Analyzing 29 years of Box-Toppers points leaders in pitching & batting in both leagues

• Box-Toppers pitching leaders win postseason awards more often than Box-Toppers batting leaders.

• Randy Johnson has led his league category in Box-Toppers points more than any other player—he led his league’s pitchers six times.

• In 2023, Pete Alonso of the Mets became one of 19 players since 1995 who have led a league category in Box-Toppers points more than once. Alonso led National League batters for the second consecutive year in 2023 with 12.0 Box-Toppers points. He’s now one of nine batters who have led their league’s batters in Box-Toppers points more than once. However, his 12.0 points are also tied for the 10th-lowest total to lead a league category since 1995. (It would be sixth-lowest if the 2020 pandemic year were excluded.)

• In 2023, the American League leader in Box-Toppers points among batters, Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (19.4 points), won the AL Most Valuable Player Award. It is only the fourth time since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995 that the AL leader in Box-Toppers points among batters won the AL MVP. Ohtani was the only 2023 points leader to coincide with their corresponding postseason award (MVP or Cy Young). And among the four major awards (AL & NL MVP and Cy Young), the AL batting Box-Toppers points leader coincides least often with the AL MVP.

• In 2023, Braves pitcher Spencer Strider led all players with 21.1 Box-Toppers points. That is the lowest point total to lead final season player rankings (in a regular-length season) since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. The previous low total was 21.5 by Zack Greinke of the Royals in 2009. (Cleveland pitcher Shane Bieber led players with 11.4 points in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.)

Those are a few conclusions drawn from the Box-Toppers season-by-season leaders chart for each of the past 29 seasons.

How often do Box-Toppers leaders win postseason awards?

Pitchers with the most Box-Toppers points in their league win postseason awards far more often than batters who lead their league in points. To illustrate:

• 19 times in 29 seasons the National League pitching leader has won the NL Cy Young Award.

• 15 times in 29 seasons the American League pitching leader has won the AL Cy Young Award.

• Only five times in 29 seasons has the NL batting leader won the NL Most Valuable Player Award.

• And only four times in 29 seasons has the AL batting leader won the AL Most Valuable Player Award. However, 2023 marked the fourth time that happened with Shohei Ohtani of the Angels leading with 19.4 Box-Toppers points. (It should be noted that Ohtani earned 9.7 of his points in 2023 as a pitcher and 9.7 as a batter.) The other three times that an AL batting leader won the AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees in 2007,  Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers in 2013 and Aaron Judge of the Yankees in 2022.

In other words, Box-Toppers pitching leaders and Cy Young Award winners are consistent with each other 58.6 percent of the time. Box-Toppers batting leaders and Most Valuable Player award winners are consistent with each other only 15.5 percent of the time. (In the accompanying chart, players who led their league category in Box-Toppers points and also won a postseason award are marked with an asterisk.)

Only one of the four category leaders in 2023 won major postseason honors (Ohtani winning AL MVP), one of 11 times since 1995 that only one Box-Toppers leader won a major postseason award. There has never been a season in which all four category leaders won the major postseason honors.

None of the other three 2023 Box-Toppers category leaders won their corresponding postseason award:

• Spencer Strider of the Braves led NL pitchers (and all players) with 21.1 Box-Toppers points but finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting behind winner Blake Snell of the Padres, whose 14.7 Box-Toppers points was sixth among NL pitchers.

• Chris Bassitt of the Blue Jays led AL pitchers with 20.1 Box-Toppers points but finished 10th in AL Cy Young voting behind winner Gerrit Cole of the Yankees, whose 17.0 Box-Toppers points was fourth among AL pitchers.

• Pete Alonso of the Mets led NL batters with 12.0 Box-Toppers points but finished 17th in NL Most Valuable Player voting behind winner Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves, whose 10.7 Box-Toppers points was second among NL batters.

Box-Toppers points are a measure of how much a player provides key contributions to his team’s wins. Specifically, 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.

Box-Toppers has tracked every regular season Major League Baseball game since the start of the 1995 season. This website, Box-Toppers.com, began at the start of the 2013 season as a day-by-day demonstration of tabulating and evaluating this Box-Toppers metric.

Some other highlights looking at season-by-season Box-Toppers leaders:

Box-Toppers top ‘all-time’ players

Randy Johnson, who has the most career Box-Toppers points of any player (282.5), led his league in his Box-Toppers category more than any other player—he led his league’s pitchers in Box-Toppers points in six seasons.

In 2023, Alonso was the only player to lead a category who had done it before. He led NL batters for the second straight year with 12.0 Box-Toppers points after leading in 2022 with 14.9 points.

He joins the list of 19 players and nine batters who have led their league category in Box-Toppers points more than once and his two category leads are tied for the ninth-most since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. Among those 19 players with more than one category lead, Alonso has the fewest career Box-Toppers points (38.4).

All three other Box-Toppers points category leaders for 2023—Strider, Bassitt and Ohtani—are leading for the first time.

Albert Pujols, who retired at the end of 2022, has led his league’s batters in Box-Toppers points five times, more than any other batter. His five season category titles is tied for second-most with pitchers Pedro Martinez and Max Scherzer. Pujols also leads batters in career Box-Toppers points since 1995 with 207.8 (ranked seventh overall).

Curt Schilling, ranked ninth overall among all players since 1995 (194.1 career Box-Toppers points) is the highest-ranking player on the career points list to never lead a season league category in Box-Toppers points. However, in 1998, he had 19.0 Box-Toppers points, the most of any pitcher who pitched the entire season in the National League (he was with the Phillies). But Randy Johnson is considered Box-Toppers NL leader because he finished the 1998 season with the Astros (who were then in the NL) after a midseason trade from the AL Mariners. Johnson had 26.4 Box-Toppers points in 1998—the most of any player that season—12.0 with the AL Mariners and 14.4 with the NL Astros.

Also, while Schilling does not appear among the league’s season leaders in Box-Toppers points he did have the 11th-most Box-Toppers points in a single season—28.4 with the Diamondbacks in 2002. However, that year, he finished behind overall leader (Johnson, then his Diamondbacks teammate, with 33.7) and AL leader (Pedro Martinez of the Red Sox, 28.8 Box-Toppers points).

Felix Hernandez is the next-highest ranked player in overall career Box-Toppers points who never led a Box-Toppers category in a single season. Hernandez is ranked 12th in Box-Toppers points since 1995 with 175.1.

Chipper Jones is the highest-ranked batter who never led his league's batters in Box-Toppers points in a single season. Jones, third baseman for the Braves, had 149.0 Box-Toppers points, sixth among all batters since 1995. In his best season—2001—he had 16.7 Box-Toppers points, finishing behind NL batting leader Todd Helton of the Rockies, who had 17.0.

Leading in Box-Toppers points in both leagues

Max Scherzer, Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez are the only three players in Box-Toppers tracking history to lead a category in both leagues.

• Scherzer led NL pitchers in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2021 and led AL pitchers in 2013. 

• Johnson led AL pitchers in 1995 and NL pitchers from 1998 through 2002.

• Martinez led NL pitchers in 1997 and AL pitchers in 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003.

Team with most Box-Toppers points season titles

Players from the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians/Guardians franchises have had the most Box-Toppers category leaders, with nine each over the past 29 seasons.

In 2023, two teams—the Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves—each got their fifth category leader (Chris Bassitt of the Blue Jays and Spencer Strider of the Braves), moving both teams up into a tie for seventh place among teams with the most Box-Toppers points season titles.

The Angels had their third title with Ohtani leading AL batters, moving them into a tie for 16th place. The Mets, meanwhile, had their second title with Alonso leading NL batters, moving them into a tie for 21st place. Alonso has won both of the Mets points titles and has won them both in two consecutive years.

The Pittsburgh Pirates remain the only team to never have had a player to lead its league’s batters or pitchers in Box-Toppers points (since tracking began in 1995), ranking 30th and last among all teams. The highest a Pirates player has ranked among NL pitchers or batters in a season is third place. In 1999, Brian Giles ranked third among NL batters with 14.2 points, 1.0 point behind leader Barry Bonds of the Giants (15.2) and in 2015, Andrew McCutchen ranked third among NL batters with 10.5 points, 1.0 point behind leader Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies (11.5).

Only once has the top batter and pitcher in the league come from the same team—in 2013 in the American League, when the top pitcher Max Scherzer and top batter, Miguel Cabrera, both came from the Tigers.

High and low season leaders

Braves pitcher Spencer Strider set the record in 2023 by having the lowest Box-Toppers point total (21.1) to lead final season player rankings (in a regular-length season) since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. Here are the next four lowest point totals:

• 2009: Royals pitcher Zack Greinke led with 21.5 points.

• 2013: Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw led with 21.7 points.

• 2007 Padres pitcher Jake Peavy led with 23.4 points.

• 2010: Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester led with 23.4 points.

It usually takes 20 or 25 Box-Toppers points for a pitcher to lead his league in Box-Toppers points. It usually takes a batter 13 to 15 points to lead his league.

These are the highest Box-Toppers points totals to lead a league category:

• AL pitching: 33.5 in 2000, Pedro Martinez of the Red Sox.

• NL pitching: 33.7 in 2000 and 2002, both by Randy Johnson of the Diamondbacks.

• AL batter: 20.4 in 1996, Albert Belle of Cleveland.

• NL batter: 20.8 in 2006, Lance Berkman of the Astros.

The pandemic-shortened 2020 season unsurprisingly saw the lowest Box-Toppers points totals to lead each category:

• NL batter: 4.5, Marcell Ozuna of the Braves.

• AL batter: 6.0, Luke Voit of the Yankees.

• NL pitching: 10.0, Trevor Bauer of the Reds.

• AL pitching: 11.4, Shane Bieber of Cleveland.

However, in regular-length seasons, these are the lowest Box-Toppers points totals to lead a league category:

• AL pitching: 15.7 in 1996, Chuck Finley of the Angels,

• NL pitching: 19.1 in 2006, John Smoltz of the Braves.

• AL batter: 12.1 in 2017, Edwin Encarnacion of Cleveland.

• NL batter: 10.7 in 2016, Nolan Arenado of the Rockies.

In 2023, the lowest point total to lead a category was 12.0 by Pete Alonso of the Mets to lead NL batters. That’s tied for the 10th-lowest point total to lead a category; it would be tied for the sixth-lowest if 2020’s pandemic season results were removed.

Box-Toppers point totals for batters collectively dropped precipitously after 2009. Prior to that, batters earned half or more of all points earned. But since 2010, pitchers have earned the lion’s share of points, approaching 60 percent or more each season. As a result, batters have many fewer points today than they did in the 1990s or 2000s. While Alonso’s 12.0 points is tied for the 10th-lowest point total for a category leader, if he had led with that same total in 2013, it would have been the all-time lowest for a category leader.

Of the top 17 lowest point totals to lead a category, only one happened prior to 2012—in 2008, Aubrey Huff of the Orioles led AL batters in 2008 with 12.5 points. That is tied for the 13th-lowest total to lead a category.

In the decade of the 2000s, there were 35 instances of a batter reaching 15 Box-Toppers points in a single season. But during the decade of the 2010s, there were only seven. Further, in the 2000s, batters ranked among the overall top 10 players 23 times and there was only one season (2005) in which no batters were among the overall top 10. But in the 2010s, only one batter ranked among the overall top 10 in any of the 10 seasons—Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers ranked eighth overall in 2013 with 16.9 points. He was the last batter to rank among the overall top 10 players in a season.

Starters vs. closers

Only once in 58 opportunities has the honor for top league pitcher gone to anyone other than a starting pitcher. In 2004, closing pitcher Eric Gagne of the Dodgers led National League pitchers in Box-Toppers points with 19.7.

Gagne later admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs during his career.

Gagne’s 19.7 points is also the highest point total for any closing pitcher since 1995.

Batters beating pitchers

Leading pitchers generally score higher than leading batters. However, in three instances in 29 seasons, a batter beat the pitcher for Box-Toppers points leader for his league:

• 1996: Albert Belle of Cleveland had more Box-Toppers points than pitcher Chuck Finley of the Angels (20.4 vs. 15.7).

• 2006: Lance Berkman of the Astros had more Box-Toppers points than pitcher John Smoltz of the Braves (20.8 vs. 19.1).

• 2007: Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees had more Box-Toppers points than pitcher Johan Santana of the Twins (18.9 vs. 18.1).

However, in all three cases, the batter was not the overall leader in Box-Toppers points—that honor went to the pitcher in the opposite league:

• 1996: John Smoltz, Braves, 26.1 Box-Toppers points.

• 2006: Johan Santana, Twins, 25.7.

• 2007: Jake Peavy, Padres, 23.4.

Pitchers dominating batters

Eleven times in the past 29 seasons, including eight straight seasons from 2014 to 2021, a league-leading pitcher earned more than twice as many Box-Toppers points as the league-leading batter:

• 1999: Randy Johnson of the Diamondbacks had 31.5 Box-Toppers points to lead the NL, more than double the NL leading batter, Barry Bonds of the Giants, 15.2 (2.07 times as many points).

• 2000: Randy Johnson of the Diamondbacks had 33.7 Box-Toppers points to lead the NL, more than double the NL leading batter, Todd Helton of the Rockies, 15.2 (2.22 times as many points).

• 2014: Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers had 31.5 Box-Toppers points to lead the NL, more than double (and nearly triple) the points of NL leading batter Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies, 11.6 (2.72 times as many points).

• 2015: Jake Arrieta of the Cubs had 29.1 Box-Toppers points to lead the NL, more than double the points of NL leading batter Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies, 11.5 (2.53 times as many points).

• 2016: Max Scherzer of the Nationals had 25.7 Box-Toppers points to lead the NL, more than double the points of NL leading batter Nolan Arenado of the Rockies, 10.7 (2.40 times as many points).

• 2017: Chris Sale of the Red Sox had 25.1 Box-Toppers points to lead the AL, more than double the points of AL leading batter Edwin Encarnacion of Cleveland, 12.1 (2.07 times as many points).

• 2018: Blake Snell of the Rays had 27.2 Box-Toppers points to lead the AL, more than double the points of AL leading batter J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox, 12.5 (2.18 times as many points). Also, Max Scherzer of the Nationals had 25.1 Box-Toppers points to lead the NL, more than double the points of NL leading batter Christian Yelich of the Brewers, 11.5 (2.18 times as many points). This was the first and only time the league’s top pitcher earned more than twice as many points as the league’s top batter in both leagues in the same season.

• 2019: Gerrit Cole of the Astros had 32.2 Box-Toppers points to lead AL players, more than double the points of the AL leading batter Nelson Cruz of the Twins, 12.5 (2.58 times as many points).

• 2020: Trevor Bauer of the Reds had 10.0 Box-Toppers points to lead NL players, more than double the points of the NL leading batter Marcell Ozuna of the Braves, 4.5 (2.22 times as many points).

• 2021: Max Scherzer of the Dodgers had 25.1 Box-Toppers points to lead NL players, more than double the points of the NL leading batter Nick Castellanos of the Reds, 11.5 (2.18 times as many points).

In 2022, this eight-year streak was broken and in 2023, for the second straight season, both league’s top batters had more than half of the point total of the league’s top pitcher:

• NL batting leader Pete Alonso of the Mets (12.0) had 57 percent of the points of NL pitching leader Spencer Strider of the Braves (21.1).

• AL batting leader Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (19.4) had 97 percent of the points of AL pitching leader Chris Bassitt of the Blue Jays (20.1).

Box-Toppers leaders coinciding with postseason awards

Has there ever been a year in which the leaders of the four Box-Toppers point categories (each league’s batters and pitchers) won all four major postseason awards (each league’s MVP and Cy Young Awards)?

No.

However, four times in the past 29 seasons three of the four Box-Toppers points leaders won postseason awards:

• 1997: Roger Clemens of the Blue Jays won AL Cy Young, Pedro Martinez of the Expos won NL Cy Young and Larry Walker of the Rockies won NL MVP. (AL batting Box-Toppers points leader Juan Gonzalez of the Rangers—16.3 Box-Toppers points—finished ninth in AL MVP voting. Ken Griffey Jr. of the Mariners—second among AL batters with 15.3 Box-Toppers points—was AL MVP.)

• 2009: Zack Greinke of the Royals won AL Cy Young, Tim Lincecum of the Giants won NL Cy Young and Albert Pujols of the Cardinals won NL MVP. (AL batting Box-Toppers points leader Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers—16.5 Box-Toppers points—finished fourth in AL MVP voting. Joe Mauer of the Twins—12th among AL batters with 9.2 Box-Toppers points—was AL MVP.)

• 2013: Max Scherzer of the Tigers won AL Cy Young, Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers won NL Cy Young and Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers won AL MVP. (NL batting Box-Toppers points leader Paul Goldschmidt of the Diamondbacks—13.7 Box-Toppers points—finished second in NL MVP voting. Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates—who finished 22nd among NL batters with 6.0 Box-Toppers points—was NL MVP.)

• 2022: Justin Verlander of the Astros won AL Cy Young, Sandy Alcantara of the Marlins won NL Cy Young and Aaron Judge of the Yankees won AL MVP. (NL batting Box-Toppers points leader Pete Alonso of the Mets—14.9 points—finished eighth in NL MVP voting. Paul Goldschmidt of the Cardinals—seventh among NL batters with 7.5 points—was NL MVP.)

Ten times in the past 29 seasons, including 2020, two of the leaders in Box-Toppers points categories also won postseason awards.

Eleven times, including 2023, only one of the Box-Toppers category leaders won a postseason award. (AL batting Box-Toppers points leader Shohei Ohtani of the Angels also won AL MVP.)

And only four times—including 2021—have all four Box-Toppers category leaders failed to win any of the major postseason awards. It also happened in 2003, 2012 and 2019.

Related

A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, from 1995 on, at the close of recent past seasons: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022.