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Analyzing 29 years of Box-Toppers points leaders in pitching and batting in both leagues.
In 2023, Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, American League Most Valuable Player, was the only player who won a major postseason award and also led his Box-Toppers category (leading AL batters with 19.4). Also, Pete Alonso of the Mets became the ninth batter since 1995 to lead his league’s batters in Box-Toppers points more than once, leading NL batters for the second straight season.
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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, largely on the strength of their trade deadline pitcher acquisitions, rise to lead this week’s Box-Toppers season team rankings.
The Rangers gained the most Box-Toppers points by far of any team in the past week (21.1) thanks mostly to acquiring Max Scherzer (10.4 points) from the Mets and Jordan Montgomery (6.7 points) from the Cardinals.
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.
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.
Read MoreIn 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.
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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 MoreGiancarlo Stanton is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Tuesday’s American League Division Series Game 5 win, as the Yankees eliminate the Guardians.
Stanton hit a three-run homer and went 1-for-4, scoring once and driving in three runs.
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 MoreYankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Sunday’s American League Division Series playoff game.
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.
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Source: MLB.com.
The new Wild Card round of Major League Baseball’s postseason begins Friday 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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The Los Angeles Dodgers lead Box-Toppers team rankings report for the eighth straight week, with just one week to go in the season.
Meanwhile, the Houston Astros maintain the lead among American League teams and the Detroit Tigers are the week’s hottest team.
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.