Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta remains atop Box-Toppers season player rankings for the second straight week.

Meanwhile, Juan Soto of the Yankees rises to lead American League batters in Box-Toppers rankings. Two other category leaders from last week still hold their lead: Logan Gilbert of the Mariners leads AL pitchers and Marcell Ozuna of the Braves leads National League batters.

The Philadelphia Phillies rise to lead Box-Toppers team rankings and are the week’s hottest team.

Meanwhile, the Cleveland Guardians rise to lead American League teams this week, rising to second place overall.

Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings this week.

Meanwhile, Mariners pitcher Logan Gilbert rises to lead American League pitchers, Marcell Ozuna of the Braves rises to lead National League batters and Andres Gimenez of the Guardians maintains his lead among AL batters.

The Kansas City Royals rise to lead Box-Toppers team rankings, passing last week’s leader, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers continue to lead National League teams (in second place overall) and the Philadelphia Phillies are the week’s hottest team (rising to third place overall).

The Los Angeles Dodgers lead Box-Toppers first weekly team rankings report of the 2024 season.

Meanwhile, the Kansas City Royals lead American League teams and are the hottest team of the past week.

Welcome to Opening Day of the 2024 Major League Baseball season.

This marks the start of Box-Toppers’ 30th season tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score statistics.

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.

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.

During the 2023 season, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander each rose one spot on Box-Toppers “all-time” career points top 10 list.

They were the only player movements among Box-Toppers “all-time” career points top 10 players overall, among the top 10 pitchers and among the top 10 batters. Pitcher Randy Johnson, who retired in 2009, still leads all players in career Box-Toppers points with 282.5 (tracking began in 1995).

Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole leads players in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2018.

Cole has 112.4 Box-Toppers points over the period 2018-23, 17.4 points ahead of second-ranked player, Rangers pitcher Max Scherzer, who has 95.0 over that span.

Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani has more Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons than any other player.

Ohtani has earned 44.1 Box-Toppers points over 2022 and 2023. He ranked second among all players in 2022 with 24.7 Box-Toppers points and third among all players in 2023 with 19.4 points.

Analyzing 29 years of Box-Toppers points leaders in pitching and batting in both leagues.

In 2023, Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, American League Most Valuable Player, was the only player who won a major postseason award and also led his Box-Toppers category (leading AL batters with 19.4). Also, Pete Alonso of the Mets became the ninth batter since 1995 to lead his league’s batters in Box-Toppers points more than once, leading NL batters for the second straight season.

Three players were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Tuesday, all of whom Box-Toppers supported for induction.

Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer and Todd Helton all received the necessary 75 percent support of voters from the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA).

Here is a detailed look at Box-Toppers point leaders for 2023.

The chart accompanying this post shows points leaders for the season by several different categories and classifications.

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.

Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles, the American League Rookie of the Year, is among the players on Box-Toppers 2023 All-Rookie Team.

But Corbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks, voted National League Rookie of the Year, is not among the players on the team, having finished sixth among rookie outfielders with 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023.

The World Series champion Texas Rangers, leaders among all teams in Box-Toppers points in 2023, also led all teams in points earned by pitchers. The Los Angeles Dodgers, meanwhile, which finished third overall among all teams, had the most points won by batters in 2023.

Here is a look at how pitchers and batters contributed to each teams’ Box-Toppers point totals in 2023, including the share of total points won by pitchers and batters on each team.

Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodon had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2022 to 2023.

Rodon had 19.8 Box-Toppers points in 2022 with the Giants, sixth among all players and third among National League pitchers. But moving to the Yankees in 2023, he earned only 1.0 Box-Toppers point. That 18.8-point decline was the biggest among all players.

Six 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.

Box-Toppers’ top-ranked nominees in both leagues won 2023’s Hank Aaron Awards for top offensive player. But Box-Toppers would have chosen two other players for the honors.

Shohei Ohtani of the Angels won the award in the American League and Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves won the award in the National League.

Only 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.

Only two of Box-Toppers category leaders also won Players Choice Awards for 2023 as voted by the players’ union: Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, who was voted American League Outstanding Player and Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles was voted AL Outstanding Rookie.

Box-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.

While Marlins pitcher Jesus Luzardo is Box-Toppers’ most improved player in 2023, our choices for Comeback Players of the Year are Eduardo Rodriguez of the Tigers and Jason Heyward of the Dodgers.

Meanwhile, the consensus choices for Comeback Players of the Year—Cody Bellinger and Liam Hendriks—did not rank very highly among Box-Toppers most improved players in 2023.

The Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2023 regular season are led by overall Box-Toppers points leader, Braves pitcher Spencer Strider.

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.

Box-Toppers is voting for six players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in the 2024 Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) ballot.

Box-Toppers is voting for these players, listed alphabetically by last name: Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton, Matt Holliday, Torii Hunter, Joe Mauer and Billy Wagner.

Box-Toppers’ choices for baseball’s major postseason awards won two of six of the 2023 honors.

Shohei Ohtani of the Angels won the American League Most Valuable Player Award and Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles won the AL Rookie of the Year Award.

Shohei Ohtani of the Angels was voted 2023 American League Most Valuable Player Wednesday. He was also Box-Toppers’ choice as AL MVP.

However, in the National League, Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves was voted MVP—he finished second in Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot behind Pete Alonso of the Mets.

Neither winner of the 2023 Cy Young Awards—Gerrit Cole of the Yankees nor Blake Snell of the Padres—led their league’s pitchers in Box-Toppers points in 2023.

Cole, the American League winner, ranked fourth among AL pitchers with 17.0 Box-Toppers points, behind AL leader Chris Bassitt of the Blue Jays (20.1). Snell, the National League winner, ranked sixth among NL pitchers with 14.7 Box-Toppers points, behind NL leader Spencer Strider of the Braves (21.1).

Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles, Box-Toppers’ choice for 2023 American League Rookie of the Year, was also voted winner of the honor by baseball writers Monday.

But Corbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks, who won the National League Rookie of the Year honor, was not among Box-Toppers’ top three choices for top NL rookie. James Outman of the Dodgers, Box-Toppers’ choice for top NL rookie, finished third in voting.