Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Friday’s spring training games.
Both league’s 2024 Box-Toppers points leaders and both league’s 2024 Cy Young Award winners won Player of the Game honors on Friday.
Read MoreA pitchers vs. batters breakdown of each team’s Box-Toppers point total for 2024
In 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 MoreBox-Toppers batting leaders Judge, Ohtani win Most Valuable Player awards
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.
Read MoreSeven Box-Toppers points leaders among players named to 2024 All-MLB First Team
Seven 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 MoreHow 2024 Silver Sluggers winners fared in Box-Toppers rankings
Eight 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.
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Box-Toppers points leaders are finalists in 5 of 6 major postseason player awards
In five of the six major postseason player awards, the 2024 Box-Toppers points leader for each honor is among the finalists announced by baseball writers Monday.
Here are the five awards for which Box-Toppers top-ranked players are among the finalists:
American League Cy Young Award—Tarik Skubal of the Tigers.
National League Cy Young Award—Zack Wheeler of the Phillies.
AL Most Valuable Player—Aaron Judge of the Yankees.
NL Most Valuable Player—Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers.
AL Rookie of the Year—Luis Gil of the Yankees.
Rangers’ Eovaldi tops players Wednesday, July 24; Giants’ Ray tops NL players
Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Eovaldi struck out 10 over seven innings, allowing two runs, four hits and no walks, in the 10-2 win over the White Sox.
Read MorePhillies’ Wheeler tops players Tuesday, July 23, rising to 3rd in season player rankings
Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to third place in season player rankings.
Wheeler struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 3-0 win over the Twins. Wheeler did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.
Read MoreRangers’ Heaney tops players for Sunday, June 2; Yankees’ Soto rises to lead AL batters
Rangers pitcher Andrew Heaney is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Juan Soto of the Yankees rises to lead American League batters in 2024 Box-Toppers points after earning AL Batter of the Day honors.
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Source: MLB.com
Box-Toppers’ NL Division Series preview: Phillies vs. Braves, Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers
Both National League Division Series begin Saturday.
The Philadelphia Phillies face the Atlanta Braves in one best-of-five game series and the Arizona Diamondbacks face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the other. The top two NL seeds, the Braves (first) and the Dodgers (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 MoreEovaldi tops players in Wednesday’s Wild Card games as all 4 series end in sweeps
Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi tops players in Wednesday’s four Wild Card playoff games, all of which ended in two-game sweeps.
Other Player of the Game winners in Wednesday’s Wild Card series games: Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola, Twins pitcher Sonny Gray and Diamondbacks closing pitcher Paul Sewald.
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Source: MLB.com
A Box-Toppers preview of the four Wild Card Series beginning Tuesday, Oct. 3
The Wild Card round of Major League Baseball’s postseason begins Tuesday with four best-of-three series.
Here is a Box-Toppers look at the eight teams competing in the four Wild Card round series.
Read MoreDodgers’ Pepiot tops players for Thursday, Sept. 7; Mariners’ Castillo rises to 8th
Dodgers pitcher Ryan Pepiot is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo rises to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Read MoreBrewers’ Woodruff tops players for Sunday, May 30, rises to 3rd in player rankings
Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to third in season player rankings.
Woodruff struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 3-0 win over the Nationals.
Read MoreRangers’ Cody tops players in Wednesday, March 24’s spring training games
A look at how WAR leaders fared in Box-Toppers points in 2019: We don't seem to be looking at the same game
Those who figure Wins Above Replacement and those who figure Box-Toppers points (me) often don’t seem to be looking at the same game.
But we are. We are looking at the exact same Major League Baseball game. In recent years, Box-Toppers has seen pitchers come to so overwhelmingly dominate the game that they’ve pushed batters’ relative achievements into the background. But WAR seems to persist in the notion that it is batters who are primarily the stars of the game, contributing more to help their teams win than pitchers.
Read MoreBellinger, Trout win MVP Awards ahead of Box-Toppers’ decidedly outlier picks—Cole, Ozuna
Cody 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 MoreRays’ Brendan McKay tops player for Friday, Sept. 6; Brewers’ Yelich extends lead among NL batters
Rays pitcher Brendan McKay is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Christian Yelich of the Brewers extended his lead among National League batters in 2019 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors.
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Astros’ Justin Verlander leads Box-Toppers season player rankings report for 12th straight week
Astros pitcher Justin Verlander maintains the lead in Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report for the 12th straight week.
Meanwhile, Nelson Cruz of the Twins rises to lead American League batters in Box-Toppers season player rankings, passing last week’s leader, Alex Bregman of the Astros.
Read MoreA look at how 2019 All-Star finalists fare in Box-Toppers points and rankings
There are nine players who lead their league’s positions in Box-Toppers points who are also among the finalists in the newfangled All-Star “general” election being held this week.
But there are eight players who lead their league’s position in Box-Toppers points who are not even listed among the top three finalists (top nine for outfielders) for their positions.
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