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Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, the final day of the regular season.
Also Sunday, Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco maintains his seventh-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Plus, J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox extended his lead in 2018 Box-Toppers points among American League batters after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreRays pitcher Blake Snell took the lead this week in Box-Toppers season player rankings, passing previous leader, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer.
Meanwhile, Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves rises to lead National League batters in Box-Toppers points this week.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Walker Buehler is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Meanwhile, Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves rises to lead National League batters in 2018 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Read MoreRed Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Rodriguez struck out seven over six innings, allowing one run, five hits and no walks, in the 4-3 win over the Blue Jays.
Read MoreMets pitcher Zack Wheeler is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, becoming the 38th player this season to earn 10 or more Box-Toppers points.
Also Wednesday, Rays pitcher Blake Snell who leads American League pitchers in 2018 Box-Toppers points and is ranked second overall, edged closer to overall leader Max Scherzer of the Nationals after earning AL Player of the Day honors. In addition Wednesday, Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
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One reason that league-leading batters have had low Box-Toppers point totals in recent seasons is that batters’ overall share of Box-Toppers points earned is declining. Prior to 2010, batters earned about half or more of all Box-Toppers points awarded. Since 2010, batters’ share of points has been below 50 percent each season—and as low as 39.14 percent. (More detailed data used for this graph can be found in the chart at the bottom of his page.)
It seems increasingly likely that Box-Toppers’ league-leading batters will set dubious records in 2018.
Both the American League and National League leaders among batters in Box-Toppers points currently have point totals that would be the lowest to lead their league’s batters for a season since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Max Scherzer maintains top spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings this week.
Meanwhile, Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs is this week’s new leader among National League batters in 2018 Box-Toppers points. Rizzo also led NL batters in 2017.
Read MoreMets pitcher Noah Syndergaard is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs rises to lead National League batters in Box-Toppers points after earning NL Batter of the Day honors.
Read MoreRed Sox pitcher David Price is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola maintained his third-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors.
Read MoreIndians pitcher Carlos Carrasco is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to seventh place in season player rankings.
Also Wednesday, Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole rises to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings and becomes the second player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. Plus, Braves pitcher Julio Teheran rises to ninth place in season player rankings Wednesday after earning National League Player of the Day honors.
Read MoreWhat’s the most important thing in baseball?
Winning the game, right?
But what baseball statistic provides the fan an indication of the player who most contributed to the win? Logically, you might answer “the win” statistic, but it only applies to pitchers. Plus, in some circumstances, the win is not awarded to the pitcher most responsible for earning the win, but simply the pitcher who was in the game when the team took the lead.
What is needed is a metric that will select the player—from among pitchers and batters—who most contributed to his team’s win. And that’s where Box-Toppers comes in.
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Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw has been mentioned on Box-Toppers.com more than any other player.
His team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, is also Box-Toppers’ most-mentioned team.
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The Cleveland Indians are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2018 preseason rankings, the same position where they finished the 2017 season.
The Nationals top NL teams and the World Series-champion Astros fall to 8th.
Meanwhile, the New York Mets made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Tampa Bay Rays and the Kansas City Royals had the biggest declines.
Read MoreHere are Box-Toppers points leaders at each position over a variety of time frames.
For example, the all-time leader, Randy Johnson leads with 278.8 career Box-Toppers points (earned since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began). Johnson also leads in Box-Toppers points among all pitchers since 1995. Chris Sale leads over past season, Max Scherzer leads over past two seasons and Clayton Kershaw leads over past six seasons and also leads all active players in career Box-Toppers points.
Read MoreMiguel Cabrera of the Tigers has the most Box-Toppers points of any first basemen since tracking began in 1995, passing previous leader Jim Thome.
Cabrera has 146.9 career Box-Toppers points and in 2017 passed former player and newly elected Hall of Famer Thome, who has 146.7 points. Other leaders at first base include Anthony Rizzo, Edwin Encarnacion and Paul Goldschmidt.
Read MoreThree of the four players who won Cy Young or Most Valuable Player awards in 2017 also led their teams in Box-Toppers points for the season.
The only exception: American League Most Valuable Player Jose Altuve did not lead Astros batters in Box-Toppers points. In fact, with only 2.5 Box-Toppers points, he finished 11th among Astros batters and 21st among all Astros players.
Read MoreHow did baseball’s statistical leaders do in Box-Toppers points in 2017?
The leaders of five of the seven key statistics were among Box-Toppers’ overall top 100 players for 2017. However, Jose Altuve of the Astros who led the other two statistical categories—batting average and wins above replacement (WAR)—ranked far outside the overall top 100 players. Altuve ranked 387th with just 2.5 Box-Toppers points, 90th among American League batters.
Read MoreSix of the 10 leaders in baseball’s Wins Above Replacement statistic for 2017 are among the top 100 players in Box-Toppers points for the season.
However, four of the top 10 in WAR, including overall leader, Jose Altuve, rank well outside Box-Toppers’ top 100 players for 2017.
Read MoreHalf of the top 10 runs batted in leaders are among their league’s top 10 batters in Box-Toppers points in 2017.
Overall RBI leader Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins (132) ranked second among National League batters in Box-Toppers points with 14.2.
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.