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Ivan Brethowr of the Cubs is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s first spring training game of 2025.
Brethowr hit a three-run, pinch-hit home run in the 12-4 win over the Dodgers. Brethowr went 1-for-1, scoring once and driving in three runs.
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Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole leads players in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2019.
Cole has 104.1 Box-Toppers points over the period 2019-24, 22.5 points ahead of second-ranked player, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, who has 81.6 over that span.
Read MoreBox-Toppers coverage of the 2025 Major League Baseball season begins with the first spring training game Thursday.
Since 1995, Box-Toppers has tracked each Major League game played, tracking 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.
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Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler has more Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons than any other player.
Wheeler earned 36.1 Box-Toppers points over 2023 and 2024. He ranked 11th among all players in 2022 with 14.7 Box-Toppers points and first among all players in 2024 with 21.4 points. Wheeler ranked fifth among National League pitchers in 2023 and led NL pitchers in 2024.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers season-by-season leaders chart for each of the past 30 seasons, including the leaders in Box-Toppers points each season among four main categories—American League and National League pitchers and batters.
Also, a look at how often Box-Toppers leaders win major postseason awards (Cy Young and Most Valuable Player), what players have led a Box-Toppers season category most often since tracking began in 1995 and what teams have had the most category leaders in 30 seasons. Also, a look at the lowest point totals to lead a season category, which includes 2024 leaders.
Read MoreHere’s an overview of Box-Toppers point leaders for 2024. The chart shows:
• Overall top 10 leaders and top 10 pitchers and batters in the American and National leagues.
• Top batters by position—top 10 for outfielders and top five for other positions.
• The top 10 players with the biggest declines ("dippers") and increases ("risers") in points from 2023.
• Top relief pitchers, featuring the top five closing (CP) and middle relief (MR) pitchers in both leagues.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team going into 2025 but with player injuries factored in, the New York Mets hold the overall edge.
The current 2025 roster of last year’s World Series champion Dodgers accumulated 118.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024, most of any team. However, with several players injured and expected to miss time in 2025, their injury-adjusted Box-Toppers point total drops to 106.7, fifth among all teams.
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Three players were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Tuesday—Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.
All three received the necessary 75 percent support of voters from the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). Box-Toppers supported Sabathia and Wagner in separate voting by the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA), but notably did not support Suzuki, who was a near-unanimous choice.
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Box-Toppers three top-ranked rookies are named to Box-Toppers 2024 All-Rookie Team: Yankees pitcher Luis Gil, Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes and Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga.
The past season’s Rookie of the Year winners—Yankees pitcher Luis Gil and Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes—are among the Box-Toppers 2024 All-Rookie Team players.
Gil is placed on the Box-Toppers All-Rookie Team as the second starting pitcher and Skenes is placed as the third starter. Gil ranked second among rookie starting pitchers with 17.4 Box-Toppers points and Skenes ranked third with 13.0 Box-Toppers points. Both finished behind Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga, Box-Toppers’ top-ranked rookie pitcher, who earned 20.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024.
Read MoreIn 2024, teams with the most Box-Toppers points earned by pitchers generally ranked higher in overall Box-Toppers team rankings.
For example, the Philadephia Phillies led all teams with 124.9 Box-Toppers points. Pitchers earned 78.0 of those points, fifth-most among all teams. Box-Toppers’ seven top-ranked teams were all among the top 10 in points earned by pitchers.
However, the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers were a notable anomaly. While the team finished eighth overall in Box-Toppers points (113.7), they finished 11th in points earned by pitchers (66.2) and third in points earned by batters (47.5).
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Box-Toppers points leaders Aaron Judge of the Yankees (left), Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers (middle) and Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (left) also were winners of the 2024 Players Choice Awards as voted by members of the players’ union.
Three Box-Toppers category leaders also won Players Choice Awards for 2024 as voted by the players’ union:
Aaron Judge of the Yankees was voted American League Outstanding Player and also was Box-Toppers’ choice as AL Most Valuable Player.
Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers was voted National League Outstanding Player and was also Box-Toppers’ choice as NL Most Valuable Player.
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal was voted AL Outstanding Pitcher and also was Box-Toppers’ choice as NL Cy Young Award winner.
Braves pitcher Spencer Strider had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2023 to 2024.
Strider led all players in 2023 with 21.1 Box-Toppers points but earned just 1.0 point in 2024, a 20.1-point decline, which is also the fifth-largest decline (in regular-length seasons) since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.
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While Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga is Box-Toppers’ most improved player in 2024, our choices for Comeback Players of the Year are Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes and Braves pitcher Reynaldo Lopez.
Meanwhile, one of the consensus choices for Comeback Player of the Year—Braves pitcher Chris Sale—ranks 13th among Box-Toppers’ most-improved players in 2024.
Read MoreOverall Box-Toppers points leader, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, leads the Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2024 regular season.
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.
Read MoreBox-Toppers is voting for four players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in the 2025 Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) ballot.
Box-Toppers is voting for these players: Felix Hernandez, Torii Hunter, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.
Notably, Box-Toppers is not voting for Ichiro Suzuki, who is on the Hall ballot for the first time for 2025. While Suzuki is expected to be a shoo-in for the Hall and to possibly be only the second player inducted on a unanimous vote, I devoted a previous post to why Box-Toppers doesn’t view him as a Hall of Famer. In addition, this post which will show how unfavorably he compares in Box-Toppers rankings to even this year’s Hall candidates, may even make a more stark case why I don’t see Suzuki as a Hall of Famer.
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As baseball writers push for Ichiro Suzuki to not only be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame but to become only the second player voted in unanimously, what chucklehead will oppose that?
It pains me to say: Me. Let me explain.
Despite earning Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year Awards and getting 3,000 hits, Suzuki was not the key player very often in his team’s wins. There was almost always some other teammate outperforming Suzuki in team wins. Suzuki never led his team in a season in Box-Toppers points and never even led his team’s batters.
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Box-Toppers’ choices for baseball’s major postseason player awards won four of six 2024 honors:
Aaron Judge of the Yankees won the American League Most Valuable Player Award.
Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers won the National League Most Valuable Player Award.
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal won the AL Cy Young Award.
Yankees pitcher Luis Gil won the AL Rookie of the Year Award.
Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers, who both led their league’s batters in Box-Toppers points in 2024, won the season’s Most Valuable Player Awards Thursday.
Judge, who led American League batters with 13.0 Box-Toppers points, won the AL award and Ohtani, who led National League batters with 11.0 Box-Toppers points, won the NL award.
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Tarik Skubal of the Tigers, left, who led American League pitchers in Box-Toppers points, was named AL Cy Young Award winner. Chris Sale of the Braves, middle, who was voted National League Cy Young winner, finished fourth among NL pitchers in Box-Toppers points. Zack Wheeler of the Phillies, right, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2024, finished second in NL Cy Young voting.
One of two Box-Toppers season pitching leaders won their league’s 2024 Cy Young Award while the other fell just short.
Tarik Skubal of the Tigers, who led American League pitchers with 21.1 Box-Toppers points, won the AL Cy Young Award. However, Chris Sale of the Braves won the National League Cy Young Award ahead of Zack Wheeler of the Phillies, the overall season leader in Box-Toppers points.
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Box-Toppers’ top NL relief pitcher Ryan Helsley of the Cardinals wins 2024 NL Reliever of the Year. Emmanuel Clase of the Guardians wins AL Reliever of the Year ahead of Box-Toppers’ top AL reliever Josh Hader of the Astros.
Ryan Helsley of the Cardinals, who led NL relievers with 12.0 Box-Toppers points, won the NL award. But Emmanuel Clase of the Guardians won the AL award, ahead of Box-Toppers’ top AL reliever, Josh Hader of the Astros.
Hader led AL closers with 11.0 Box-Toppers points while Clase earned 4.0 points, eighth among AL closers. Clase did, however, lead AL closers with 47 saves in 2024. Hader had 34 saves in 2024, second-most in the AL.
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.