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Indians pitcher Shane Bieber rises to lead Box-Toppers weekly season player rankings report.
Meanwhile, Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer rises to lead National League pitchers, rising to second place overall. Plus, Luke Voit of the Yankees rises to lead American League batters and Jason Heyward of the Cubs maintains his lead among NL batters.
Read MoreWhite Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to ninth place in season player rankings.
Also Thursday, Indians pitcher Shane Bieber extended his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreTwins pitcher Kenta Maeda is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Maeda struck out 12 over eight innings, allowing one run, one hit and two walks, in the 4-3, 12-inning win over the Brewers. Maeda took a no-hitter into the ninth inning before giving up a hit. He did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Brewers tied the game after he exited.
Read MoreIndians pitcher Shane Bieber is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to lead season player rankings.
Also Saturday, Braves pitcher Max Fried rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after he earns Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreRangers pitcher Lance Lynn is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to third place in season player rankings.
Also Friday, three other players rose in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after each earned Player of the Game honors—Reds pitcher Sonny Gray rose to fourth, Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly rose to eighth and Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole rose to 10th.
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Angels pitcher Dylan Bundy rises to lead Box-Toppers weekly season player rankings report.
Meanwhile, Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish rises to lead National League pitchers, rising to third place overall. Plus, Aaron Judge of the Yankees leads American League batters and Jason Heyward of the Cubs leads NL batters.
Read MoreAngels pitcher Dylan Bundy is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to lead season player rankings.
Also Tuesday, Luke Voit of the Yankees rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreAthletics pitcher Frankie Montas is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to third place in season player rankings.
Also Saturday, Aaron Judge of the Yankees rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings and Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly rises to 10th after both earned Player of the Game honors.
Plus, Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers has now earned Box-Toppers points for 18 straight seasons—tied for the fifth-longest streak since 1995—after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Read MoreIndians pitcher Shane Bieber leads Box-Toppers first weekly player rankings report after two weeks of the 2020 season.
Meanwhile, Cubs pitcher Tyler Chatwood leads National League players and ranks second overall.
Read MoreAngels pitcher Dylan Bundy is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Bundy pitched a complete game, striking out 10 and allowing one run, four hits and no walks, in the 6-1 win over the Mariners.
Read MoreMarlins pitcher Pablo Lopez is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Indians pitcher Shane Bieber extends his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreAthletics pitcher Frankie Montas is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Monday, three players rose in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after each earned Player of the Game honors. Reds pitcher Sonny Gray rose to third place, Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole rose to fifth place and Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom rose to sixth place.
Read MoreCubs pitcher Tyler Chatwood is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to second place in season player rankings.
Chatwood struck out 11 over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 4-3 win over the Pirates.
Read MoreIndians pitcher Shane Bieber is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Bieber struck out 13 over eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 2-0 win over the Twins.
Read MoreCubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Meanwhile, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander extended his consecutive streak of seasons earning Box-Toppers points to 15, tied for the third-longest active streak.
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Imagine a Major League Baseball season beginning normally in the spring and ending on June 4.
That’s what the proposed pandemic-shortened 60-game schedule for 2020 will seem like.
In 2019, most clubs had played at least 60 games by June 4. That was barely more than a third of the regular season’s 162 games (37 percent). But for 2020, if all goes according to plan and the coronavirus doesn’t intervene to cut it even shorter, 60 games will be the complete, entire season.
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 MoreAstros pitcher Gerrit Cole, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2019, also led all pitchers in strikeouts during the season.
In fact, each of the top six-ranked players in Box-Toppers points were among the top 11 strikeout leaders 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 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.