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Box-Toppers picks the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 2025 World Series, beating the predicted American League champion Baltimore Orioles.
Box-Toppers projects the Dodgers will have the most wins among all teams—108—and that National League teams will be among the most dominant. Eight of the 15 NL teams are projected to have as many or more wins as the best American League teams (89).
Read MoreTigers 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 MoreBox-Toppers coverage of the 2025 Major League Baseball season begins with the first spring training game Thursday.
Since 1995, Box-Toppers has tracked each Major League game played, tracking 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.
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Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler has more Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons than any other player.
Wheeler earned 36.1 Box-Toppers points over 2023 and 2024. He ranked 11th among all players in 2022 with 14.7 Box-Toppers points and first among all players in 2024 with 21.4 points. Wheeler ranked fifth among National League pitchers in 2023 and led NL pitchers in 2024.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers season-by-season leaders chart for each of the past 30 seasons, including the leaders in Box-Toppers points each season among four main categories—American League and National League pitchers and batters.
Also, a look at how often Box-Toppers leaders win major postseason awards (Cy Young and Most Valuable Player), what players have led a Box-Toppers season category most often since tracking began in 1995 and what teams have had the most category leaders in 30 seasons. Also, a look at the lowest point totals to lead a season category, which includes 2024 leaders.
Read MoreHere’s an overview of Box-Toppers point leaders for 2024. The chart shows:
• Overall top 10 leaders and top 10 pitchers and batters in the American and National leagues.
• Top batters by position—top 10 for outfielders and top five for other positions.
• The top 10 players with the biggest declines ("dippers") and increases ("risers") in points from 2023.
• Top relief pitchers, featuring the top five closing (CP) and middle relief (MR) pitchers in both leagues.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team going into 2025 but with player injuries factored in, the New York Mets hold the overall edge.
The current 2025 roster of last year’s World Series champion Dodgers accumulated 118.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024, most of any team. However, with several players injured and expected to miss time in 2025, their injury-adjusted Box-Toppers point total drops to 106.7, fifth among all teams.
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Box-Toppers three top-ranked rookies are named to Box-Toppers 2024 All-Rookie Team: Yankees pitcher Luis Gil, Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes and Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga.
The past season’s Rookie of the Year winners—Yankees pitcher Luis Gil and Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes—are among the Box-Toppers 2024 All-Rookie Team players.
Gil is placed on the Box-Toppers All-Rookie Team as the second starting pitcher and Skenes is placed as the third starter. Gil ranked second among rookie starting pitchers with 17.4 Box-Toppers points and Skenes ranked third with 13.0 Box-Toppers points. Both finished behind Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga, Box-Toppers’ top-ranked rookie pitcher, who earned 20.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024.
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Box-Toppers points leaders Aaron Judge of the Yankees (left), Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers (middle) and Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (left) also were winners of the 2024 Players Choice Awards as voted by members of the players’ union.
Three Box-Toppers category leaders also won Players Choice Awards for 2024 as voted by the players’ union:
Aaron Judge of the Yankees was voted American League Outstanding Player and also was Box-Toppers’ choice as AL Most Valuable Player.
Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers was voted National League Outstanding Player and was also Box-Toppers’ choice as NL Most Valuable Player.
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal was voted AL Outstanding Pitcher and also was Box-Toppers’ choice as NL Cy Young Award winner.
While Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga is Box-Toppers’ most improved player in 2024, our choices for Comeback Players of the Year are Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes and Braves pitcher Reynaldo Lopez.
Meanwhile, one of the consensus choices for Comeback Player of the Year—Braves pitcher Chris Sale—ranks 13th among Box-Toppers’ most-improved players in 2024.
Read MoreOverall Box-Toppers points leader, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, leads the Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2024 regular season.
The American League and National League All-Star teams are composed of the players with the highest Box-Toppers point totals by position in each league. In addition to nine batters in each league are the top four starting pitchers in each league and the top closing pitcher.
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Box-Toppers’ choices for baseball’s major postseason player awards won four of six 2024 honors:
Aaron Judge of the Yankees won the American League Most Valuable Player Award.
Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers won the National League Most Valuable Player Award.
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal won the AL Cy Young Award.
Yankees pitcher Luis Gil won the AL Rookie of the Year Award.
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.
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Tarik Skubal of the Tigers, left, who led American League pitchers in Box-Toppers points, was named AL Cy Young Award winner. Chris Sale of the Braves, middle, who was voted National League Cy Young winner, finished fourth among NL pitchers in Box-Toppers points. Zack Wheeler of the Phillies, right, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2024, finished second in NL Cy Young voting.
One of two Box-Toppers season pitching leaders won their league’s 2024 Cy Young Award while the other fell just short.
Tarik Skubal of the Tigers, who led American League pitchers with 21.1 Box-Toppers points, won the AL Cy Young Award. However, Chris Sale of the Braves won the National League Cy Young Award ahead of Zack Wheeler of the Phillies, the overall season leader in Box-Toppers points.
Read MoreSeven 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.
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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.
The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2024 World Series after the season’s 12 playoff-qualifying teams played a total of 43 postseason games over 30 days in October.
Here is a recap look at Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in each of the 43 postseason games for 2024.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Walker Buehler is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Monday’s World Series Game 3.
The Los Angeles Dodgers win 4-2 to take a 3-0 lead over the New York Yankees in the best-of-seven-game series. Buehler struck out five over five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s World Series Game 2.
The Los Angeles Dodgers win 4-2 to take a 2-0 lead over the New York Yankees in the best-of-seven-game series. Yamamoto struck out four over 6 1/3 innings, allowing one run, one hit and two walks.
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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).
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.