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Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to first place in season player rankings.
Wheeler struck out 11 over seven innings, allowing one run (none earned), four hits and one walk, in the 6-1 win over the Giants.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Corbin Burnes is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreRangers pitcher Jacob deGrom is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Marlins pitcher Jesus Luzardo rises to first place in early Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors.
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Could 2023 be the season Clayton Kershaw passes Randy Johnson for the “all-time” lead in career Box-Toppers points?
Or could this coming season be the year when Kershaw loses the lead among active players in career Box-Toppers points to either Max Scherzer or Justin Verlander?
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During the 2022 season, Justin Verlander rose from sixth to fifth place on Box-Toppers “all-time” career points top 10 list.
It was the only player movement among Box-Toppers “all-time” career points top 10 players overall, among the top 10 pitchers and among the top 10 batters. Retired pitcher Randy Johnson still leads all players in career Box-Toppers points with 282.5 (tracking began in 1995).
Read MorePhillies pitcher Aaron Nola is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, two players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after both earned Player of the Game honors—White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease rises to fourth place and Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole rises to eighth.
Read MoreRed Sox pitcher Nick Pivetta is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Pivetta pitched a complete-game two-hitter, allowing one run and no walks, and striking out eight, in the 5-1 win over the Astros.
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Robbie Ray of the Blue Jays and Corbin Burnes of the Brewers were voted winners of the 2021 Cy Young Awards. They beat Box-Toppers top-ranked pitchers, Gerrit Cole of the Yankees in the American League and Max Scherzer of the Dodgers in the National League.
Robbie Ray of the Blue Jays and Corbin Burnes of the Brewers won 2021 Cy Young Awards over Box-Toppers’ two top-ranked pitchers for 2021.
Ray won the American League Cy Young Award after ranking second in 2021 Box-Toppers points among AL pitchers, behind Gerrit Cole of the Yankees. Burnes won the National League Cy Young Award after ranking fourth in 2021 Box-Toppers points among NL pitchers, behind Max Scherzer of the Dodgers.
Read MoreWhite Sox closing pitcher Liam Hendriks led American League relievers in Box-Toppers points and also was named AL’s 2021 Reliever of the Year.
But the National League winner, Brewers reliever Josh Hader, ranked sixth among NL closers in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Read MoreDiamondbacks pitcher Madison Bumgarner is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Bumgarner struck out five over eight innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 6-2 win over the Phillies.
Read MoreWhite Sox pitcher Dylan Cease is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Cease struck out 11 over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 7-1 win over the Royals.
Read MoreCardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Wainwright struck out 11 over seven innings, allowing one run, three hits and three walks, in the 9-1, seven-inning win over the Braves.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Jordan Montgomery is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors.
Read MoreCardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, two players rose into Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after both earned Player of the Game honors—Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom rises to seventh place and Braves pitcher Huascar Ynoa rises to eighth place.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to seventh place in Box-Toppers’ “all-time” rankings.
Scherzer struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 1-0 win over the Diamondbacks. Scherzer did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player over the past two seasons while Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer ranks first in points over the past six seasons.
Cole earned 39.6 Box-Toppers points combined in 2019 and 2020 to lead all players in that span, while Scherzer earned 116.2 from 2015-2020, most in that span.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Justin Verlander had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2019 to 2020.
Verlander, who earned 27.5 Box-Toppers points in 2019 (second among all players), earned 1.0 point in 2020. His decline of 26.5 points was ahead of Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, whose 7.4 points in 2020 represented a 24.8-point drop from the 32.2 points he earned to lead all players in 2019.
Read MoreBox-Toppers has cast votes for postseason honors for Shane Bieber, Luke Voit and for Trevor Bauer—twice.
I have cast my vote in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) for Reds pitcher Bauer to be both National League Cy Young Award winner and NL Most Valuable Player.
Read MoreWhat would the 2019 baseball season have looked like if only the final 60 games were played?
In many ways, it would have looked exactly like the entire, overall 2019 season: From about July 25 on in 2019, the Houston Astros were Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team and Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole was Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player. Both also led for the overall 2019 season.
Read MoreTo get a reward, you need to complete a task. As other nations sacrificed to bring coronavirus case counts down, to flatten the curve, we didn’t. Cases increased. It seems crazy to reward ourselves now with baseball, putting many at risk, simply because we want it. We are not worthy.
And yet, here we are: So here’s an opening day introduction to Box-Toppers, tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score statistics. We begin our 26th season of tracking and our eighth season on the web.
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.