led by pitcher Greg Maddux with 24.4 Box-Toppers points, second overall that year. All players listed were on active Major or Minor League rosters at the end of the season—not necessarily all were on postseason rosters. Players not listed earned no Box-Toppers points in the season listed.| Atlanta Braves 2021 | Atlanta Braves 1995 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos | BTP | Rank | Player | Pos | BTP | Rank | |
| Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | 12.7 | 25 | Maddux, Greg 83 | pi sp | 24.4 | 2 | |
| Fried, Max 4011 | pi sp | 11.8 | 30 | McGriff, Fred 3 | 1b | 10.7 | 22* | |
| Riley, Austin 4144 | 3b | 8.5 | 72 | Klesko, Ryan 324 | lf 1b | 10.0 | 29* | |
| Duvall, Adam 3573 | rf lf | 8.0 | 78 | Wohlers, Mark 323 | pi cp | 9.0 | 42* | |
| Smyly, Drew 3009 | pi sp | 8.0 | 81 | Smoltz, John 61 | pi sp | 8.4 | 53* | |
| Anderson, Ian 4312 | pi sp | 7.0 | 98 | Justice, David 22 | rf | 6.5 | 99* | |
| Swanson, Dansby 3751 | ss | 7.0 | 100 | Jones, Chipper 269 | 3b | 6.0 | 109* | |
| Albies, Ozzie 3953 | 2b | 7.0 | 103 | Glavine, Tom 288 | pi sp | 5.7 | 126* | |
| Ynoa, Huascar 4343 | pi sp | 6.7 | 113 | Lopez, Javy 219 | ca | 4.5 | 193* | |
| Pederson, Joc 3621 | lf rf | 6.0 | 137 | Mercker, Kent 193 | pi sp | 4.0 | 205* | |
| Soler, Jorge 3403 | rf dh | 6.0 | 144 | Avery, Steve 220 | pi sp | 3.7 | 232* | |
| Smith, Will 3073 | pi cp | 6.0 | 147 | McMichael, Greg 46 | pi cp | 3.0 | 257* | |
| Freeman, Freddie 2887 | 1b | 4.5 | 210 | Grissom, Marquis 181 | cf | 2.5 | 319* | |
| Vogt, Stephen 3503 | ca dh | 3.2 | 292 | belliard, rafael | ss | 2.0 | 335* | |
| Webb, Jacob 4530 | pi mr | 3.0 | 350 | clontz, brad | pi | 2.0 | 335* | |
| Rodriguez, Richard 4023 | pi cp | 2.0 | 411 | Kelly, Mike 92 | lf ph | 2.0 | 335* | |
| Toussaint, Touki 4110 | pi sp | 2.0 | 415 | Polonia, Luis 50 | lf ph | 2.0 | 335* | |
| Franco, Maikel 3510 | 3b | 2.0 | 419 | schmidt, jason | pi sp | 1.7 | 436* | |
| Muller, Kyle 4454 | pi sp | 2.0 | 498 | Blauser, Jeff 355 | ss | 1.0 | 466* | |
| Rosario, Eddie 3542 | lf dh | 1.5 | 534 | lemke, mark | 2b | 1.0 | 466* | |
| Heredia, Guillermo 3859 | cf | 1.5 | 551 | mordecai, mike | 3b 2b | 1.0 | 466* | |
| Acuna, Ronald Jr. 3947 | rf | 1.0 | 601 | O’Brien, Charlie 152 | ca | 1.0 | 466* | |
| Tomlin, Josh 2771 | pi mr cp sp | 1.0 | 628 | |||||
| Jackson, Luke 4139 | pi mr cp | 1.0 | 645 | |||||
| Newcomb, Sean 3831 | pi mr sp | 1.0 | 658 | |||||
| Adrianza, Ehire 3902 | ss 3b ph | 1.0 | 662 | |||||
| Davidson, Tucker 4429 | pi sp | 1.0 | 731 | |||||
| Totals | 122.4 | Totals | 112.1 | |||||
* Box-Toppers point total ties are usually broken by comparing players’ previous season point totals. Since 1995 was the first year of Box-Toppers player tracking, there are no point totals prior to 1995. These players were tied with other players having the same point total during the 1995 season.
NOTE: We are in the slow process of auditing 1995 results, going through game-by-game to confirm we correctly awarded Player of the Game honors. There have been some changes, including awarding Maddux 1.0 point more than was previously recorded. Also we are numbering players according to when they first earned Player of the Game honors in 1995. For example, Fred McGriff, with “3” next to his name, was the third player to make his Box-Toppers debut in 1995, on April 26. Maddux was 83rd to debut on May 2. Players without numbers made their debut later in the season, beyond the point of our current, in-progress audit.