Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer holds the lead in three of Box-Toppers’ main leaderboards at the end of 2019, most of any player.
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 2019, for 2018-19 (past two seasons), for 2014-19 (past six seasons) and for 1995-2019 (“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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Gerrit Cole | pi sp | Astros | 32.2 |
| 2018‑19 | Justin Verlander | pi sp | Astros | 51.6 |
| 2014‑19 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | Nationals | 134.3 |
| 1995‑19 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | Retired | 278.8 |
| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |
| 2019 | Gerrit Cole | pi sp | Astros | 32.2 |
| 2018‑19 | Justin Verlander | pi sp | Astros | 51.6 |
| 2014‑19 | Chris Sale | pi sp | Red Sox | 105.8 |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |
| 2019 | Nelson Cruz | dh | Twins | 12.5 |
| 2018‑19 | J.D. Martinez | dh rf | Red Sox | 21.0 |
| 2014‑19 | Mike Trout | cf | Angels | 54.7 |
| NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |
| 2019 | Stephen Strasburg | pi sp | Nationals | 20.7 |
| 2018‑19 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | Nationals | 40.5 |
| 2014‑19 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | Nationals | 134.3 |
| NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |
| 2019 | Marcell Ozuna | lf | Cardinals | 12.0 |
| 2018‑19 | Christian Yelich | rf | Brewers | 23.2 |
| 2014‑19 | Anthony Rizzo | 1b | Cubs | 49.0 |
| PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |
| 2014‑19 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | Retired | 278.8 |
| BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |
| 2014‑19 | Albert Pujols | 1b | Angels | 201.8 |
NOTE: Players are listed with their playing status at the close of 2019. Only active players are included in the 2019, 2018-19 and 2014-19 lists. All players, including retired and released players, are included in the “all-time” list, 1995-2019. Since retired and released players have no current team or league affiliation, there are no separate AL and NL lists for 1995-2019 leaders—all players are grouped into a single batting or pitching list.
Scherzer leads all players in Box-Toppers points over the past six seasons (2014-2019) and also leads National League pitchers in points over those same past six seasons, plus he leads NL pitchers over 2018-19. Scherzer has 134.3 Box-Toppers points over 2014-19 and 40.5 points over 2018-19.
Here is a look at leaders in Box-Toppers’ main 18 leaderboards—the Box-Toppers points leaders broken down by time (2019, 2018-19, 2014-19 and 1995-2019), position (batters and pitchers) and league (American League and National League).
Pitcher Randy Johnson, who retired in 2009, leads players (and all pitchers) in Box-Toppers points since 1995 (when player tracking began) with 278.8. (Johnson started his career before Box-Toppers tracking began. If his entire career from 1988 were tracked, rough projections put his career Box-Toppers point total at 380.)
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:
Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole led all players and all AL pitchers in 2019 with 32.2 Box-Toppers points, the fourth-highest single-season point total since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.
Astros pitcher Justin Verlander led all players and all AL pitchers over 2018-19 with 51.6 Box-Toppers points.
Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale led all AL pitchers over 2014-19 with 105.8 Box-Toppers points.
Nelson Cruz of the Twins led AL batters in 2019 with 12.5 points.
J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox led AL batters over 2018-19 with 21.0 points.
Mike Trout of the Angels led AL batters over 2014-19 with 54.7 points.
Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg led NL pitchers in 2019 with 20.7 points.
Marcell Ozuna of the Cardinals led NL batters in 2019 with 12.0 points.
Christian Yelich of the Brewers led NL batters over 2018-19 with 23.2 points.
Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs led NL batters over 2014-19 with 49.0 points.
Albert Pujols of the Angels has the most Box-Toppers points of any batter (201.8) since tracking began in 1995.
Box-Toppers maintains separate AL and NL categories for three of the main leaderboards—2019, 2018-19 and 2014-19. But the 1995-2019 “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 with no separate league affiliations.
Detailed leaderboards
Box-Toppers leaderboards, showing the top 10 players in each category (overall and AL and NL pitchers and batters):