As Venezuela beats USA in World Baseball Classic, a B-T look at tourney’s top players

Venezuela pitcher Eduardo Rodríguez is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Tuesday’s World Baseball Classic Championship Game.

Rodríguez, who pitches for the Arizona Diamondbacks in Major League Baseball, struck out four over 4 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 3-2 win over the United States.

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Box-Toppers tracking began 30 years ago—April 25, 1995

On April 25, 1995, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Florida Marlins, 8-7, to open the 1995 regular season.

That game 30 years ago today marked the beginning of Box-Toppers. Now in its 31st season, Box-Toppers has analyzed box scores from more than 70,000 regular season games and determining a top player in each game.

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A pitchers vs. batters breakdown of each team’s Box-Toppers point total for 2024

In 2024, teams with the most Box-Toppers points earned by pitchers generally ranked higher in overall Box-Toppers team rankings.

For example, the Philadephia Phillies led all teams with 124.9 Box-Toppers points. Pitchers earned 78.0 of those points, fifth-most among all teams. Box-Toppers’ seven top-ranked teams were all among the top 10 in points earned by pitchers.

However, the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers were a notable anomaly. While the team finished eighth overall in Box-Toppers points (113.7), they finished 11th in points earned by pitchers (66.2) and third in points earned by batters (47.5).

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Edman tops players Sunday as Dodgers win NL Championship Series in sixth game

Tommy Edman of the Dodgers is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Sunday’s National League Championship Series Game 6.

The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Mets in the series four games to two and advance to the World Series. Edman homered, doubled and went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs.

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NLCS Preview: Surging Mets favored over injury-depleted Dodgers

Box-Toppers favors the surging New York Mets in the National League Championship Series over the injury-depleted Los Angeles Dodgers.

While the Dodgers are the NL’s highest seed in the postseason and while they feature Shohei Ohtani, the NL Box-Toppers points leader among batters, their starting pitching lineup, once considered their greatest asset, has become threadbare this postseason due to numerous injuries.

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