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Aaron Judge of the Yankees, winner of the American League 2022 Hank Aaron Award given to the league’s best offensive performer, also led AL batters in Box-Toppers points.
Paul Goldschmidt of the Cardinals, who won the award in the National League, ranked seventh among NL batters in 2022 Box-Toppers points.
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The Houston Astros hold significant Box-Toppers points advantages over the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2022 World Series.
The Astros were Box-Toppers’ second-ranked team in the regular season while the Phillies were 13th overall, just barely above the middle of the pack of all 30 teams. The Astros are the highest-ranked American League team in Box-Toppers rankings, while the Phillies are the lowest-ranking National League postseason team.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Framber Valdez is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Thursday’s American League Championship Series Game 2.
Valdez struck out nine over seven innings, allowing two runs (none earned), four hits and no walks.
Read MoreBox-Toppers numbers favor the Houston Astros over the New York Yankees in the upcoming American League Championship Series.
Both teams were the two top seeds among AL postseason teams (Astros in first, Yankees in second) and both teams dominated the AL all season, with one or the other leading Box-Toppers team rankings nearly every week of the season.
Read MoreBoth American League Division Series begin Tuesday.
The Houston Astros face the Seattle Mariners in one best-of-five game series and the New York Yankees face the Cleveland Guardians in the other. The top two AL seeds, the Astros (first) and the Yankees (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played over the weekend.
Read MoreDiamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to 10th place in season player rankings.
Also Thursday, Braves pitcher Max Fried rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Jameson Taillon is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Taillon struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks, in the 1-0 win over the Royals. Taillon did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.
Read MoreRays pitcher Corey Kluber is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fourth place in season player rankings.
Kluber struck out seven over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 3-0 win over the Athletics. Kluber did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to second in season player rankings.
Also Saturday, Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer rises to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreAlex Rodriguez has the most Box-Toppers points of any third baseman since tracking began in 1995.
Rodriguez, who played from 1994 to 2016 for the Yankees, Mariners and Rangers, earned 187.0 Box-Toppers points, ranked 10th among all players since 1995 and second among all batters. Rodriguez is 38.0 Box-Toppers points ahead of Chipper Jones, who ranks second among third basemen on the “all-time” career Box-Toppers points list with 149.0.
Read MoreThe Box-Toppers All-Star teams for 2018-19 consist of the best players at each position in each league over the previous two seasons.
Among the 27 players included on the American and National League teams are 18 who are also on Box-Toppers 2019 All-Star teams. Leading the 2018-19 All-Stars is Astros pitcher Justin Verlander, who ranks first in Box-Toppers points over 2018-19 with 51.8.
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 MorePete Alonso of the Mets led all players in home runs in 2019 but was one of three top 10 home run hitters to rank outside the top 100 in season Box-Toppers points.
Meanwhile, Nelson Cruz of the Twins, who led all batters in Box-Toppers points in 2019 with 12.5, ranked tied for seventh in home runs with 41. Two of Box-Toppers’ top three-ranked National League batters—Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers and Christian Yelich of the Brewers—were also among the top 10 home run hitters in 2019.
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.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Jose Urquidy is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s World Series Game 4.
The Houston Astros win 8-1 to even the best-of-seven series with the Washington Nationals at two games apiece.
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Box-Toppers’ top two-ranked teams square off in the 2019 World Series. Both have three starting pitchers among the top 15 in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
And while the Washington Nationals are the best possible team to match up against the Houston Astros, Box-Toppers still gives the Astros a considerable edge.
Read MoreDo the New York Yankees even stand a chance facing the rocketing Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series?
Astros players accumulated by far the most Box-Toppers points of any team (158.1). The Yankees had 123.4 points, ranked fifth overall. The Astros top three pitchers are among Box-Toppers’ top-10 ranked players in 2019. Meanwhile, the Yankees top player, James Paxton (14.1 Box-Toppers points), ranks 19th overall.
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.