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The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2024 World Series after the season’s 12 playoff-qualifying teams played a total of 43 postseason games over 30 days in October.
Here is a recap look at Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in each of the 43 postseason games for 2024.
Read MoreRelief pitcher Blake Treinen is Box-Toppers Player of the Game Wednesday as the Dodgers defeat the Yankees to win the 2024 World Series in five games.
The Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the New York Yankees 7-6 to win the best-of-seven game series, 4-1.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Walker Buehler is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Monday’s World Series Game 3.
The Los Angeles Dodgers win 4-2 to take a 3-0 lead over the New York Yankees in the best-of-seven-game series. Buehler struck out five over five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s World Series Game 2.
The Los Angeles Dodgers win 4-2 to take a 2-0 lead over the New York Yankees in the best-of-seven-game series. Yamamoto struck out four over 6 1/3 innings, allowing one run, one hit and two walks.
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The New York Yankees hold dominating Box-Toppers points advantages over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2024 World Series.
Looking at the Box-Toppers numbers alone, the Yankees can’t lose. But the Dodgers this postseason through mojo and moxie (and Mookie), have won two postseason series despite being severely depleted at starting pitching, the same handicap they face in the World Series.
Read MoreTommy Edman of the Dodgers is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Sunday’s National League Championship Series Game 6.
The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Mets in the series four games to two and advance to the World Series. Edman homered, doubled and went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Walker Buehler is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s National League Championship Series Game 3.
Buehler struck out six over four scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks in the 8-0 win over the Mets. The Los Angeles Dodgers take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven game series over the New York Mets.
Read MoreAaron Judge of the Yankees is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Tuesday’s American League Championship Series Game 2.
Judge hit a two-run homer, a sacrifice fly and went 1-for-3, scoring once and driving in three runs. The New York Yankees take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven game series over the Cleveland Guardians.
Read MoreBox-Toppers favors the surging New York Mets in the National League Championship Series over the injury-depleted Los Angeles Dodgers.
While the Dodgers are the NL’s highest seed in the postseason and while they feature Shohei Ohtani, the NL Box-Toppers points leader among batters, their starting pitching lineup, once considered their greatest asset, has become threadbare this postseason due to numerous injuries.
Read MoreMets pitcher Sean Manaea and Padres closing pitcher Robert Suarez are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in Tuesday’s two National League Division Series playof games.
The Mets and Padres both take 2-1 leads in their best-of-five game series as both series resume Wednesday with Game 4s. Both American League Division Series also resume Wednesday’s with two Game 3s.
Read MoreTigers pitcher Tarik Skubal and Garrett Hampson of the Royals are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in Monday’s two American League Division Series playoff games.
Both AL Division Series are now even heading into Tuesday’s travel day before resuming Wednesday.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Luis Gil is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fifth place in season player rankings and rising to lead American League pitchers.
Also Saturday, Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga rises to the overall lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Royals pitcher Seth Lugo rises to sixth place.
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 MoreMets pitcher Max Scherzer had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2021 to 2022.
Scherzer led all players in 2021 with 25.1 Box-Toppers points when he was with the Nationals and Dodgers. Scherzer earned 10.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022. While that was still 24th among National League pitchers, it was a 15.1-point decline from 2021, the biggest among all players.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Walker Buehler is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Buehler pitched a complete game, three-hit shutout, striking out 10 and walking none, in the 4-0 win over the Diamondbacks.
Read MoreStarting a new baseball season means putting your best foot forward, which for teams usually means putting your best pitcher on the mound to start the first game of the season.
However, only four of Box-Toppers’ top-ranked pitchers in 2021 are starting their team’s first game of 2022.
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Box-Toppers picks the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 2022 World Series, beating the predicted American League champion Chicago White Sox.
Box-Toppers projects the Dodgers will have the most wins among all teams—111—and will be the only team with more than 100 wins this season.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2022 preseason rankings. They also ended 2021 as Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team.
Meanwhile, the New York Mets made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Oakland Athletics saw the biggest decline.
Read MoreThe leaders in three specific pitching categories—earned run average, wins and strikeouts—were among the overall top 10 players in Box-Toppers points.
However, the leaders in three specific batting categories—batting average, home runs and runs batted in—did not fare well in Box-Toppers points. All three ranked outside the top 200 overall players in Box-Toppers points and also ranked outside the top 10 players among their league’s batters.
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Looking at the top 10 players in the Wins Above Replacement (WAR) statistic for each of the past 25 seasons, gives the impression batters are holding steady as the dominant force in baseball.
Yet, in recent years, batters are striking out more and hitting for lower batting averages against pitchers who are holding batters down and stealing their lunch money. Looking at the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points for each of the past 25 seasons provides a more accurate reflection of the game—one in which batters performed well and even dominated through about 2009, until pitchers’ announced their presence with authority from 2010 on.
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.