The Los Angeles Dodgers lead Box-Toppers first weekly team rankings report of the 2024 season.
Meanwhile, the Kansas City Royals lead American League teams and are the hottest team of the past week.
Read MoreBlog
The Los Angeles Dodgers lead Box-Toppers first weekly team rankings report of the 2024 season.
Meanwhile, the Kansas City Royals lead American League teams and are the hottest team of the past week.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Ronel Blanco is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day pitching the season’s first no-hitter and earning his first career Box-Toppers points.
Also Monday, Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga earned Box-Toppers National League Player of the Day honors in his Major League debut. Plus, Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers earned Box-Toppers points in his 14th straight season.
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 MoreAthletics pitcher Joey Estes is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Wednesday’s spring training games.
Meanwhile, Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers, who ranked third among National League batters in Box-Toppers points in 2023, earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second time this spring.
Read MoreBrian Serven of the Blue Jays is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Monday’s spring training games.
Serven hit a three-run homer, doubled and went 2-for-2, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 8-4 win over the Pirates.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Gerrit Cole leads players in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2018.
Cole has 112.4 Box-Toppers points over the period 2018-23, 17.4 points ahead of second-ranked player, Rangers pitcher Max Scherzer, who has 95.0 over that span.
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 MoreBox-Toppers’ top-ranked nominees in both leagues won 2023’s Hank Aaron Awards for top offensive player. But Box-Toppers would have chosen two other players for the honors.
Shohei Ohtani of the Angels won the award in the American League and Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves won the award in the National League.
Read MoreOnly four Box-Toppers points leaders are among players selected for 2023’s 16-member “All-MLB” team announced this month. Three other Box-Toppers leaders were chosen for the “All-MLB” Second Team.
The All-MLB team players are not selected based on their affiliation with American League or National League. Rather, all players are chosen regardless of league as “First Team” or “Second Team” players.
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 MoreShohei Ohtani of the Angels was voted 2023 American League Most Valuable Player Wednesday. He was also Box-Toppers’ choice as AL MVP.
However, in the National League, Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves was voted MVP—he finished second in Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot behind Pete Alonso of the Mets.
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 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 MoreBoth National League Division Series begin Saturday.
The Philadelphia Phillies face the Atlanta Braves in one best-of-five game series and the Arizona Diamondbacks face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the other. The top two NL seeds, the Braves (first) and the Dodgers (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played this week.
Read MoreRed Sox pitcher Nick Pivetta is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Pivetta struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 3-0 win over the Orioles.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Freddy Peralta is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to third in season player rankings.
Also Tuesday, Rangers pitcher Max Scherzer maintains his eight place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Braves pitcher Spencer Strider rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors, passing Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani, who had led since June 13.
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.