Blog
Brewers pitcher Adrian Houser is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. He also rises to lead National League pitchers in season player rankings.
Read MoreRays pitcher Tyler Glasnow is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, extending his lead in season player rankings.
Also Wednesday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors.
Read MoreMets pitcher Jacob deGrom is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow extended his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, the two active players with the most career Box-Toppers points both earned Player of the Game honors—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw and Astros pitcher Zack Greinke.
Read MoreDiamondbacks pitcher Luke Weaver is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Meanwhile, J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox takes the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors Sunday.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, the active leader in career Box-Toppers points earned his first points of the 2021 season as National League Player of the Day.
Read MoreRays pitcher Tyler Glasnow is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s opening day games.
Also Thursday, Astros pitcher Zack Greinke has now earned Box-Toppers points in 15 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors.
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 MoreAnalyzing 26 years of Box-Toppers points leaders among American League and National League pitchers and batters each season.
Read More
After massive reshuffling during the 2019 season, Box-Toppers’ “all-time” career points top 10 list remained unchanged during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
There were also few changes among the top 10 pitchers and top 10 batters in career Box-Toppers points. Cubs pitcher Jon Lester rises to ninth place among all pitchers in career points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began, with 176.3. Lester had ranked 11th among pitchers at the end of 2019 with 172.6.
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 MoreIndians pitcher Shane Bieber tops Box-Toppers list of the top 100 players of 2020.
Bieber had 11.4 Box-Toppers points during the pandemic-shortened regular season. And because it was such a short season—reduced from 162 games to 60—it is the lowest total to lead all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, beating the previous low set by Royals pitcher Zack Greinke, who led all players with 21.5 points in 2009.
Read MoreCorey Seager of the Dodgers and Astros pitcher Zack Greinke are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in Wednesday’s two league championship series games.
Read MoreFreddie Freeman of the Braves and Joey Wendle of the Rays are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in Tuesday’s two league championship series games.
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 MoreIn four league division series playoff games Wednesday these are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners:
Braves pitcher Ian Anderson is top player in Wednesday’s 2-0 win over the Marlins.
Athletics closing pitcher Liam Hendriks is top player in Wednesday’s 9-7 win over the Astros.
Corey Seager of the Dodgers is top player in Wednesday’s 6-5 win over the Padres.
Kevin Kiermaier of the Rays is top player in Wednesday’s 8-4 win over the Yankees.
Yankees pitcher J.A. Happ is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, two players rise into Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after both earn Player of the Game honors—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises to seventh place and Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes rises to ninth place.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to second place in season player rankings.
Kershaw struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 5-1 win over the Diamondbacks.
Read MoreThursday was an unusual day in an unusual baseball season in an unusual year.
Only eight games were played and none of them lasted nine innings. All were part of pandemic-shortened, seven-inning doubleheaders and one went into “extra” innings, lasting eight innings.
It was a day in which seven games were postponed as teams protested for social justice in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis.
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 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.