Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer recently passed Astros pitcher Justin Verlander on the career Box-Toppers points list.
It is the fifth time in less than four years that the career Box-Toppers points lead between the two has changed.
Scherzer vs. Verlander race, significant dates
Significant dates in the career Box-Toppers points race between Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander:
July 4, 2005—Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander makes Major League debut.
April 8, 2006—Verlander makes Box-Toppers debut with his first career Player of the Game honor in his third career game.
April 29, 2008—Diamondbacks pitcher Max Scherzer makes his Major League debut.
May 26, 2009—Scherzer makes Box-Toppers debut with his first career Player of the Game honor in his 25th career game.
Dec. 8, 2009—Scherzer traded to Detroit Tigers, joining Verlander.
Sept. 7, 2010—Verlander reaches 50 career Box-Toppers points (51.3), in his 60th career game.
2011—Verlander leads AL pitchers in season Box-Toppers points (24.4).
Sept. 14, 2012—Verlander reaches 100 career Box-Toppers points (100.5), in his 229th career game.
2012—Verlander leads all players in season Box-Toppers points (24.8).
May 26, 2013—Scherzer reaches 50 career Box-Toppers points (50.5), in his 152nd career game.
2013—Scherzer leads AL pitchers in season Box-Toppers points (18.1), fifth overall.
2013—Verlander has biggest decline among all players in season Box-Toppers points from 2012 (24.8) to 2013 (10.0), a loss of 14.8 points.
Jan. 21, 2015—Scherzer signs as a free agent with the Washington Nationals.
July 12, 2015—Scherzer reaches 100 career Box-Toppers points (100.0) in his 225th career game.
2016—Scherzer leads all players in season Box-Toppers points (25.7).
June 6, 2017—Scherzer passes Verlander in career Box-Toppers points (143.7-142.0) for the first time. Scherzer rises to 27th place among all players since 1995 when Box-Toppers tracking began, passing Jake Peavy (141.8) and Verlander, who falls to 29th place.
July 15, 2017—Scherzer reaches 150 career Box-Toppers points (150.7) in his 293rd career game.
Aug. 31, 2017—Verlander traded to Houston Astros.
Sept. 12, 2017—Verlander reaches 150 career Box-Toppers points (151.0), in his 382nd career game.
2017—Scherzer leads NL pitchers in season Box-Toppers points (25.0), second overall.
2018—Scherzer leads NL pitchers in season Box-Toppers points (25.1), second overall.
April 19, 2019—Verlander passes Scherzer in career Box-Toppers points (182.8-181.8), retaking the lead between the two after Scherzer held it nearly two years. Verlander rises to ninth place among all players since 1995 when Box-Toppers tracking began, passing Scherzer, who falls to 10th place.
June 30, 2019—Scherzer passes Verlander in career Box-Toppers points (194.2-192.9), retaking the lead between the two after Verlander held it more than two months. Scherzer rises to seventh place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began, passing Verlander and Curt Schilling (194.1). Verlander falls to ninth place.
July 30, 2019—Verlander passes Scherzer in career Box-Toppers points (196.9-196.2), retaking the lead between the two after Scherzer held it one month. (Scherzer went on the injured list in early July.) Verlander rises to seventh place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. Scherzer falls to eighth place.
Sept. 1, 2019—Verlander reaches 200 career Box-Toppers points (201.9), in his 448th career game.
2019—Verlander finishes second overall in season Box-Toppers points (27.5).
2019—Scherzer ranks ninth among NL pitchers in season Box-Toppers points (15.4).
Aug. 28, 2020—Scherzer reaches 200 career Box-Toppers points (200.2) in his 372nd career game. He earned a career-low 4.0 Box-Toppers points in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
2020—Verlander has the biggest decline among all players, losing 26.5 points from 2019 (27.5) to 2020 (1.0).
May 14, 2021—Scherzer passes Verlander in career Box-Toppers points (207.9-206.6), retaking the lead after Verlander held it nearly two years. Scherzer rises to fifth place among all players since 1995, Verlander falls to sixth place.
Scherzer passed Verlander when he earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points as Box-Toppers Player of the Day on May 14, giving him 207.9 career points, moving past Verlander’s 206.6. Scherzer rose to fifth place in career Box-Toppers points since 1995, when player tracking began, while Verlander fell to sixth place.
Verlander began his career first, in 2005, and held the lead over Scherzer (who debuted in 2008) until Scherzer passed him for the first time on June 6, 2017. Then, Scherzer had 143.7 career points to Verlander’s 142.0 points. Scherzer rose to 27th place on the “all-time” career points list, while Verlander fell to 29th.
Scherzer led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2016 (25.7) and led all National League pitchers in points for three straight seasons—2016 (25.7), 2017 (25.0) and 2018 (25.1). On the strength of those seasonal totals, Scherzer held the lead over Verlander until April 19, 2019. That day, Verlander passed Scherzer with 182.8 career points to Scherzer’s 181.8, rising to ninth place on Box-Toppers’ career points list, dropping Scherzer to 10th.
Verlander managed to keep pace with Scherzer and pass him with three consecutive strong seasons when he finished in the top 10 among American League pitchers—2016 (14.7, fourth), 2017 (14.7, sixth) and 2018 (24.1, second). In 2019, Verlander made his fourth consecutive top 10 finish among AL pitchers with 27.5 points, in second place, but his season point total was his best-ever and the 12th-most points by a player in a single season. It was even more than when Verlander led all AL pitchers in 2011 (24.4) and 2012 (24.8). (Verlander led all players in 2012.)
However, in 2019, Scherzer got hot in June and from June 2 to July 6, earned 13.4 Box-Toppers points by winning Player of the Game honors in seven straight starts, picking up overall Player of the Day honors four times (worth 2.0 points each) and NL Player of the Day honors three times (worth 1.7 points each).
On June 30, 2019, Scherzer passed Verlander again, after Verlander held the lead for a little more than two months. Scherzer’s 194.2 put him at seventh place on the career points list; Verlander’s 192.9 moved him to ninth.
However, Scherzer’s torrid pace was stopped cold by a back injury after his July 6 start. He made only three starts the rest of July and all of August and earned only 1.0 more Box-Toppers point the rest of the season—on Sept. 8, to finish with 15.4, ninth among NL pitchers.
And while Scherzer was away, Verlander continued earning points in his best-ever season, rising past Scherzer in career points on July 30, 2019. Verlander rose to seventh place on the career points list (196.9), passing Scherzer (196.2), just one month after Scherzer had passed Verlander.
Verlander held the lead through the 2020 season, even though he only earned 1.0 point that year and spent most of the season on the injured list with a forearm strain, finally undergoing Tommy John surgery at season’s end. That will make him likely to miss all or most of the 2021 season. Scherzer meanwhile, also had a relatively lackluster 2020, earning only 4.0 points in the pandemic-shortened season.
However, in 2021, Scherzer has rebounded and is among the overall top 10 in season player rankings as of May 31 (6.7 points, 10th place). On May 14, Scherzer passed Verlander in career points for the third time (207.9-206.6), retaking the lead after Verlander held it nearly two years. Scherzer rises to fifth place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. Verlander falls to sixth place.
Scherzer and Verlander are among only eight players who’ve reached 200 career Box-Toppers points since tracking began in 1995. There are only five active players with 200 or more points and only two active players with more points—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (243.6) and Astros pitcher Zack Greinke (213.8).
En route to their huge career Box-Toppers point totals, Scherzer has won three Cy Young Awards and Verlander two. Verlander led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2012 (24.8) and Scherzer did it in 2016 (25.7). Verlander led AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points in 2011 (24.4) and 2012 (24.8). Scherzer led AL pitchers in 2013 (18.1, when he was with the Tigers) and led NL pitchers three times—2016 (25.7), 2017 (25.0) and 2018 (25.1).
Scherzer debuted with the Arizona Diamondbacks before joining Verlander as a teammate when he was traded to the Detroit Tigers. Verlander debuted for the Tigers in 2005. The two were teammates from 2010 until 2014, after which Scherzer signed as a free agent with the Nationals. Verlander remained with the Tigers until Aug. 31, 2017, when he was part of a last-minute deadline trade deal to the Astros.
It seems likely that Scherzer will end up with more career Box-Toppers points between the two. Verlander, 38, is older than Scherzer, 36, and has earned Box-Toppers points at a slightly slower pace than Scherzer. For example, it took Verlander 448 games to reach 200 Box-Toppers points, while it took Scherzer only 372. Also, Verlander’s pitching future is uncertain as he recovers from Tommy John surgery in his late 30s.
Verlander vs. Scherzer, Box-Toppers points by season
Here are the season-by-season Box-Toppers point totals for Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. Shown are:• Both players’ Box-Toppers point total by season.
• Their rank among all players in season points.
In gray shading:• Their cumulative career Box-Toppers point total at the end of each season.
• Their rank at the end of each season among all players in career points since 1995 when Box-Toppers tracking began.
| Verlander | Season | Career | Scherzer | Season | Career | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | BTP | Rank | BTP | Rank | Year | Team | BTP | Rank | BTP | Rank | |
| 2006 | Tigers | 10.7 | 47 | 10.7 | 839 | 2006 | ||||||
| 2007 | Tigers | 10.4 | 46 | 21.1 | 527 | 2007 | ||||||
| 2008 | Tigers | 5.0 | 188 | 26.1 | 451 | 2008 | ||||||
| 2009 | Tigers | 15.1 | 16 | 41.2 | 268 | 2009 | Diamondbacks | 7.0 | 126 | 7.0 | 1353 | |
| 2010 | Tigers | 13.8 | 21 | 55.0 | 194 | 2010 | Tigers | 13.4 | 24 | 20.4 | 671 | |
| 2011 | Tigers | 24.4 | 3 | 79.4 | 94 | 2011 | Tigers | 7.4 | 95 | 27.8 | 529 | |
| 2012 | Tigers | 24.8 | 1 | 104.2 | 43 | 2012 | Tigers | 17.0 | 9 | 44.8 | 284 | |
| 2013 | Tigers | 10.0 | 53 | 114.2 | 35 | 2013 | Tigers | 18.1 | 5 | 62.9 | 172 | |
| 2014 | Tigers | 4.0 | 237 | 118.2 | 35 | 2014 | Tigers | 22.1 | 5 | 85.0 | 100 | |
| 2015 | Tigers | 6.4 | 127 | 124.6 | 34 | 2015 | Nationals | 21.0 | 6 | 106.0 | 57 | |
| 2016 | Tigers | 14.7 | 12 | 139.3 | 28 | 2016 | Nationals | 25.7 | 1 | 131.7 | 31 | |
| 2017 | Tigers/Astros | 14.7 | 16 | 154.0 | 18 | 2017 | Nationals | 25.0 | 2 | 156.7 | 16 | |
| 2018 | Astros | 24.1 | 3 | 178.1 | 10 | 2018 | Nationals | 25.1 | 2 | 181.8 | 9 | |
| 2019 | Astros | 27.5 | 2 | 205.6 | 5 | 2019 | Nationals | 15.4 | 15 | 197.2 | 8 | |
| 2020 | Astros | 1.0 | 290 | 206.6 | 5 | 2020 | Nationals | 4.0 | 45 | 201.2 | 8 | |
| 2021* | Astros | 0.0 | 527 | 206.6 | 6 | 2021* | Nationals | 6.7 | 6 | 207.9 | 5 | |
* Point totals and rankings as of May 19, 2021.
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