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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.
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).
Read MoreAaron 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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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 MoreSeven Box-Toppers points leaders are among players selected for 2024’s 16-member “All-MLB” Team announced Thursday.
Three other Box-Toppers leaders were chosen for the “All-MLB” Second Team.
The All-MLB team was selected with half the vote coming from fans and half coming from an expert panel. Unlike the selections for baseball’s All-Star Game, players on not selected based on their affiliation with American League or National League. Rather, all players are chosen from all Major League Baseball regardless of league as “First Team” or “Second Team” players.
Read MoreEight of the 20 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards in 2024 were also among the leaders at their positions in 2024 Box-Toppers point totals.
The awards are given to the top batter in each position in both leagues, voted on by Major League Baseball coaches and managers. Box-Toppers, analyzing traditional box scores, tracks which players most helps their teams win the most games, awarding points for the top player in each game.
Read MoreThe New York Yankees, Box-Toppers’ top-ranked American League team and the top seed among AL teams in the postseason, are favored over the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Championship Series.
The Yankees have the edge in overall Box-Toppers points and in starting and relief pitchers. However, the Guardians hold a surprising edge among the likely starting nine batters.
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Source: MLB.com
Both American League Division Series begin Saturday.
The Detroit Tigers face the Cleveland Guardians in one best-of-five game series and the Kansas City Royals face the New York Yankees in the other. The top two AL seeds, the Yankees (first) and the Guardians (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played this week.
Read MorePadres pitcher Dylan Cease is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to second place in season player rankings.
Also Wednesday, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal increases his lead among American League pitchers in Box-Toppers season player rankings, rising to fourth place overall, after earning Player of the Game honors. In addition, Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes rises to eighth place in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreWith the first phase of voting wrapping up this week for the 2024 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, here’s a look at Box-Toppers points leaders at each position in both leagues, through the games of Tuesday, June 25.
The first phase of fan All-Star voting closes Thursday at noon (Eastern time) and the second phase, with finalist voting only, runs from June 30 to July 3. Here is more information about how that works. The All-Star Game is Tuesday, July 16, in Arlington, Texas.
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Yankees pitcher Luis Gil leads Box-Toppers season player rankings report for the second straight week.
Meanwhile, Chris Sale of the Braves rises to lead National League pitchers, Brenton Doyle of the Rockies rises to lead NL batters and Juan Soto of the Yankees extends his lead among American League batters.
Read MoreTigers pitcher Jack Flaherty is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Juan Soto of the Yankees increases his lead among American League batters in 2024 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreCubs pitcher Ben Brown is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. In addition, Corey Seager of the Rangers has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 straight seasons.
Read MoreBraves pitcher Chris Sale is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fifth place in season player rankings.
Also Tuesday, Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreMariners pitcher Luis Castillo is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Blue Jays pitcher Jose Berrios rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Travis d'Arnaud of the Braves earns Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second straight day.
Read MoreRays pitcher Taj Bradley is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Bradley struck out eight over six innings, allowing one run, three hits and no walks, in the 7-2 win over the Orioles.
Read MoreEddie Rosario of the Braves is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Mariners pitcher Bryce Miller rises to sixth in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Read MoreMariners pitcher George Kirby is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Shohei Ohtani of the Angels regains the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreRays pitcher Jeffrey Springs is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s spring training games.
Springs struck out seven over 4 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, picking up the win, in the 5-1 win over the Braves.
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.