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The Detroit Tigers regain the lead in Box-Toppers team rankings this week, passing the New York Yankees, as they have swapped leads for the fourth straight week.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers rise to lead National League teams and the Atlanta Braves are the week’s hottest team.
Read MoreOrioles pitcher Charlie Morton is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, two players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after both earned Player of the Game honors: Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes rises to fourth place and Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet rises to fifth place.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Tobias Myers is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Myers struck out nine over 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 1-0 win over the Reds. Myers did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.
Read MoreSix of the 20 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards in 2023 were also among the leaders at their positions in 2023 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 player most helps his team win the most games, awarding points for the top player in each game.
Read MoreOnly four Box-Toppers points leaders are among players selected for 2023’s 16-member “All-MLB” team announced this month. Three other Box-Toppers leaders were chosen for the “All-MLB” Second Team.
The All-MLB team players are not selected based on their affiliation with American League or National League. Rather, all players are chosen regardless of league as “First Team” or “Second Team” players.
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Source: MLB.com
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 MoreMariners pitcher Luis Castillo is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Castillo struck out seven over six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 4-0 win over the Diamondbacks.
Read MoreRed Sox pitcher James Paxton is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day
Paxton struck out seven over 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 5-0 win over the Blue Jays.
Read MoreBraves pitcher Kyle Wright and Jake Cronenworth of the Padres are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in Wednesday’s two National League Division series games.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2022 preseason rankings. They also ended 2021 as Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team.
Meanwhile, the New York Mets made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Oakland Athletics saw the biggest decline.
Read MoreThe 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 200 overall players in Box-Toppers points and also ranked outside the top 10 players among their league’s batters.
Read MoreFive of the top 11 runs batted in leaders were among the top 100 players in Box-Toppers points in 2021. All five were also among their league’s top 10 batters in Box-Toppers rankings.
However, Salvador Perez of the Royals, who led all players with 121 RBIs, had just 4.5 Box-Toppers points in 2021, 222nd among all players and 44th among American League batters.
Read MoreWhile six of the top 12 home run hitters in 2021 ranked among their league’s top 10 batters in Box-Toppers points for the season, the two top home run hitters ranked low.
Salvador Perez of the Royals and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays led all players with 48 home runs each in 2021, but both were the lowest ranked among the 12 top home run hitters in Box-Toppers points, both ranking outside the overall top 200 players.
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Shohei Ohtani of the Angels and Bryce Harper of the Phillies win the American League and National League Most Valuable Player awards. However, Jose Ramirez of the Indians led AL batters and Nick Castellanos of the Reds led NL batters in 2021 Box-Toppers points.
Shohei Ohtani of the Angels and Bryce Harper of the Phillies were voted 2021 Most Valuable Players Thursday, ahead of other Box-Toppers points leaders.
Ohtani, who ranked third in Box-Toppers points among all American League players with 16.1, was voted AL MVP. Harper, who ranked 28th among National League batters with 5.5 Box-Toppers points, was voted NL MVP.
Read MoreThe two players who won the Hank Aaron Award, given to the best offensive performer in each league, trailed most of the award finalists in 2021 Box-Toppers points.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays and Bryce Harper of the Phillies were chosen Tuesday as winners by a panel of eight Hall of Fame players and a Major League Baseball fan vote.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Luis Garcia is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Garcia struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks, in the 4-0 win over the Twins.
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Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom maintains his lead in Box-Toppers player rankings, despite not playing in nearly a month.
Meanwhile, all other category leaders also remain the same as last week: Gerrit Cole of the Yankees leads American League pitchers, Shohei Ohtani of the Angels leads AL batters and Nick Castellanos of the Reds leads National League batters.
Read MoreVladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays is Box-Toppers 2021 All-Star Game Player of the Game.
Guerrero homered, going 1-for-3, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the American League’s 5-2 win Tuesday over the National League.
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Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow leads Box-Toppers weekly season player rankings report for the fourth straight week.
Meanwhile, Padres pitcher Yu Darvish rises to lead National League pitchers, Trevor Story of the Rockies rises to lead NL batters and J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox maintains his lead among American League batters.
Read MoreOrioles pitcher John Means, pitching a no-hitter, is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fourth place in season player rankings.
Also Wednesday, Padres pitcher Yu Darvish rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
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.