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Shohei Ohtani, who signed a record free-agent deal with the Dodgers, has consistently been among Box-Toppers' highest-ranking players over the past three seasons.
However, his second surgery to repair his pitching elbow's ulnar collateral ligament, raises concerns about his future effectiveness. A Box-Toppers look at Ohtani’s career and the mixed outcomes of pitchers with a second elbow surgery.
Read MoreReds pitcher Trevor Bauer is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to second place in season player rankings.
Bauer struck out nine in a scoreless seven-inning complete game, allowing one hit and three walks, in the 5-0, seven-inning win over the Royals.
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The New York Yankees are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2020 preseason rankings, rising from fifth place at the end of the 2019 season.
The 2019 World Series-champion Washington Nationals, ranked second at the end of 2019, maintain second place in the 2020 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Blue Jays made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Houston Astros—2019’s top-ranked team and American League champion—had the biggest decline.
Read MoreIndians pitcher Corey Kluber had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2018 to 2019.
Kluber, who earned 21.7 Box-Toppers points in 2018 (fourth among all players), earned no points in 2019. His decline of 21.7 points was ahead of Rays pitcher Blake Snell, whose 10.0 points in 2019 represented a 17.2-point drop from the 27.2 points he earned to lead all players in 2018.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Walker Buehler is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to seventh place in season player rankings.
Buehler struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks, in the 7-3 win over the Orioles.
Read MoreRangers pitcher Kolby Allard is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, making his Box-Toppers debut.
Allard struck out eight over 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing six hits and no walks, in the 4-0 win over the White Sox.
Read MorePadres pitcher Dinelson Lamet is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Lamet struck out 12 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and four walks, in the 9-4 win over the Mariners.
Read MoreNo batters are deserving of the Most Valuable Player Award this year.
Collectively, batters are faring worse, with their statistics trending downward in recent years. This year has been an even lower point.
Box-Toppers is voting pitcher Max Scherzer as NL MVP and Blake Snell as AL MVP.
Read MoreMets pitcher Zack Wheeler is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, becoming the 38th player this season to earn 10 or more Box-Toppers points.
Also Wednesday, Rays pitcher Blake Snell who leads American League pitchers in 2018 Box-Toppers points and is ranked second overall, edged closer to overall leader Max Scherzer of the Nationals after earning AL Player of the Day honors. In addition Wednesday, Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreIndians pitcher Corey Kluber is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Kluber struck out 10 over 6 2/3 innings, allowing one run, two hits and one walk, in the 3-1 win over the Royals.
Read MoreGiants pitcher Chris Stratton is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Stratton struck out six over eight scoreless innings, allowing five hits and no walks, in the 2-0 win over the Diamondbacks.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player over the past six seasons while Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player over the past two seasons.
Kershaw leads all players in Box-Toppers points over 2012-2017 with 147.2, ahead of Scherzer, in second place with 128.9.
Read MoreSadly, Jose Fernandez leads the list of players whose Box-Toppers point total declined most from 2016 to 2017. The 22.4-point decline is 8.0 points more than the next biggest decline which was the highest among players active in 2017—that belongs to Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto, whose 2017 point total dipped 14.4 points, from 16.4 in 2016 to 2.0 in 2017.
Read MoreMets pitcher Jacob deGrom is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth in season player rankings.
deGrom struck out nine over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks, in the 10-0 win over the Phillies.
Read MoreClayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer hold dominant lead among players in Box-Toppers points over last several years. Using longer term measure, Chris Sale rises to lead AL pitchers, Yoenis Cespedes rises to lead NL batters.
Read MoreAthletics pitcher Sonny Gray had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers point total from 2015 to 2016—16.8. Both 2015 Cy Young Award winners, Dallas Keuchel and Jake Arrieta, are among the top four "big dippers" in points from 2015 to 2016.
Read MoreThe late Jose Fernandez had the biggest gain in Box-Toppers points from 2015 to 2016, 17.7, far outdistancing second-place player, Tigers rookie pitcher Michael Fulmer (12.7).
Read MoreNationals pitcher Max Scherzer leads the list of the top 100 players for 2016 with 25.7 Box-Toppers points, the 20th-highest single-season point total since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began.
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Jose Fernandez, who died Sept. 25, twice led all players in Box-Toppers points and was in contention to earn 2016 Player of the Year honors.
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No player so highly ranked (or so promising) has died in Box-Toppers’ 22-season history. Fernandez ranked 3rd in Box-Toppers points but ranked 1st among players in improvement over 2015 with a 17.7-point gain.
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.