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The Box-Toppers All-Star teams for 2018-19 consist of the best players at each position in each league over the previous two seasons.
Among the 27 players included on the American and National League teams are 18 who are also on Box-Toppers 2019 All-Star teams. Leading the 2018-19 All-Stars is Astros pitcher Justin Verlander, who ranks first in Box-Toppers points over 2018-19 with 51.8.
Read MoreThose who figure Wins Above Replacement and those who figure Box-Toppers points (me) often don’t seem to be looking at the same game.
But we are. We are looking at the exact same Major League Baseball game. In recent years, Box-Toppers has seen pitchers come to so overwhelmingly dominate the game that they’ve pushed batters’ relative achievements into the background. But WAR seems to persist in the notion that it is batters who are primarily the stars of the game, contributing more to help their teams win than pitchers.
Read MorePete Alonso of the Mets led all players in home runs in 2019 but was one of three top 10 home run hitters to rank outside the top 100 in season Box-Toppers points.
Meanwhile, Nelson Cruz of the Twins, who led all batters in Box-Toppers points in 2019 with 12.5, ranked tied for seventh in home runs with 41. Two of Box-Toppers’ top three-ranked National League batters—Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers and Christian Yelich of the Brewers—were also among the top 10 home run hitters in 2019.
Read MoreThe Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2019 regular season are led by overall Box-Toppers points leader, Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole.
The American League and National League All-Star teams are composed of the players with the highest Box-Toppers point totals by position in each league. In addition to the batters—eight in the NL and nine (including the designated hitter) in the AL—are the top four starting pitchers in each league and the top closing pitcher.
Read MoreCody Bellinger of the Dodgers, who ranked third among National League batters in Box-Toppers points in 2019 with 11.2, was voted NL Most Valuable Player Thursday.
And Mike Trout of the Angels, who ranked ninth among American League batters in Box-Toppers points in 2019 with 8.7, was voted AL Most Valuable Player.
Read MoreThe players who played the most key roles in helping their teams win the most games in 2019, for the most part, are not among the finalists for baseball’s postseason awards.
Gerrit Cole of the Astros, who led American League pitchers in Box-Toppers points with 32.2, is one of three finalists for the AL Cy Young Award. He is the only Box-Toppers point leader in any of the six categories to even be named as a finalist.
Read MoreTen of the 17 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards this week also were among the leaders at their positions in 2019 Box-Toppers point totals.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Jose Urquidy is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s World Series Game 4.
The Houston Astros win 8-1 to even the best-of-seven series with the Washington Nationals at two games apiece.
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Box-Toppers’ top two-ranked teams square off in the 2019 World Series. Both have three starting pitchers among the top 15 in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
And while the Washington Nationals are the best possible team to match up against the Houston Astros, Box-Toppers still gives the Astros a considerable edge.
Read MoreDo the New York Yankees even stand a chance facing the rocketing Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series?
Astros players accumulated by far the most Box-Toppers points of any team (158.1). The Yankees had 123.4 points, ranked fifth overall. The Astros top three pitchers are among Box-Toppers’ top-10 ranked players in 2019. Meanwhile, the Yankees top player, James Paxton (14.1 Box-Toppers points), ranks 19th overall.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Gerrit Cole and Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka are Saturday’s Box-Toppers top players in a pair of American League Division Series games.
Read MoreIn four league division series playoff games Friday these are Box-Toppers Players of the Game: Astros pitcher Justin Verlander, Braves pitcher Mike Foltynewicz, Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg, and DJ LeMahieu of the Yankees.
Read MoreBoth American League Division Series begin Friday.
The AL Wild Card champion Tampa Bay Rays face the AL West champion Houston Astros in one best-of-five game series and the AL Central champion Minnesota Twins take on the New York Yankees, champions of the AL East, in the other series.
Read MoreBox-Toppers is casting a vote for the American League Cy Young Award to Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole.
We are also casting our vote for AL Most Valuable Player to … Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole.
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The Houston Astros finish the 2019 season with a large lead in Box-Toppers team rankings.
The Astros lead the rankings for the 10th straight week, while the Washington Nationals continue to lead National League teams in the rankings and were the hottest team since the last rankings report Sept. 19.
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The Houston Astros maintain the lead in Box-Toppers team rankings, leading for the ninth straight week, and are also the hottest team of the past week.
Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals maintain their lead among National League teams in the penultimate (and also next-to-last) weekly team rankings report of the 2019 season. The final team rankings report will be posted after the completion of regular season games Sunday, Sept. 29.
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The Houston Astros maintain the lead in Box-Toppers team rankings, leading for the eighth straight week.
Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals maintain their lead among National League teams and the Milwaukee Brewers are the week’s hottest team.
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The Houston Astros maintain the lead in Box-Toppers team rankings, leading for the seventh straight week.
Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals maintain their lead among National League teams.
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The Houston Astros maintain the lead in Box-Toppers team rankings, leading for the sixth straight week.
Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals maintain their lead among National League teams and the St. Louis Cardinals are the week’s hottest team.
Read MoreRangers pitcher Kolby Allard is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, making his Box-Toppers debut.
Allard struck out eight over 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing six hits and no walks, in the 4-0 win over the White Sox.
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.