Nationals pitcher Anibal Sanchez is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreDodgers’ Rich Hill tops players for Friday, May 17; Athletics’ Montas tops AL players
Yankees top Box-Toppers 2019 preseason team rankings; champion Red Sox fall to 2nd
The New York Yankees are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2019 preseason rankings, rising from second place at the end of the 2018 season.
The 2018 World Series-champion Boston Red Sox fall from first at the end of last season to second place in the 2019 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the Cincinnati Reds made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Arizona Diamondbacks had the biggest decline.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2018
Analyzing 24 years of Box-Toppers points leaders in pitching & batting in both leagues
Read MoreMax Scherzer leads players in Box-Toppers points since start of 2013
Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer leads players in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2013.
Scherzer has 137.0 Box-Toppers points over the period 2013-2018, just 2.6 points ahead of Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who has 134.4 points over that span.
In fact, Scherzer unseats Kershaw from atop the six-year rolling Box-Toppers point total, a spot Kershaw has held at the end of each season since 2013, five straight seasons.
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Red Sox maintain Box-Toppers team rankings lead for fifth week
The Boston Red Sox maintain their lead in Box-Toppers team rankings for the fifth straight week.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs rise to regain the lead among National League teams and the New York Yankees are the hottest team of the past week.
Read MoreReds’ Anthony DeSclafani tops players for Friday, Aug. 10; Rays’ Snell rises to 8th in player rankings
Reds pitcher Anthony DeSclafani is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Meanwhile, Rays pitcher Blake Snell rises to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Read MoreDodgers' Hyun-Jin Ryu tops players for Tuesday, April 10; Red Sox' Betts tops AL players
Dodgers pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Ryu struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 4-0 win over the Athletics.
Read MoreAstros' Gerrit Cole tops players for Saturday, April 7; Cubs' Darvish tops NL players
Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Cole struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits and no walks, in the 1-0, 10-inning win over the Padres. Cole picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.
Read MoreKershaw remains strong over past half decade—who is rising & who is declining among baseball's top stars
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, Box-Toppers’ dominant player over the period 2012-2017, remains Box-Toppers’ dominant player over the period 2013-2017.
The 2013-2017 Box-Toppers point total for all players comes from dropping the points they earned in the 2012 season from their 2012-2017 totals. Box-Toppers uses this longer-term total to gauge a players’ staying power over the recent past.
And at the beginning of a season, when the rolling six-year total drops the earliest year of that timeframe, a player’s change in position in the rankings can give a clue to whether that player is improving, holding steady or declining.
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Indians top Box-Toppers 2018 preseason team rankings; champion Astros fall to 8th
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 MoreBox-Toppers’ top single game performances by batters for 2017
Anthony Rendon of the Nationals had the best single-game performance by a batter in the 2017 season as measured by Box-Toppers game score.
It also appears to be the highest game score for a batter in Box-Toppers’ 23 seasons of record keeping.
Read MoreBox-Toppers top outfielders by time frame (after 2017)
Manny Ramirez has the most Box-Toppers points of any outfielder since tracking began in 1995.
Matt Holliday leads active outfielders in career points. Other leaders include Giancarlo Stanton, Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, Jay Bruce and Andrew McCutchen.
Read MoreBox-Toppers top pitchers and batters by team, 2017
Three 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 MoreBox-Toppers 2012-17 All-Star teams
The Box-Toppers All-Star teams for 2012-17 consist of the best players over the past six seasons, which includes 12 of the 27 players who are also on Box-Toppers 2016-17 All-Star teams.
Also, among the 27 players on the teams, there are 11 players who are on Box-Toppers 2017 All-Star teams and 10 who are on All-Star teams over all three time spans—for 2017, for 2016-17 and for 2012-17.Leading the 2012-17 All-Stars is Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who ranks first in Box-Toppers points over the past six seasons with 147.2.
Read MoreAn overview of Box-Toppers category leaders over several time frames
Four different players lead Box-Toppers’ four main leaderboards.
Three of the four were the top three-ranked players in Box-Toppers points in 2017 and the fourth is Box-Toppers’ all-time leader, Randy Johnson.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2017
An analysis of 23 years of Box-Toppers points leaders in pitching & batting in both leagues.
Read MoreClayton Kershaw leads players in Box-Toppers points since start of 2012
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw leads players in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2012.
Kershaw has 147.2 Box-Toppers points over the period 2012-2017, 18.3 points ahead of second-place player in that span, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (128.9). However, Kershaw’s lead in the six-year rolling Box-Toppers point total is down from last year and is his narrowest lead since 2013.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers' top 100 players for 2016-17 and 2012-17
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player over the past six seasons while Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player over the past two seasons.
Kershaw leads all players in Box-Toppers points over 2012-2017 with 147.2, ahead of Scherzer, in second place with 128.9.
Read MoreHow 2017 Silver Sluggers winners fared in Box-Toppers points and rankings
Only 7 of 17 Silver Slugger Award winners also led their position in Box-Toppers points
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