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The Los Angeles Dodgers are Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team going into 2025 but with player injuries factored in, the New York Mets hold the overall edge.
The current 2025 roster of last year’s World Series champion Dodgers accumulated 118.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024, most of any team. However, with several players injured and expected to miss time in 2025, their injury-adjusted Box-Toppers point total drops to 106.7, fifth among all teams.
Read MoreIn 2024, teams with the most Box-Toppers points earned by pitchers generally ranked higher in overall Box-Toppers team rankings.
For example, the Philadephia Phillies led all teams with 124.9 Box-Toppers points. Pitchers earned 78.0 of those points, fifth-most among all teams. Box-Toppers’ seven top-ranked teams were all among the top 10 in points earned by pitchers.
However, the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers were a notable anomaly. While the team finished eighth overall in Box-Toppers points (113.7), they finished 11th in points earned by pitchers (66.2) and third in points earned by batters (47.5).
Read MoreOverall Box-Toppers points leader, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, leads the Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2024 regular season.
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 nine batters in each league are the top four starting pitchers in each league and the top closing pitcher.
Read MoreBox-Toppers is voting for four players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in the 2025 Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) ballot.
Box-Toppers is voting for these players: Felix Hernandez, Torii Hunter, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.
Notably, Box-Toppers is not voting for Ichiro Suzuki, who is on the Hall ballot for the first time for 2025. While Suzuki is expected to be a shoo-in for the Hall and to possibly be only the second player inducted on a unanimous vote, I devoted a previous post to why Box-Toppers doesn’t view him as a Hall of Famer. In addition, this post which will show how unfavorably he compares in Box-Toppers rankings to even this year’s Hall candidates, may even make a more stark case why I don’t see Suzuki as a Hall of Famer.
Read MoreRelief pitcher Blake Treinen is Box-Toppers Player of the Game Wednesday as the Dodgers defeat the Yankees to win the 2024 World Series in five games.
The Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the New York Yankees 7-6 to win the best-of-seven game series, 4-1.
Read MoreLane Thomas of the Guardians is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s American League Division Series Game 5.
The Cleveland Guardians win the series in five games, 3-2, advancing to the AL Championship Series and eliminating the Detroit Tigers.
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Source: MLB.com
Both American League Division Series begin Saturday.
The Detroit Tigers face the Cleveland Guardians in one best-of-five game series and the Kansas City Royals face the New York Yankees in the other. The top two AL seeds, the Yankees (first) and the Guardians (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played this week.
Read MorePadres pitcher Joe Musgrove tops players in Wednesday’s four Wild Card playoff games.
Three teams swept the best-of-three-game series Wednesday and will advance to their league division series beginning Saturday—the Padres, Tigers and Royals. The Brewers and Mets will play a decisive Game 3 in their Wild Card series on Thursday.
Read MorePadres pitcher Michael King tops players in Tuesday’s four Wild Card playoff games:
Other Player of the Game winners in Tuesday’s Wild Card series games:
Royals pitcher Cole Ragans.
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal.
Mark Vientos of the Mets.
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.
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The Philadelphia Phillies finish 2024 atop Box-Toppers team rankings, leading for the 22nd straight week.
Meanwhile, the New York Yankees maintain their lead among American League teams in final Box-Toppers team rankings, while the non-playoff-bound Seattle Mariners are the hottest team over the final days of the season.
Read MoreMariners pitcher Logan Gilbert is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Gilbert struck out seven over 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 6-4 win over the Athletics.
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The Philadelphia Phillies have the most players among the top 100 in Box-Toppers’ 2024 player rankings at the All-Star break.
Meanwhile, the Baltimore Orioles have the most players in the top 100 among American League teams.
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The Philadelphia Phillies lead Box-Toppers team rankings for the fourth straight week.
Meanwhile, the New York Yankees rise to lead American League teams and the Houston Astros are the week’s hottest team.
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Box-Toppers picks the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 2024 World Series, beating the predicted American League champion Houston Astros.
Box-Toppers projects the Dodgers will have the most wins among all teams—103—and will be one of three teams with 99 or more wins, along with the Astros and the Atlanta Braves.
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The Atlanta Braves are Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team going into 2024, with a roster mostly intact from 2023 when they had baseball’s best record.
Meanwhile, the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners are Box-Toppers’ top two American League teams, with the Mariners having one of the best offseason improvements of any team so far. And also, while the Los Angeles Dodgers have made big offseason splashes adding Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow and Teoscar Hernandez, their offseason ranking has actually fallen from third place last season to fourth place now.
Read MoreThe World Series champion Texas Rangers, leaders among all teams in Box-Toppers points in 2023, also led all teams in points earned by pitchers. The Los Angeles Dodgers, meanwhile, which finished third overall among all teams, had the most points won by batters in 2023.
Read MoreSix of the 20 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards in 2023 were also among the leaders at their positions in 2023 Box-Toppers point totals.
The awards are given to the top batter in each position in both leagues, voted on by Major League Baseball coaches and managers. Box-Toppers, analyzing traditional box scores, tracks which player most helps his team win the most games, awarding points for the top player in each game.
Read MoreThe Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2023 regular season are led by overall Box-Toppers points leader, Braves pitcher Spencer Strider.
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 nine batters in each league are the top four starting pitchers in each league and the top closing pitcher.
Read MoreClosing pitcher Josh Sborz is Box-Toppers Player of the Game Wednesday as the Rangers defeat the Diamondbacks to win the 2023 World Series in five games.
The Texas Rangers defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 to win the best-of-seven game series, 4-1.
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.