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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.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ choices for baseball’s major postseason awards won three of six of the 2022 honors.
Also, Box-Toppers’ top-ranked American League batter, Aaron Judge of the Yankees, won the AL MVP, though our choice for the award was Shohei Ohtani of the Angels.
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Box-Toppers’ top-ranked AL rookie, Julio Rodriguez of the Mariners (left), also won AL Rookie of the Year honors. Michael Harris II of the Braves (middle) won NL Rookie of the Year honors over Box-Toppers’ top NL rookie, Spencer Strider of the Braves (right).
Julio Rodriguez of the Mariners, Box-Toppers’ choice for 2022 American League Rookie of the Year, was also voted winner of the honor by baseball writers Monday.
But Michael Harris II of the Braves, who won the National League Rookie of the Year honor, was not among Box-Toppers’ top three choices for top NL rookie. Braves pitcher Spencer Strider, Box-Toppers’ choice for top NL rookie, finished second in voting.
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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.
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 MoreBox-Toppers’ top-ranked players are, for the most part, finalists for 2022 major postseason awards, as announced by baseball writers Monday.
In five of the six major awards, the Box-Toppers points leader for 2022 in that category is among the three finalists for the awards, which will be announced next week.
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Box-Toppers’ choices for major postseason awards: American League Most Valuable Player—Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, National League Most Valuable Player—Pete Alonso of the Mets, AL Cy Young Award—Justin Verlander of the Astros and NL Cy Young Award—Sandy Alcantara of the Marlins.
Aaron Judge of the Yankees is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked American League batter in 2022. But Shohei Ohtani of the Angels is Box-Toppers’ choice for AL Most Valuable Player.
Box-Toppers cast votes for postseason honors for Ohtani, Justin Verlander, Sandy Alcantara and Pete Alonso, among others, in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) balloting, completed at the end of the regular season, prior to the start of postseason play.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Cristian Javier is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Javier struck out nine over 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 2-1 win over the Guardians.
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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 MoreBox-Toppers points leaders won none of the six major postseason awards for 2021.
Baseball writers have awarded Most Valuable Player, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in both leagues and Box-Toppers leaders failed to win any of them.
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Randy Arozarena of the Rays and Jonathan India of the Reds were voted Rookies of the Year. They beat Box-Toppers top-ranked rookies, Bobby Dalbec of the Red Sox in the American League and Trevor Rogers of the Marlins in the National League.
Randy Arozarena of the Rays and Jonathan India of the Reds were voted 2021 Rookies of the Year by baseball writers.
Neither were among Box-Toppers’ top-ranked rookies in 2021. Arozarena was Box-Toppers’ eighth-ranked American League rookie and India was Box-Toppers’ second-ranked National League rookie.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Max Scherzer is the only Box-Toppers points leader to win one of nine Players Choice Awards for 2021 as voted by the players’ union.
Scherzer, who led all players in 2021 Box-Toppers points with 25.1, was voted National League Outstanding Pitcher.
Read MoreBox-Toppers has cast votes for postseason honors for Gerrit Cole, Jose Ramirez and for Max Scherzer—twice.
I have cast my vote in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) for Dodgers pitcher Scherzer to be both National League Cy Young Award winner and NL Most Valuable Player.
Read MoreTwins pitcher Michael Pineda is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to eighth place in season player rankings.
Also Thursday, Indians pitcher Aaron Civale rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreIndians pitcher Shane Bieber tops Box-Toppers list of the top 100 players of 2020.
Bieber had 11.4 Box-Toppers points during the pandemic-shortened regular season. And because it was such a short season—reduced from 162 games to 60—it is the lowest total to lead all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, beating the previous low set by Royals pitcher Zack Greinke, who led all players with 21.5 points in 2009.
Read MoreBox-Toppers points leaders won two of the six major postseason awards for 2020.
Both Cy Young Award winners also led their league’s pitchers in Box-Toppers points in 2020—AL winner Shane Bieber of the Indians led AL pitchers with 11.4 and NL winner Trevor Bauer of the Reds led NL pitchers with 10.0. Bieber and Bauer also were Box-Toppers top two ranked players in 2020, the only two who earned 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points in the pandemic-shortened season.
Read MoreKyle Lewis of the Mariners and Devin Williams of the Brewers were voted 2020 Rookies of the Year by baseball writers.
Neither were among Box-Toppers’ top-ranked rookies in 2020. Plus, none of Box-Toppers’ top-ranked rookies even received votes from baseball writers for top rookie.
Read MoreBox-Toppers has cast votes for postseason honors for Shane Bieber, Luke Voit and for Trevor Bauer—twice.
I have cast my vote in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) for Reds pitcher Bauer to be both National League Cy Young Award winner and NL Most Valuable Player.
Read MoreWhat would the 2019 baseball season have looked like if only the final 60 games were played?
In many ways, it would have looked exactly like the entire, overall 2019 season: From about July 25 on in 2019, the Houston Astros were Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team and Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole was Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player. Both also led for the overall 2019 season.
Read MoreNo Box-Toppers points leaders were among the winners in six major postseason awards for 2019.
In fact, looking at Box-Toppers’ ballot in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, none of the 10 candidates we chose for awards based on Box-Toppers points won an award.
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.