Blog
The Los Angeles Dodgers are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2021 preseason rankings. They also ended 2020 as Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team and World Series champions.
Meanwhile, the New York Mets made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Chicago Cubs saw the biggest decline.
Read MoreIndians pitcher Shane Bieber, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2020, also led all pitchers in strikeouts during the season.
Ten of the top 11 strikeouts leaders were also among the top 14 overall players in Box-Toppers points in 2020.
Read More
The two pitchers with the most wins in 2020 were also among the top three in Box-Toppers points for the season.
Shane Bieber of the Indians and Yu Darvish of the Cubs both had eight wins in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, most among all pitchers. Bieber had 11.4 Box-Toppers points, most of all players and Darvish had 9.7 points, third-most and second among National League pitchers.
Read MoreThe two pitchers with the lowest earned run averages in 2020—Shane Bieber and Trevor Bauer—were also Box-Toppers’ two top-ranked players for the season.
In fact, six of the seven ERA leaders for 2020 rank among the top 10 overall players in Box-Toppers points for the season.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Gerrit Cole holds the lead in three of Box-Toppers’ main leaderboards at the end of 2020, most of any player.
Cole leads all players in Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons (2019-2020) and also leads American League pitchers over the past two seasons and past six seasons (2015-2020). Cole has 39.6 Box-Toppers points over 2019-20 and 90.1 over 2015-20.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Max Scherzer leads players in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2015.
Scherzer has 116.2 Box-Toppers points over the period 2015-2020, 14.6 points ahead of Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who has 101.6 points over that span.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Gerrit Cole has more Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons than any other player.
Cole has earned 39.6 Box-Toppers points over 2019 and 2020. He led all players in 2019 with 32.2 Box-Toppers points, the fourth-highest single-season total since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, he had 7.4 Box-Toppers points, 12th among all players and fifth among American League pitchers.
Read MoreRandy Johnson leads all players in career Box-Toppers points and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Johnson earned 282.5 Box-Toppers points from the time Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995 until he retired in 2009. The most likely rival to Johnson’s throne at the moment is Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw who has 235.2 career Box-Toppers points, third among all players since 1995 and most among active players.
Read MoreYankees 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 More
Box-Toppers’ two top-ranked pitchers in 2020 won this season’s Cy Young Awards.
Shane Bieber of the Indians, who led all American League players with 11.4 Box-Toppers points, was named Cy Young winner in the AL. And Trevor Bauer of the Reds, who led all National League players with 10.0 Box-Toppers points, was named winner in the NL.
Read MoreA 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.
Read MoreRays pitcher Charlie Morton and Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in Saturday’s two league championship series games.
Read MoreBox-Toppers has cast votes for postseason honors for Shane Bieber, Luke Voit and for Trevor Bauer—twice.
I have cast my vote in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) for Reds pitcher Bauer to be both National League Cy Young Award winner and NL Most Valuable Player.
Read More
Indians pitcher Shane Bieber is Box-Toppers Player of the Year for 2020.
Bieber finishes the pandemic-shortened 2020 season with 11.4 Box-Toppers points, leading Box-Toppers player rankings report for the sixth straight week.
Meanwhile, Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer rises to lead National League pitchers, Marcell Ozuna of the Braves rises to lead NL batters and Luke Voit of the Yankees maintains his lead among American League batters.
Read MoreDiamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish rises to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Framber Valdez is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Read MoreIndians pitcher Carlos Carrasco is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Padres pitcher Dinelson Lamet rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Read More
Indians pitcher Shane Bieber maintains his lead in Box-Toppers weekly season player rankings report for the fifth week.
Meanwhile, Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom rises to lead National League pitchers, Luke Voit of the Yankees rises to lead American League batters and Adam Duvall of the Braves maintains his lead among NL batters.
Read MorePadres pitcher Dinelson Lamet is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Also Monday, Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
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.