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The Chicago White Sox regain the lead in the first Box-Toppers team rankings report after the All-Star break.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers regain the Box-Toppers team rankings lead among National League teams and the Atlanta Braves are the hottest team since the All-Star break.
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The Chicago White Sox lead Box-Toppers team rankings for the third straight week.
Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Brewers continue to lead National League teams for the second week and the Cincinnati Reds are the week’s hottest team.
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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 MoreAnalyzing 26 years of Box-Toppers points leaders among American League and National League pitchers and batters each season.
Read MoreIn four league division series playoff games Thursday these are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners:
Braves pitcher Kyle Wright is top player in Thursday’s 7-0 win over the Marlins.
Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias is top player in Thursday’s 12-3 win over the Padres.
Carlos Correa of the Astros is top player in Thursday’s 11-6 win over the Athletics.
Yankees pitcher Chad Green is top player in Thursday’s 5-1 win over the Rays.
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 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.
The Los Angeles Dodgers maintain their lead in Box-Toppers weekly team rankings for the fifth week.
Meanwhile, the Chicago White Sox maintain their lead among American League teams and the Cincinnati Reds are the week’s hottest team in the penultimate (and also next-to-last) weekly team rankings report of the pandemic-truncated 2020 season. The final team rankings report will be posted after the completion of regular season games Sunday, Sept. 27.
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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.
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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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.
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The Houston Astros maintain a big lead in Box-Toppers team rankings this week, leading for the third straight week.
Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals rise to lead National League teams, ending the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 10-week lead among NL teams. Plus, the New York Yankees are the week’s hottest team.
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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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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.
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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.
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The New York Yankees lead Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report for the second straight week.
Meanwhile, the Arizona Diamondbacks maintain their top spot among National League teams for the fourth straight week. And the Minnesota Twins were the hottest team of the past week.
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The New York Yankees, the past week’s hottest team, rise to lead Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report.
Meanwhile, the Arizona Diamondbacks maintain their top spot among National League teams.
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.