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Astros pitcher Cristian Javier is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, two players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after both earned Player of the Game honors—Braves pitcher Max Fried rises to seventh place and Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes rises to ninth.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fourth in season player rankings.
Also Monday, Braves pitcher Max Fried rises to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Tyler Anderson is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day
Anderson struck out eight over 8 1/3 innings, allowing one run, one hit and two walks, in the 4-1 win over the Angels.
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The Milwaukee Brewers maintain the lead in Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report for the third week.
Meanwhile, the New York Yankees remain top American League team and the New York Mets are the week’s hottest team.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Corbin Burnes is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, two players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after both earned Player of the Game honors—Rays pitcher Shane McClanahan rises to second place and White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease rises to sixth place.
Read MoreAngels pitcher Chase Silseth is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Silseth struck out four over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 2-0 win over the Athletics.
Read MoreBraves pitcher Max Fried is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Two other players—C.J. Cron of the Rockies and Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes—rise into the top 10 in Box-Toppers points for 2022. Plus, two players extend long streaks of consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points—Mets pitcher Max Scherzer (14 seasons) and Kurt Suzuki of the Angels (16 seasons).
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Kershaw struck out 13 over seven perfect innings—allowing no hits, runs, walks or baserunners of any kind—in the 7-0 win over the Twins. However, he was pulled after seven innings and 80 pitches in his first start of the season. Reliever Alex Vesia gave up the only hit to the Twins in the eighth inning.
Read MoreStarting 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 MoreWelcome 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.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Corbin Burnes is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Monday’s spring training games.
Burnes struck out eight over five innings, allowing one run, one hit and one walk, in the 5-2 win over the Giants.
Read MoreThe 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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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 MoreSix 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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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 MoreSeven 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).
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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 MorePadres 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 MoreAnalyzing 27 years of Box-Toppers points leaders among American League and National League pitchers and batters each season.
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The Milwaukee Brewers are the top-ranked team going into 2022, leading Box-Toppers offseason team rankings as of mid-December.
Players currently signed to the Brewers 40-man roster accumulated 111.1 Box-Toppers points during the 2021 season, most of any team. The Chicago White Sox rank second overall with 109.2 Box-Toppers points, leading all American 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.