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Tarik Skubal of the Tigers, left, who led American League pitchers in Box-Toppers points, was named AL Cy Young Award winner. Chris Sale of the Braves, middle, who was voted National League Cy Young winner, finished fourth among NL pitchers in Box-Toppers points. Zack Wheeler of the Phillies, right, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2024, finished second in NL Cy Young voting.
One of two Box-Toppers season pitching leaders won their league’s 2024 Cy Young Award while the other fell just short.
Tarik Skubal of the Tigers, who led American League pitchers with 21.1 Box-Toppers points, won the AL Cy Young Award. However, Chris Sale of the Braves won the National League Cy Young Award ahead of Zack Wheeler of the Phillies, the overall season leader in Box-Toppers points.
Read MoreSeven Box-Toppers points leaders are among players selected for 2024’s 16-member “All-MLB” Team announced Thursday.
Three other Box-Toppers leaders were chosen for the “All-MLB” Second Team.
The All-MLB team was selected with half the vote coming from fans and half coming from an expert panel. Unlike the selections for baseball’s All-Star Game, players on not selected based on their affiliation with American League or National League. Rather, all players are chosen from all Major League Baseball regardless of league as “First Team” or “Second Team” players.
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In five of the six major postseason player awards, the 2024 Box-Toppers points leader for each honor is among the finalists announced by baseball writers Monday.
Here are the five awards for which Box-Toppers top-ranked players are among the finalists:
American League Cy Young Award—Tarik Skubal of the Tigers.
National League Cy Young Award—Zack Wheeler of the Phillies.
AL Most Valuable Player—Aaron Judge of the Yankees.
NL Most Valuable Player—Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers.
AL Rookie of the Year—Luis Gil of the Yankees.
Box-Toppers points leaders have never won all four major postseason awards since tracking began in 1995.
But this year, in the 30th season of tracking, there is a chance that the four Box-Toppers points category leaders (both league’s batters and pitchers) may win the four major awards (both league’s Most Valuable Player and Cy Young awards).
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The Wild Card round of Major League Baseball’s postseason begins Tuesday with four best-of-three series.
All series take place at the higher-seed’s home ballpark. The winners of each series will face one of their league’s top-two seeded teams in league divisional series beginning Saturday.
Read MoreGiants pitcher Blake Snell is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to seventh place in season player rankings.
Also Sunday, Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga becomes the third player to reach 20 Box-Toppers points in 2024 after earning Player of the Game honors, maintaining third place in season player rankings.
Read MorePadres pitcher Dylan Cease is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to second place in season player rankings.
Also Wednesday, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal increases his lead among American League pitchers in Box-Toppers season player rankings, rising to fourth place overall, after earning Player of the Game honors. In addition, Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes rises to eighth place in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreCardinals pitcher Andre Pallante is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Monday, two players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after both earn Player of the Game honors: Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga rises to second place and Mets pitcher Sean Manaea rises to eighth place.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Corbin Burnes is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Braves pitcher Chris Sale rises to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. In addition, Willy Adames of the Brewers rises to lead National League batters in 2024 Box-Toppers points after earning NL Batter of the Day honors.
Read MorePavin Smith of the Diamondbacks is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Braves pitcher Chris Sale rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreCubs pitcher Shota Imanaga is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, pitching seven innings of a combined no-hitter, and rising to first place in season player rankings.
Imanaga and two Cubs relievers threw the combined no-hitter in the 12-0 win over the Pirates. Imanaga struck out seven over seven scoreless and hitless innings, allowing two walks. Imanaga faced 25 batters (two reached base on walks and two reached on errors) and threw 95 pitches.
Read MoreOrioles pitcher Cade Povich is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Braves pitcher Chris Sale rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors.
Read MoreRed Sox pitcher Brayan Bello is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, two players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after both earn Player of the Game honors: Braves pitcher Chris Sale rises to fifth place and Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta rises to ninth place.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Framber Valdez is Sunday's Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Valdez struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk in the 2-0 win over the White Sox.
Read MoreBraves pitcher Chris Sale is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to sixth place in season player rankings.
Also Monday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw extended his streak of earning Box-Toppers points to 17 straight seasons—tied for the longest active streak—after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2024.
Read MorePadres pitcher Dylan Cease is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to first place in season player rankings.
Cease struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 7-0 win over the Guardians.
Read MoreOn 27 of the 30 Major League clubs, pitchers are the team’s leader in 2024 Box-Toppers points. Batters lead the other three teams.
Pitchers are dominating much the way they are winning the overwhelming majority of Box-Toppers points this season compared to batters. Pitchers are winning 63 percent of all points this season compared to 37 percent for batters. The all-time record-low share of points earned by batters is 38.1 percent set in 2022. Last year, in 2023, batters won 40.7 percent of all points.
Read MoreThree of Box-Toppers four main category leaders, including the overall leader in Box-Toppers points for 2024, were not selected to the 2024 Major League Baseball All-Star teams.
Yankees pitcher Luis Gil, who leads all players with 14.4 Box-Toppers points, was not selected to participate in the All-Star Game. Joining him as key All-Star snubs are Dylan Cease of the Padres, who leads National League pitchers with 12.4 points and outfielder Brenton Doyle of the Rockies, who leads NL batters with 8.7 points.
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Yankees pitcher Luis Gil leads Box-Toppers season player rankings at the All-Star break, the eighth straight week he’s been atop the list.
Meanwhile, Dylan Cease of the Padres rises to lead National League pitchers in player rankings. All other player rankings leaders remain the same: Aaron Judge of the Yankees leads American League batters and Brenton Doyle of the Rockies leads NL batters. Gil also continues his lead among AL pitchers.
Read MorePadres pitcher Dylan Cease is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to third place in season player rankings and first among National League pitchers.
Also Saturday, Yankees pitcher Luis Gil regains the overall lead in 2024 Box-Toppers points 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.