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Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player over the past two seasons while Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer ranks first in points over the past six seasons.
Cole earned 39.6 Box-Toppers points combined in 2019 and 2020 to lead all players in that span, while Scherzer earned 116.2 from 2015-2020, most in that span.
Read MoreThe Houston Astros, Box-Toppers’ lowest-ranked team in the 2020 postseason, face the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Championship Series.
The Astros ranked 17th among all teams in Box-Toppers regular season rankings. The Rays meanwhile ranked ninth among all teams, though they had the best record in the AL and were the top-seeded AL team in the playoffs.
Read MoreRays pitcher Diego Castillo is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s American League Division Series Game 5.
Castillo struck out four in the final two innings, allowing no runs, no hits, one walk and picking up the win, in the 2-1 win over the Yankees.
Read MoreBoth 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 MoreRays pitcher Blake Snell topped players Tuesday in the four American League Wild Card games to open the 2020 postseason.
Snell was Player of the Game in the 3-1 win over the Blue Jays. In addition, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito and Astros pitcher Framber Valdez were Player of the Game winners Tuesday in their AL Wild Card Game 1 wins.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers maintain their lead in Box-Toppers weekly team rankings for the third week.
Meanwhile, the Chicago White Sox rise to lead American League teams and the Toronto Blue Jays are the week’s hottest team.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers rise to lead Box-Toppers weekly team rankings.
Meanwhile, the Oakland Athletics maintain their lead among American League teams and the Cleveland Indians are the week’s hottest team.
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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.
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.
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Box-Toppers picks the New York Yankees to beat the Washington Nationals in the 2020 World Series.
Box-Toppers projects the Yankees will have the most wins among all teams—110—and will be the only team with more than 100 wins this season.
Of course, these projections are made with the assumption that each team will play a complete 162-game schedule. That is thrown into doubt now that Coronavirus precautions have prompted baseball to suspend spring training and delay the start of the season.
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The New York Yankees are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2020 preseason rankings, rising from fifth place at the end of the 2019 season.
The 2019 World Series-champion Washington Nationals, ranked second at the end of 2019, maintain second place in the 2020 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Blue Jays made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Houston Astros—2019’s top-ranked team and American League champion—had the biggest decline.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Justin Verlander is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player over the past two seasons while Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer ranks first in points over the past six seasons.
Verlander earned 51.6 Box-Toppers points combined in 2018 and 2019 to lead all players in that span while Scherzer earned 134.3 points from 2014-2019, most in that span.
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The Houston Astros rocketed to a huge lead in Box-Toppers team rankings this week, mainly due to acquiring Zack Greinke and other players at the July 31 trade deadline.
The Astros lead for the second week, but last week’s narrow lead has exploded to an enormous lead this week, as they gained the most Box-Toppers points of any team in the past week.
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The Houston Astros maintain the lead in Box-Toppers weekly team rankings for the fifth straight week.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers maintain their lead among National League teams and the Atlanta Braves are the week’s hottest team.
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The Tampa Bay Rays maintain their lead in Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report for the second week.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers rise to lead National League teams and the Chicago Cubs are the week’s hottest team.
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Box-Toppers picks the New York Yankees to beat the Chicago Cubs in the 2019 World Series.
In addition, Box-Toppers projects the Yankees will win 111 games in 2019, one of four teams projected to win 100 or more games this season. All 2018 American League playoff teams are projected to return to the postseason, while three different teams are forecast for the National League postseason—the Nationals, Phillies and Mets.
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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 tops Box-Toppers list of the top 100 players in 2018.
The Rays pitcher had 27.2 Box-Toppers points during the regular season, which is the 12th-highest single-season point total since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began.
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The Boston Red Sox maintain their lead in Box-Toppers team rankings for the sixth straight week.
Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Brewers leap eight spots up Box-Toppers team rankings to fourth place, jumping to the lead among National League teams after making Aug. 31 deadline trades.
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The Boston Red Sox rise to lead Box-Toppers team rankings after acquiring Ian Kinsler from the Angels and winning five of six games they played this week.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers rise to lead National League teams after acquiring second baseman Brian Dozier from the Twins and pitcher John Axford from the Blue Jays.
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.