Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Musgrove struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 3-0 win over the Tigers.
Read MoreYankees’ Cole tops players Friday, Aug. 16; Brewers’ Civale tops NL players
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Cole struck out eight over six scoreless innnings, allowing four hits and two walks, in the 3-0 win over the Tigers.
Read MoreRoyals’ Wacha tops players Friday, July 19; Guardians’ Bibee rises to 5th in rankings
Royals pitcher Michael Wacha is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Guardians pitcher Tanner Bibee rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreRays’ Bradley tops players Friday, July 12; Reds’ Hinds tops NL players in B-T debut
Rays pitcher Taj Bradley is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Bradley struck out eight over seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits and two walks, in the 2-0 win over the Guardians.
Read MoreRays’ Bradley tops players for Sunday, June 30; Brewers’ Peralta tops NL players
Rays pitcher Taj Bradley is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole extended his streak of consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points to 12 after winning his first Player of the Game honor of 2024.
Read MoreRoyals’ Lugo tops players for Friday, April 26; Nola, Helsley, Imanaga rise in top 10 list
Royals pitcher Seth Lugo is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, three players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after each earned Player of the Game honors: Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola rises to third place, Cardinals closing pitcher Ryan Helsley rises to fourth place and Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga rises to seventh place.
Read MoreRays’ Pepiot tops players for Sunday, April 7; Brewers’ Contreras tops NL players
Rays pitcher Ryan Pepiot is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, two players rise into Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after both earn their second Player of the Game honor of 2024—Astros pitcher Ronel Blanco rises to third place and Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga rises to fifth.
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Box-Toppers picks Dodgers over Astros in 2024 World Series, plus our awards forecasts
Box-Toppers picks the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 2024 World Series, beating the predicted American League champion Houston Astros.
Box-Toppers projects the Dodgers will have the most wins among all teams—103—and will be one of three teams with 99 or more wins, along with the Astros and the Atlanta Braves.
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Scherzer, Verlander rise in Box-Toppers ‘all-time’ top 10 list during 2023
During the 2023 season, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander each rose one spot on Box-Toppers “all-time” career points top 10 list.
They were the only player movements among Box-Toppers “all-time” career points top 10 players overall, among the top 10 pitchers and among the top 10 batters. Pitcher Randy Johnson, who retired in 2009, still leads all players in career Box-Toppers points with 282.5 (tracking began in 1995).
Read MoreGerrit Cole leads players in Box-Toppers points over past 6 seasons (2018-23)
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole leads players in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2018.
Cole has 112.4 Box-Toppers points over the period 2018-23, 17.4 points ahead of second-ranked player, Rangers pitcher Max Scherzer, who has 95.0 over that span.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2023
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.
Read MoreFour Box-Toppers points leaders among players named to 2023 All-MLB First Team
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.
Read MoreCan Shohei Ohtani continue his lofty, Angelic Box-Toppers rankings with Dodgers?
Shohei 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 MoreBox-Toppers points leaders Ohtani, Henderson win 2023 Players Choice Awards
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.
Read MoreBox-Toppers 2023 year-end All-Star teams
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.
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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.
Awards wrap-up: Box-Toppers leaders win 2 of 6 major postseason honors in 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.
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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.
Box-Toppers’ pick Ohtani wins AL MVP, but Acuña wins NL MVP over our pick, Alonso
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.
Cole, Snell win 2023 Cy Young Awards over Box-Toppers leaders Bassitt, Strider
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.
A look at Box-Toppers’ leaders for postseason awards, plus an award finalist overview
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 MoreBox-Toppers’ Cy Young Awards: Bassitt over Cole in AL; Strider over Snell in NL
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.
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