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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 MoreMariners pitcher Bryan Woo is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Red Sox pitcher Tanner Houck rises to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreDiamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fifth place in season player rankings.
Gallen pitched a complete-game, three-hit shutout, striking out nine and allowing one walk, in the 1-0 win over the Cubs.
Read MorePhillies pitcher Aaron Nola tops players in Friday’s three league division series playoff games.
Other Player of the Game winners in Friday’s league division series games: Padres closing pitcher Josh Hader and Guardians closing pitcher Emmanuel Clase.
Read MorePadres pitcher Joe Musgrove is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Sunday’s final Wild Card playoff game.
Musgrove struck out five over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk.
Read MoreBlue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Gausman struck out 10 over eight scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 3-1 win over the Rays.
Read MorePadres pitcher Dinelson Lamet had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2020 to 2021.
Lamet, who earned 9.0 Box-Toppers points in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season (fifth among all players and third among National League pitchers), earned 2.0 points in 2021. After a stellar 2020 season, he battled injury early in 2021, struggled and went from a starter to a bullpen pitcher.
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Francisco Lindor and Fernando Tatis Jr. had the lowest career Box-Toppers point totals among the 10 players with baseball’s biggest money contracts at the time of their signing.
The two players signed the biggest offseason contracts prior to the 2021 season. Lindor signed a 10-year, $341 million contract with the Mets, the third-largest contract in baseball history and Tatis signed a 14-year, $340 million contract with the Padres, baseball’s fourth-largest.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2021 preseason rankings. They also ended 2020 as Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team and World Series champions.
Meanwhile, the New York Mets made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Chicago Cubs saw the biggest decline.
Read MoreOnly 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 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 MoreBoth National League Division Series begin Tuesday.
The Miami Marlins face the Atlanta Braves in one best-of-five game series and the San Diego Padres take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the other series.
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Indians pitcher Shane Bieber is Box-Toppers Player of the Year for 2020.
Bieber finishes the pandemic-shortened 2020 season with 11.4 Box-Toppers points, leading Box-Toppers player rankings report for the sixth straight week.
Meanwhile, Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer rises to lead National League pitchers, Marcell Ozuna of the Braves rises to lead NL batters and Luke Voit of the Yankees maintains his lead among American League batters.
Read MoreDiamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish rises to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreIndians pitcher Triston McKenzie, making his Major League debut, is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
McKenzie struck out 10 over six innings, allowing one run, two hits and one walk, in the 6-1 win over the Tigers.
Read MoreAthletics pitcher Frankie Montas is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Monday, three players rose in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after each earned Player of the Game honors. Reds pitcher Sonny Gray rose to third place, Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole rose to fifth place and Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom rose to sixth place.
Read MoreYankees pitcher James Paxton is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg extended his lead among National League pitchers in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Strasburg maintains his third-place overall rank.
Read MoreMets pitcher Jacob deGrom is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Monday, Indians pitcher Shane Bieber rises to fourth in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Astros pitcher Zack Greinke rises to 10th in season player rankings and rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers “all-time” career points rankings after earning American League Player of the Day 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.