Astros pitcher Justin Verlander is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Tuesday’s spring training games.
Verlander struck out six over four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 3-1 win over the Nationals.
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Dodgers top Box-Toppers 2022 preseason team rankings; White Sox top AL teams
The Los Angeles Dodgers are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2022 preseason rankings. They also ended 2021 as Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team.
Meanwhile, the New York Mets made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Oakland Athletics saw the biggest decline.
Read MoreDodgers’ Scherzer tops players for Sunday, Sept. 12, rises to lead season player rankings
Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to lead season player rankings, passing previous leader, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole.
Scherzer struck out nine over eight scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 8-0 win over the Padres.
Read MoreBrewers‘ Houser tops players for Saturday, Sept. 4; Dodgers’ Urias rises to 8th in player rankings
Brewers pitcher Adrian Houser is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias rises to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreIndians’ McKenzie tops players for Friday, July 9; Red Sox’ Martinez regains AL batting rankings lead
Indians pitcher Triston McKenzie is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox regains the 2021 Box-Toppers points lead among American League batters, passing Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, after earning AL Batter of the Day honors.
Read MoreMarlins’ Lopez tops players for Saturday, June 19; Red Sox’ Dalbec tops AL players
Marlins pitcher Pablo Lopez is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Lopez struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 11-1 win over the Cubs.
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Lindor, Tatis have lowest career Box-Toppers point totals among top 10 big money contracts
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.
Read MoreRays’ Glasnow tops players in Saturday, March 27’s spring training games
Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Saturday’s spring training games.
Glasnow struck out 10 over five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 2-0 win over the Twins.
Read MoreAngels’ Griffin Canning tops players in Monday, July 20's summer exhibition games
Angels pitcher Griffin Canning is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Monday’s summer exhibition games.
Canning struck out five over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 1-0 win over the Padres.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ big dippers—players whose 2019 point total declined most from 2018: Corey Kluber leads list
Indians pitcher Corey Kluber had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2018 to 2019.
Kluber, who earned 21.7 Box-Toppers points in 2018 (fourth among all players), earned no points in 2019. His decline of 21.7 points was ahead of Rays pitcher Blake Snell, whose 10.0 points in 2019 represented a 17.2-point drop from the 27.2 points he earned to lead all players in 2018.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ 2010s All-Decade All-Star team, plus top 100 players from 2010-2019
Clayton Kershaw and Albert Pujols lead Box-Toppers All-Decade All-Star team for the 2010s.
Kershaw earned the most Box-Toppers points of any player from 2010-2019 (210.1) and Pujols earned the most of any batter over that span (79.9), which is 25th among all players. The All-Decade All-Star team is made up of players who led their position in Box-Toppers points over the span of 2010-2019.
Read MoreBox-Toppers 2017-18 All-Star teams
The Box-Toppers All-Star teams for 2017-18 consist of the best players at each position in each league over those previous two seasons.
Among the 27 players included on the American and National League teams are 15 who are also on Box-Toppers 2018 All-Star teams (those players are denoted in the chart above with an asterisk).
Read MoreBox-Toppers top 10 players in 2018 includes 8 AL pitchers; WAR top 10 has none
American League pitchers occupied eight of the top 10 spots in Box-Toppers’ 2018 season player rankings. But there were no AL pitchers among the top 10 in baseball’s Wins Above Replacement statistic.
AL teams dominated baseball in 2018 with three of its teams winning 100 or more games (Red Sox, Astros and Yankees), the Red Sox cruised to a relatively easy World Series win and it was AL pitchers who most helped those teams win all those games.
Read MoreOnly 3 of top 10 home run hitters in 2018 are among Box-Toppers’ top 100-ranked players
Khris Davis of the Athletics led all players in home runs in 2018 but ranked relatively low in Box-Toppers player rankings—just 47th among American League batters.
Meanwhile, J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox, who led all batters in Box-Toppers points in 2018 with 12.5, ranked second in home runs. And just three of the top 10 home run hitters in 2018 are among the top 100 ranked players in Box-Toppers points for the season.
Read MoreYelich wins NL MVP & led NL batters in Box-Toppers points; Betts wins AL MVP, was 2nd among AL batters in B-T points
Christian Yelich of the Brewers, who led National League batters in Box-Toppers points in 2018 with 11.5, was voted NL Most Valuable Player Thursday.
And Mookie Betts of the Red Sox, who ranked second among American League batters in Box-Toppers points with 10.9, was voted AL Most Valuable Player. Teammate J.D. Martinez, who led AL batters with 12.5 Box-Toppers points, finished fourth in AL MVP voting.
Read MoreHow 2018 Silver Sluggers winners fared in Box-Toppers rankings
About half of the top batters by position as measured by Box-Toppers points are among Silver Slugger Award winners announced Thursday.
The awards are given to the top batter in each position in both leagues. But as measured by Box-Toppers points, only seven (maybe eight) of the 17 announced winners would have been the same.
Read MoreBox-Toppers 2018 year-end All-Star teams
The Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2018 regular season are led by overall Box-Toppers points leader, Rays pitcher Blake Snell.
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 MoreAmerican League Division Series feature 4 of Box-Toppers’ top 5-ranked teams
Four of the top five teams in Box-Toppers team rankings square off in two American League Division Series beginning Friday.
One series includes the top two teams in Box-Toppers team rankings—the top-ranked Boston Red Sox and the second-ranked New York Yankees. If all teams qualifying for the postseason were seeded, these two would be in separate brackets in a hoped-for World Series best-of-seven game matchup. Instead, the two AL East teams meet in a best-of-five game semi-final to another semi-final.
Read MoreNationals’ Scherzer maintains Box-Toppers player rankings lead; Rays’ Snell closes in
Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer maintains top spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings this week.
However, Rays pitcher Blake Snell, in second overall, has closed in to within 1.0 point of Scherzer. Snell leads American League players in Box-Toppers points.
Read MoreScherzer maintains Box-Toppers player rankings lead; Rays’ Snell rises to lead AL players, Cubs’ Rizzo rises to lead NL batters
Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer maintains top spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings this week.
Meanwhile, Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs is this week’s new leader among National League batters in 2018 Box-Toppers points. Rizzo also led NL batters in 2017.
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