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Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodon had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2022 to 2023.
Rodon had 19.8 Box-Toppers points in 2022 with the Giants, sixth among all players and third among National League pitchers. But moving to the Yankees in 2023, he earned only 1.0 Box-Toppers point. That 18.8-point decline was the biggest among all players.
Read MoreSix of the 20 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards in 2023 were also among the leaders at their positions in 2023 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. Box-Toppers, analyzing traditional box scores, tracks which player most helps his team win the most games, awarding points for the top player in each game.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ top-ranked nominees in both leagues won 2023’s Hank Aaron Awards for top offensive player. But Box-Toppers would have chosen two other players for the honors.
Shohei Ohtani of the Angels won the award in the American League and Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves won the award in the National League.
Read MoreOnly four Box-Toppers points leaders are among players selected for 2023’s 16-member “All-MLB” team announced this month. Three other Box-Toppers leaders were chosen for the “All-MLB” Second Team.
The All-MLB team players are not selected based on their affiliation with American League or National League. Rather, all players are chosen regardless of league as “First Team” or “Second Team” players.
Read MoreShohei Ohtani, who signed a record free-agent deal with the Dodgers, has consistently been among Box-Toppers' highest-ranking players over the past three seasons.
However, his second surgery to repair his pitching elbow's ulnar collateral ligament, raises concerns about his future effectiveness. A Box-Toppers look at Ohtani’s career and the mixed outcomes of pitchers with a second elbow surgery.
Read MoreOnly two of Box-Toppers category leaders also won Players Choice Awards for 2023 as voted by the players’ union: Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, who was voted American League Outstanding Player and Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles was voted AL Outstanding Rookie.
Read MoreThe Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2023 regular season are led by overall Box-Toppers points leader, Braves pitcher Spencer Strider.
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 nine batters in each league are the top four starting pitchers in each league and the top closing pitcher.
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Box-Toppers leaders win two of the six major postseason awards in 2023: Shohei Ohtani of the Angels wins AL Most Valuable Player and Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles wins AL Rookie of the Year. The other four Box-Toppers leaders did not win awards in their category: Pete Alonso of the Mets was not NL MVP, Chris Bassitt of the Blue Jays was not AL Cy Young Award winner, Spencer Strider of the Braves did not win NL Cy Young and James Outman of the Dodgers was not NL Rookie of the Year.
Box-Toppers’ choices for baseball’s major postseason awards won two of six of the 2023 honors.
Shohei Ohtani of the Angels won the American League Most Valuable Player Award and Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles won the AL Rookie of the Year Award.
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Shohei Ohtani of the Angels and Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Braves were voted 2023 Most Valuable Player award winners. While Ohtani was also Box-Toppers’ choice as AL MVP, Pete Alonso of the Mets was Box-Toppers’ NL MVP leader over Acuña.
Shohei Ohtani of the Angels was voted 2023 American League Most Valuable Player Wednesday. He was also Box-Toppers’ choice as AL MVP.
However, in the National League, Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves was voted MVP—he finished second in Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot behind Pete Alonso of the Mets.
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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.
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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 MoreRed Sox pitcher Nick Pivetta is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Pivetta struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 3-0 win over the Orioles.
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 extends his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings this week.
Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani of the Angels continues to lead both American League pitcher and batters in Box-Toppers points, despite being out for the remainder of the season. Plus, Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves continues to lead NL batters.
Read MoreBlue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to third place in season player rankings.
Gausman struck out 10 over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and three walks, in the 6-1 win over the Yankees.
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.