The Philadelphia Phillies lead Box-Toppers team rankings for the second week.
Meanwhile, the Kansas City Royals regain the lead among American League teams and the Seattle Mariners are the week’s hottest team.
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The Philadelphia Phillies lead Box-Toppers team rankings for the second week.
Meanwhile, the Kansas City Royals regain the lead among American League teams and the Seattle Mariners are the week’s hottest team.
Read MoreThe Philadelphia Phillies rise to lead Box-Toppers team rankings and are the week’s hottest team.
Meanwhile, the Cleveland Guardians rise to lead American League teams this week, rising to second place overall.
Read MoreThe Kansas City Royals rise to lead Box-Toppers team rankings, passing last week’s leader, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers continue to lead National League teams (in second place overall) and the Philadelphia Phillies are the week’s hottest team (rising to third place overall).
Read MoreBox-Toppers picks the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 2024 World Series, beating the predicted American League champion Houston Astros.
Box-Toppers projects the Dodgers will have the most wins among all teams—103—and will be one of three teams with 99 or more wins, along with the Astros and the Atlanta Braves.
Read MoreThe Los Angeles Dodgers are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2024 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the New York Mets made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the San Diego Padres saw the biggest decline.
Read MoreAnalyzing 29 years of Box-Toppers points leaders in pitching and batting in both leagues.
In 2023, Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, American League Most Valuable Player, was the only player who won a major postseason award and also led his Box-Toppers category (leading AL batters with 19.4). Also, Pete Alonso of the Mets became the ninth batter since 1995 to lead his league’s batters in Box-Toppers points more than once, leading NL batters for the second straight season.
Read MoreThe Atlanta Braves are Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team going into 2024, with a roster mostly intact from 2023 when they had baseball’s best record.
Meanwhile, the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners are Box-Toppers’ top two American League teams, with the Mariners having one of the best offseason improvements of any team so far. And also, while the Los Angeles Dodgers have made big offseason splashes adding Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow and Teoscar Hernandez, their offseason ranking has actually fallen from third place last season to fourth place now.
Read MoreThe World Series champion Texas Rangers, leaders among all teams in Box-Toppers points in 2023, also led all teams in points earned by pitchers. The Los Angeles Dodgers, meanwhile, which finished third overall among all teams, had the most points won by batters in 2023.
Read MoreSix of the 20 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards in 2023 were also among the leaders at their positions in 2023 Box-Toppers point totals.
The awards are given to the top batter in each position in both leagues, voted on by Major League Baseball coaches and managers. Box-Toppers, analyzing traditional box scores, tracks which player most helps his team win the most games, awarding points for the top player in each game.
Read MoreOnly two of Box-Toppers category leaders also won Players Choice Awards for 2023 as voted by the players’ union: Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, who was voted American League Outstanding Player and Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles was voted AL Outstanding Rookie.
Read MoreThe Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2023 regular season are led by overall Box-Toppers points leader, Braves pitcher Spencer Strider.
The American League and National League All-Star teams are composed of the players with the highest Box-Toppers point totals by position in each league. In addition to nine batters in each league are the top four starting pitchers in each league and the top closing pitcher.
Read MoreYou’re going to hate Box-Toppers’ choices for postseason player honors.
That’s the impression I get from listening to and reading baseball commentators who by August were already declaring players as not even de facto but actual “don’t-argue-with-me-because-I’m-right-and-there’s-clearly-no-dispute” award winners.
Read MoreShohei Ohtani of the Angels, favorite for American League Most Valuable Player, is also Box-Toppers’ choice for the award. But Box-Toppers’ choice for NL MVP, Pete Alonso of the Mets, is not among the finalists for the award, expected to go to Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves, who is second on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot.
Read MoreClosing pitcher Josh Sborz is Box-Toppers Player of the Game Wednesday as the Rangers defeat the Diamondbacks to win the 2023 World Series in five games.
The Texas Rangers defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 to win the best-of-seven game series, 4-1.
Read MoreCorbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Tuesday’s National League Championship Series Game 7.
Carroll hit a sacrifice fly and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs.
Read MoreBox-Toppers favors the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series, though the Arizona Diamondbacks have the slight edge among starting pitchers.
Both teams fought through higher-ranked teams to make their way to the league championship series, so neither is particularly highly ranked in Box-Toppers team rankings for 2023.
Read MoreNick Castellanos of the Phillies is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Thursday’s National League Division Series win over the Braves.
Castellanos hit two solo home runs and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs.
Read MoreDiamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt tops players in Wednesday’s three league division series playoff games.
Other Player of the Game winners in Wednesday’s league division series games: Astros pitcher Ryan Pressly and Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Cristian Javier tops players in Tuesday’s two American League Division Series playoff games.
Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi was Box-Toppers Player of the Game in the other ALDS game.
Read MoreDiamondbacks pitcher Ryan Thompson tops players in Monday’s two National League Division Series playoff games.
Travis d'Arnaud of the Braves was Box-Toppers Player of the Game in the other NLDS game.
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.