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Gerrit Cole of the Yankees wins the American League Cy Young Award and Blake Snell of the Padres wins the National League Cy Young Award. Box-Toppers choices for the awards were Chris Bassitt of the Blue Jays in the AL and Spencer Strider of the Braves in the NL.
Neither winner of the 2023 Cy Young Awards—Gerrit Cole of the Yankees nor Blake Snell of the Padres—led their league’s pitchers in Box-Toppers points in 2023.
Cole, the American League winner, ranked fourth among AL pitchers with 17.0 Box-Toppers points, behind AL leader Chris Bassitt of the Blue Jays (20.1). Snell, the National League winner, ranked sixth among NL pitchers with 14.7 Box-Toppers points, behind NL leader Spencer Strider of the Braves (21.1).
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Box-Toppers choices for major postseason awards: AL MVP—Shohei Ohtani, Angels; NL MVP—Pete Alonso, Mets; AL Cy Young—Chris Bassitt, Blue Jays; NL Cy Young—Spencer Strider, Braves; AL Rookie of the Year—Gunnar Henderson, Orioles; NL Rookie of the Year—James Outman, Dodgers.
You’re going to hate Box-Toppers’ choices for postseason player honors.
That’s the impression I get from listening to and reading baseball commentators who by August were already declaring players as not even de facto but actual “don’t-argue-with-me-because-I’m-right-and-there’s-clearly-no-dispute” award winners.
Read MoreShohei Ohtani of the Angels, favorite for American League Most Valuable Player, is also Box-Toppers’ choice for the award. But Box-Toppers’ choice for NL MVP, Pete Alonso of the Mets, is not among the finalists for the award, expected to go to Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves, who is second on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ Cy Young Award selections for 2023 are: American League—Chris Bassitt of the Blue Jays and National League—Spencer Strider of the Braves.
Neither pitcher was among the six finalists for the award announced this week, even though they ranked first (Strider) and second (Bassitt) in overall Box-Toppers season player rankings and were the only two players this season to reach 20.0 Box-Toppers points.
Read MoreA belated note: Mets pitcher David Peterson was Box-Toppers Player of the Game in the uncompleted, rain-suspended Sept. 28 game between the Marlins and Mets.
Major League Baseball ruled in early October that the Mets were winners in the game, even though the Marlins led 2-1 when it was suspended in the top of the ninth inning.
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Source: MLB.com
The Wild Card round of Major League Baseball’s postseason begins Tuesday with four best-of-three series.
Here is a Box-Toppers look at the eight teams competing in the four Wild Card round series.
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Braves pitcher Spencer Strider is 2023 Box-Toppers Player of the Year, holding the season lead in Box-Toppers points since Sept. 13.
Meanwhile, Chris Bassitt of the Blue Jays rises to lead American League pitchers and Pete Alonso of the Mets rises to lead National League batters in the season’s final player rankings report. While Shohei Ohtani of the Angels loses the lead among AL pitchers, he still retains the top spot among AL batters.
Read MoreBlue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to second in season player rankings and passing Shohei Ohtani to lead American League pitchers.
Bassitt struck out 12 over 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing five hits and one walk, in the 6-0 win over the Yankees.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to seventh place in season player rankings.
Also Wednesday, Pete Alonso of the Mets rises to first place among National League batters in 2023 Box-Toppers points after earning NL Batter of the Day honors, passing previous leader Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves.
Read MoreAaron Judge of the Yankees is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
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Braves pitcher Spencer Strider rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings this week, passing previous leader Shohei Ohtani of the Angels.
Strider continues to lead National League pitchers, while Ohtani continues to lead both American League batters and pitchers. Also, Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves continues to lead NL batters in Box-Toppers player rankings.
Read MoreBlue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fourth place in season player rankings.
Gausman struck out 10 over eight innings, allowing one run, two hits and one walk, in the 5-1 win over the Royals.
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Shohei Ohtani leads Box-Toppers season player rankings for the 12th straight week, though he hasn’t earned Box-Toppers points in nearly two weeks and hasn’t played since Sunday.
Meanwhile, Braves pitcher Spencer Strider continues to lead National League pitchers in Box-Toppers team rankings and Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves continues to lead NL batters.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff 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: Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt rises to third place and Marlins pitcher Jesus Luzardo rises to fourth place.
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Shohei Ohtani leads Box-Toppers season player rankings for the 11th straight week, though he briefly lost the lead this week before regaining it.
Braves pitcher Spencer Strider, who continues his lead among National League players, led rankings for one day before Ohtani rebounded with a 0.3-point lead.
Read MoreBlue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to third in season player rankings.
Bassitt struck out three over eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 7-0 win over the Nationals.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Freddy Peralta is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fourth in season player rankings.
Also Saturday, Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt rises to fifth in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
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Shohei Ohtani of the Angels leads Box-Toppers season player rankings for the sixth straight week.
Ohtani also leads American League pitchers and batters. Also this week, Jesus Luzardo of the Marlins rises to lead National League pitchers in Box-Toppers points and Nolan Gorman of the Cardinals maintains his lead among NL batters for the second week.
Read MoreShohei Ohtani of the Angels earns Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors twice Thursday—as overall Player of the Day in one game of a doubleheader and as American League Batter of the Day in the second game.
He is just the 12th player to win Player of the Game honors in both games of a twin bill since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995 and the first to do it as a pitcher in one game and as a batter in the other.
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Shohei Ohtani of the Angels leads Box-Toppers season player rankings for the fifth straight week.
Ohtani also leads American League pitchers and batters. Also this week, Nolan Gorman of the Cardinals rises to lead National League batters in Box-Toppers points and Spencer Strider of the Braves maintains his lead among NL pitchers for the second week.
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.