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Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer is the only Box-Toppers points leader to win one of nine Players Choice Awards for 2021 as voted by the players’ union.
Scherzer, who led all players in 2021 Box-Toppers points with 25.1, was voted National League Outstanding Pitcher.
Read MoreCubs pitcher Justin Steele is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day
Steele struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 9-0 win over the Pirates.
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Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom maintains his lead in Box-Toppers player rankings, despite not playing in nearly a month.
Meanwhile, all other category leaders also remain the same as last week: Gerrit Cole of the Yankees leads American League pitchers, Shohei Ohtani of the Angels leads AL batters and Nick Castellanos of the Reds leads National League batters.
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Three teams each have six players among the top 100 in Box-Toppers’ 2021 player rankings at the All-Star break.
The Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays each have six players on the top 100 list, tied for the most of any team. All teams have at least one player among the top 100. The Milwaukee Brewers, currently Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team with 67.2 accumulated Box-Toppers points in 2021 have three players on the list. The defending World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers have four players on the list.
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Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom maintains his lead in Box-Toppers weekly player rankings for the second straight week.
Meanwhile, J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox regains the season Box-Toppers points lead among American League batters. Plus, Gerrit Cole of the Yankees maintains his lead among AL pitchers and Adam Duvall of the Marlins maintains his lead among National League batters.
Read MoreRockies pitcher German Marquez is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to eighth place in season player rankings.
Also Tuesday, Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff rises to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings and J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox rises to lead American League batters in season player rankings. Both were among Tuesday’s 14 Player of the Game winners.
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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 MoreBrewers pitcher Freddy Peralta is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Peralta struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 10-9 win over the Braves.
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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 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 MoreMiguel Tejada has the most Box-Toppers points of any shortstop since tracking began in 1995.
Tejada, who played from 1997 to 2013 primarily for the Athletics and Orioles, but also for the Astros, Giants, Padres and Royals, earned 102.3 career Box-Toppers points. That is 25.9 Box-Toppers points ahead of the second-place shortstop in career Box-Toppers points, Derek Jeter (76.4), who played for the Yankees from 1995 to 2014.
Read MoreThose who figure Wins Above Replacement and those who figure Box-Toppers points (me) often don’t seem to be looking at the same game.
But we are. We are looking at the exact same Major League Baseball game. In recent years, Box-Toppers has seen pitchers come to so overwhelmingly dominate the game that they’ve pushed batters’ relative achievements into the background. But WAR seems to persist in the notion that it is batters who are primarily the stars of the game, contributing more to help their teams win than pitchers.
Read MoreThe Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2019 regular season are led by overall Box-Toppers points leader, Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole.
The American League and National League All-Star teams are composed of the players with the highest Box-Toppers point totals by position in each league. In addition to the batters—eight in the NL and nine (including the designated hitter) in the AL—are the top four starting pitchers in each league and the top closing pitcher.
Read MoreCody Bellinger of the Dodgers, who ranked third among National League batters in Box-Toppers points in 2019 with 11.2, was voted NL Most Valuable Player Thursday.
And Mike Trout of the Angels, who ranked ninth among American League batters in Box-Toppers points in 2019 with 8.7, was voted AL Most Valuable Player.
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 MoreTen of the 17 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards this week also were among the leaders at their positions in 2019 Box-Toppers point totals.
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Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole is Box-Toppers Player of the Year for 2019, earning the fourth-most Box-Toppers points in a single season since tracking began in 1995.
Meanwhile, Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals leads among National League pitchers, Nelson Cruz of the Twins leads among AL batters and Marcell Ozuna of the Cardinals leads among NL batters.
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Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole leads Box-Toppers weekly player rankings report for the fourth straight week.
Meanwhile, Nelson Cruz of the Twins regains the Box-Toppers points lead among American League batters and Marcell Ozuna of the Cardinals rises to lead National League batters in 2019 points. Plus, Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals continues to lead NL pitchers in Box-Toppers points.
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Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole leads Box-Toppers weekly player rankings report for the second straight week.
Christian Yelich of the Brewers rises this week to lead National League batters in 2019 Box-Toppers points, passing previous leader Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers.
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.