Guardians’ Bibee tops players in Saturday’s opening league division series games

Guardians pitcher Tanner Bibee tops players in Saturday’s four league division series playoff games.

Other Player of the Game winners in Saturday’s league division series games:

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Box-Toppers’ big dippers—players whose 2023 point total declined most from 2022: Carlos Rodon leads list

Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodon had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2022 to 2023.

Rodon had 19.8 Box-Toppers points in 2022 with the Giants, sixth among all players and third among National League pitchers. But moving to the Yankees in 2023, he earned only 1.0 Box-Toppers point. That 18.8-point decline was the biggest among all players.

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Rays’ Rasmussen tops players for Monday, April 3; Brewers’ Peralta tops NL players

Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Rasmussen struck out seven over six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks, in the 6-2 win over the Nationals.

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Padres’ Snell tops players for Wednesday, Sept. 21; Guardians’ McKenzie tops AL players

Padres pitcher Blake Snell is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Snell struck out 13 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 1-0 win over the Cardinals.

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Rays’ McClanahan tops players for Wednesday, May 11; Marlins’ Alcantara tops NL players

Rays pitcher Shane McClanahan is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

McClanahan struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 4-2, 10-inning win over the Angels. McClanahan did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Angels tied the game after he exited.

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Box-Toppers’ big dippers—players whose 2020 point total declined most from 2019: Justin Verlander leads list

Astros 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.

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A look at Box-Toppers All-Star teams for past season (2020) and past 2 seasons (2019-20)

A look at Box-Toppers All-Star teams for 2020 seems incomplete. So for added context, Box-Toppers is also looking at the All-Star teams over the past two seasons, 2019-20.

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Braves’ Wright, Dodgers’ Urias among top players in Thursday's league division series games

In four league division series playoff games Thursday these are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners:

  • Braves pitcher Kyle Wright is top player in Thursday’s 7-0 win over the Marlins.

  • Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias is top player in Thursday’s 12-3 win over the Padres.

  • Carlos Correa of the Astros is top player in Thursday’s 11-6 win over the Athletics.

  • Yankees pitcher Chad Green is top player in Thursday’s 5-1 win over the Rays.

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Box-Toppers’ AL Division Series previews: Astros vs. Athletics, Yankees vs. Rays

Both American League Division Series begin Monday.

The Houston Astros face the Oakland Athletics in one best-of-five game series and the New York Yankees take on the Tampa Bay Rays in the other series.

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Box-Toppers top shortstops by time frame (after 2019 season)

Miguel Tejada has the most Box-Toppers points of any shortstop since tracking began in 1995.

Tejada, who played from 1997 to 2013 primarily for the Athletics and Orioles, but also for the Astros, Giants, Padres and Royals, earned 102.3 career Box-Toppers points. That is 25.9 Box-Toppers points ahead of the second-place shortstop in career Box-Toppers points, Derek Jeter (76.4), who played for the Yankees from 1995 to 2014.

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Box-Toppers top second basemen by time frame (after 2019 season)

Jeff Kent has a dominating lead in Box-Toppers points among second basemen since tracking began in 1995.

Kent, who played from 1992 to 2008 primarily for the Giants, Dodgers, Mets, Astros and Blue Jays, earned 109.7 Box-Toppers points from 1995 to the end of his career—that’s 30.3 more points than the second-place second baseman since 1995, Robinson Cano of the Mariners (79.4).

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Box-Toppers 2019 year-end All-Star teams

The Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2019 regular season are led by overall Box-Toppers points leader, Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole.

The American League and National League All-Star teams are composed of the players with the highest Box-Toppers point totals by position in each league. In addition to the batters—eight in the NL and nine (including the designated hitter) in the AL—are the top four starting pitchers in each league and the top closing pitcher.

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A look at players who made biggest gains in Box-Toppers points from 2018 to 2019

Padres rookie pitcher Chris Paddack had the biggest gain in Box-Toppers point totals from 2018 to 2019.

Paddack earned 15.8 Box-Toppers points in his first season in 2019 after obviously earning no points in 2018, making his 15.8-point gain the largest among all players this season.

Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole had the biggest gain in Box-Toppers points among returning players and among American League pitchers. His 14.2-point gain from 2018 to 2019 was the second-biggest of the season.

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How 2019 Silver Sluggers winners fared in Box-Toppers rankings

Ten of the 17 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards this week also were among the leaders at their positions in 2019 Box-Toppers point totals.

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Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg tops players in Monday's NLCS Game 3 win over Cardinals

Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Monday’s National League Championship Series Game 3 win over the Cardinals.

Strasburg struck out 12 over seven innings, allowing one run, seven hits and no walks, in the 8-1 win over the Cardinals.

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Nationals’ Scherzer, Yankees’ Tanaka top players in Saturday's league championship series games

Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer and Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka are top players in Saturday’s pair of league championship games.

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ALCS Preview: Rocketing Astros face the rising, resilient, rehabilitating Yankees

Do the New York Yankees even stand a chance facing the rocketing Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series?

Astros players accumulated by far the most Box-Toppers points of any team (158.1). The Yankees had 123.4 points, ranked fifth overall. The Astros top three pitchers are among Box-Toppers’ top-10 ranked players in 2019. Meanwhile, the Yankees top player, James Paxton (14.1 Box-Toppers points), ranks 19th overall.

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