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Box-Toppers’ top NL relief pitcher Ryan Helsley of the Cardinals wins 2024 NL Reliever of the Year. Emmanuel Clase of the Guardians wins AL Reliever of the Year ahead of Box-Toppers’ top AL reliever Josh Hader of the Astros.
Ryan Helsley of the Cardinals, who led NL relievers with 12.0 Box-Toppers points, won the NL award. But Emmanuel Clase of the Guardians won the AL award, ahead of Box-Toppers’ top AL reliever, Josh Hader of the Astros.
Hader led AL closers with 11.0 Box-Toppers points while Clase earned 4.0 points, eighth among AL closers. Clase did, however, lead AL closers with 47 saves in 2024. Hader had 34 saves in 2024, second-most in the AL.
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Box-Toppers points leaders have never won all four major postseason awards since tracking began in 1995.
But this year, in the 30th season of tracking, there is a chance that the four Box-Toppers points category leaders (both league’s batters and pitchers) may win the four major awards (both league’s Most Valuable Player and Cy Young awards).
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Box-Toppers picks the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 2024 World Series, beating the predicted American League champion Houston Astros.
Box-Toppers projects the Dodgers will have the most wins among all teams—103—and will be one of three teams with 99 or more wins, along with the Astros and the Atlanta Braves.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ top-ranked relief pitchers in both leagues were named 2023 Relievers of the Year by Major League Baseball.
Felix Bautista of the Orioles, who led American League relievers with 11.0 Box-Toppers points, won the AL award and Devin Williams of the Brewers, who led National League relievers with 8.0 Box-Toppers points, won the NL award.
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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 MoreEdwin Diaz of the Mets and Emmanuel Clase of the Guardians were named 2022 Relievers of the Year by Major League Baseball Tuesday.
Diaz, the winner in the National League, ranked second among all NL closing pitchers with 7.0 Box-Toppers points. But Clase, winner in the American League, ranked far outside the top three AL closers—in 24th place—with 2.0 Box-Toppers points.
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Box-Toppers’ choices for major postseason awards: American League Most Valuable Player—Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, National League Most Valuable Player—Pete Alonso of the Mets, AL Cy Young Award—Justin Verlander of the Astros and NL Cy Young Award—Sandy Alcantara of the Marlins.
Aaron Judge of the Yankees is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked American League batter in 2022. But Shohei Ohtani of the Angels is Box-Toppers’ choice for AL Most Valuable Player.
Box-Toppers cast votes for postseason honors for Ohtani, Justin Verlander, Sandy Alcantara and Pete Alonso, among others, in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) balloting, completed at the end of the regular season, prior to the start of postseason play.
Read MoreBox-Toppers points leaders won none of the six major postseason awards for 2021.
Baseball writers have awarded Most Valuable Player, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in both leagues and Box-Toppers leaders failed to win any of them.
Read MoreWhite Sox closing pitcher Liam Hendriks led American League relievers in Box-Toppers points and also was named AL’s 2021 Reliever of the Year.
But the National League winner, Brewers reliever Josh Hader, ranked sixth among NL closers in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Read MoreBox-Toppers has cast votes for postseason honors for Gerrit Cole, Jose Ramirez and for Max Scherzer—twice.
I have cast my vote in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) for Dodgers pitcher Scherzer to be both National League Cy Young Award winner and NL Most Valuable Player.
Read MoreBox-Toppers points leaders won two of the six major postseason awards for 2020.
Both Cy Young Award winners also led their league’s pitchers in Box-Toppers points in 2020—AL winner Shane Bieber of the Indians led AL pitchers with 11.4 and NL winner Trevor Bauer of the Reds led NL pitchers with 10.0. Bieber and Bauer also were Box-Toppers top two ranked players in 2020, the only two who earned 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points in the pandemic-shortened season.
Read MoreBox-Toppers has cast votes for postseason honors for Shane Bieber, Luke Voit and for Trevor Bauer—twice.
I have cast my vote in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) for Reds pitcher Bauer to be both National League Cy Young Award winner and NL Most Valuable Player.
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.