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Braves pitcher Max Fried is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers rises to first place among National League batters in 2024 Box-Toppers points (11.0) after earning NL Batter of the Day honors, making a meteoric rise from completely outside the top 10 among NL batters until Sept. 19 and earning 6.0 of his 11.0 points for the season in a 13-day explosion.
Read MoreGiants pitcher Blake Snell is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to seventh place in season player rankings.
Also Sunday, Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga becomes the third player to reach 20 Box-Toppers points in 2024 after earning Player of the Game honors, maintaining third place in season player rankings.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2024 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the New York Mets made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the San Diego Padres saw the biggest decline.
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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 MoreShohei Ohtani, who signed a record free-agent deal with the Dodgers, has consistently been among Box-Toppers' highest-ranking players over the past three seasons.
However, his second surgery to repair his pitching elbow's ulnar collateral ligament, raises concerns about his future effectiveness. A Box-Toppers look at Ohtani’s career and the mixed outcomes of pitchers with a second elbow surgery.
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The Texas Rangers hold significant Box-Toppers points advantages over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2023 World Series.
The Rangers finished first in Box-Toppers team rankings for the season while the Diamondbacks finished 14th, lowest among all postseason teams.
Read MoreAdolis Garcia of the Rangers is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Monday’s American League Championship Series Game 7.
Also Monday, Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in the National League Championship Series Game 6.
Read MoreThough the Texas Rangers finished first overall in Box-Toppers team rankings for 2023, Box-Toppers favors the Houston Astros to beat them in the American League Championship Series.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Cristian Javier tops players in Tuesday’s two American League Division Series playoff games.
Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi was Box-Toppers Player of the Game in the other ALDS game.
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Source: MLB.com.
Both American League Division Series begin Saturday.
The Texas Rangers face the Baltimore Orioles in one best-of-five game series and the Minnesota Twins face the Houston Astros in the other. The top two AL seeds, the Orioles (first) and the Astros (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played this week.
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Source: MLB.com
The Wild Card round of Major League Baseball’s postseason begins Tuesday with four best-of-three series.
Here is a Box-Toppers look at the eight teams competing in the four Wild Card round series.
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The Texas Rangers finish 2023 atop Box-Toppers team rankings even though they only qualified for the postseason as the second-seeded American League Wild Card team.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Braves maintain their lead among National League teams, finishing second overall. Plus, the San Diego Padres, who fell out of playoff contention, finish the season as the hottest team over the final days of the season.
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The Texas Rangers maintain the lead in Box-Toppers team rankings, slightly improving their position from last week, but the top ranking continues to seem undeserved.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Braves continue to lead all National League teams and the Milwaukee Brewers are the week’s hottest team.
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The Tampa Bay Rays and the Texas Rangers have the most players among the top 100 in Box-Toppers’ 2023 player rankings at the All-Star break.
Both the Rays and Rangers have seven players on the top 100 list (which actually consists of 102 players because of a tie for 100th place). Both American League teams are also among the top three in Box-Toppers team rankings at the All-Star break—the Rays rank first and the Rangers rank third, second among AL teams.
Read MoreWhite Sox pitcher Michael Kopech is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Rays pitcher Shane McClanahan rises to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings—first among American League pitchers—after earning Player of the Game honors.
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Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen leads Box-Toppers player rankings report for the second straight week.
Gallen also maintains his lead among National League pitchers. Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani of the Angels rises to lead American League batters, Jacob deGrom of the Rangers continues to lead AL pitchers and Sean Murphy of the Braves maintains his lead among NL batters.
Read MorePadres pitcher Michael Wacha is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Monday, Shohei Ohtani of the Angels rises to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors for his batting performance. He also rises to first place among AL batters after qualifying Monday to rank among batters for the first time in 2023.
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Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen rises to lead this week’s Box-Toppers player rankings report.
Gallen also maintains his lead among National League pitchers. Meanwhile, Jacob deGrom of the Rangers continues to lead American League pitchers, Jarren Duran of the Red Sox leads AL batters and Sean Murphy of the Braves leads NL batters.
Read MorePirates pitcher Mitch Keller is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Monday, Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen regains the Box-Toppers season player rankings lead and Rays pitcher Shane McClanahan rises to fourth place.
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Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom rises to lead this week’s Box-Toppers player rankings report.
deGrom also rises to lead American League pitchers. Meanwhile, Red Sox teammates Jarren Duran and Masataka Yoshida both rise to tie for the lead among AL batters, Zac Gallen of the Diamondbacks maintains his lead among National League pitchers and Bryan Reynolds of the Pirates maintains his lead among NL batters.
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.