A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2024

A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season leaders chart for each of the past 30 seasons, including the leaders in Box-Toppers points each season among four main categories—American League and National League pitchers and batters.

Also, a look at how often Box-Toppers leaders win major postseason awards (Cy Young and Most Valuable Player), what players have led a Box-Toppers season category most often since tracking began in 1995 and what teams have had the most category leaders in 30 seasons. Also, a look at the lowest point totals to lead a season category, which includes 2024 leaders.

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Box-Toppers selects 4 players for 2025 Hall of Fame induction in internet writers' ballot

Box-Toppers is voting for four players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in the 2025 Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) ballot.

Box-Toppers is voting for these players: Felix Hernandez, Torii Hunter, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.

Notably, Box-Toppers is not voting for Ichiro Suzuki, who is on the Hall ballot for the first time for 2025. While Suzuki is expected to be a shoo-in for the Hall and to possibly be only the second player inducted on a unanimous vote, I devoted a previous post to why Box-Toppers doesn’t view him as a Hall of Famer. In addition, this post which will show how unfavorably he compares in Box-Toppers rankings to even this year’s Hall candidates, may even make a more stark case why I don’t see Suzuki as a Hall of Famer.

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Braves’ Fried tops players Friday, Sept. 27; Ohtani bursts to 1st among NL batters

Braves pitcher Max Fried is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Friday, Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers rises to first place among National League batters in 2024 Box-Toppers points (11.0) after earning NL Batter of the Day honors, making a meteoric rise from completely outside the top 10 among NL batters until Sept. 19 and earning 6.0 of his 11.0 points for the season in a 13-day explosion.

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Rangers’ Eovaldi tops players Thursday, Aug. 29; Brewers’ Civale tops NL players

Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Eovaldi struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 2-1 win over the White Sox.

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Cubs’ Imanaga tops players Tuesday, Aug. 6, rising to 3rd in season player rankings

Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to third place in season player rankings.

Imanaga struck out 10 over seven innings, allowing two runs, two hits and one walk, in the 7-3 win over the Twins.

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Rangers’ Heaney tops players for Sunday, June 2; Yankees’ Soto rises to lead AL batters

Rangers pitcher Andrew Heaney is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Sunday, Juan Soto of the Yankees rises to lead American League batters in 2024 Box-Toppers points after earning AL Batter of the Day honors.

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Guardians’ Bibee tops players for Friday, May 31; Houck, Bibee rise in 2024 top 10 list

Guardians pitcher Tanner Bibee is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to sixth place in season player rankings.

Also Friday, Red Sox pitcher Tanner Houck rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Aaron Judge of the Yankees rises to first place among American League batters in Box-Toppers rankings and Starling Marte of the Mets earns Box-Toppers points in his 13th consecutive season.

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Braves’ Sale tops players for Tuesday, May 14, rising to 5th in player rankings

Braves pitcher Chris Sale is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fifth place in season player rankings.

Also Tuesday, Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

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Royals’ Lugo tops players for Friday, April 26; Nola, Helsley, Imanaga rise in top 10 list

Royals pitcher Seth Lugo is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Friday, three players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after each earned Player of the Game honors: Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola rises to third place, Cardinals closing pitcher Ryan Helsley rises to fourth place and Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga rises to seventh place.

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A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2023

Analyzing 29 years of Box-Toppers points leaders in pitching and batting in both leagues.

In 2023, Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, American League Most Valuable Player, was the only player who won a major postseason award and also led his Box-Toppers category (leading AL batters with 19.4). Also, Pete Alonso of the Mets became the ninth batter since 1995 to lead his league’s batters in Box-Toppers points more than once, leading NL batters for the second straight season.

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A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2022

In 2022, Justin Verlander led American League pitchers in season Box-Toppers points for the third time in his career, tied for the seventh-most times a player has led a season points category.

Also in 2022, the New York Mets and Miami Marlins each had their first Box-Toppers points category leader—Pete Alonso and Sandy Alcantara— leaving the Pittsburgh Pirates as the only team to never have a player lead a category since tracking began in 1995.

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Box-Toppers’ big dippers—players whose 2022 point total declined most from 2021: Max Scherzer leads list

Mets pitcher Max Scherzer had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2021 to 2022.

Scherzer led all players in 2021 with 25.1 Box-Toppers points when he was with the Nationals and Dodgers. Scherzer earned 10.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022. While that was still 24th among National League pitchers, it was a 15.1-point decline from 2021, the biggest among all players.

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Mariners’ Kirby tops players for Saturday, Sept. 10; Mets’ Carrasco tops NL players

Mariners pitcher George Kirby is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Kirby struck out eight over six innings, allowing one run, three hits and no walks, in the 3-1 win over the Braves.

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Red Sox’ Wacha tops players for Sunday, Aug. 14; Padres’ Snell tops NL players

Red Sox pitcher Michael Wacha is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Wacha struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 3-0 win over the Yankees.

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Guardians’ Bieber tops players for Tuesday, Aug. 9; Angels’ Ohtani maintains 2nd place

Guardians pitcher Shane Bieber is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Tuesday, Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani maintains second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors, but loses his status to be ranked among batters since he’s now earned an overwhelming share of his Player of the Game honors as a starting pitcher.

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Dodgers’ Heaney tops players for Sunday, April 17, rising to 5th in player rankings

Dodgers pitcher Andrew Heaney is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fifth place in season player rankings.

Heaney struck out 11 over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and three walks, in the 9-1 win over the Reds.

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An overview of Box-Toppers category leaders over several time frames after 2021

Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer holds the lead in five of Box-Toppers’ main leaderboards at the end of 2021, most of any player.

Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole leads four Box-Toppers leaderboards, second most of any player.

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A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2021

Analyzing 27 years of Box-Toppers points leaders among American League and National League pitchers and batters each season.

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