Braves pitcher Chris Sale is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Other Player of the Game winners Thursday include Jac Caglianone of the Royals and Jackson Chourio of the Brewers.
Read MoreBraves’ Sale tops players for Wednesday, July 29, passing Schilling on ‘all-time’ list
Braves pitcher Chris Sale is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, passing Curt Schilling on Box-Toppers’ “all-time” career points list, rising to ninth place.
Other Player of the Game winners Wednesday include Guardians pitcher Joey Cantillo, Royals pitcher Randy Dobnak, Daniel Susac of the Giants and Yainer Diaz of the Astros.
Read MoreMariners’ Kirby tops players for Sunday, June 8; Pirates’ Skenes rises to 6th place
Mariners pitcher George Kirby is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors. In addition, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw extends his streak of earning Box-Toppers points to 18 consecutive seasons Sunday, the longest active streak, and also extends his lead in career Box-Toppers points among active players.
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How 2025 Hall of Fame candidates fared in Box-Toppers
Three players were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Tuesday—Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.
All three received the necessary 75 percent support of voters from the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). Box-Toppers supported Sabathia and Wagner in separate voting by the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA), but notably did not support Suzuki, who was a near-unanimous choice.
Read MoreBox-Toppers selects 4 players for 2025 Hall of Fame induction in internet writers' ballot
Box-Toppers is voting for four players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in the 2025 Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) ballot.
Box-Toppers is voting for these players: Felix Hernandez, Torii Hunter, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.
Notably, Box-Toppers is not voting for Ichiro Suzuki, who is on the Hall ballot for the first time for 2025. While Suzuki is expected to be a shoo-in for the Hall and to possibly be only the second player inducted on a unanimous vote, I devoted a previous post to why Box-Toppers doesn’t view him as a Hall of Famer. In addition, this post which will show how unfavorably he compares in Box-Toppers rankings to even this year’s Hall candidates, may even make a more stark case why I don’t see Suzuki as a Hall of Famer.
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Box-Toppers analysis: Why Ichiro Suzuki is not a Hall-of-Famer
As baseball writers push for Ichiro Suzuki to not only be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame but to become only the second player voted in unanimously, what chucklehead will oppose that?
It pains me to say: Me. Let me explain.
Despite earning Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year Awards and getting 3,000 hits, Suzuki was not the key player very often in his team’s wins. There was almost always some other teammate outperforming Suzuki in team wins. Suzuki never led his team in a season in Box-Toppers points and never even led his team’s batters.
Read MoreBraves’ Sale tops players Monday, Aug. 12, rising to 6th; Kershaw extends record streak
Braves pitcher Chris Sale is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to sixth place in season player rankings.
Also Monday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw extended his streak of earning Box-Toppers points to 17 straight seasons—tied for the longest active streak—after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2024.
Read MorePhillies’ Nola tops players for Thursday, May 26; Yankees’ Cortes rises to 2nd in player rankings
Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes rises to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors. Plus, Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers earns Box-Toppers points in his 20th consecutive season—the second-longest such streak since 1995—after earning his first Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Read MoreWhite Sox’ Kopech tops players for Sunday, May 22; Pujols extends record streak to 22 seasons
White Sox pitcher Michael Kopech is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Albert Pujols of the Cardinals extends his record streak of consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points to 22 after earning Player of the Game honors.
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A look at Box-Toppers top 100 players of ‘all-time’ after the 2021 season
Randy Johnson leads all players in career Box-Toppers points and the two active players most likely to pass his total won’t likely do it until 2023 at the very earliest.
Johnson earned 282.5 Box-Toppers points from the time Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995 until he retired in 2009.
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Kershaw, Scherzer rise in Box-Toppers’ ‘all-time’ top 10 list during 2021
During the 2021 season, Clayton Kershaw rose to second place and Max Scherzer rose to fourth place on Box-Toppers’ “all-time” career points top 10 list.
Kershaw was ranked third overall and among all pitchers at the end of 2020 with 235.2 career Box-Toppers points. The Dodgers pitcher rose to second place on June 27, 2021, with 246.6 points, passing Pedro Martinez, who had continuously held the second-place spot for 22 years. Kershaw finished 2021 with 13.4 points for the season and 248.6 career points.
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Robbie Ray of the Blue Jays and Corbin Burnes of the Brewers were voted winners of the 2021 Cy Young Awards. They beat Box-Toppers top-ranked pitchers, Gerrit Cole of the Yankees in the American League and Max Scherzer of the Dodgers in the National League.
Ray, Burnes win 2021 Cy Young Awards over Box-Toppers leaders Cole, Scherzer
Robbie Ray of the Blue Jays and Corbin Burnes of the Brewers won 2021 Cy Young Awards over Box-Toppers’ two top-ranked pitchers for 2021.
Ray won the American League Cy Young Award after ranking second in 2021 Box-Toppers points among AL pitchers, behind Gerrit Cole of the Yankees. Burnes won the National League Cy Young Award after ranking fourth in 2021 Box-Toppers points among NL pitchers, behind Max Scherzer of the Dodgers.
Read MoreBraves’ Swanson tops players for Saturday, July 31; Marquez rises, Pujols extends record streak
Dansby Swanson of the Braves is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Rockies pitcher German Marquez rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Albert Pujols of the Dodgers extends his record streak of earning Box-Toppers points in consecutive seasons to 21 after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2021 Saturday.
Read MoreA look at Clayton Kershaw’s rise to 2nd place on Box-Toppers ‘all-time’ career points list
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw now has the second-most career Box-Toppers points since player tracking began in 1995.
Kershaw rose into second place on the “all-time” career points list Sunday with 246.6 points, passing Pedro Martinez (244.8), who held the second-place spot for more than 22 years.
Read MoreYankees’ Montgomery tops players for Friday, May 21; Dodgers’ Bauer rises to 4th in player rankings
Yankees pitcher Jordan Montgomery is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors.
Read MoreMarlins’ Rogers tops players for Wednesday, April 21, Scherzer rises to 6th in ‘all-time’ career points
Marlins pitcher Trevor Rogers is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fifth place in season player rankings, first among National League pitchers.
Also Wednesday, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer rises to sixth place on the “all-time” career Box-Toppers points list (204.2) after earning Player of the Game honors, passing CC Sabathia (203.4).
Read MoreNationals’ Scherzer tops players for Friday, April 16, rising to 7th in ‘all-time’ career points
Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to seventh place in Box-Toppers’ “all-time” rankings.
Scherzer struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 1-0 win over the Diamondbacks. Scherzer did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.
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A look at Box-Toppers' ‘all-time' top 10 lists—top overall players, top pitchers, top batters—since tracking began in 1995
After massive reshuffling during the 2019 season, Box-Toppers’ “all-time” career points top 10 list remained unchanged during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
There were also few changes among the top 10 pitchers and top 10 batters in career Box-Toppers points. Cubs pitcher Jon Lester rises to ninth place among all pitchers in career points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began, with 176.3. Lester had ranked 11th among pitchers at the end of 2019 with 172.6.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers top 100 players of ‘all-time’ after the 2020 season
Randy Johnson leads all players in career Box-Toppers points and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Johnson earned 282.5 Box-Toppers points from the time Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995 until he retired in 2009. The most likely rival to Johnson’s throne at the moment is Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw who has 235.2 career Box-Toppers points, third among all players since 1995 and most among active players.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers’ top 100 players for 2019-20 and 2015-20
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player over the past two seasons while Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer ranks first in points over the past six seasons.
Cole earned 39.6 Box-Toppers points combined in 2019 and 2020 to lead all players in that span, while Scherzer earned 116.2 from 2015-2020, most in that span.
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