With baseball season just around the corner, here is a look back at highlights from the 2016 season, including happenings from the offseason.
While baseball stopped in the fall, Box-Toppers spent the offseason tabulating results from the season and sharing them on Box-Toppers.com. This is a summary of our offseason posts with links to the original posts.
Among the highlights are:
- 2016 team and player rankings.
- Lists of the top 100 players over various time periods.
- Box-Toppers’ All-Star teams for various time periods.
- Box-Toppers’ leaders by defensive position.
- The most improved players and the biggest decliners in Box-Toppers points from 2015 to 2016.
- Top pitchers and batters by team in 2016.
- Top single-game performances of 2016 in terms of Box-Toppers game score.
- An overview of Box-Toppers season leaders for the entire duration of Box-Toppers tracking, from 1995 to 2016.
- A look at 2016 postseason award winners and 2017 Hall of Fame candidates.
- How statistical leaders fared in Box-Toppers points in 2016.
- A look at Box-Toppers results from each game of the 2016 postseason.
- Features on key players from 2016—Jose Fernandez, Alex Rodriguez and Rick Porcello.
- 2017 preseason features, including Box-Toppers team rankings and predictions.
Box-Toppers tracks which players most help their team win the most Major League Baseball 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.
More about what Box-Toppers is all about and how it works and why Box-Toppers was devised.
Here are links to key offseason posts:
Top players, top teams
- Year-end 2016 team rankings—Cubs end 2016 ranked first in Box-Toppers team rankings
- Year-end 2016 player rankings—Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Box-Toppers Player of the Year
Top 10 player lists
Box-Toppers top 10 players by category (Overall, AL pitchers, NL pitchers, AL batters, NL batters)
- 2016: Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Box-Toppers Player of the Year
- 2015-2016: Clayton Kershaw leads players in Box-Toppers points over past 2 seasons for 4th straight year
- 2011-2016: Clayton Kershaw holds a dominating lead in Box-Toppers points since start of 2011
- “All-time” 1995-2016: A look at Box-Toppers' ‘all-time' top 10 lists—top overall players, top pitchers, top batters—since tracking began in 1995
- Summary: An overview of Box-Toppers category leaders over several time frames
Box-Toppers’ All-Star teams
- 2016 AL & NL All-Star teams
- 2015-16 AL & NL All-Star teams
- 2011-16 AL & NL All-Star teams
- 1995-2016 “All-time” All-Star teams
Box-Toppers’ Top 100 players
- 2016—Max Scherzer tops the list
- 2015-16—Clayton Kershaw tops list
- 2011-16—Clayton Kershaw tops list
- “All-time” 1995-2016—Randy Johnson tops list
Box-Toppers’ High by position
Top players at a single position over several time frames—2016, 2015-16, 2011-16, “All-time” (1995-2016):
- First base: Albert Pujols leads all first basemen in career Box-Toppers points since 1995
- Second base: Jeff Kent holds dominating lead among second basemen in Box-Toppers points since 1995
- Shortstop: Miguel Tejada leads shortstops in career Box-Toppers points, though 2nd-place Derek Jeter seen as superior shortstop
- Third base: Alex Rodriguez leads third basemen in career Box-Toppers points
- Catcher: Mike Piazza leads catchers in career Box-Toppers points; Brian McCann leads active catchers in career points
- Outfield: Manny Ramirez leads outfielders in career Box-Toppers points; Carlos Beltran leads active outfielders
- Designated hitter: Albert Pujols leads designated hitters in career Box-Toppers points
- Pitcher: Randy Johnson leads pitchers in career Box-Toppers points; Sabathia, Kershaw lead active pitchers in points
- Closing pitcher: Trevor Hoffman leads closing pitchers in career Box-Toppers points, ahead of Mariano Rivera
- Summary: Box-Toppers top players by position over several time frames
Statistical leaders
How 2016 statistical leaders fared in Box-Toppers points and rankings:
- Batting average: Half of top 10 batting average leaders rank among Box-Toppers' top 100 players for 2016
- Earned run average: 5 of top 10 ERA leaders also rank in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings
- Home runs: How did 2016 home run leaders fare in Box-Toppers points? 7 of top 10 finish in Box-Toppers' top 100
- Wins: Wins leaders generally coincide with Box-Toppers points leaders—except for overall wins leader Porcello, who ranks 91st
- Runs batted in: Only two of top 10 RBI leaders are among their league's top 10 batters in Box-Toppers points
- Strikeouts: Box-Toppers' leader Max Scherzer also led pitchers in strikeouts in 2016
- Wins above replacement (WAR): Most WAR leaders rank high in Box-Toppers points, but dominant NL pitchers are absent from WAR leaders list
- Overview: An overview look at how baseball's 2016 statistical leaders ranked in Box-Toppers points
Box-Toppers’ most improved, biggest decliners
- Box-Toppers’ Most Improved player in 2016: The late Jose Fernandez had the biggest improvement in Box-Toppers point totals from 2015 to 2016
- Box-Toppers’ Big Dippers: Players whose 2016 point total declined most from 2015—Sonny Gray, Cy Young winners lead list
Box-Toppers’ top players by team
Box-Toppers top pitchers and batters by team in 2016
Best single-game performances
Box-Toppers top single game performances of 2016
- All players: Phillies pitcher Vince Velasquez has best single-game Box-Toppers game score in 2016
- Batters: C.J. Cron of the Angels had highest Box-Toppers game score among batters in 2016
- Analyzing all 2,428 games of 2016—Pitchers had more Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors than batters … and other findings and quick facts
Box-Toppers’ season-by-season leaders
A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2016
Most consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points
Hall of Fame
How 2017 Hall of Fame candidates fared in Box-Toppers: Bagwell, Raines, Rodriguez elected to Hall of Fame; Schilling, Hoffman, Kent, Guerrero among those overlooked
2016 postseason awards
- Silver Sluggers—How 2016 Silver Slugger winners fared in Box-Toppers points and rankings
- Preview of Cy Young, Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year finalists
- Rookie of the Year: Box-Toppers' top-ranked rookie Michael Fulmer wins AL Rookie of the Year; Corey Seager wins NL rookie honors despite low Box-Toppers ranking
- Cy Young: Box-Toppers leader Max Scherzer wins NL Cy Young Award; wins leader Porcello wins AL Cy Young despite low Box-Toppers ranking
- Most Valuable Player: Mike Trout, Kris Bryant win 2016 MVPs, both ranked 2nd among their league's batters in Box-Toppers points
- Summary: Postseason awards wrap-up: Box-Toppers leaders win 2 of 6 major honors for 2016
2016 postseason
AL Wild Card—Orioles vs. Blue Jays
NL Wild Card—Giants vs. Mets
AL Division Series—Blue Jays vs. Rangers
Preview Game 1: TOR 10, TEX 1 Game 2: TOR 5, TEX 3 Game 3: TOR 7, TEX 6 (10)
AL Division Series—Red Sox vs. Indians
Preview Game 1: CLE 5, BOS 4 Game 2: CLE 6, BOS 0 Game 3: CLE 4, BOS 3
NL Division Series—Dodgers vs. Nationals
Preview Game 1: LAD 4, DC 3 Game 2: DC 5, LAD 2 Game 3: DC 8, LAD 3 Game 4: LAD 6, DC 5 Game 5: LAD 4, DC 3
NL Division Series—Giants vs. Cubs
Preview Game 1: CHC 1, SF 0 Game 2: CHC 5, SF 2 Game 3: SF 6, CHC 5 (13) Game 4: CHC 6, SF 5
AL Championship Series—Blue Jays vs. Indians
Preview Game 1: CLE 2, TOR 0 Game 2: CLE 2, TOR 1 Game 3: CLE 4, TOR 2 Game 4: TOR 5, CLE 1 Game 5: CLE 3, TOR 0
NL Championship Series—Dodgers vs. Cubs
Preview Game 1: CHC 8, LAD 4 Game 2: LAD 1, CHC 0 Game 3: LAD 6, CHC 0 Game 4: CHC 10, LAD 2 Game 5: CHC 8, LAD 4 Game 6: CHC 5, LAD 0
World Series—Cubs vs. Indians
Preview Game 1: CLE 6, CHC 0 Game 2: CHC 5, CLE 1 Game 3: CLE 1, CHC 0 Game 4: CLE 7, CHC 2 Game 5: CHC 3, CLE 2 Game 6: CHC 9, CLE 3 Game 7: CHC 8, CLE 7 (10)
Posts on key players
Death of Jose Fernandez
- Most prominent active player to die in 22 years of Box-Toppers’ tracking
- Jose Fernandez twice led players in Box-Toppers points & contended for 2016 points lead
Release of Alex Rodriguez
Alex Rodriguez exits as Box-Toppers points leader among batters since 1995
Rick Porcello
Why does wins leader Rick Porcello have so few Box-Toppers points?
2017 preseason
- Box-Toppers 2017 preseason team rankings: Dodgers, Nationals top Box-Toppers 2017 preseason team rankings; Cubs slip to 5th
- How baseball stars are trending: Clayton Kershaw remains strong over past half decade—who is rising & who is declining. He’s Box-Toppers' top player from 2011-2016, remains top player over 2012-2016
- Box-Toppers 2017 preseason predictions: Box-Toppers picks the Nationals over the Red Sox in the 2017 World Series