Nationals’ Scherzer tops players for Friday, April 16, rising to 7th in ‘all-time’ career points

Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to seventh place in Box-Toppers’ “all-time” rankings.

Scherzer struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 1-0 win over the Diamondbacks. Scherzer did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.

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A look at how top draft picks fared in career Box-Toppers points and rankings

Alex Rodriguez has the most career Box-Toppers points of all Major League Baseball number-one draft picks since 1990.

Rodriguez, who was the first pick in the 1993 draft, earned 187.0 Box-Toppers points during his career from 1994 to 2016, which is 10th overall since 1995 and second among all batters (behind Albert Pujols of the Angels with 201.8).

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Albert Pujols could break record for most consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points in 2020

Albert Pujols has the chance in 2020 to break the record for most consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points.

If Pujols of the Angels earns Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors once in 2020, he will have earned Box-Toppers points for 20 straight seasons (2001-2020). Pujols is currently tied for the longest streak at 19 seasons with three other players—CC Sabathia, Jason Giambi and Carlos Beltran.

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Los Angeles Angels top first Box-Toppers team rankings report of 2018

The Los Angeles Angels lead Box-Toppers’ first team rankings report of 2018.

Meanwhile, the New York Mets are the top-ranked National League team and the Cleveland Indians are the hottest team of the past week.

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Padres' Jordan Lyles tops players for Friday, April 6; Orioles' Alvarez tops AL players

Padres pitcher Jordan Lyles is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Lyles struck out four over two scoreless innings of middle relief, allowing no hits and no walks, in the 4-1 win over the Astros. Lyles picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win or the save. He pitched the sixth and seventh innings, holding the Padres’ lead, before handing it off to two subsequent relievers. 

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Box-Toppers top pitchers and batters by team, 2017

Three of the four players who won Cy Young or Most Valuable Player awards in 2017 also led their teams in Box-Toppers points for the season.

The only exception: American League Most Valuable Player Jose Altuve did not lead Astros batters in Box-Toppers points. In fact, with only 2.5 Box-Toppers points, he finished 11th among Astros batters and 21st among all Astros players.

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Box-Toppers 2012-17 All-Star teams

The Box-Toppers All-Star teams for 2012-17 consist of the best players over the past six seasons, which includes 12 of the 27 players who are also on Box-Toppers 2016-17 All-Star teams.

Also, among the 27 players on the teams, there are 11 players who are on Box-Toppers 2017 All-Star teams and 10 who are on All-Star teams over all three time spans—for 2017, for 2016-17 and for 2012-17.Leading the 2012-17 All-Stars is Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who ranks first in Box-Toppers points over the past six seasons with 147.2.

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Half of top 10 RBI leaders are among their league's top 10 batters in Box-Toppers points

Half of the top 10 runs batted in leaders are among their league’s top 10 batters in Box-Toppers points in 2017.

Overall RBI leader Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins (132) ranked second among National League batters in Box-Toppers points with 14.2.

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How 2017 Silver Sluggers winners fared in Box-Toppers points and rankings

Only 7 of 17 Silver Slugger Award winners also led their position in Box-Toppers points

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Reds' Luis Castillo tops players for Sunday, July 30; Mariners' Paxton rises to 6th in Box-Toppers player rankings

Reds pitcher Luis Castillo is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Sunday, Mariners pitcher James Paxton rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.

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More pitchers lead their team in 2017 Box-Toppers points than batters at the All-Star break

A look at who leads each of the 30 teams in 2017 Box-Toppers points at the All-Star break.

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A look at Box-Toppers All-Star leaders and how they compare to All-Star vote-getters

A look at top players in Box-Toppers points by position in both leagues over both 2017 and the combined 2016-17 seasons.

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Nationals' Anthony Rendon tops players for Sunday, April 30, recording possibly highest Box-Toppers game score by batter since 1995

Anthony Rendon of the Nationals is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, recording what is possibly the highest Box-Toppers game score by a batter in Box-Toppers’ 23-season history.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 29:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 6.0
2 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 5.7
3 Nova, Ivan 2796 pi sp pit nl 5.0
4 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 5.0
5 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 5.0
6 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 4.7
7 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 4.4
8 Triggs, Andrew 3723 pi sp oak al 4.4
9 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 4.0
10 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 4.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Sunday, Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Rendon hit three home runs, doubled, went 6-for-6, scored five times and drove in 10 runs, in the 23-5 win over the Mets.

Rendon had a Box-Toppers game score of +15.0, which appears to be the highest score by a batter since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.

While Box-Toppers has records for each Player of the Game since the start of 1995, the data from actual game score records from box scores only goes back to the start of 2011. The previous high game score for a batter since 2011 was +12.0, done twice:

  • On June 9, 2014, Lonnie Chisenhall of the Indians (3HR 5-5 3R 9BI in the 17-7 win over the Rangers) earned Player of the Day honors.
  • On May 8, 2012, Josh Hamilton of the Rangers (4HR 2B 5-5 4R 8BI in the 10-3 win over the Orioles) earned Player of the Day honors.

However, looking back at some of the most likely games to produce high Box-Toppers game scores for batters from 1995 to 2010, it appears no batter had a higher game score than Rendon had Sunday.

Rendon became the 13th player in Major League history to have a game with 10 runs batted in. That’s a club that’s even rarer than the four-home run club, which has been done 16 times in Major League history.

During the Box-Toppers era (since 1995), there have been three games in which a player has had 10 RBIs and no player had a Box-Toppers game score of more than +12.0:

  • On May 10, 1999, Nomar Garciaparra of the Red Sox (3HR 3-4 3R 10BI in the 12-4 win over the Mariners) had a Box-Toppers game score of +12.0.
  • On April 26, 2005, Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees (3HR 4-5 3R 10BI in the 12-4 win over the Angels) had a Box-Toppers game score of +12.0.
  • On Aug. 21, 2007, Garret Anderson of the Angels (2HR 2-2B 4-6 3R 10BI in the 18-9 win over the Yankees) had a Box-Toppers game score of +11.0.

Rendon also had a six-hit game, something that’s been done 101 times in Major League history (30 of those games happened in the 1800s). There have been 22 six-hit games in the Box-Toppers era (since 1995). The highest Box-Toppers game score of those games and what appears to be the previous high Box-Toppers game score for a batter (since 1995) was +13.0, achieved by Shawn Green of the Dodgers on May 23, 2002 (4HR 2B 6-6 6R 7BI in the 16-3 win over the Brewers).

Batters have hit four home runs in a game 16 times in Major League history, including four times during the Box-Toppers era (since 1995), however Green’s +13.0 score is the highest for those games. The other four-home run games during the Box-Toppers era:

  • On May 2, 2002, Mike Cameron of the Mariners (4HR 4-5 4R 4BI in the 15-4 win over the White Sox) had a Box-Toppers game score of +7.0.
  • On Sept. 25, 2002, Carlos Delgado of the Blue Jays (4HR 4-4 4R 6BI in the 10-8 win over the Devil Rays) had a Box-Toppers game score of +10.0.
  • On May 8, 2012, Josh Hamilton of the Rangers (4HR 2B 5-5 4R 8BI in the 10-3 win over the Orioles) had a Box-Toppers game score of +12.0.

While Rendon seems to have broken the “all-time” (since 1995) record for Box-Toppers game score for a batter, it is still only the second-best game score of 2017. On April 20, Chris Sale of the Red Sox had a Box-Toppers game score of +16.0 (8IP 4H 0R BB 13K ND in the 4-3, 10-inning win over the Blue Jays). Pitchers generally have more opportunity to earn high game scores than batters. In 2016, the highest overall game score was +22.0, earned by Vince Velasquez of the Phillies on April 14 (CG 3H 0R 0BB 16K W in the 3-0 win over the Padres).

(Related: Highest Box-Toppers game scores by batters in the 2016 season and 2015 season.)

American League Player of the Day—Blue Jays pitcher Ryan Tepera pitched 3 1/3 innings of scoreless middle relief, allowing one hit and striking out five, in the 3-1 win over the Rays. Tepera picked up a no decision and did not earn the win because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.

American League Batter of the Day—Miguel Sano of the Twins homered and went 3-for-5, driving in five runs, in the 7-5 win over the Royals.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Sunday because the overall Player of the Day was NL batter Anthony Rendon.

Rankings—Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel rises to seventh in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Keuchel (7.2IP 3H R 2BB 9K W in the 7-2 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 4.4 for the season. He ranks fourth among AL pitchers.

Streak—Justin Upton of the Tigers has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Upton (HR 2-3 2R BI in the 7-3 win over the White Sox) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2008 with the Diamondbacks and has 52.1 career points, fourth among active AL outfielders. His best season was 2011 with the Diamondbacks, when he had 9.7 points, 10th among NL batters. In 2016, he had 6.7 points with the Tigers, fourth among AL outfielders.

Debut—Reds pitcher Wandy Peralta made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.

Peralta (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 5-4 win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut Sept. 4, 2016, and was playing in his 22nd career game. He is the 3,782nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Rendon earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Tepera earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Sano earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

About Box-Toppers—Box-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. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

4/30 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 15.0 WSH 23, NYM 5 Anthony Rendon, 3B 6 5 6 10 - - - - - -
9.2 HOU 7, OAK 2 Dallas Keuchel (W,5-0) - - - - 7.2 3 1 1 2 9
8.1 `ARI 2, COL 0 (F/13) Patrick Corbin - - - - 6.1 2 0 0 2 6
AL 7.1 `TOR 3, TB 1 Ryan Tepera - - - - 3.1 1 0 0 0 5
6.1 LAD 5, PHI 3 Hyun-Jin Ryu (W,1-4) - - - - 5.1 3 1 1 3 9
6.0 MIA 10, PIT 3 Justin Bour, 1B 5 1 4 6 - - - - - -
6.0 `BOS 6, CHC 2 Eduardo Rodriguez - - - - 6.0 5 1 1 2 9
5.0 MIL 4, ATL 3 Domingo Santana, RF 3 2 2 4 - - - - - -
4.1 LAA 5, TEX 2 JC Ramirez (W,3-2) - - - - 5.1 4 2 2 2 9
BAT 4.0 MIN 7, KC 5 Miguel Sano, 3B 5 1 3 5 - - - - - -
4.0 SD 5, SF 2 (F/12) Ryan Buchter (W,2-1) - - - - 2.0 1 0 0 0 3
3.0 CLE 12, SEA 4 Abraham Almonte, RF 4 2 3 2 - - - - - -
3.0 BAL 7, NYY 4 Logan Verrett (W,1-0) - - - - 2.0 1 0 0 0 2
3.0 CIN 5, STL 4 Wandy Peralta (W,1-0) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.0 DET 7, CHW 3 Justin Upton, LF 3 2 2 1 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).  

Player of the Game Pos Team ’17 ’16-17 ’12-17 Career +/-
Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 4.4 11.4 47.2 47.2 -2.6
Sano, Miguel 3527 3b min al 4.0 7.0 13.0 13.0 1.0
Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 pi sp bos al 3.7 8.4 14.4 14.4 -1.0
Ramirez, JC 3778 pi sp ana al 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Rendon, Anthony 3258 3b dc nl 2.0 7.5 14.0 14.0 -3.5
Corbin, Patrick 3027 pi sp cp ari nl 2.0 5.7 34.5 34.5 -1.7
Tepera, Ryan 3774 pi mr tor al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Upton, Justin 2411 lf det al 1.0 7.7 33.9 52.1 -5.7
Bour, Justin 3433 1b fla nl 1.0 3.5 13.5 13.5 -1.5
Almonte, Abraham 3554 rf cle al 1.0 3.0 4.5 4.5 -1.0
Verrett, Logan 3518 pi cp bal al 1.0 2.0 5.0 5.0 0.0
Buchter, Ryan 3626 pi mr sd nl 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0
Santana, Domingo 3507 rf mil nl 1.0 1.0 2.5 2.5 1.0
Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139 pi sp lad nl 1.0 1.0 22.1 22.1 1.0
Peralta, Wandy 3782 pi mr cin nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Box-Toppers top outfielders by time frame

Manny Ramirez leads outfielders in career Box-Toppers points. Carlos Beltran leads active outfielders in career points. Mike Trout leads outfielders in recent seasons.

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Mets' Noah Syndergaard tops players for Sunday, Aug. 21, rises to 9th in Box-Toppers player rankings

Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth place in season player rankings.

Syndergaard pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits, two walks and striking out six, in the 2-0 win over the Giants.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Aug. 21:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 20.0
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 18.7
3 Kluber, Corey 3200 pi sp cle al 17.2
4 Fernandez, Jose 3147 pi sp fla nl 16.4
5 Hamels, Cole 2135 pi sp tex al 15.1
6 Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp sf nl 14.4
7 Lester, Jon 2173 pi sp chi nl 14.4
8 Strasburg, Stephen 2736 pi sp dc nl 14.1
9 Syndergaard, Noah 3472 pi sp nym nl 13.0
10 Happ, J.A. 2536 pi sp tor al 12.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

Syndergaard earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 13.0 for the season. He ranks seventh among National League pitchers. Rising to ninth place overall, he displaces Jose Altuve of the Astros (12.5 Box-Toppers points) from the top 10 list. Altuve, who was the only batter in the top 10, falls to 11th place.

American League Player of the Day—Justin Upton of the Tigers hit a pair of three-run homers in the 10-5 win over the Red Sox.

National League Batter of the Day—Nolan Arenado of the Rockies hit a pair of three-run homers and went 4-for-5 in the 11-4 win over the Cubs.

Arenado earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 8.0 for the season, rising to fourth place among NL batters.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Sunday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Justin Upton.

Debut—Padres pitcher Luis Perdomo made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.

Perdomo (7IP 5H R 0BB 5K W in the 9-1 win over the Diamondbacks) made his Major League debut April 4 and was playing in his 29th career game. He is the 3,715th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Syndergaard earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Upton earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Arenado earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

About Box-Toppers—Box-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. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

8/21 Score Game Player of Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 10.0 NYM 2, SF 0 Noah Syndergaard (W,11-7) - - - - 8.0 2 0 0 2 6
BAT 7.0 COL 11, CHC 4 Nolan Arenado, 3B 5 2 4 6 - - - - - -
7.0 STL 9, PHI 0 Mike Leake (W,9-9) - - - - 7.0 7 0 0 1 8
AL 6.0 DET 10, BOS 5 Justin Upton, LF 4 2 2 6 - - - - - -
6.0 SD 9, ARI 1 Luis Perdomo (W,6-7) - - - - 7.0 5 1 0 0 5
6.0 LAD 4, CIN 0 Julio Urias (W,4-2) - - - - 6.0 6 0 0 0 6
5.0 HOU 5, BAL 3 Dallas Keuchel (W,8-12) - - - - 8.0 5 2 2 1 7
4.0 `ATL 7, WSH 6 (10) Jim Johnson - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
3.0 MIL 7, SEA 6 Tyler Thornburg (W,5-4) - - - - 2.0 1 0 0 0 2
3.0 LAA 2, NYY 0 Fernando Salas (S,4) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.1 CLE 3, TOR 2 Mike Clevinger (W,2-1) - - - - 1.1 1 0 0 1 3
2.0 TB 8, TEX 4 Steven Souza Jr., RF 4 2 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 KC 2, MIN 1 Eric Hosmer, 1B 2 1 2 1 - - - - - -
1.0 CHW 4, OAK 2 Todd Frazier, 3B 4 0 3 2 - - - - - -
1.0 MIA 3, PIT 2 Fernando Rodney (S,24) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 1 1
`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (16). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (15-16), the period 2011-2016 (11-16) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2016 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2015 total (+/-).  

Player of Game Pos Team 16 15-16 11-16 Career +/-
Syndergaard, Noah 3472 pi sp nym nl 13.0 23.4 23.4 23.4 2.6
Arenado, Nolan 3306 3b col nl 8.0 16.5 18.0 18.0 -0.5
Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 7.0 28.4 42.8 42.8 -14.4
Frazier, Todd 2929 3b chi al 6.2 15.1 29.1 29.1 -2.7
Upton, Justin 2411 lf det al 5.7 14.7 41.6 50.1 -3.3
Leake, Mike 2709 pi sp stl nl 5.0 15.0 40.1 44.6 -5.0
Hosmer, Eric 2886 1b kc al 5.0 14.0 27.5 27.5 -4.0
Souza, Steven Jr. 3461 rf tb al 4.7 10.2 10.2 10.2 -0.8
Johnson, Jim 2417 pi cp mr atl nl 4.0 6.0 16.0 21.7 2.0
Rodney, Fernando 1803 pi cp fla nl 4.0 5.0 22.0 34.0 3.0
Thornburg, Tyler 3195 pi cp mil nl 4.0 4.0 10.0 10.0 4.0
Clevinger, Mike 3707 pi mr sp cle al 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Urias, Julio 3652 pi sp lad nl 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Salas, Fernando 2853 pi cp ana al 2.0 3.0 10.0 10.0 1.0
Perdomo, Luis D. 3715 pi sp sd nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

A late June look at Box-Toppers All-Star teams, led by Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw

Eight AL players and five NL players occupy All-Star spots at their position in both the 2016 season and the combined 2015-16 seasons.

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A look at how star players are trending over the long-term: Kershaw maintains his dominance, other stars rise and fall

Andrew McCutchen replaces Ryan Braun as leader among NL batters in six-year rolling Box-Toppers totals (2011-2016 vs. 2010-2015).

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