Blog
Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers records the second-highest Box-Toppers game score for a batter in the 30 years of Box-Toppers player tracking. He did it on the day he became the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season.
Read MoreAdolis Garcia of the Rangers is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, recording what is possibly the fifth-highest Box-Toppers game score by a batter since tracking began in 1995.
Also Saturday, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole regains first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Rays pitcher Shane McClanahan rises to fifth place in player rankings.
Read MoreTrevor Story of the Red Sox is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Pete Alonso of the Mets rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings—first place among National League batters—after earning NL Batter of the Day honors for the second straight day.
Read MoreRed Sox pitcher Nick Pivetta is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Rockies pitcher German Marquez rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreEight of the top 14 runs batted in leaders were among the top 100 players in Box-Toppers points in 2020.
Six of those players were also among their league’s top 10 batters during the pandemic-shortened season.
Read MoreJose Abreu of the White Sox and Freddie Freeman of the Braves were voted 2020 Most Valuable Players Thursday, ahead of other Box-Toppers points leaders.
Abreu, who ranked sixth in Box-Toppers points among American League batters with 4.5, was voted AL MVP. Freeman, who ranked eighth in Box-Toppers points among National League batters with 3.5, was voted NL MVP.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Corbin Barnes is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Plus, Adam Duvall of the Braves earns National League Batter of the Day honors Wednesday with a Box-Toppers game score of +13.0, which seems to be the fifth-highest game score for a batter earning Player of the Game honors in Box-Toppers tracking history, which began in 1995.
Read More
Box-Toppers picks the New York Yankees to beat the Washington Nationals in the 2020 World Series.
Still.
We made the same prediction in March before the season was thrown into doubt by the coronavirus pandemic. Only the projected win total has changed.
Read MoreHow did baseball’s statistical leaders do in Box-Toppers points in 2019?
The leaders in three specific pitching categories—earned run average, wins and strikeouts—were among the overall top 10 players in Box-Toppers points. However, the leaders in three specific batting categories—batting average, home runs and runs batted in—did not fare well in Box-Toppers points. All three ranked outside the top 100 overall players in Box-Toppers points and also ranked outside the top 10 players among their league’s batters.
Read MoreSeven of the 11 top runs batted in leaders were among their league’s top 10 batters in Box-Toppers points in 2019.
However, overall RBI leader Anthony Rendon of the Nationals ranked outside the top 10 National League batters in Box-Toppers points.
Read More
Box-Toppers picks the New York Yankees to beat the Washington Nationals in the 2020 World Series.
Box-Toppers projects the Yankees will have the most wins among all teams—110—and will be the only team with more than 100 wins this season.
Of course, these projections are made with the assumption that each team will play a complete 162-game schedule. That is thrown into doubt now that Coronavirus precautions have prompted baseball to suspend spring training and delay the start of the season.
Read More
The New York Yankees are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2020 preseason rankings, rising from fifth place at the end of the 2019 season.
The 2019 World Series-champion Washington Nationals, ranked second at the end of 2019, maintain second place in the 2020 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Blue Jays made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Houston Astros—2019’s top-ranked team and American League champion—had the biggest decline.
Read MoreCody Bellinger of the Dodgers, who ranked third among National League batters in Box-Toppers points in 2019 with 11.2, was voted NL Most Valuable Player Thursday.
And Mike Trout of the Angels, who ranked ninth among American League batters in Box-Toppers points in 2019 with 8.7, was voted AL Most Valuable Player.
Read MoreThe players who played the most key roles in helping their teams win the most games in 2019, for the most part, are not among the finalists for baseball’s postseason awards.
Gerrit Cole of the Astros, who led American League pitchers in Box-Toppers points with 32.2, is one of three finalists for the AL Cy Young Award. He is the only Box-Toppers point leader in any of the six categories to even be named as a finalist.
Read MoreTen of the 17 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards this week also were among the leaders at their positions in 2019 Box-Toppers point totals.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Patrick Corbin is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s World Series Game 7.
The Washington Nationals win 6-2, defeating the Houston Astros in the best-of-seven game series, 4-3, with each game in the series being won by the visiting team.
Read MoreAnthony Rendon of the Nationals is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Tuesday’s World Series Game 6.
The Washington Nationals win 7-2, tying the best-of-seven series with the Houston Astros at 3-3 and forcing Game 7 Wednesday.
Read MoreCardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty and Anthony Rendon of the Nationals are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in Wednesday’s pair of deciding National League Division Series games.
Read MoreIn four league division series playoff games Monday these are Box-Toppers Players of the Game:
Rays pitcher Charlie Morton, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, Gleyber Torres of the Yankees and Paul Goldschmidt of the Cardinals.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to 10th place in season player rankings.
Ryu struck out nine over eight scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 6-0 win over the Nationals.
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.