Blog
Analyzing 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 MoreYankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to seventh place in season player rankings.
Also Wednesday, Pete Alonso of the Mets rises to first place among National League batters in 2023 Box-Toppers points after earning NL Batter of the Day honors, passing previous leader Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves.
Read More
Braves pitcher Spencer Strider extends his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings this week.
Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani of the Angels continues to lead both American League pitcher and batters in Box-Toppers points, despite being out for the remainder of the season. Plus, Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves continues to lead NL batters.
Read More
Braves pitcher Spencer Strider rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings this week, passing previous leader Shohei Ohtani of the Angels.
Strider continues to lead National League pitchers, while Ohtani continues to lead both American League batters and pitchers. Also, Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves continues to lead NL batters in Box-Toppers player rankings.
Read MoreGiants pitcher Jakob Junis is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Junis struck out seven over four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 7-0 win over the Rays. Junis did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because he did not pitch the required five innings for a starter to earn the win. Also, he exited with the game in a scoreless tie.
Read MorePirates pitcher Mitch Keller is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to eighth place in season player rankings.
Keller struck out 13 over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks, in the 4-0 win over the Orioles.
Read MoreTwins pitcher Sonny Gray is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Bryan Reynolds of the Pirates rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors.
Read More
The New York Mets are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2023 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the World Series champion Houston Astros saw the biggest decline.
Read MoreJ.J. Matijevic of the Astros is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Friday’s spring training games.
Matijevic doubled and went 2-for-2, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 11-8 win over the Braves.
Read MoreIn 2022, Justin Verlander led American League pitchers in season Box-Toppers points for the third time in his career, tied for the seventh-most times a player has led a season points category.
Also in 2022, the New York Mets and Miami Marlins each had their first Box-Toppers points category leader—Pete Alonso and Sandy Alcantara— leaving the Pittsburgh Pirates as the only team to never have a player lead a category since tracking began in 1995.
Read MoreMets pitcher Max Scherzer leads players in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2017.
Scherzer has 104.6 Box-Toppers points over the period 2017-2022, 2.2 points ahead of second-ranked player Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, who has 102.4 points over that span.
Read More
The New York Yankees and New York Mets lead Box-Toppers offseason rankings after landing the winter’s two biggest free agents.
The Yankees rank first after Carlos Rodon Thursday agreed to a free agent deal. Rodon earned 19.8 Box-Toppers points in 2022 with the Giants, sixth overall and third among National League pitchers. He ranked second among all free agents going into the 2023 season.
Read MoreSeven Box-Toppers points leaders are among players selected for 2022’s 16-member “All-MLB” team announced Tuesday.
One other Box-Toppers leader was chosen for the “All-MLB” Second Team.
Read More
Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Paul Goldschmidt of the Cardinals were voted 2022 Most Valuable Player award winners over Box-Toppers’ choices for the awards, Shohei Ohtani of the Angels and Pete Alonso of the Mets.
Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Paul Goldschmidt of the Cardinals were voted 2022 Most Valuable Players Thursday, over Box-Toppers’ choices for the awards—Shohei Ohtani of the Angels and Pete Alonso of the Mets.
Read MoreSeven of the 20 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards Thursday were also among the leaders at their positions in 2022 Box-Toppers point totals.
Read MoreAaron Judge of the Yankees, winner of the American League 2022 Hank Aaron Award given to the league’s best offensive performer, also led AL batters in Box-Toppers points.
Paul Goldschmidt of the Cardinals, who won the award in the National League, ranked seventh among NL batters in 2022 Box-Toppers points.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ top-ranked players are, for the most part, finalists for 2022 major postseason awards, as announced by baseball writers Monday.
In five of the six major awards, the Box-Toppers points leader for 2022 in that category is among the three finalists for the awards, which will be announced next week.
Read More
Source: MLB.com.
The new Wild Card round of Major League Baseball’s postseason begins Friday with four best-of-three series. Here is a Box-Toppers look at the eight teams competing in the four Wild Card round series.
Read MoreRed Sox pitcher Rich Hill is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, two of the top three in Box-Toppers season player rankings earned Player of the Game honors—Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani (ranked second) and Marlins pitcher Sandy Alcantara (ranked third). Both maintained their rankings. Plus, Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff rises to 10th in player rankings after earning National League Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Read MoreCubs pitcher Justin Steele is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease maintains his third-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
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.