Players ranking highest in Box-Toppers points in 2019 fail to win any postseason awards

Here's how Box-Toppers points leaders fared in the six major postseason awards for 2019 as voted by the Baseball Writers Association of Ameica. The winners of the six major awards are listed at left with the Box-Toppers points (BTP) leader in each category listed at right. Rank shows the players’ rank among all players in 2019.

Most Valuable Player
AL winner Team Pos BTP Rank AL BTP leader Team Pos BTP Rank
Mike Trout Angels cf 8.7 68 Nelson Cruz* Twins dh 12.5 26
NL winner Team Pos BTP Rank NL BTP leader Team Pos BTP Rank
Cody Bellinger Dodgers rf 11.2 35 Marcell Ozuna Cardinals lf 12.0 29
Cy Young Award
AL winner Team Pos BTP Rank AL BTP leader Team Pos BTP Rank
Justin Verlander Astros pi sp 27.5 2 Gerrit Cole Astros pi sp 32.2 1
NL winner Team Pos BTP Rank NL BTP leader Team Pos BTP Rank
Jacob deGrom Mets pi sp 19.1 4 Stephen Strasburg Nationals pi sp 20.7 3
Rookie of the Year
AL winner Team Pos BTP Rank AL BTP leader Team Pos BTP Rank
Yordan Alvarez Astros dh 2.5 395 Eloy Jimenez** White Sox lf 7.5 100
NL winner Team Pos BTP Rank NL BTP leader Team Pos BTP Rank
Pete Alonso Mets 1b 7.0 119 Chris Paddack Padres pi sp 15.8 14
* While Nelson Cruz led AL batters in Box-Toppers points, Box-Toppers actually voted Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole for AL MVP. We did this because Cole had more than twice as many 2019 Box-Toppers points as Cruz (32.2 vs. 12.5).
** While Trent Thornton of the Blue Jays led AL rookies with 8.7 Box-Toppers points, Box-Toppers top-ranked AL rookie for 2019 is Eloy Jimenez of the White Sox with 7.5 points. Why? Box-Toppers treats the Rookie of the Year award as primarily a batter's award and gives batters the benefit of a doubt, doubling their Box-Toppers point total when comparing them to pitchers. That would give Jimenez 15.0 points compared to Thornton's 8.7.
BTP: Box-Toppers points

Box-Toppers postseason honors ballot

Here is a look at the ballot selections Box-Toppers is making for the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) 2019 postseason awards. The ballot requires votes out to 10 places for Most Valuable Player in both leagues, five for Cy Young Awards in each league and three for each leagues' Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year and Reliever of the Year.

Players are shown with their team and their Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2019.

AL Most Valuable Player
Player Team BTP
1 Gerrit Cole Astros 32.2
2 Justin Verlander Astros 27.5
3 Nelson Cruz Twins 12.5
4 Gleyber Torres Yankees 12.0
5 Albert Pujols Angels 11.0
6 Jorge Soler Royals 10.2
7 Alex Bregman Astros 10.0
8 Rafael Devers Red Sox 9.5
9 Charlie Morton Rays 18.8
10 Shane Bieber Indians 18.1
NL Most Valuable Player
Player Team BTP
1 Marcell Ozuna Cardinals 12.0
2 Christian Yelich Brewers 11.7
3 Cody Bellinger Dodgers 11.2
4 Stephen Strasburg Nationals 20.7
5 Freddie Freeman Braves 10.2
6 Josh Bell Pirates 9.7
7 Jacob deGrom Mets 19.1
8 Nolan Arenado Rockies 9.0
9 Josh Hader Brewers 17.7
10 Michael Conforto Mets 8.7
AL Cy Young
Player Team BTP
1 Gerrit Cole Astros 32.2
2 Justin Verlander Astros 27.5
3 Charlie Morton Rays 18.8
4 Shane Bieber Indians 18.1
5 Mike Clevinger Indians 17.4
NL Cy Young
Player Team BTP
1 Stephen Strasburg Nationals 20.7
2 Jacob deGrom Mets 19.1
3 Josh Hader Brewers 17.7
4 Hyun-Jin Ryu Dodgers 17.4
5 *Jack Flaherty Cardinals 16.5
AL Rookie of the Year
Player Team BTP
1 Eloy Jimenez White Sox 7.5
2 Cavan Biggio Blue Jays 6.2
3 Vladimir Guerrero Jr.  Blue Jays 6.2
NL Rookie of the Year
Player Team BTP
1 Chris Paddack Padres 15.8
2 Pete Alonso Mets 7.0
3 Kevin Newman Pirates 6.2
AL Manager of the Year
Manager Team Team BTP
1 A.J. Hinch Astros 158.1
2 Bob Melvin Athletics 124.9
3 Aaron Boone Yankees 123.4
NL Manager of the Year
Manager Team Team BTP
1 Dave Martinez Nationals 132.9
2 Dave Roberts Dodgers 129.9
3 Brian Snitker Braves 112.7
AL Reliever of the Year
Player Team BTP
1 Brad Hand Indians 8.0
2 Taylor Rogers Twins 7.0
3 Liam Hendriks Athletics 7.0
NL Reliever of the Year
Player Team BTP
1 Josh Hader Brewers 17.7
2 Felipe Vazquez Pirates 8.7
3 Luke Jackson Braves 8.0
* In my haste to submit my postseason award selection ballot by the deadline, I voted Patrick Corbin of the Nationals as fifth pick for NL Cy Young, but Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty earned NL Player of the Day Sunday, passing Corbin in Box-Toppers points, 16.5-16.4. My fifth-place pick should have been for Flaherty rather than Corbin.

Box-Toppers gives batters a generous, if somewhat arbitrary, benefit of the doubt in these rankings. In cases where batters are directly compared to pitchers, Box-Toppers ranks batters as if their season Box-Toppers point total were doubled. For example, in rankings for NL MVP, Marcell Ozuna ranks first with 12.0 points even though several pitchers have more points (most notably, Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals, ranked fourth in NL MVP voting with 20.7). Though Ozuna has fewer points than Strasburg, Box-Toppers arbitrarily doubles batters point totals in figuring these rankings, which would give Ozuna 24.0 points, beating Strasburg's 20.7. While MVP is traditionally a batter's award, it has been awarded to pitchers either when they have a dominant season, no batters particularly rise to the occasion—or both.

No Box-Toppers points leaders were among the winners in six major postseason awards for 2019.

In fact, looking at Box-Toppers’ ballot in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, none of the 10 candidates we chose for awards based on Box-Toppers points won an award.

However, the winners who did win awards were among the highest-ranking Box-Toppers points leaders. Also, some of the Box-Toppers points leaders we chose for the awards came close to winning.

Here is a look at the six major awards as voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America and how the players fared in Box-Toppers points and rankings:

In other cases, the winners of the awards were not as close to leading their category in Box-Toppers points:

  • American League Most Valuable Player: Winner Mike Trout of the Angels ranked ninth among AL batters in Box-Toppers points (8.7). However, Box-Toppers choice for the award, Cole (32.2 Box-Toppers points, first overall), finished 10th in AL MVP voting. Box-Toppers’ top-ranked AL batter, Nelson Cruz of the Twins (12.5 points), finished ninth in AL MVP voting. He was Box-Toppers third choice for AL MVP behind both Cole and Verlander.

  • American League Rookie of the Year: Winner Yordan Alvarez of the Astros had only 2.5 Box-Toppers points in 2019 and ranked 395th among all players. Though he was voted unanimously by baseball writers, he ranked very low in Box-Toppers player rankings. That could be because Box-Toppers awards only one player per team win as Player of the Game and in the Astros’ case, those were often being won by Cole and Verlander for their dominant pitching performances. Another factor in Alvarez’s low point total is the fact he barely played half the season. Eloy Jimenez of the White Sox led AL rookies in Box-Toppers points (7.5) and finished fourth in AL Rookie of the Year voting.

In recent years, Box-Toppers points leaders and winners of major postseason awards have better coincided. Looking at major postseason awards—American League and National League Most Valuable Player, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards—Box-Toppers points leaders have won at least two of the six each year since 2013.

  • In 2013, Box-Toppers and baseball writers picked the same winner for four of six awards.

  • In 2014, five of six.

  • In 2015, two of six.

  • In 2016, two of six.

  • In 2017, three of six.

  • In 2018, two (or three or four, depending on how you count) of six.

But again, in four of six cases, the winner of the major postseason award was among the top players in Box-Toppers points for that award category. In one other case—AL MVP—the winner Trout was among the top 10 AL batters in Box-Toppers points. In only one case—AL Rookie of the Year—did the winner (Alvarez) not even appear among Box-Toppers points leaders in that category.

On the other hand, four of the Box-Toppers points leaders in the award categories were among players who received votes from baseball writers for major awards. In two cases, the Box-Toppers points leaders in a category did not receive any votes:

  • For NL Rookie of the Year: It is curious that Padres pitcher Chris Paddack received no votes from baseball writers. He far and away led NL rookies in Box-Toppers points in 2019 with 15.8, more than double the total of NL Rookie of the Year winner Pete Alonso of the Mets (7.0).

  • For NL Most Valuable Player: It may be less curious that Marcell Ozuna of the Cardinals (who led NL batters in Box-Toppers points with 12.0) received no NL MVP votes from baseball writers. While he was not an obvious candidate based on statistics, he did win Player of the Game and NL Batter of the Day honors more often than any other NL batter. Bellinger started the season hot and appeared poised to break 20 Box-Toppers points but did not sustain his early excellence.

In a hand-grenades-and-horseshoes evaluation of baseball writers’ awards, I will say that five of the six they chose were close enough. Their unanimous choice of Alvarez for AL Rookie of the Year is as much of an outlier as Box-Toppers’ pick of Ozuna for NL MVP.

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This is only the third time in the 25-season history of Box-Toppers tracking that the Box-Toppers category leaders failed to win any of the four major postseason awards—AL and NL MVP and Cy Young.

In both 2003 and 2012, none of Box-Toppers category leaders—AL and NL pitching and batting—won Cy Young or MVP awards.

There has never been a season in which the leaders of all four of Box-Toppers’ point categories won all four major postseason awards. But there were three times when three of the four category leaders won postseason awards—1997, 2009 and 2013. Nine times (including 2018), two of Box-Toppers category leaders won postseason awards. And 10 times, one of the four Box-Toppers category leaders won a postseason award.

Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.

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Not only was it an 0-for-6 year for Box-Toppers points in choosing major postseason awards, we actually went 0-for-10.

Box-Toppers votes in the Internet Baseball Writers Association for 10 postseason awards—those six we’ve mentioned, plus top AL and NL relievers and managers. None of our choices were awarded by writers.

For top relievers, we chose Josh Hader of the Brewers in the NL and Brad Hand of the Indians in the AL. The IBWAA chose Kirby Yates of the Padres in the NL and Liam Hendriks of the Athletics in the AL. In IBWAA voting, Hader finished second for top NL reliever and Hand was not among the top three vote-getters for top AL reliever. In Box-Toppers rankings, Yates was fourth among NL relievers and Hendriks was third among AL relievers.

Hader was far-and-away the Box-Toppers points leader among all relievers and had one of the best seasons for a reliever since 1998, when Box-Toppers began separately tracking relief pitchers. Hader had 17.7 Box-Toppers points in 2019, which ranked eighth among all players, third among all NL pitchers and first among NL relievers, more than double the next-highest reliever. Hader’s 17.7 points was the third-highest single-season point total for a reliever since 1998, falling 2.0 points shy of the record of 19.7 set in 2004 by Eric Gagne of the Dodgers. By midseason, Hader had 14.7 points and seemed poised to shatter Gagne’s record, but earned only 3.0 more points for the rest of the season.

Yates, by contrast, had 7.0 Box-Toppers points in 2019, fourth among NL relievers, though he led the NL in saves with 41.

The AL winner, Hendriks, ranked third in Box-Toppers points among AL relief pitchers with 7.0, 1.0 point behind the leader, Hand (8.0).

Box-Toppers was also 0-for-2 in picking Managers of the Year, however both of our choices were the two World Series managers, while both baseball writers’ votes failed to name even one World Series manager among their fields of six finalists each. All voting for postseason awards is done at the close of the regular season, so postseason play is not taken into consideration.

Box-Toppers chose Dave Martinez of the Nationals as NL Manager of the Year and AJ Hinch of the Astros as AL Manager of the Year. We chose them because their teams led their respective leagues in Box-Toppers points. The Hinch choice was relatively easy because the Astros not only led AL teams in Box-Toppers points (158.1) but also had baseball’s best winning percentage (.660). While the Nationals led NL teams in Box-Toppers points (132.9, second overall), they had the NL’s third-best winning percentage (.574) and they finished second in the NL East, four games behind the Braves. But they qualified for the postseason as top NL Wild Card and went on to win the World Series.

For Managers of the Year baseball writers chose Mike Shildt of the Cardinals in the NL and Rocco Baldelli of the Twins in the AL.

About Box-Toppers—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.

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