Box-Toppers’ top two ranked pitchers are finalists for 2020 Cy Young Awards.
However, Box-Toppers’ top batters are not among the finalists for 2020 Most Valuable Player Awards.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers All-Star teams for past season (2020) and past 2 seasons (2019-20)
A look at Box-Toppers All-Star teams for 2020 seems incomplete. So for added context, Box-Toppers is also looking at the All-Star teams over the past two seasons, 2019-20.
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Dodgers hold considerable Box-Toppers points edge over Rays in 2020 World Series
Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team for 2020, the Los Angeles Dodgers, hold a considerable edge over the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2020 World Series.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ NL Division Series previews: Marlins vs. Braves, Padres vs. Dodgers
Both National League Division Series begin Tuesday.
The Miami Marlins face the Atlanta Braves in one best-of-five game series and the San Diego Padres take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the other series.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ AL Division Series previews: Astros vs. Athletics, Yankees vs. Rays
Both American League Division Series begin Monday.
The Houston Astros face the Oakland Athletics in one best-of-five game series and the New York Yankees take on the Tampa Bay Rays in the other series.
Read MoreBox-Toppers top catchers by time frame (after 2019 season)
Mike Piazza has the most Box-Toppers points of any catcher since tracking began in 1995.
Piazza, who played from 1992 to 2007 primarily for the Mets and Dodgers, but also for the Padres, Athletics and Marlins, earned 95.7 Box-Toppers points from 1995 to the end of his career. That is 13.1 more points than the second-place catcher since 1995, Joe Mauer (82.6).
Read MoreCubs’ Yu Darvish tops players for Friday, Sept. 4, rises to 2nd in season player rankings
Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to second place in season player rankings, first among National League pitchers.
Darvish struck out 11 over seven innings, allowing one run, one hit and no walks, in the 4-1 win over the Cardinals.
Read MorePhillies’ Aaron Nola tops players for Tuesday, Sept. 1, rising to 3rd in player rankings
Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to third place in season player rankings.
Nola struck out nine over eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and three walks, in the 6-0 win over the Nationals.
Read MoreWhat would 2019 have looked like if only the final 60 games of season were played?
What would the 2019 baseball season have looked like if only the final 60 games were played?
In many ways, it would have looked exactly like the entire, overall 2019 season: From about July 25 on in 2019, the Houston Astros were Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team and Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole was Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player. Both also led for the overall 2019 season.
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Chicago Cubs maintain Box-Toppers team rankings lead; Athletics top AL teams
The Chicago Cubs maintain the lead in Box-Toppers weekly team rankings.
Meanwhile, the Oakland Athletics rise to lead American League teams and the Tampa Bay Rays are the week’s hottest team.
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Chicago Cubs lead Box-Toppers first weekly team rankings report for 2020, Twins lead AL teams
The Chicago Cubs lead Box-Toppers first weekly team rankings report of the 2020 season.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota Twins are the top-ranked American League team and the Oakland Athletics are the hottest team of the past week.
Read MoreReds’ Bauer tops players for Sunday, Aug. 2; Yankees’ Judge rises to 3rd in player rankings
Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to ninth in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Meanwhile, three other players rose into Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday—Aaron Judge of the Yankees rises to third place, Cubs pitcher Jon Lester rises to sixth and Athletics pitcher Chris Bassitt rises to seventh.
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Sixteen teams will make the postseason in 2020, rather than 10 under the previous plan. Eight qualifying teams in each league will be seeded from 1-8 and will faceoff in a best-of-three game Wild Card series played entirely at the home of the higher seed. Winners of the Wild Card will face off in the Division Series and the playoffs will proceed in a similar format to recent years.
Box-Toppers projects 2020 postseason as it expands to 16 teams
One more revision for Box-Toppers postseason predictions now that the playoff format has expanded from 10 to 16 teams. While it provides six more postseason, it doesn’t change our pick of the Yankees over the Nationals in the World Series.
Read MoreDiamondbacks’ Kelly tops players for Tuesday, July 28; Blue Jays’ Roark tops AL players
Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Kelly struck out seven over 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 4-1 win over the Rangers.
Read MorePlay ball? Trouble with COVID's curve: Do we even deserve baseball in 2020?
To get a reward, you need to complete a task. As other nations sacrificed to bring coronavirus case counts down, to flatten the curve, we didn’t. Cases increased. It seems crazy to reward ourselves now with baseball, putting many at risk, simply because we want it. We are not worthy.
And yet, here we are: So here’s an opening day introduction to Box-Toppers, tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score statistics. We begin our 26th season of tracking and our eighth season on the web.
Read MorePhillies’ Aaron Nola tops players in Saturday, July 18’s opening summer exhibition games
Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day in baseball’s first day of summer exhibition games.
Nola struck out four over five scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 7-2 win over the Nationals.
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Box-Toppers still picks Yankees over Nationals in 2020 World Series in pandemic-shortened season
Box-Toppers picks the New York Yankees to beat the Washington Nationals in the 2020 World Series.
Still.
We made the same prediction in March before the season was thrown into doubt by the coronavirus pandemic. Only the projected win total has changed.
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What would a 60-game schedule look like? Here's a Box-Toppers look at 2019 after 60 games on June 4
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 MoreBox-Toppers tracking began 25 years ago today, April 25, 1995
On April 25, 1995, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Florida Marlins, 8-7, to open the 1995 regular season.
That game 25 years ago today marked the beginning of Box-Toppers. Through the past 25 seasons—1995 to 2019—I’ve analyzed each of the approximately 60,000 regular season games played, determining a top player in each game, rewarding points to the top players and tracking those points for the past quarter century.
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