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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.
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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 MoreBraves pitcher Michael Tonkin is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Tonkin struck out six over 3 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit, one walk and earning the save, in the 8-3 win over the Rockies.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Corbin Burnes is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
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Mets pitcher Steven Matz is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Velasquez, Vince 3611 | pi sp | phi nl | 4.0 |
| 2 | Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 3.4 |
| 3 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 3.0 |
| 4 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 3.0 |
| 5 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | phi nl | 3.0 |
| 6 | Volquez, Edinson 2220 | pi sp | kc al | 2.7 |
| 7 | Bettis, Chad 3481 | pi sp | col nl | 2.7 |
| 8 | Ross, Joe 3499 | pi sp | dc nl | 2.7 |
| 9 | Latos, Mat 2644 | pi sp | chi al | 2.7 |
| 10 | Moore, Matt 2975 | pi sp | tb al | 2.7 |
Matz struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits, in the 6-0 win over the Indians. Matz had a Box-Toppers game score of 11.0, tied with Rockies Tyler Chatwood, Player of the Game in his team’s 2-0 win over the Cubs (7IP 2H 0R 7K W), but Matz wins Player of the Day on a tiebreaker because he had more strikeouts—9 vs. 7.
American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Matt Moore struck out 10 over 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs, in the 3-2 win over the White Sox. Moore earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 2.7 for the season, rising to 10th place in season player rankings.
National League Batter of the Day—Yasmany Tomas of the Diamondbacks hit a pair of homers and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 7-3 win over the Padres.
American League Batter of the Day—Jose Altuve of the Astros homered and went 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 5-4 win over the Tigers.
Notable—Phillies pitcher Charlie Morton rose to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday. Morton (6IP 4H R 6K ND in the 3-2 win over the Nationals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 3.0 for the season.
Debut—Twins closing pitcher Michael Tonkin made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Tonkin (2IP 0H 0R 4K W in the 3-2 win over the Angels) made his Major League debut July 11, 2013, and was playing in his 63rd career game. He is the 3,615th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Matz earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Moore earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Tomas and Altuve each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 4/17 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.0 | Mets | Steven Matz (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | |
| 11.0 | Rockies | Tyler Chatwood (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | ||
| AL | 7.1 | Rays | Matt Moore (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 10 | |
| 6.0 | Blue Jays | Aaron Sanchez (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | ||
| 6.0 | Twins | Michael Tonkin (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | Dbacks | Yasmany Tomas, LF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | Dodgers | Kenta Maeda (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | ||
| 4.1 | Cardinals | Kevin Siegrist (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | `Phillies | Charlie Morton | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | Yankees | Andrew Miller (S,3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | Pirates | Gregory Polanco, RF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Braves | Jace Peterson, 2B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Astros | Jose Altuve, 2B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1.0 | Athletics | Jed Lowrie, DH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | phi nl | 3.0 | 9.7 | 22.7 | 27.7 | -3.7 |
| Moore, Matt 2975 | pi sp | tb al | 2.7 | 2.7 | 28.2 | 28.2 | 2.7 |
| Altuve, Jose 3007 | 2b | hou al | 2.5 | 9.5 | 19.0 | 19.0 | -4.5 |
| Miller, Andrew 2436 | pi cp | nyy al | 2.0 | 6.0 | 10.0 | 17.0 | -2.0 |
| Matz, Steven 3516 | pi sp | nym nl | 2.0 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | -1.5 |
| Maeda, Kenta 3609 | pi sp | lad nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Tomas, Yasmany 3489 | lf | ari nl | 1.5 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | -2.0 |
| Siegrist, Kevin 3260 | pi mr | stl nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | -3.0 |
| Peterson, Jace 3469 | 2b | atl nl | 1.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | -2.5 |
| Polanco, Gregory 3361 | rf | pit nl | 1.0 | 4.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | -2.0 |
| Lowrie, Jed 2437 | dh ss | oak al | 1.0 | 3.5 | 16.5 | 27.0 | -1.5 |
| Sanchez, Aaron 3392 | pi sp | tor al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | -1.0 |
| Chatwood, Tyler 2856 | pi sp | col nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 10.7 | 10.7 | 1.0 |
| Tonkin, Michael 3615 | pi cp | min al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
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. 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.