Jacob deGrom of the Mets had the lowest earned run average of any pitcher in 2018 and ranked 12th in Box-Toppers player rankings.
The overall Box-Toppers points leader, Blake Snell of the Rays (27.2), ranked second in ERA (1.89).
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Jacob deGrom of the Mets had the lowest earned run average of any pitcher in 2018 and ranked 12th in Box-Toppers player rankings.
The overall Box-Toppers points leader, Blake Snell of the Rays (27.2), ranked second in ERA (1.89).
Read MoreThe batters with the top three Box-Toppers point totals in 2018 were also the batters with the three highest batting averages.
Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox and Christian Yelich of the Brewers had both the three highest batting averages in 2018 and the three highest Box-Toppers point totals among batters in 2018.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Max Scherzer leads two of Box-Toppers’ four main leaderboards and came within 2.1 Box-Toppers points of leading three of the four after the 2018 season.
Scherzer has the most Box-Toppers points of any player over the past two seasons (50.1 over 2017 and 2018) and the most points of any player over the past six seasons (137.0 from 2013 to 2018). Scherzer finished second in overall points in 2018 with 25.1, just behind leader Rays pitcher Blake Snell (27.2).
Read MoreAnalyzing 24 years of Box-Toppers points leaders in pitching & batting in both leagues
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With Max Scherzer’s rise into Box-Toppers career points top 10 list during 2018, there are now six active players in the top 10, the most since 2008, when there were eight.
Box-Toppers player tracking began in 1995 and the overall top 10 players in career points was composed entirely of active players until 2008. The number of active players on the list slipped to as low as two as recently as 2014, but grew to six on June 5, when Nationals pitcher Scherzer joined the list, rising to 10th place with 172.1 Box-Toppers points, displacing retired pitcher Roy Halladay. Scherzer finished the season with 181.8 points, ranked ninth.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Max Scherzer leads players in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2013.
Scherzer has 137.0 Box-Toppers points over the period 2013-2018, just 2.6 points ahead of Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who has 134.4 points over that span.
In fact, Scherzer unseats Kershaw from atop the six-year rolling Box-Toppers point total, a spot Kershaw has held at the end of each season since 2013, five straight seasons.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Max Scherzer has more Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons than any other player.
Scherzer has earned 50.1 Box-Toppers points over 2017 and 2018. He ranked second among all players in both seasons.
Read MoreRandy Johnson leads all players in career Box-Toppers points and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
The most likely rival to Johnson’s throne at the moment is Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw who has 214.8 career Box-Toppers points, third among all players since 1995 and most among active players.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player over both the past two seasons and past six seasons.
Scherzer has the most Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons (50.1 over 2017 and 2018) and the most points over the past six seasons (137.0 from 2013 to 2018).
Read MoreBox-Toppers is voting for eight players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) ballot.
Read MoreTwins pitcher Ervin Santana had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2017 to 2018.
Santana, who earned 16.1 Box-Toppers points in 2017 (ninth among all players), earned no points in 2018. His decline of 16.1 points was just ahead of Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg, whose 6.7 points in 2018 represented a 15.1-point drop from the 22.5 points he earned in 2017.
Read MoreRays pitcher Blake Snell had the biggest improvement in Box-Toppers point totals from 2017 to 2018, and is this season’s Box-Toppers’ Most Improved Player.
Snell had 22.2 more Box-Toppers points in 2018 than he did in 2017. In 2017, he had 5.0 Box-Toppers points and in 2018, he had 27.2 points, first among all players.
Read MoreDepending on how you look at it, Box-Toppers points leaders took home two (or three or four) of the six major postseason awards for 2018.
There were two awards won outright by Box-Toppers points leaders in their categories:
Read MoreChristian Yelich of the Brewers, who led National League batters in Box-Toppers points in 2018 with 11.5, was voted NL Most Valuable Player Thursday.
And Mookie Betts of the Red Sox, who ranked second among American League batters in Box-Toppers points with 10.9, was voted AL Most Valuable Player. Teammate J.D. Martinez, who led AL batters with 12.5 Box-Toppers points, finished fourth in AL MVP voting.
Read MoreRays pitcher Blake Snell, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2018, was voted the American League Cy Young Award winner Wednesday.
But Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom, who won the National League Cy Young Award, ranked third in Box-Toppers points among NL pitchers and in fact, needed another half season worth of points to catch Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, who led NL pitchers.
Read MoreBox-Toppers top-ranked rookies, Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves and Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, were voted 2018 Rookies of the Year Monday.
The honors for the 2018 season were awarded Monday by the Baseball Writers Association of America. The Internet Baseball Writers Association of America also named both as top rookies for 2018 on Monday.
Read MoreJosh Hader of the Brewers and Edwin Diaz of the Mariners are winners of this year’s reliever of the year awards as voted on by the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA).
Hader wins the 2018 IBWAA Hoyt Wilhelm National League Relief Pitcher of the Year Award and Diaz is selected as the 2018 IBWAA Rollie Fingers American League Relief Pitcher of the Year. The awards were announced Sunday.
Read MoreAbout half of the top batters by position as measured by Box-Toppers points are among Silver Slugger Award winners announced Thursday.
The awards are given to the top batter in each position in both leagues. But as measured by Box-Toppers points, only seven (maybe eight) of the 17 announced winners would have been the same.
Read MoreHere is a detailed look at Box-Toppers point leaders for 2018.
The chart accompanying this post shows points leaders for the season by several different categories and classifications.
Read MoreBaseball’s postseason award finalists named this week are also among Box-Toppers’ top-ranked players for 2018.
The lone exception: J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox, who led all batters in 2018 with 12.5 Box-Toppers points, is not among the three finalists for the American League Most Valuable Player Award.
Read MoreBox-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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.