Box-Toppers’ two top-ranked pitchers are finalists for 2021 Cy Young Awards and Box-Toppers’ top-ranked National League rookie is a finalist for NL Rookie of the Year.
Award finalists
Here are finalists for the Cy Young, Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year awards to be given next week, as named by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Players are listed by their Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2021 and their Box-Toppers rank in their award category.| Cy Young finalists | |||
| AL finalists | Team | BTP | Rank* |
| Gerrit Cole | Yankees | 22.4 | 1 |
| Robbie Ray | Blue Jays | 17.7 | 2 |
| Lance Lynn | White Sox | 12.4 | 9 |
| NL finalists | Team | BTP | Rank* |
| Max Scherzer | Dodgers | 25.1 | 1 |
| Zack Wheeler | Phillies | 21.1 | 2 |
| Corbin Burnes | Brewers | 18.1 | 4 |
| Most Valuable Player Awards finalists | |||
| AL finalists | Team | BTP | Rank* |
| Marcus Semien | Blue Jays | 6.2 | 19 |
| Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | Blue Jays | 3.7 | 59 |
| Shohei Ohtani | Angels | 16.1 | ‑§ |
| **Jose Ramirez | Indians | 13.0 | 1 |
| NL finalists | Team | BTP | Rank* |
| Fernando Tatis Jr. | Padres | 10.2 | 2 |
| Juan Soto | Nationals | 6.0 | 21 |
| Bryce Harper | Phillies | 5.5 | 28 |
| **Nick Castellanos | Reds | 11.5 | 1 |
| Rookie of the Year finalists | |||
| AL finalists | Team | BTP | Rank† |
| Luis Garcia | Astros | 10.0 | 4 |
| Randy Arozarena | Rays | 4.0 | 8 |
| Wander Franco | Rays | 0.0 | ‑§§ |
| **Bobby Dalbec | Red Sox | 5.4 | 1 |
| NL finalists | Team | BTP | Rank† |
| Trevor Rogers | Marlins | 9.0 | 1 |
| Jonathan India | Reds | 3.7 | 2 |
| Dylan Carlson | Cardinals | 3.0 | 8 |
* 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 candidates are ranked among their league’s rookies in Box-Toppers points. However, in categories in which pitchers are directly compared to batters, pitchers are ranked as if they have half their Box-Toppers point total. So for AL rookies, Bobby Dalbec (with 5.4 points) ranks ahead of Luis Garcia (with 10.0) because Garcia is ranked as though he has 5.0 points.
§ Ohtani finished third among AL players in Box-Toppers points (16.1), but did not qualify to rank among AL batters because he earned such an overwhelming majority of his Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors as a pitcher. He earned three of his 12 Player of the Game honors as a batter (25 percent), compared to nine as a pitcher (75 percent). Box-Toppers had him ranked eighth on our AL MVP ballot mainly for his pitching prowess.
§§ Franco has yet to make his Box-Toppers debut by earning his first career regular season Player of the Game honor and so has no Box-Toppers points and no ranking. He made his Major League debut June 22 and played in 70 games.
However, Box-Toppers’ top batters are not among the finalists for 2021 Most Valuable Player Awards.
Max Scherzer of the Dodgers, who led NL pitchers with 25.1 Box-Toppers points in 2021, is one of three finalists for NL Cy Young Award. Gerrit Cole of the Yankees, who led American League pitchers with 22.4 Box-Toppers points in 2021, is one of three finalists for AL Cy Young Award. And Trevor Rogers of the Marlins, who led NL rookies with 9.0 Box-Toppers points in 2021, is one of three finalists for NL Rookie of the Year.
However, Box-Toppers’ leading batters in each league did not make the list of three finalists for MVP. Neither Jose Ramirez of the Indians, who led AL batters with 13.0 Box-Toppers points, nor Nick Castellanos of the Reds, who led NL batters with 11.5 points, were among their league’s three MVP finalists named Monday.
The Baseball Writers’ Association of America, which votes on the award-winners, announced the finalists, the top three in voting for each award. In addition to Cy Young and MVP awards, the group also announced top three finalists for Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year in each league. Rookie of the Year Awards will be given Monday, Nov. 15, Manager of the Year on Tuesday, Nov. 16, Cy Young Awards on Wednesday, Nov. 17 and MVP Awards on Thursday, Nov. 18.
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 22.4, ranking second overall behind Scherzer.
The other finalists:
Blue Jays pitcher Robbie Ray ranked second among AL pitchers with 17.7 Box-Toppers points, sixth overall. (Ray is often seen as a favorite for the award, in part, because he had a stronger second half of the season. Since July 1, Ray earned 13.7 points compared to 9.0 for Cole. Of course, this means, Ray only earned 4.0 points during the entire first half of the season.)
White Sox pitcher Lance Lynn ranked ninth among AL pitchers with 12.4 points, 27th overall.
The top-ranked AL pitcher who was not among the finalists is Shohei Ohtani of the Angels with 16.1 Box-Toppers points, third among AL pitchers and 12th overall. It should be noted that Ohtani earned 4.0 of those points as a designated hitter. The next highest-ranked AL pitcher who earned all his points from pitching is Sean Manaea of the Athletics, whose 15.7 points is fourth among AL pitchers and 13th overall.
NL Cy Young
Scherzer led NL pitchers with 25.1 Box-Toppers points, first overall.
The other finalists:
Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler had 21.1 points, second among NL pitchers, third overall.
Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes had 18.1 points, fourth among NL pitchers, fifth overall.
The top-ranked NL pitcher who was not among the finalists is Julio Urias of the Dodgers with 19.1 Box-Toppers points, third among NL pitchers and fourth overall.
AL MVP
Jose Ramirez of the Indians led AL batters in Box-Toppers points with 13.0, 21st among all players, but was not among the three finalists for AL Most Valuable Player. They are:
Marcus Semien of the Blue Jays, who ranked 19th among AL batters with 6.2 Box-Toppers points, 130th among all players.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays, who ranked 59th among AL batters with 3.7 points, 264th among all players.
Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, who had 16.1 Box-Toppers points in 2021, third among all AL players and 12th overall, but who did not qualify to be ranked among AL batters.
Ohtani is going to be AL MVP. He is a once-in-a-century marvel as an outstanding two-way player, hitting 42 home runs and driving in 100 runs as a designated hitter and starting 23 games as a pitcher with 156 strikeouts and a 3.18 earned run average. In a way, his 16.1 Box-Toppers point total reflected that—he ranked third among AL players.
But because he earned such an overwhelming majority of his Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors as a pitcher, he did not qualify to be ranked among batters.
Ohtani played 155 games in 2021, serving as designated hitter in 126 and starting 23 games as a pitcher. He earned Player of the Game honors 12 times—nine times as a starting pitcher and three times as a designated hitter. 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. Ohtani earned exactly 25 percent of his Player of the Game honors as a designated hitter and so was not ranked as a batter.
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 and held it through the weekly player rankings report of Sept. 2, when he had a fairly commanding lead. However, on Sept. 3, Ohtani earned Player of the Game honors as a pitcher for the ninth time of the season. That put him short of qualifying to be ranked as a batter. This meant that Ohtani went from ranking first among AL batters to being removed from batter rankings entirely because he no longer qualified. And it was his final Player of the Game honor of 2021, so his status didn’t change by the end of the season.
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.
Despite this, Box-Toppers still had Ohtani on our AL MVP ballot for his pitching prowess, ranking him eighth among all AL players. And Box-Toppers has him in third place on our AL Cy Young Award ballot.
We vote Ramirez as AL MVP simply because, with 13.0 Box-Toppers points, he was the one AL batter who most often was the key player in his team’s wins. Ramirez earned Player of the Game honors in 11 Indians wins, including winning AL Batter of the Day honors four times (June 8, June 28, Aug. 9 and Sept. 19.)
But Ramirez is getting no consideration for AL MVP in 2021, unlike three other seasons in which he was among the top three on the ballot—2017, 2018 and 2020. Interestingly, Ramirez did not rank among Box-Toppers’ top three candidates for AL MVP in any of those seasons:
In 2017, he finished third in AL MVP voting, but was fifth among AL batters with 10.0 Box-Toppers points.
In 2018, he finished third in AL MVP voting but was 17th among AL batters with 6.0 Box-Toppers points.
In 2020, he finished second in AL MVP voting but was 14th among AL batters with 3.5 Box-Toppers points in the pandemic-shortened season.
The other AL MVP candidates, teammates Semien and Guerrero, had outstanding statistical seasons but rarely were they the key player in a Blue Jays win. Bo Bichette led Blue Jays batters in 2021 Box-Toppers points with 7.0 with Semien’s 6.2 the second-most. Guerrero’s 3.7 points was seventh among Blue Jays batters, as he earned Player of the Game honors only three times in 2021—April 27 (when he was AL Player of the Day), June 5 and Sept. 3.
NL MVP
Nick Castellanos of the Reds led NL batters in Box-Toppers points with 11.5, 35th among all players, but was not among the three finalists for NL Most Valuable Player. They are:
Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres, who ranked second among NL batters with 10.2 Box-Toppers points, 45th among all players.
Juan Soto of the Nationals who ranked 21st among NL batters with 6.0 Box-Toppers points, 134th among all players.
Bryce Harper of the Phillies who ranked 28th among NL batters with 5.5 Box-Toppers points, 165th among all players.
While Castellanos led NL batters in Box-Toppers points in 2021, Box-Toppers actually picked Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer to win both the NL Cy Young Award and the NL Most Valuable Player Award. While Scherzer is an NL Cy Young finalist, he is not an NL MVP finalist.
AL Rookie of the Year
Bobby Dalbec of the Red Sox earned 5.4 Box-Toppers points in 2021, most among AL rookie batters.
He also had more than half the Box-Toppers points of top AL rookie pitcher Alek Manoah of the Blue Jays (10.7), who ranks second on Box-Toppers’ AL rookie ballot. (In awards in which pitchers and batters are directly compared, Box-Toppers halves the point total of pitchers to give batters a somewhat arbitrary benefit of the doubt. In this case, Dalbec edged Manoah for Rookie of the Year, 5.4 to 5.35.)
But neither Dalbec nor Manoah are among the AL Rookie of the Year finalists. They are:
Luis Garcia of the Astros, 10.0 Box-Toppers points, fourth among AL rookies in Box-Toppers rankings.
Randy Arozarena of the Rays, 4.0 Box-Toppers points, eighth among AL rookies in Box-Toppers rankings.
Wander Franco of the Rays, 0.0 Box-Toppers points. Franco has yet to make his Box-Toppers debut by earning his first career Player of the Game honor and so has no points and no ranking. He made his Major League debut June 22 and played in 70 games.
NL Rookie of the Year
Marlins pitcher Trevor Rogers led NL rookies with 9.0 Box-Toppers points and also was among the three finalists for NL Rookie of the Year.
Rogers ranked 33rd among NL pitchers in Box-Toppers rankings, 64th among all players.
The other NL Rookie of the Year candidates are:
Jonathan India of the Reds, 3.7 Box-Toppers points, second among NL rookies in Box-Toppers rankings.
Dylan Carlson of the Cardinals, 3.0 points, eighth among NL rookies in Box-Toppers rankings.
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