The Detroit Tigers lead in Box-Toppers team rankings for the third straight week and are the week’s hottest team.
Meanwhile, the San Diego Padres maintain the lead among National League teams.
Read More
Tigers regain Box-Toppers team rankings lead; Padres’ rocket to NL lead with trades
The Detroit Tigers regain the lead in Box-Toppers team rankings this week, boosted by trade deadline deals adding pitching depth.
Meanwhile, the San Diego Padres rocket to the lead among National League teams with the biggest collective trade deadline splash, making them the week’s hottest team.
Read More
Box-Toppers’ big dippers—players whose 2024 point total declined most from 2023: Spencer Strider leads list
Braves pitcher Spencer Strider had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2023 to 2024.
Strider led all players in 2023 with 21.1 Box-Toppers points but earned just 1.0 point in 2024, a 20.1-point decline, which is also the fifth-largest decline (in regular-length seasons) since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.
Read MoreTwins’ Paddack tops players for Monday, June 10; Padres’ Cease rises to 10th place
Twins pitcher Chris Paddack is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Monday, Padres pitcher Dylan Cease rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreRockies’ Quantrill tops players for Friday, May 3; Padres’ Cease rises to 5th in rankings
Rockies pitcher Cal Quantrill is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Padres pitcher Dylan Cease rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ big dippers—players whose 2023 point total declined most from 2022: Carlos Rodon leads list
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.
Read MoreLuzardo leads Box-Toppers most improved list; 2 others win B-T Comeback Player
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.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ big dippers—players whose 2022 point total declined most from 2021: Max Scherzer leads list
Mets pitcher Max Scherzer had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2021 to 2022.
Scherzer led all players in 2021 with 25.1 Box-Toppers points when he was with the Nationals and Dodgers. Scherzer earned 10.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022. While that was still 24th among National League pitchers, it was a 15.1-point decline from 2021, the biggest among all players.
Read MoreJustin Verlander sets Box-Toppers record for biggest one-season improvement
Astros pitcher Justin Verlander is the clear-cut choice for Comeback Player of the Year in the American League, but three different National League players have won 2022 comeback awards, none of whom were among Box-Toppers’ top NL resurgent players.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ big dippers—players whose 2021 point total declined most from 2020: Dinelson Lamet leads list
Padres pitcher Dinelson Lamet had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2020 to 2021.
Lamet, who earned 9.0 Box-Toppers points in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season (fifth among all players and third among National League pitchers), earned 2.0 points in 2021. After a stellar 2020 season, he battled injury early in 2021, struggled and went from a starter to a bullpen pitcher.
Read MoreComeback Player winners Mancini, Posey rank far outside Box-Toppers’ top 25 most improved players
Trey Mancini of the Orioles and Buster Posey of the Giants were named Comeback Players of the Year for 2021 Monday.
Both ranked far outside Box-Toppers’ 25 most-improved players list for 2021 and neither were among Box-Toppers’ top candidate in either league for the player who had the biggest bounce back to a successful season this year.
Read More
Randy Arozarena of the Rays and Jonathan India of the Reds were voted Rookies of the Year. They beat Box-Toppers top-ranked rookies, Bobby Dalbec of the Red Sox in the American League and Trevor Rogers of the Marlins in the National League.
Box-Toppers’ top-ranked rookies Dalbec, Rogers, lose Rookie of the Year honors to Arozarena, India
Randy Arozarena of the Rays and Jonathan India of the Reds were voted 2021 Rookies of the Year by baseball writers.
Neither were among Box-Toppers’ top-ranked rookies in 2021. Arozarena was Box-Toppers’ eighth-ranked American League rookie and India was Box-Toppers’ second-ranked National League rookie.
Read More
Lindor, Tatis have lowest career Box-Toppers point totals among top 10 big money contracts
Francisco Lindor and Fernando Tatis Jr. had the lowest career Box-Toppers point totals among the 10 players with baseball’s biggest money contracts at the time of their signing.
The two players signed the biggest offseason contracts prior to the 2021 season. Lindor signed a 10-year, $341 million contract with the Mets, the third-largest contract in baseball history and Tatis signed a 14-year, $340 million contract with the Padres, baseball’s fourth-largest.
Read More
Dodgers top Box-Toppers 2021 preseason team rankings; White Sox top AL teams
The Los Angeles Dodgers are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2021 preseason rankings. They also ended 2020 as Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team and World Series champions.
Meanwhile, the New York Mets made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Chicago Cubs saw the biggest decline.
Read MoreA look at players who made biggest gains in Box-Toppers points from 2019 to 2020—Brewers’ Corbin Burnes leads list
Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes had the biggest gain in Box-Toppers point totals from 2019 to 2020.
Burnes earned 7.7 Box-Toppers points in 2020 after earning no points in 2019. Burnes had earned 3.0 Box-Toppers points in his 2018 rookie season.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ big dippers—players whose 2020 point total declined most from 2019: Justin Verlander leads list
Astros pitcher Justin Verlander had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2019 to 2020.
Verlander, who earned 27.5 Box-Toppers points in 2019 (second among all players), earned 1.0 point in 2020. His decline of 26.5 points was ahead of Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, whose 7.4 points in 2020 represented a 24.8-point drop from the 32.2 points he earned to lead all players in 2019.
Read MoreWhat would 2019 have looked like if only the final 60 games of season were played?
What would the 2019 baseball season have looked like if only the final 60 games were played?
In many ways, it would have looked exactly like the entire, overall 2019 season: From about July 25 on in 2019, the Houston Astros were Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team and Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole was Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player. Both also led for the overall 2019 season.
Read MoreA detailed look at Box-Toppers points leaders for 2019: Top players by position in each league
Here is a detailed look at Box-Toppers point leaders for 2019.
The chart accompanying this post shows points leaders for the season by several different categories and classifications.
Read More
Top 2 wins leaders—Astros’ Justin Verlander & Gerrit Cole—also led all players in Box-Toppers points
Justin Verlander of the Astros, who led all pitchers in wins 2019 with 21, ranked second among all players in Box-Toppers points with 27.5.
Verlander’s teammate, Gerrit Cole, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2019 with 32.2, ranked second in wins with 20.
Of the 12 pitchers with 16 or more wins in 2019, five of them ranked among the top 10 in Box-Toppers points and 10 of them ranked among the top 50 in Box-Toppers points.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers’ top 100 players for 2019
Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole tops Box-Toppers list of the top 100 players in 2019.
Cole had 32.2 Box-Toppers points during the regular season, which is the fourth-highest single-season point total in the 25 seasons of Box-Toppers tracking, which began in 1995. It was 1.5 points short of the record, 33.7, set by Randy Johnson of the Diamondbacks in both 2000 and 2002.
Read More