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Ozzie Albies of the Braves is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox extended his season Box-Toppers points lead among American League batters and Adam Duvall of the Marlins regained the 2021 Box-Toppers points lead among National League batters.
Read MoreFernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Tatis hit three home runs and went 4-for-5, scoring four times and driving in four runs, in the 11-5 win over the Diamondbacks.
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Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom rises to first place in Box-Toppers weekly player rankings, passing last week’s leader, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole.
Meanwhile, Adam Duvall of the Marlins rises to lead National League batters. Last week’s American League leaders remain the same: Cole leads AL pitchers and Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox leads AL batters.
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The Chicago White Sox, the week’s hottest team, regain the lead in this week’s Box-Toppers team rankings, passing last week’s leader, the New York Yankees.
Meanwhile, the San Diego Padres lead National League teams for the third week in a row.
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Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow retakes the lead in Box-Toppers weekly player rankings after Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole led for the previous two weeks.
Meanwhile, Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers rises to lead National League pitchers, Adam Duvall of the Marlins rises to lead NL batters and J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox maintains his lead among American League batters.
Read MorePhillies pitcher Zack Wheeler is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to third in Box-Toppers season player rankings, first among National League pitchers.
Wheeler struck out 12 over 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 6-2 win over the Red Sox.
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Francisco Lindor and Fernando Tatis Jr. had the lowest career Box-Toppers point totals among the 10 players with baseball’s biggest money contracts at the time of their signing.
The two players signed the biggest offseason contracts prior to the 2021 season. Lindor signed a 10-year, $341 million contract with the Mets, the third-largest contract in baseball history and Tatis signed a 14-year, $340 million contract with the Padres, baseball’s fourth-largest.
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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 MoreEight of the top 14 runs batted in leaders were among the top 100 players in Box-Toppers points in 2020.
Six of those players were also among their league’s top 10 batters during the pandemic-shortened season.
Read MoreSelections for Major League Baseball’s 2020 “All-MLB” teams announced this past week rarely coincided with the season’s Box-Toppers points leaders.
Only one All-MLB First Team batter was among the Box-Toppers points leaders at his position—Marcell Ozuna of the Braves led all designated hitters with 4.5 Box-Toppers points. However, three of the four All-MLB First Team starting pitchers were also among the top three players in Box-Toppers points for 2020—Shane Bieber of the Indians (11.4), Trevor Bauer of the Reds (10.0) and Yu Darvish of the Cubs (9.7).
Read MoreJose Abreu of the White Sox and Freddie Freeman of the Braves were voted 2020 Most Valuable Players Thursday, ahead of other Box-Toppers points leaders.
Abreu, who ranked sixth in Box-Toppers points among American League batters with 4.5, was voted AL MVP. Freeman, who ranked eighth in Box-Toppers points among National League batters with 3.5, was voted NL MVP.
Read MoreOnly three of the 18 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards this week also were among the leaders at their positions in 2020 Box-Toppers point totals.
The awards are given to the top batter in each position in both leagues, voted on by Major League Baseball coaches and managers. Box-Toppers analyzes traditional box scores and tracks which player most helps his team win the most games, awarding points for the top player in each game.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw tops players in Thursday’s four Wild Card playoff games.
Other Player of the Game winners Thursday:
Braves pitcher Ian Anderson.
Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres.
Sean Murphy of the Athletics.
Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Monday, Luke Voit of the Yankees rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings, first among American League batters, after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreRays pitcher Tyler Glasnow is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Cubs pitcher Jon Lester extended his streak of consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points to 15—tied for the third-longest active streak—after earning National League Player of the Day honors. Lester also rises to 12th place on Box-Toppers “all-time” career points list.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ top-ranked 2019 rookie—far and away the top-ranked rookie—did not even receive a single vote in baseball writers’ Rookie of the Year voting.
Padres pitcher Chris Paddack had nearly twice as many 2019 Box-Toppers points as any other player who made their Box-Toppers debut during the season. His 15.8 Box-Toppers points, in fact, ranked 14th among all players and eighth among all National League pitchers, just ahead of NL Cy Young Award finalist Max Scherzer of the Nationals (15.4 points, ninth among NL pitchers).
Read MoreThe players who played the most key roles in helping their teams win the most games in 2019, for the most part, are not among the finalists for baseball’s postseason awards.
Gerrit Cole of the Astros, who led American League pitchers in Box-Toppers points with 32.2, is one of three finalists for the AL Cy Young Award. He is the only Box-Toppers point leader in any of the six categories to even be named as a finalist.
Read MoreRays pitcher Blake Snell is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to second place in season player rankings.
Snell struck out 11 over six innings, allowing one run, six hits and no walks, in the 5-1 win over the White Sox.
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.