The Philadelphia Phillies rise to lead Box-Toppers team rankings and are the week’s hottest team.
Meanwhile, the Cleveland Guardians rise to lead American League teams this week, rising to second place overall.
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The Philadelphia Phillies rise to lead Box-Toppers team rankings and are the week’s hottest team.
Meanwhile, the Cleveland Guardians rise to lead American League teams this week, rising to second place overall.
Read MoreThe Kansas City Royals rise to lead Box-Toppers team rankings, passing last week’s leader, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers continue to lead National League teams (in second place overall) and the Philadelphia Phillies are the week’s hottest team (rising to third place overall).
Read MoreThe Los Angeles Dodgers lead Box-Toppers first weekly team rankings report of the 2024 season.
Meanwhile, the Kansas City Royals lead American League teams and are the hottest team of the past week.
Read MoreBox-Toppers picks the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 2024 World Series, beating the predicted American League champion Houston Astros.
Box-Toppers projects the Dodgers will have the most wins among all teams—103—and will be one of three teams with 99 or more wins, along with the Astros and the Atlanta Braves.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreJake Cronenworth of the Padres is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s regular season opening game in Seoul, South Korea.
Cronenworth tripled, hit a sacrifice fly and went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 15-11 win over the Dodgers, the second regular season game of the 2024 season.
Read MoreThe 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 MoreThe World Series champion Texas Rangers, leaders among all teams in Box-Toppers points in 2023, also led all teams in points earned by pitchers. The Los Angeles Dodgers, meanwhile, which finished third overall among all teams, had the most points won by batters in 2023.
Read MoreSix of the 20 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards in 2023 were also among the leaders at their positions in 2023 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, analyzing traditional box scores, tracks which player most helps his team win the most games, awarding points for the top player in each game.
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.
Read MoreGunnar Henderson of the Orioles is Box-Toppers American League Rookie of the Year, while James Outman of the Dodgers is Box-Toppers National League Rookie of the Year.
While Henderson is a favorite for AL Rookie of the Year, Corbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks is the overwhelming favorite for NL Rookie of the Year, even though he is not among Box-Toppers’ top NL rookies.
Read MoreThe 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 MoreCorbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Tuesday’s National League Championship Series Game 7.
Carroll hit a sacrifice fly and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs.
Read MoreBox-Toppers favors the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series, though the Arizona Diamondbacks have the slight edge among starting pitchers.
Both teams fought through higher-ranked teams to make their way to the league championship series, so neither is particularly highly ranked in Box-Toppers team rankings for 2023.
Read MoreDiamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt tops players in Wednesday’s three league division series playoff games.
Other Player of the Game winners in Wednesday’s league division series games: Astros pitcher Ryan Pressly and Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola.
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.
Read MoreDiamondbacks pitcher Ryan Thompson tops players in Monday’s two National League Division Series playoff games.
Travis d'Arnaud of the Braves was Box-Toppers Player of the Game in the other NLDS game.
Read MoreTwins pitcher Pablo Lopez tops players in Sunday’s two American League Division Series playoff games.
Rangers pitcher Cody Bradford was Box-Toppers Player of the Game in the other ALDS game.
Read MoreDiamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly tops players in Saturday’s four league division series playoff games.
Other Player of the Game winners in Saturday’s league division series games: Ranger Suarez of the Phillies, Yordan Alvarez of the Astros and Evan Carter of the Rangers.
Read MoreBoth National League Division Series begin Saturday.
The Philadelphia Phillies face the Atlanta Braves in one best-of-five game series and the Arizona Diamondbacks face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the other. The top two NL seeds, the Braves (first) and the Dodgers (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 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.