Padres pitcher Michael Wacha is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Rays pitcher Jeffrey Springs rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Read MoreGiants’ Wood, Yankees’ Donaldson top players in spring games for Tuesday, March 21
Box-Toppers’ AL Division Series previews: Guardians vs. Yankees, Mariners vs. Astros
Both American League Division Series begin Tuesday.
The Houston Astros face the Seattle Mariners in one best-of-five game series and the New York Yankees face the Cleveland Guardians in the other. The top two AL seeds, the Astros (first) and the Yankees (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played over the weekend.
Read MorePhillies’ Nola tops players for Thursday, Aug. 25; Rays’ Rasmussen tops AL players
Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Nola pitched a complete-game, five-hit shutout, striking out 11 and walking none, in the 4-0 win over the Reds.
Read MoreAngels’ Suarez tops players for Monday, Aug. 8; Diamondbacks’ Gallen tops NL players
Angels pitcher Jose Suarez is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Suarez struck out eight over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 1-0 win over the Athletics.
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Pitchers won fewer Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors after foreign substance crackdown, but still dominated in 2021
Pitchers won fewer Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors after a Major League Baseball sticky-substance rule crackdown in June, but pitchers still dominated in 2021.
Even after the June 21 rules crackdown, pitchers still won the vast majority of Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. But the rate of their dominance decreased from 65.5 percent prior to the crackdown and 56.5 percent after.
Read MoreCardinals’ Woodford tops players for Tuesday, Sept. 21; Yankees’ Montgomery tops AL players
Cardinals pitcher Jake Woodford is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Woodford struck out five over five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 2-1 win over the Brewers.
Read MoreBrewers’ Woodruff tops players for Wednesday, April 7; Indians’ Bieber tops AL players
Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, 2020’s Box-Toppers Player of the Year, Indians pitcher Shane Bieber, earned his first Player of the Game honor of 2021, as American League Player of the Day.
Read MorePlayers named to ‘All-MLB’ teams rarely coincided with 2020 Box-Toppers points leaders
Selections for Major League Baseball’s 2020 “All-MLB” teams announced this past week rarely coincided with the season’s Box-Toppers points leaders.
Only one All-MLB First Team batter was among the Box-Toppers points leaders at his position—Marcell Ozuna of the Braves led all designated hitters with 4.5 Box-Toppers points. However, three of the four All-MLB First Team starting pitchers were also among the top three players in Box-Toppers points for 2020—Shane Bieber of the Indians (11.4), Trevor Bauer of the Reds (10.0) and Yu Darvish of the Cubs (9.7).
Read MoreHow 2020 Silver Sluggers winners fared in Box-Toppers rankings
Only three of the 18 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards this week also were among the leaders at their positions in 2020 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 analyzes traditional box scores and tracks which player most helps his team win the most games, awarding points for the top player in each game.
Read MoreA 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.
Read MoreYankees’ J.A. Happ tops players for Saturday, Sept. 19; Kershaw, Burnes rise into player rankings top 10
Yankees pitcher J.A. Happ is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, two players rise into Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after both earn Player of the Game honors—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises to seventh place and Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes rises to ninth place.
Read MoreDiamondbacks’ Kelly tops players for Tuesday, July 28; Blue Jays’ Roark tops AL players
Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Kelly struck out seven over 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 4-1 win over the Rangers.
Read MoreBox-Toppers top third basemen by time frame (after 2019 season)
Alex Rodriguez has the most Box-Toppers points of any third baseman since tracking began in 1995.
Rodriguez, who played from 1994 to 2016 for the Yankees, Mariners and Rangers, earned 187.0 Box-Toppers points, ranked 10th among all players since 1995 and second among all batters. Rodriguez is 38.0 Box-Toppers points ahead of Chipper Jones, who ranks second among third basemen on the “all-time” career Box-Toppers points list with 149.0.
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Yankees top Box-Toppers 2020 preseason team rankings; champion Nationals rank 2nd
The New York Yankees are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2020 preseason rankings, rising from fifth place at the end of the 2019 season.
The 2019 World Series-champion Washington Nationals, ranked second at the end of 2019, maintain second place in the 2020 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Blue Jays made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Houston Astros—2019’s top-ranked team and American League champion—had the biggest decline.
Read MoreMax Scherzer leads players in Box-Toppers points since start of 2014
Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer leads players in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2014.
Scherzer has 134.3 Box-Toppers points over the period 2014-2019, 8.9 points ahead of Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who has 125.4 points over that span.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ 2010s All-Decade All-Star team, plus top 100 players from 2010-2019
Clayton Kershaw and Albert Pujols lead Box-Toppers All-Decade All-Star team for the 2010s.
Kershaw earned the most Box-Toppers points of any player from 2010-2019 (210.1) and Pujols earned the most of any batter over that span (79.9), which is 25th among all players. The All-Decade All-Star team is made up of players who led their position in Box-Toppers points over the span of 2010-2019.
Read MoreA 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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Astros’ Gerrit Cole leads Box-Toppers season player rankings for fourth straight week
Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole leads Box-Toppers weekly player rankings report for the fourth straight week.
Meanwhile, Nelson Cruz of the Twins regains the Box-Toppers points lead among American League batters and Marcell Ozuna of the Cardinals rises to lead National League batters in 2019 points. Plus, Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals continues to lead NL pitchers in Box-Toppers points.
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Astros’ Gerrit Cole leads Box-Toppers season player rankings for third straight week
Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole leads Box-Toppers weekly player rankings report for the third straight week.
Gleyber Torres of the Yankees rises this week to lead American League batters in 2019 Box-Toppers points, passing previous leader Nelson Cruz of the Twins.
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