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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 MoreBlue Jays pitcher Shane Bieber is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Braves pitcher Chris Sale continues his climb in Box-Toppers’ “all-time” career points top 10 list, edging to within 1.0 Box-Toppers point of ninth-place Curt Schilling.
Read MoreAndrés Chaparro of the Nationals is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Other Player of the Game winners Friday include Braves pitcher Chris Sale, Tigers pitcher Keider Montero and Wilyer Abreu of the Red Sox.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Kyle Harrison is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani and Braves pitcher Chris Sale rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after both won Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreMarlins pitcher Max Meyer is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, while Braves ace Chris Sale rises to the top of National League pitching rankings.
Other Player of the Game winners Saturday include White Sox pitcher Sean Burke, Cody Bellinger of the Yankees and Marcell Ozuna of the Pirates.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Kyle Harrison is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Braves pitcher Chris Sale rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreGuardians pitcher Gavin Williams is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to second place in season player rankings.
Also Saturday, Braves pitcher Chris Sale rises to 10th place on Box-Toppers’ “all-time” career points list, passing Alex Rodriguez. Sale, who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday, also rises to seventh place in season player rankings.
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Box-Toppers supports four players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on the 2026 ballot: Cole Hamels, Félix Hernández, Torii Hunter and Chase Utley.
Box-Toppers is voting for four players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in the 2026 Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) ballot.
Box-Toppers is voting for these players, listed alphabetically by last name. (To jump directly to their Box-Toppers-focused profile below, click the jump link next to their name.)
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The most notable change in Box-Toppers “all-time” career points top 10 lists at the end of 2024 is an almost complete lack of change.
No players changed position, and only three—Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander—earned any Box-Toppers points in 2024, each adding just 2.0. The lack of movement contrasts with 2023 when four players combined for 40.9 points and when Scherzer and Verlander both rose one spot in the rankings.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers season-by-season leaders chart for each of the past 30 seasons, including the leaders in Box-Toppers points each season among four main categories—American League and National League pitchers and batters.
Also, a look at how often Box-Toppers leaders win major postseason awards (Cy Young and Most Valuable Player), what players have led a Box-Toppers season category most often since tracking began in 1995 and what teams have had the most category leaders in 30 seasons. Also, a look at the lowest point totals to lead a season category, which includes 2024 leaders.
Read MoreBox-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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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).
Read MoreAnalyzing 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.
Read MoreIn 2022, Justin Verlander led American League pitchers in season Box-Toppers points for the third time in his career, tied for the seventh-most times a player has led a season points category.
Also in 2022, the New York Mets and Miami Marlins each had their first Box-Toppers points category leader—Pete Alonso and Sandy Alcantara— leaving the Pittsburgh Pirates as the only team to never have a player lead a category since tracking began in 1995.
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During the 2022 season, Justin Verlander rose from sixth to fifth place on Box-Toppers “all-time” career points top 10 list.
It was the only player movement among Box-Toppers “all-time” career points top 10 players overall, among the top 10 pitchers and among the top 10 batters. Retired pitcher Randy Johnson still leads all players in career Box-Toppers points with 282.5 (tracking began in 1995).
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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.
Read MoreThough Box-Toppers would not have voted David Ortiz as a first-ballot Hall of Famer, it’s hard to argue that his performance on the field was not worthy.
Yet, several other candidates with Hall-of-Fame worthy careers were not voted for induction Tuesday because of their ties to the steroid era. In fact, it can be argued that righteous baseball writers did a noble thing Tuesday by blocking three such candidates—Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa—for their 10th and final time on the ballot.
Read MoreDavid Ortiz is the only player inducted into internet baseball writers’ Hall of Fame for 2022.
None of the nine candidates Box-Toppers voted for Hall induction received the necessary 75 percent support. And Box-Toppers also did not vote for Ortiz.
Read MoreAnalyzing 27 years of Box-Toppers points leaders among American League and National League pitchers and batters each season.
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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.
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.