Padres pitcher Sean Manaea is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Manaea struck out seven over seven scoreless and hitless innings, allowing no walks, in the 3-0 win over the Diamondbacks.
Read MoreAstros’ Framber Valdez tops players in Thursday, April 7’s Opening Day games
Astros pitcher Framber Valdez is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s Opening Day games.
Also Thursday, Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreA Box-Toppers look at each team’s 2022 opening game starting pitcher
Starting a new baseball season means putting your best foot forward, which for teams usually means putting your best pitcher on the mound to start the first game of the season.
However, only four of Box-Toppers’ top-ranked pitchers in 2021 are starting their team’s first game of 2022.
Read MoreA 2022 Opening Day introduction to Box-Toppers
Welcome to Opening Day of the 2022 Major League Baseball season.
This marks the start of Box-Toppers’ 28th season tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score statistics. Here is an introduction to Box-Toppers.
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Box-Toppers picks Dodgers over White Sox in 2022 World Series
Box-Toppers picks the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 2022 World Series, beating the predicted American League champion Chicago White Sox.
Box-Toppers projects the Dodgers will have the most wins among all teams—111—and will be the only team with more than 100 wins this season.
Read MoreMariners’ Brash, Cubs’ Wisdom top players in spring training games for Sunday, March 27
Mariners pitcher Matt Brash is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Sunday’s spring training games.
Brash struck out six over three scoreless, hitless innings, allowing no walks, in the 7-1 win over the Athletics.
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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 MoreAn overview look at how baseball's 2021 statistical leaders ranked in Box-Toppers points
The leaders in three specific pitching categories—earned run average, wins and strikeouts—were among the overall top 10 players in Box-Toppers points.
However, the leaders in three specific batting categories—batting average, home runs and runs batted in—did not fare well in Box-Toppers points. All three ranked outside the top 200 overall players in Box-Toppers points and also ranked outside the top 10 players among their league’s batters.
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While Box-Toppers stat reflects the decline of batters, they still dominate WAR
Looking at the top 10 players in the Wins Above Replacement (WAR) statistic for each of the past 25 seasons, gives the impression batters are holding steady as the dominant force in baseball.
Yet, in recent years, batters are striking out more and hitting for lower batting averages against pitchers who are holding batters down and stealing their lunch money. Looking at the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points for each of the past 25 seasons provides a more accurate reflection of the game—one in which batters performed well and even dominated through about 2009, until pitchers’ announced their presence with authority from 2010 on.
Read More6 of top 10 strikeout leaders also among Box-Toppers’ top 10 players for 2021
Six of the 10 top strikeout leaders in 2021 were also among the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points for the season.
Blue Jays pitcher Robbie Ray led all players with 248 strikeouts. He ranked sixth overall in Box-Toppers points with 17.7, second among American League pitchers. Ray won the AL Cy Young Award.
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A look at how 2021 wins leaders fared in Box-Toppers points
Julio Urias of the Dodgers, who led all pitchers in wins in 2021 with 20, also ranked fourth among all players in Box-Toppers points with 19.1.
Among the 13 pitchers with 14 or more wins in 2021, Urias is one of five who were among the top 10 in Box-Toppers points for the season. Meanwhile, Max Scherzer of the Dodgers, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2021, also had Box-Toppers’ highest Sincere Win Differential (SWD) of +10.1.
Read More7 of top 10 in earned run average also among top 10 in Box-Toppers points for 2021
Seven of the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points in 2021 also recorded among the 10 lowest earned run averages for the season.
Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes, who had the lowest ERA (2.43), ranked fifth in Box-Toppers points for 2021 (18.1), fourth among National League pitchers. Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer, who led all players with 25.1 Box-Toppers points, had the second-lowest ERA (2.46).
Read MoreAn overview of Box-Toppers category leaders over several time frames after 2021
Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer holds the lead in five of Box-Toppers’ main leaderboards at the end of 2021, most of any player.
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole leads four Box-Toppers leaderboards, second most of any player.
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A look at Box-Toppers top 100 players of ‘all-time’ after the 2021 season
Randy Johnson leads all players in career Box-Toppers points and the two active players most likely to pass his total won’t likely do it until 2023 at the very earliest.
Johnson earned 282.5 Box-Toppers points from the time Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995 until he retired in 2009.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers’ top 100 players for 2020-21 and 2016-21
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player over the past two seasons while Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer ranks first in points over the past six seasons.
Cole earned 29.8 Box-Toppers points combined in 2020 and 2021 to lead all players in that span, while Scherzer earned 120.3 from 2016-2021, most in that span.
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A look at Box-Toppers’ top 100 players for 2021
Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer tops Box-Toppers list of the top 100 players of 2021.
Scherzer had 25.1 Box-Toppers points during the regular season. It is his fourth season with 25.0 or more Box-Toppers points. Only two other players have as many or more seasons with 25.0 or more points.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ big dippers—players whose 2021 point total declined most from 2020: Dinelson Lamet leads list
Padres pitcher Dinelson Lamet had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2020 to 2021.
Lamet, who earned 9.0 Box-Toppers points in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season (fifth among all players and third among National League pitchers), earned 2.0 points in 2021. After a stellar 2020 season, he battled injury early in 2021, struggled and went from a starter to a bullpen pitcher.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2021
Analyzing 27 years of Box-Toppers points leaders among American League and National League pitchers and batters each season.
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Kershaw, Scherzer rise in Box-Toppers’ ‘all-time’ top 10 list during 2021
During the 2021 season, Clayton Kershaw rose to second place and Max Scherzer rose to fourth place on Box-Toppers’ “all-time” career points top 10 list.
Kershaw was ranked third overall and among all pitchers at the end of 2020 with 235.2 career Box-Toppers points. The Dodgers pitcher rose to second place on June 27, 2021, with 246.6 points, passing Pedro Martinez, who had continuously held the second-place spot for 22 years. Kershaw finished 2021 with 13.4 points for the season and 248.6 career points.
Read MoreMax Scherzer leads players in Box-Toppers points over past 6 seasons (2016-21)
Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer leads players in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2016.
Scherzer has 120.3 Box-Toppers points over the period 2016-2021, 26.8 points ahead of second-ranked player Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, who has 93.5 points over that span.
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