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Cubs pitcher Cole Hamels is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander maintains his second-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. He also now has the 12th-highest single-season Box-Toppers point total (27.5) since 1995, when player tracking began.
Read MoreYankees pitcher James Paxton is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Paxton struck out 12 over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 10-1 win over the Rangers.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Walker Buehler is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Nelson Cruz of the Twins rises to lead American League batters in 2019 Box-Toppers points after earning AL Batter of the Day honors.
Read MoreRed 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 MoreRoyals pitcher Brad Keller is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Cubs pitcher Jon Lester earned Player of the Game honors for batting and rises to 12th place on Box-Toppers “all-time” career points list.
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Randy Johnson leads all players in career Box-Toppers points and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Johnson earned 278.8 Box-Toppers points from the time Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995 until he retired in 2009.
Read MoreCubs pitcher Jon Lester is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Lester struck out seven over six innings, allowing two runs, five hits and no walks, in the 8-3 win over the Braves.
Read MoreIn 2019, CC Sabathia and Albert Pujols have tied Box-Toppers’ record for the longest streak of consecutive seasons earning at least one Player of the Game honor.
Both Sabathia and Pujols this season have earned Box-Toppers points for their 19th straight season (from 2001 to 2019). That ties the record held by Jason Giambi (1995 to 2013) and Carlos Beltran (1999 to 2017).
Read MoreCubs pitcher Cole Hamels is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, two players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after earning Player of the Game honors—Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole rises to fifth place and Phillies pitcher Zach Eflin rises to 10th place.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Walker Buehler is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Buehler struck out 11 over eight innings, allowing one run, two hits and one walk, in the 3-1 win over the Diamondbacks.
Read MoreAthletics pitcher Mike Fiers, pitching a no-hitter, is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Fiers struck out eight and walked two, throwing 131 pitches over nine innings, in the 2-0 win over the Reds.
Read MoreCubs pitcher Jon Lester is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Marcell Ozuna of the Cardinals rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreCubs pitcher Cole Hamels is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to 15th place in career Box-Toppers points since 1995.
Hamels struck out six over eight innings, allowing one run, four hits and no walks, in the 5-1 win over the Angels.
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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 MoreAnalyzing 24 years of Box-Toppers points leaders in pitching & batting in both leagues
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With Max Scherzer’s rise into Box-Toppers career points top 10 list during 2018, there are now six active players in the top 10, the most since 2008, when there were eight.
Box-Toppers player tracking began in 1995 and the overall top 10 players in career points was composed entirely of active players until 2008. The number of active players on the list slipped to as low as two as recently as 2014, but grew to six on June 5, when Nationals pitcher Scherzer joined the list, rising to 10th place with 172.1 Box-Toppers points, displacing retired pitcher Roy Halladay. Scherzer finished the season with 181.8 points, ranked ninth.
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 MoreRockies pitcher Kyle Freeland is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day in the National League Wild Card Game.
Freeland struck out six over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 2-1, 13-inning win over the Cubs, as the Rockies advance to the NL Division Series Thursday against the Brewers.
Read MoreThe Colorado Rockies visit the Chicago Cubs in the National League one-game Wild Card playoff game Tuesday.
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.