Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Monday’s spring training games.
Nola struck out nine over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 4-0 win over the Yankees.
Read MoreMariners’ Paxton tops players in Sunday, March 21’s spring training games
Mariners pitcher James Paxton is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Sunday’s spring training games.
Paxton struck out eight over 4 1/3 innings, allowing one run, two hits and two walks, in the 3-1 win over the Brewers. Paxton did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the score was tied, 1-1, when he exited.
Read MoreTwins’ Waddell tops players in Saturday, March 20’s spring training games
Twins pitcher Brandon Waddell is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Saturday’s spring training games.
Waddell struck out five over two scoreless and hitless innings, allowing no walks, in the 2-1 win over the Rays, picking up the save.
Read MoreRed Sox’ Whitlock tops players in Friday, March 19’s spring training games
Red Sox pitcher Garrett Whitlock is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Friday’s spring training games.
Whitlock struck out five over three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 11-7 win over the Rays.
Read MoreAngels’ Heaney tops players in Thursday, March 18’s spring training games
Angels pitcher Andrew Heaney is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s spring training games.
Heaney struck out eight over five scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 3-2 win over the Brewers. Heaney did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Brewers tied the game after he exited.
Read MoreMarlins’ Alcantara tops players in Wednesday, March 17’s spring training games
Marlins pitcher Sandy Alcantara is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Wednesday’s spring training games.
Alcantara struck out nine over five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 3-2 win over the Mets. Alcantara did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Mets took the lead after he exited.
Read MoreRockies’ Joe tops players in Tuesday, March 16’s spring training games
Connor Joe of the Rockies is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Tuesday’s spring training games.
Joe hit a three-run homer, doubled and went 2-for-2, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 11-7 win over the Reds.
Read MoreBlue Jays’ Ryu tops players in Monday, March 15’s spring training games
Blue Jays pitcher Hyun Jin Ryu is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Monday’s spring training games.
Ryu struck out four over four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks, in the 4-0 win over the Tigers.
Read MoreAstros’ McCullers tops players in Sunday, March 14’s spring training games
Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Sunday’s spring training games.
McCullers struck out six over four scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 5-0 win over the Nationals.
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Box-Toppers picks Dodgers over White Sox in 2021 World Series
Box-Toppers picks the Los Angeles Dodgers to repeat as World Series champions in 2021, beating the predicted American League champion team, the Chicago White Sox.
Box-Toppers projects the Dodgers will have the most wins among all teams—108—and will be the only team with more than 100 wins this season.
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Dodgers top Box-Toppers 2021 preseason team rankings; White Sox top AL teams
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 MoreBox-Toppers’ leader Shane Bieber also led pitchers in strikeouts in 2020
Indians pitcher Shane Bieber, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2020, also led all pitchers in strikeouts during the season.
Ten of the top 11 strikeouts leaders were also among the top 14 overall players in Box-Toppers points in 2020.
Read More8 of 14 RBI leaders among top 100 players in Box-Toppers points for 2020
Eight of the top 14 runs batted in leaders were among the top 100 players in Box-Toppers points in 2020.
Six of those players were also among their league’s top 10 batters during the pandemic-shortened season.
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Wins leaders Shane Bieber, Yu Darvish among top 3 in 2020 Box-Toppers points
The two pitchers with the most wins in 2020 were also among the top three in Box-Toppers points for the season.
Shane Bieber of the Indians and Yu Darvish of the Cubs both had eight wins in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, most among all pitchers. Bieber had 11.4 Box-Toppers points, most of all players and Darvish had 9.7 points, third-most and second among National League pitchers.
Read MoreHow 2020’s top home run hitters fared in Box-Toppers rankings—Luke Voit led batters in both homers & Box-Toppers points
How earned run average leaders fared in Box-Toppers points: Top 2 in player rankings—Bieber, Bauer—also top 2 in ERA
The two pitchers with the lowest earned run averages in 2020—Shane Bieber and Trevor Bauer—were also Box-Toppers’ two top-ranked players for the season.
In fact, six of the seven ERA leaders for 2020 rank among the top 10 overall players in Box-Toppers points for the season.
Read MoreFive of top 10 batting average leaders in 2020 among overall top 100 in Box-Toppers points
Five of the top 10 players in batting average for 2020 are among Box-Toppers’ top 100 players.
DJ LeMahieu of the Yankees led all players with a .364 batting average in the pandemic-shortened, 60-game 2020 season. He had 3.5 Box-Toppers points, 75th among all players and 13th among American League batters.
Read MoreHow 2021 Hall of Fame candidates fared in Box-Toppers
No players were voted for induction to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Tuesday.
None of the 25 players eligible received the necessary 75 percent of the vote from members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Pitcher Curt Schilling came the closest to reaching 75 percent—he received 71.1 percent of the vote, falling 16 votes short.
Read MoreAn overview of Box-Toppers category leaders over several time frames after 2020
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole holds the lead in three of Box-Toppers’ main leaderboards at the end of 2020, most of any player.
Cole leads all players in Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons (2019-2020) and also leads American League pitchers over the past two seasons and past six seasons (2015-2020). Cole has 39.6 Box-Toppers points over 2019-20 and 90.1 over 2015-20.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2020
Analyzing 26 years of Box-Toppers points leaders among American League and National League pitchers and batters each season.
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