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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).
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Box-Toppers points leaders Aaron Judge of the Yankees (left), Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers (middle) and Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (left) also were winners of the 2024 Players Choice Awards as voted by members of the players’ union.
Three Box-Toppers category leaders also won Players Choice Awards for 2024 as voted by the players’ union:
Aaron Judge of the Yankees was voted American League Outstanding Player and also was Box-Toppers’ choice as AL Most Valuable Player.
Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers was voted National League Outstanding Player and was also Box-Toppers’ choice as NL Most Valuable Player.
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal was voted AL Outstanding Pitcher and also was Box-Toppers’ choice as NL Cy Young Award winner.
While Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga is Box-Toppers’ most improved player in 2024, our choices for Comeback Players of the Year are Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes and Braves pitcher Reynaldo Lopez.
Meanwhile, one of the consensus choices for Comeback Player of the Year—Braves pitcher Chris Sale—ranks 13th among Box-Toppers’ most-improved players in 2024.
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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 MoreBraves pitcher Reynaldo Lopez is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Lopez struck out nine over six innings, allowing one run, two hits and no walks, in the 2-1 win over the Royals. Lopez did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was tied when he exited.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Framber Valdez is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to seventh place in season player rankings.
Also Friday, Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga maintains his fourth place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreTigers pitcher Tarik Skubal is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to first place in season player rankings.
Also Sunday, Eugenio Suarez earns Player of the Game honors and extends his consecutive streak of earning Box-Toppers points to 11 seasons.
Read MoreWhite Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fifth place in season player rankings.
Crochet struck out 13 over seven innings, allowing one run, two hits and two walks, in the 3-2, 10-inning win over the Mariners. Crochet did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Mariners tied the game after he exited.
Read MoreGuardians pitcher Tanner Bibee is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to sixth place in season player rankings.
Also Friday, Red Sox pitcher Tanner Houck rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Aaron Judge of the Yankees rises to first place among American League batters in Box-Toppers rankings and Starling Marte of the Mets earns Box-Toppers points in his 13th consecutive season.
Read MoreOrioles pitcher Dean Kremer is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Juan Soto of the Yankees rises to first place in 2024 Box-Toppers rankings among American League batters after earning Player of the Game honors.
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The Texas Rangers still hold a narrowing lead in Box-Toppers team rankings this week, despite a terrible two-week stretch that has them falling to third place in the American League West Division.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Braves continue to gain on the Rangers, leading all National League teams. Plus, the Cincinnati Reds, in part on the strength of waiver deadline acquisitions, are the week’s hottest team.
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The Texas Rangers, largely on the strength of their trade deadline pitcher acquisitions, rise to lead this week’s Box-Toppers season team rankings.
The Rangers gained the most Box-Toppers points by far of any team in the past week (21.1) thanks mostly to acquiring Max Scherzer (10.4 points) from the Mets and Jordan Montgomery (6.7 points) from the Cardinals.
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The Tampa Bay Rays regain the Box-Toppers season player rankings lead after falling to second place last week.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers rise to lead National League teams and the Los Angeles Angels are the week’s hottest team.
Read MoreBraves pitcher Charlie Morton is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Morton struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 2-1 win over the Phillies.
Read MorePadres pitcher Joe Musgrove is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to seventh in season player rankings.
Also Friday, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole extends his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings, becoming the first player to reach 20 Box-Toppers points in 2021, after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreCubs pitcher Cole Hamels is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander maintains his second-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. He also now has the 12th-highest single-season Box-Toppers point total (27.5) since 1995, when player tracking began.
Read MoreWhite Sox pitcher Reynaldo Lopez is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg becomes the first new leader in Box-Toppers points among National League pitchers in more than three months after earning Player of the Game honors. Strasburg also rises to third place in overall Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Read MoreMets pitcher Noah Syndergaard is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Twins pitcher Jake Odorizzi rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings 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.