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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.
Read MoreFive Box-Toppers points category leaders also won Players Choice Awards for 2022 as voted by the players’ union: Justin Verlander, Aaron Judge, Sandy Alcantara, Spencer Strider and Julio Rodriguez.
Five Box-Toppers points category leaders also won Players Choice Awards for 2022 as voted by the players’ union: Justin Verlander, Aaron Judge, Sandy Alcantara, Spencer Strider and Julio Rodriguez.
Read MoreBoth National League Division Series begin Tuesday.
The Los Angeles Dodgers face the San Diego Padres in one best-of-five game series and the Atlanta Braves face the Philadelphia Phillies in the other. The top two NL seeds, the Dodgers (first) and the Braves (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 MoreMariners pitcher George Kirby is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Kirby struck out eight over six innings, allowing one run, three hits and no walks, in the 3-1 win over the Braves.
Read MoreThree teams each have seven players among the top 100 in Box-Toppers’ 2022 player rankings at the All-Star break.
The New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers each have seven players on the top 100 list, tied for the most of any team.
Read MoreWhite Sox pitcher Dylan Cease is the most deserving player not selected to the 2022 Major League Baseball All-Star teams.
A Box-Toppers look at All-Star starters, reserves and snubs.
Read MoreGiants pitcher Alex Wood is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Marlins pitcher Sandy Alcantara rises to fourth in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. He also rises to first place among National League pitchers.
Read MoreAngels pitcher Shohei Ohtani is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to retake the lead in season player rankings.
Ohtani struck out 13 over eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 5-0 win over the Royals.
Read MoreRoyals pitcher Brady Singer is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, two players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after both earned Player of the Game honors—White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease rises to third place and Rays pitcher Shane McClanahan rises to ninth. Plus, Mookie Betts of the Dodgers rises to first place among National League batters in Box-Toppers points Tuesday.
Read MoreBox-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 MoreThe 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 MoreThe 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 MoreThese six players were selected for the 16-member All-MLB First Team and were also Box-Toppers’ choices for the All-MLB team: Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres, Aaron Judge of the Yankees, Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer, Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole and White Sox pitcher Liam Hendriks.
Six Box-Toppers points leaders are among players selected for 2021’s 16-member “All-MLB” team announced Tuesday.
Another three Box-Toppers leaders were chosen for the “All-MLB” Second Team.
Read MoreThese five players were 2021 Silver Slugger Award winners and also led their league’s position in Box-Toppers points for the season: Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox, Aaron Judge of the Yankees, Ozzie Albies of the Braves, Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres and Nick Castellanos of the Reds.
Only five of the 17 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards Thursday also were among the leaders at their positions in 2021 Box-Toppers point totals.
The awards are given to the top batter in each position in both leagues, voted on by Major League Baseball coaches and managers.
Read MoreThe two players who won the Hank Aaron Award, given to the best offensive performer in each league, trailed most of the award finalists in 2021 Box-Toppers points.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays and Bryce Harper of the Phillies were chosen Tuesday as winners by a panel of eight Hall of Fame players and a Major League Baseball fan vote.
Read MoreChris Taylor of the Dodgers is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Thursday’s National League Championship Series Game 5.
Taylor hit three home runs and went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in six runs, in the 11-2 win over the Braves. The Dodgers trail the Braves in the best-of-seven game series, 3-2.
Taylor had a Box-Toppers game score Thursday of +8.0, best among Dodgers players. In the 2021 regular season, there were only eight instances of batters earning Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors with a higher game score, led by the +11.0 achieved by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. of the Blue Jays on Sept. 12 (2HR 2-3 5R 7BI).
Dodgers starting pitcher Joe Kelly had a Box-Toppers game score of -5.8 (0.2IP 2H 2R 0BB 0K ND). AJ Pollock of the Dodgers had a Box-Toppers game score of +5.0 (2HR 3-5 3R 4BI).
Braves starting pitcher Max Fried had a game score of -12.8 (4.2IP 8H 5R 2BB 3K L). Freddie Freeman of the Braves had a game score of 0.0 (HR 1-4 R 2BI).
Taylor earned 4.7 Box-Toppers points in the 2021 regular season, 203rd among all players and 34th among NL batters.
The series resumes with Game 6 in Atlanta on Saturday.
| BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +8.0 | LAD 11, ATL 2 | Chris Taylor, 3B | 5 | 3 | 4 | 6 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
Coming Friday:
The pitching matchup:
Red Sox—Nathan Eovaldi, 14.1 Box-Toppers points, 16th among all players, sixth among AL pitchers.
This is Eovaldi’s fifth appearance of the 2021 postseason. He was Player of the Game Oct. 5 in the AL Wild Card Game win over the Yankees. He also started Oct. 10 in the AL Division Series Game 3 win over the Rays, started Oct. 16 in the AL Championship Series win over the Astros and served as closer Oct. 19 in the ALCS loss to the Astros.
Astros—Luis Garcia, 10.0 Box-Toppers points, 49th among all players, 18th among AL pitchers.
This is Garcia’s third appearance of the 2021 postseason. He started Oct. 10 in the AL Division Series Game 3 loss to the White Sox and Oct. 16 in the AL Championship Series loss to the Red Sox.
Box-Toppers preview of the ALCS from Oct. 14
About Box-Toppers—Box-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. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point 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.
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Dodgers pitcher Mitch White is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Read MoreRays pitcher Tyler Glasnow leads Box-Toppers weekly player rankings for the second straight week and for the sixth time in the past eight weeks.
Meanwhile, Brandon Woodruff of the Brewers rises to lead National League pitchers, J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox maintains his lead among American League batters and Adam Duvall of the Marlins maintains his lead among NL batters.
Read MoreGiants pitcher Anthony DeSclafani is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Monday, Marlins pitcher Trevor Rogers rises to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Shohei Ohtani of the Angels earns Player of the Game honors as a pitcher but does it for batting, becoming apparently the first American League pitcher to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors while batting.
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.
