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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.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Jack Flaherty is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Sunday’s National League Championship Series Game 1.
Flaherty struck out six over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks. The Dodgers take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven-game series.
Read MoreBox-Toppers favors the surging New York Mets in the National League Championship Series over the injury-depleted Los Angeles Dodgers.
While the Dodgers are the NL’s highest seed in the postseason and while they feature Shohei Ohtani, the NL Box-Toppers points leader among batters, their starting pitching lineup, once considered their greatest asset, has become threadbare this postseason due to numerous injuries.
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Source: MLB.com
Both National League Division Series begin Saturday.
The San Diego Padres face the Los Angeles Dodgers in one best-of-five game series and the New York Mets face the Philadelphia Phillies in the other. The top two NL seeds, the Dodgers (first) and the Phillies (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played this week.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2024 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the New York Mets made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the San Diego Padres saw the biggest decline.
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The Atlanta Braves are Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team going into 2024, with a roster mostly intact from 2023 when they had baseball’s best record.
Meanwhile, the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners are Box-Toppers’ top two American League teams, with the Mariners having one of the best offseason improvements of any team so far. And also, while the Los Angeles Dodgers have made big offseason splashes adding Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow and Teoscar Hernandez, their offseason ranking has actually fallen from third place last season to fourth place now.
Read MoreGunnar Henderson of the Orioles, the American League Rookie of the Year, is among the players on Box-Toppers 2023 All-Rookie Team.
But Corbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks, voted National League Rookie of the Year, is not among the players on the team, having finished sixth among rookie outfielders with 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023.
Read MoreOnly two of Box-Toppers category leaders also won Players Choice Awards for 2023 as voted by the players’ union: Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, who was voted American League Outstanding Player and Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles was voted AL Outstanding Rookie.
Read MoreWhile Marlins pitcher Jesus Luzardo is Box-Toppers’ most improved player in 2023, our choices for Comeback Players of the Year are Eduardo Rodriguez of the Tigers and Jason Heyward of the Dodgers.
Meanwhile, the consensus choices for Comeback Players of the Year—Cody Bellinger and Liam Hendriks—did not rank very highly among Box-Toppers most improved players in 2023.
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Box-Toppers leaders win two of the six major postseason awards in 2023: Shohei Ohtani of the Angels wins AL Most Valuable Player and Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles wins AL Rookie of the Year. The other four Box-Toppers leaders did not win awards in their category: Pete Alonso of the Mets was not NL MVP, Chris Bassitt of the Blue Jays was not AL Cy Young Award winner, Spencer Strider of the Braves did not win NL Cy Young and James Outman of the Dodgers was not NL Rookie of the Year.
Box-Toppers’ choices for baseball’s major postseason awards won two of six of the 2023 honors.
Shohei Ohtani of the Angels won the American League Most Valuable Player Award and Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles won the AL Rookie of the Year Award.
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Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles is voted AL Rookie of the Year and Corbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks is voted NL Rookie of the Year. James Outman of the Dodgers, Box-Toppers’ choice for top NL rookie, finished third in voting.
Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles, Box-Toppers’ choice for 2023 American League Rookie of the Year, was also voted winner of the honor by baseball writers Monday.
But Corbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks, who won the National League Rookie of the Year honor, was not among Box-Toppers’ top three choices for top NL rookie. James Outman of the Dodgers, Box-Toppers’ choice for top NL rookie, finished third in voting.
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Box-Toppers choices for major postseason awards: AL MVP—Shohei Ohtani, Angels; NL MVP—Pete Alonso, Mets; AL Cy Young—Chris Bassitt, Blue Jays; NL Cy Young—Spencer Strider, Braves; AL Rookie of the Year—Gunnar Henderson, Orioles; NL Rookie of the Year—James Outman, Dodgers.
You’re going to hate Box-Toppers’ choices for postseason player honors.
That’s the impression I get from listening to and reading baseball commentators who by August were already declaring players as not even de facto but actual “don’t-argue-with-me-because-I’m-right-and-there’s-clearly-no-dispute” award winners.
Read MoreShohei Ohtani of the Angels, favorite for American League Most Valuable Player, is also Box-Toppers’ choice for the award. But Box-Toppers’ choice for NL MVP, Pete Alonso of the Mets, is not among the finalists for the award, expected to go to Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves, who is second on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot.
Read MoreGunnar Henderson of the Orioles is Box-Toppers American League Rookie of the Year, while James Outman of the Dodgers is Box-Toppers National League Rookie of the Year.
While Henderson is a favorite for AL Rookie of the Year, Corbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks is the overwhelming favorite for NL Rookie of the Year, even though he is not among Box-Toppers’ top NL rookies.
Read MorePirates pitcher Mitch Keller is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Keller struck out seven over eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 2-0 win over the Nationals.
Read MoreBraves pitcher Max Fried is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta rises to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Freddy Peralta is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fourth in season player rankings.
Also Saturday, Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt rises to fifth in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
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The Tampa Bay Rays and the Texas Rangers have the most players among the top 100 in Box-Toppers’ 2023 player rankings at the All-Star break.
Both the Rays and Rangers have seven players on the top 100 list (which actually consists of 102 players because of a tie for 100th place). Both American League teams are also among the top three in Box-Toppers team rankings at the All-Star break—the Rays rank first and the Rangers rank third, second among AL teams.
Read MoreTwins pitcher Pablo Lopez is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Lopez pitched a complete-game, four-hit shutout, striking out 12 and walking none, in the 5-0 win over the Royals.
Read MoreCubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Hendricks allowed one hit over eight scoreless innings, striking out three and walking one, in the 4-0 win over the Giants.
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.