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The Texas Rangers still lead Box-Toppers team rankings this week, despite falling outside the dozen teams that would currently qualify for a playoff spot.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Braves continue to gain on the Rangers, leading all National League teams. Plus, the Chicago Cubs are the week’s hottest team.
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The Texas Rangers still hold a narrowing lead in Box-Toppers team rankings this week, despite a terrible two-week stretch that has them falling to third place in the American League West Division.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Braves continue to gain on the Rangers, leading all National League teams. Plus, the Cincinnati Reds, in part on the strength of waiver deadline acquisitions, are the week’s hottest team.
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The Texas Rangers maintain the lead in Box-Toppers team rankings for the second week.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Braves continue to lead National League teams and the Philadelphia Phillies are the week’s hottest team.
Read MoreShohei Ohtani leads all Angels pitchers in 2023 Box-Toppers points. He also leads all Angels batters in 2023 Box-Toppers points.
The overall 2023 Box-Toppers points leader (13.9) at the All-Star break is the only player to lead his team in both categories. On the other 29 clubs, pitchers have the most Box-Toppers points on 24 teams and batters lead four teams.
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The Tampa Bay Rays and the Texas Rangers have the most players among the top 100 in Box-Toppers’ 2023 player rankings at the All-Star break.
Both the Rays and Rangers have seven players on the top 100 list (which actually consists of 102 players because of a tie for 100th place). Both American League teams are also among the top three in Box-Toppers team rankings at the All-Star break—the Rays rank first and the Rangers rank third, second among AL teams.
Read MoreBox-Toppers picks the New York Mets to win the 2023 World Series, beating the predicted American League champion New York Yankees.
Box-Toppers projects the Mets will have the most wins among all teams—104—and will be one of three teams with more than 100 wins, along with the Yankees and the San Diego Padres.
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The New York Mets are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2023 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the World Series champion Houston Astros saw the biggest decline.
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Could 2023 be the season Clayton Kershaw passes Randy Johnson for the “all-time” lead in career Box-Toppers points?
Or could this coming season be the year when Kershaw loses the lead among active players in career Box-Toppers points to either Max Scherzer or Justin Verlander?
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Astros pitcher Justin Verlander tops Box-Toppers list of the top 100 players of 2022.
Verlander had 26.0 Box-Toppers points during the regular season. Verlander came back after sitting out most of the previous two seasons, recovering from Tommy John surgery. He earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point in 2020 and none in 2021. His 26.0 point gain from 0.0 in 2021 to 26.0 in 2022 is the largest single-season point gain for any player since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.
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The New York Yankees and New York Mets lead Box-Toppers offseason rankings after landing the winter’s two biggest free agents.
The Yankees rank first after Carlos Rodon Thursday agreed to a free agent deal. Rodon earned 19.8 Box-Toppers points in 2022 with the Giants, sixth overall and third among National League pitchers. He ranked second among all free agents going into the 2023 season.
Read MoreThe Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2022 regular season are led by overall Box-Toppers points leader, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander.
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.
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 MoreAstros pitcher Luis Garcia tops players in Saturday’s four league division series playoff games.
Other Player of the Game winners in Saturday’s league division series games: Padres closing pitcher Josh Hader, Phillies pitcher Noah Syndergaard and Guardians closing pitcher Eli Morgan.
Read MorePhillies pitcher Aaron Nola tops players in Friday’s three league division series playoff games.
Other Player of the Game winners in Friday’s league division series games: Padres closing pitcher Josh Hader and Guardians closing pitcher Emmanuel Clase.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Framber Valdez is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Thursday’s National League Division Series playoff game.
Valdez struck out six over 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs (one earned), four hits and three walks. Valdez did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Astros were trailing when he exited.
Read MoreBraves pitcher Kyle Wright and Jake Cronenworth of the Padres are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in Wednesday’s two National League Division series games.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Gerrit Cole tops players in Tuesday’s four league division series playoff games:
Other Player of the Game winners in Tuesday’s league division series games: Yordan Alvarez of the Astros, Nick Castellanos of the Phillies and Trea Turner of the Dodgers.
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 MoreGuardians pitcher Triston McKenzie tops players in Saturday’s four Wild Card playoff games:
Other Player of the Game winners in Saturday’s Wild Card series games: Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola, Cal Raleigh of the Mariners and Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom.
Read MoreGuardians pitcher Shane Bieber tops players in Friday’s four Wild Card playoff games:
Other Player of the Game winners in Friday’s Wild Card series games: Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo and Jurickson Profar of the Padres.
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.