Braves, Astros, Mariners among leaders in Box-Toppers offseason team rankings

Shawn Plank January 18, 2024

The Atlanta Braves are Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team going into 2024, with a roster mostly intact from 2023 when they had baseball’s best record.

Meanwhile, the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners are Box-Toppers’ top two American League teams, with the Mariners having one of the best offseason improvements of any team so far. And also, while the Los Angeles Dodgers have made big offseason splashes adding Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow and Teoscar Hernandez, their offseason ranking has actually fallen from third place last season to fourth place now.

Box-Toppers’ big dippers—players whose 2023 point total declined most from 2022: Carlos Rodon leads list

Shawn Plank December 29, 2023

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.

Four Box-Toppers points leaders among players named to 2023 All-MLB First Team

Shawn Plank December 21, 2023

Only 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.

Box-Toppers points leaders Ohtani, Henderson win 2023 Players Choice Awards

Shawn Plank December 10, 2023

Only 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.

Luzardo leads Box-Toppers most improved list; 2 others win B-T Comeback Player

Shawn Plank December 2, 2023

While Marlins pitcher Jesus Luzardo is Box-Toppers’ most improved player in 2023, our choices for Comeback Players of the Year are Eduardo Rodriguez of the Tigers and Jason Heyward of the Dodgers.

Meanwhile, the consensus choices for Comeback Players of the Year—Cody Bellinger and Liam Hendriks—did not rank very highly among Box-Toppers most improved players in 2023.

Box-Toppers 2023 year-end All-Star teams

Shawn Plank November 29, 2023

The 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.

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.

Awards wrap-up: Box-Toppers leaders win 2 of 6 major postseason honors in 2023

Shawn Plank November 21, 2023

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.

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.

Box-Toppers’ pick Ohtani wins AL MVP, but Acuña wins NL MVP over our pick, Alonso

Shawn Plank November 16, 2023

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.

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.

Cole, Snell win 2023 Cy Young Awards over Box-Toppers leaders Bassitt, Strider

Shawn Plank November 16, 2023

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).

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.

A look at Box-Toppers’ leaders for postseason awards, plus an award finalist overview

Shawn Plank November 12, 2023

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.

Box-Toppers’ Cy Young Awards: Bassitt over Cole in AL; Strider over Snell in NL

Shawn Plank November 10, 2023

Box-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.

Astros’ Verlander tops players for Monday, Sept. 25; Giants’ Cobb tops NL players

Shawn Plank September 26, 2023

Astros pitcher Justin Verlander is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Verlander struck out eight over eight innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 5-1 win over the Mariners.

Padres’ Snell tops players for Tuesday, Sept. 19; Strider extends Box-Toppers points lead

Shawn Plank September 20, 2023

Padres pitcher Blake Snell is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Tuesday, Braves pitcher Spencer Strider extends his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Padres’ Snell tops players for Wednesday, Sept. 13; Strider takes player rankings lead

Shawn Plank September 14, 2023

Padres pitcher Blake Snell is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Wednesday, Braves pitcher Spencer Strider rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Strider passes Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, who has led rankings every day but one for the past three months.

Padres’ Snell tops players for Saturday, Sept. 2; Tigers’ Olson tops AL players

Shawn Plank September 3, 2023

Padres pitcher Blake Snell is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Snell struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and four walks, in the 6-1 win over the Giants.

Padres’ Snell tops players for Saturday, July 8; Braves’ Strider rises to lead NL pitchers

Shawn Plank July 9, 2023

Padres pitcher Blake Snell is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Saturday, Braves pitcher Spencer Strider rises to lead National League pitchers in 2023 Box-Toppers points, rising to third place overall in Box-Toppers season player rankings, after earning Player of the Game honors.

Twins’ Ryan tops players for Thursday, June 22; Marlins’ Garrett rises to 5th place

Shawn Plank June 23, 2023

Twins pitcher Joe Ryan is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Thursday, Marlins pitcher Braxton Garrett rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Padres’ Snell tops players for Saturday, June 17; Marlins’ Garrett rises to 6th place

Shawn Plank June 18, 2023

Padres pitcher Blake Snell is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Saturday, Marlins pitcher Braxton Garrett rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Mets lead 2023 Box-Toppers preseason team rankings; Yankees top AL teams

Shawn Plank March 21, 2023

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.

A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2022

Shawn Plank January 16, 2023

In 2022, Justin Verlander led American League pitchers in season Box-Toppers points for the third time in his career, tied for the seventh-most times a player has led a season points category.

Also in 2022, the New York Mets and Miami Marlins each had their first Box-Toppers points category leader—Pete Alonso and Sandy Alcantara— leaving the Pittsburgh Pirates as the only team to never have a player lead a category since tracking began in 1995.

Braves, Astros, Mariners among leaders in Box-Toppers offseason team rankings

Box-Toppers’ big dippers—players whose 2023 point total declined most from 2022: Carlos Rodon leads list

Four Box-Toppers points leaders among players named to 2023 All-MLB First Team

Box-Toppers points leaders Ohtani, Henderson win 2023 Players Choice Awards

Luzardo leads Box-Toppers most improved list; 2 others win B-T Comeback Player

Box-Toppers 2023 year-end All-Star teams

Awards wrap-up: Box-Toppers leaders win 2 of 6 major postseason honors in 2023

Box-Toppers’ pick Ohtani wins AL MVP, but Acuña wins NL MVP over our pick, Alonso

Cole, Snell win 2023 Cy Young Awards over Box-Toppers leaders Bassitt, Strider

A look at Box-Toppers’ leaders for postseason awards, plus an award finalist overview

Box-Toppers’ Cy Young Awards: Bassitt over Cole in AL; Strider over Snell in NL

Astros’ Verlander tops players for Monday, Sept. 25; Giants’ Cobb tops NL players

Padres’ Snell tops players for Tuesday, Sept. 19; Strider extends Box-Toppers points lead

Padres’ Snell tops players for Wednesday, Sept. 13; Strider takes player rankings lead

Padres’ Snell tops players for Saturday, Sept. 2; Tigers’ Olson tops AL players

Padres’ Snell tops players for Saturday, July 8; Braves’ Strider rises to lead NL pitchers

Twins’ Ryan tops players for Thursday, June 22; Marlins’ Garrett rises to 5th place

Padres’ Snell tops players for Saturday, June 17; Marlins’ Garrett rises to 6th place

Mets lead 2023 Box-Toppers preseason team rankings; Yankees top AL teams

A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2022

Past posts

Recent posts

Box-Toppers tag cloud

Box-Toppers

Tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score stats. A method to measure & compare baseball's top players.