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 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 had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2021 to 2022.
Scherzer led all players in 2021 with 25.1 Box-Toppers points when he was with the Nationals and Dodgers. Scherzer earned 10.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022. While that was still 24th among National League pitchers, it was a 15.1-point decline from 2021, the biggest among all players.
Read MoreThe two pitchers who led their league in Box-Toppers points in 2022 also won both Cy Young Awards Wednesday.
Justin Verlander of the Astros, who led all players in 2022 with 26.0 Box-Toppers points, won the American League Cy Young Award. And Sandy Alcantara of the Marlins, who led all National League players with 21.1 Box-Toppers points, won the NL Cy Young Award.
Read More
Box-Toppers picks the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 2022 World Series, beating the predicted American League champion Chicago White Sox.
Box-Toppers projects the Dodgers will have the most wins among all teams—111—and will be the only team with more than 100 wins this season.
Read More
The Los Angeles Dodgers are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2022 preseason rankings. They also ended 2021 as Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team.
Meanwhile, the New York Mets made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Oakland Athletics saw the biggest decline.
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 29.8 Box-Toppers points combined in 2020 and 2021 to lead all players in that span, while Scherzer earned 120.3 from 2016-2021, most in that span.
Read More
Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer tops Box-Toppers list of the top 100 players of 2021.
Scherzer had 25.1 Box-Toppers points during the regular season. It is his fourth season with 25.0 or more Box-Toppers points. Only two other players have as many or more seasons with 25.0 or more points.
Read MorePadres pitcher Dinelson Lamet had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2020 to 2021.
Lamet, who earned 9.0 Box-Toppers points in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season (fifth among all players and third among National League pitchers), earned 2.0 points in 2021. After a stellar 2020 season, he battled injury early in 2021, struggled and went from a starter to a bullpen pitcher.
Read MoreAnalyzing 27 years of Box-Toppers points leaders among American League and National League pitchers and batters each season.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Gerrit Cole has more Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons than any other player.
Cole has earned 29.8 Box-Toppers points over 2020 and 2021. He ranked second among all players in 2021 with 22.4 Box-Toppers points and 12th among all players with 7.4 in 2020, a season shortened to 60 games by the coronavirus pandemic. Cole led American League pitchers in 2021 and ranked fifth among AL pitchers in 2020.
Read MoreBraves relief pitcher Tyler Matzek is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s clinching National League Championship Series Game 6.
Matzek struck out four over two scoreless innings (the seventh and eighth), allowing no hits and no walks, in the 4-2 win over the Dodgers. The Braves win the best-of-seven game series, 4-2, and advance to the World Series.
Read MoreEven though the Los Angeles Dodgers are Box-Toppers’ most dominant team in 2021, the Atlanta Braves should be a competitive match for them in the upcoming National League Championship Series.
The Dodgers are far and away Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team in 2021, with its players accumulating 146.7 Box-Toppers points during the regular season. The Braves ranked fifth overall with 122.4 points.
Read MoreBoth National League Division Series begin Friday.
The NL East champion Atlanta Braves face the NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers in one best-of-five game series and the NL Wild Card champion Los Angeles Dodgers take on the San Francisco Giants, champions of the NL West in the other series.
Read MoreThe St. Louis Cardinals visit the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League one-game Wild Card playoff game Wednesday.
Read More
The Los Angeles Dodgers maintain their lead in Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report for the eighth straight week.
Meanwhile, the Chicago White Sox maintain the lead among American League teams and the San Diego Padres are the week’s hottest team.
Read More
Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom maintains his lead in Box-Toppers player rankings at the All-Star break.
Meanwhile, Nick Castellanos of the Reds regains the season Box-Toppers points lead among National League batters. Also, Gerrit Cole of the Yankees maintains his lead among American League pitchers and J.D. Martinez maintains his lead among AL batters.
Read More
Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom maintains his lead in Box-Toppers weekly player rankings for the second straight week.
Meanwhile, J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox regains the season Box-Toppers points lead among American League batters. Plus, Gerrit Cole of the Yankees maintains his lead among AL pitchers and Adam Duvall of the Marlins maintains his lead among National League batters.
Read More
Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom rises to first place in Box-Toppers weekly player rankings, passing last week’s leader, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole.
Meanwhile, Adam Duvall of the Marlins rises to lead National League batters. Last week’s American League leaders remain the same: Cole leads AL pitchers and Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox leads AL batters.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to sixth place in season player rankings.
Also Friday, Adam Duvall of the Marlins rises to first place among National League batters in 2021 Box-Toppers points after earning NL Batter of the Day 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.