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Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after becoming the sixth pitcher this season to earn Player of the Game honors for batting. Strasburg is Thursday’s National League Player of the Day.
Plus, Alex Bregman of the Astros rises to lead American League batters in 2019 Box-Toppers points after earning AL Batter of the Day honors Thursday.
Read MoreThe Box-Toppers All-Star teams for 2013-18 consist of the best players over the past six seasons, which includes 11 of the 27 players who are also on Box-Toppers 2017-18 All-Star teams.
Also, among the 27 players on the teams, there are five players who are on Box-Toppers 2018 All-Star teams and four who are on All-Star teams over all three time spans—for 2018, for 2017-18 and for 2013-18.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox have the most players—six each—among the top 100 in Box-Toppers’ 2019 player rankings at the All-Star break.
The Dodgers also are Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team going into the All-Star break, with its players accumulating 72.6 Box-Toppers points this season. The defending World Series champion Red Sox, while they have as many representatives among the top 100 players, rank lower—in 13th place overall, with 55.9 Box-Toppers points.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Walker Buehler is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Buehler struck out 16, pitching a complete game, allowing two runs, three hits and no walks, in the 4-2 win over the Rockies.
Read MoreThe Box-Toppers All-Star teams for 2017-18 consist of the best players at each position in each league over those previous two seasons.
Among the 27 players included on the American and National League teams are 15 who are also on Box-Toppers 2018 All-Star teams (those players are denoted in the chart above with an asterisk).
Read MoreCubs pitcher Yu Darvish is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Indians pitcher Shane Bieber rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Read MoreRed Sox pitcher Chris Sale is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Rays pitcher Charlie Morton rises to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreCubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fourth place in season player rankings.
Also Tuesday, Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers rises to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings—first place among National League players—after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreRed Sox pitcher Chris Sale is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Sale struck out 14 over eight innings, allowing one run, three hits and no walks, in the 2-1, 12-inning win over the Orioles. Sale did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision because the game was tied, 1-1, when he exited.
Read MoreRays pitcher Tyler Glasnow is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to take the lead in season player rankings.
Also Friday, two other players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after earning Player of the Game honors—Brewers pitcher Josh Hader rises to fifth place and Ketel Marte of the Diamondbacks rises to ninth place.
Read MoreAmerican League pitchers occupied eight of the top 10 spots in Box-Toppers’ 2018 season player rankings. But there were no AL pitchers among the top 10 in baseball’s Wins Above Replacement statistic.
AL teams dominated baseball in 2018 with three of its teams winning 100 or more games (Red Sox, Astros and Yankees), the Red Sox cruised to a relatively easy World Series win and it was AL pitchers who most helped those teams win all those games.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Max Scherzer, who led National League players in Box-Toppers points in 2018, led all pitchers in strikeouts in 2018.
In fact, seven of the overall top 10-ranked players in 2018 Box-Toppers points are among the top 10 season strikeout leaders. And all 10 strikeout leaders rank among the top 17 players in 2018 Box-Toppers points.
Read MoreTwins pitcher Jose Berrios is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s Opening Day games.
Berrios struck out 10 over 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 2-0 win over the Indians.
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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 MoreBlake Snell of the Rays, who led all pitchers in wins in 2018 with 21, also led all players in Box-Toppers points during the season with 27.2.
Six of the overall top 11 players in Box-Toppers points in 2018 are also among the top 11 pitchers in wins for the season. Plus, all 11 pitchers leading in wins are among the overall top 40 players in Box-Toppers points for the season.
Read MoreStriving to create a more perfect Box-Toppers, I discovered some errors in player tracking in 2018 and have been correcting them in recent weeks.
There were 10 total errors I discovered that changed the Box-Toppers point totals for 17 different players. Those errors were discovered after re-examining about one-third of the 2,430 games played in the 2018 season. So in other words, after looking at about 830 games, I found 10 errors.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Max Scherzer leads two of Box-Toppers’ four main leaderboards and came within 2.1 Box-Toppers points of leading three of the four after the 2018 season.
Scherzer has the most Box-Toppers points of any player over the past two seasons (50.1 over 2017 and 2018) and the most points of any player over the past six seasons (137.0 from 2013 to 2018). Scherzer finished second in overall points in 2018 with 25.1, just behind leader Rays pitcher Blake Snell (27.2).
Read MoreAnalyzing 24 years of Box-Toppers points leaders in pitching & batting in both leagues
Read MoreNationals 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.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Max Scherzer has more Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons than any other player.
Scherzer has earned 50.1 Box-Toppers points over 2017 and 2018. He ranked second among all players in both seasons.
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.