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

Box-Toppers’ leaderboard overview

Here are Box-Toppers points category leaders over different time frames. Overall leaders and leaders for AL and NL pitchers and batters are shown for 2016, for 2015-16 (past two seasons), for 2011-16 (past six seasons) and for 1995-16 (“all-time,” since the start of Box-Toppers tracking). Each top-ranked player is shown with their category timeframe-leading Box-Toppers point (BTP) total.

	OVERALL	POS	TEAM	BTP
2016	Max Scherzer	pi sp	Nationals	25.7
2015-16	Clayton Kershaw	pi sp	Dodgers	50.1
2011-16	Clayton Kershaw	pi sp	Dodgers	150.2
1995-16	Randy Johnson	pi sp	Retired	278.8
	AL PITCHERS	POS	TEAM	BTP
2016	Corey Kluber	pi sp	Indians	21.2
2015-16	Corey Kluber	pi sp	Indians	34.6
2011-16	Felix Hernandez	pi sp	Mariners	91.4
	AL BATTERS	POS	TEAM	BTP
2016	Manny Machado	3b ss	Orioles	12.7
2015-16	Mike Trout	cf	Angels	24.5
2011-16	Miguel Cabrera	1b	Tigers	65.3
	NL PITCHERS	POS	TEAM	BTP
2016	Max Scherzer	pi sp	Nationals	25.7
2015-16	Clayton Kershaw	pi sp	Dodgers	50.1
2011-16	Clayton Kershaw	pi sp	Dodgers	150.2
	NL BATTERS	POS	TEAM	BTP
2016	Nolan Arenado	3b	Rockies	10.7
2015-16	Nolan Arenado	3b	Rockies	19.2
2011-16	Andrew McCutchen	cf	Pirates	48.2
	PITCHERS	POS	TEAM	BTP
1995-16	Randy Johnson	pi sp	Retired	278.8
	BATTERS	POS	TEAM	BTP
1995-16	Alex Rodriguez	3b	Released	187.0

BTP: Box-Toppers points
NOTE: Players are listed with their playing status at the close of 2016. Only active players are included in the 2016, 2015-16 and 2011-16 lists. All players, including retired and released players, are included in the “all-time” list, 1995-2016. Since retired and released players have no current team or league affiliation, there are no separate AL and NL lists for 1995-2016 leaders—all players are grouped into a single batting or pitching list.

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw leads two of Box-Toppers’ four main leaderboards:

• He leads all players in Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons (2015-16) with 50.1.

• He leads all players in Box-Toppers points over the past six seasons (2011-16) with 150.2.

Kershaw finished second among all players in Box-Toppers points in both 2015 (25.7) and 2016 (24.4) and finished either first or second among all players in each of the past six seasons. (A look at Kershaw’s Box-Toppers points for the past six seasons.)

Pitcher Randy Johnson tops Box-Toppers’ all-time leaderboard with 278.8 points, recorded from 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began until his retirement in 2009.

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.

Other highlights from the leaderboards:

• Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer leads all players in 2016 with 25.7 Box-Toppers points, also leading National League pitchers.
• Indians pitcher Corey Kluber leads American League pitchers in 2016 with 21.2 Box-Toppers points. Kluber also leads AL pitchers over the past two seasons with 34.6 points. Felix Hernandez of the Mariners leads AL pitchers over 2011-16 with 105.8 Box-Toppers points, even though he had only 6.0 Box-Toppers points in 2016 (his lowest total in his 12-year career) and has never led AL pitcher in Box-Toppers points in any season.
• Manny Machado of the Orioles leads AL batters in 2016 with 12.7 Box-Toppers points. But Mike Trout of the Angels leads AL batters over 2015 and 2016 with 24.5 points. Trout finished second in Box-Toppers points among AL batters in both 2015 (12.0) and 2016 (12.5). Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers leads AL batters over the past six seasons (2011-16) with 65.3 Box-Toppers points. Cabrera led all AL batters in Box-Toppers points in 2013 with 16.9 and had 12.0 in 2016, fourth among AL batters.
• Nolan Arenado of the Rockies leads NL batters in Box-Toppers points in 2015 with 10.7. He also has the most Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons (2015-16) with 19.2 (he had 8.5 points in 2015, 10th among NL batters). Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates leads NL batters over 2011-16 with 48.2 Box-Toppers points. McCutchen has never led NL batters in Box-Toppers points in a season; he had 10.5 points in 2015, third among NL batters.
• Alex Rodriguez has the most Box-Toppers points of any batter over the past 22 seasons—187.0. Rodriguez, who was released by the Yankees in August, apparently ending his baseball career, had no Box-Toppers points in 2016.

Box-Toppers maintains separate AL and NL categories for three of the main leaderboards—2016, 2015-16 and 2011-16. But the 1995-2016 “all-time” leaderboard includes players who are retired, released or not currently affiliated with a team, so all players are grouped into single pitching leader or batting leader lists.

Detailed leaderboards

Box-Toppers leaderboards, showing the top 10 players in each category (overall and AL and NL pitchers and batters):

• 2016
• 2015-16
• 2011-16
• 1995-2016