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Twins pitcher Taj Bradley is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to first place in season player rankings.
Other Player of the Game winners Tuesday include Giants pitcher Robbie Ray, Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes, Guardians pitcher Gavin Williams, Amed Rosario of the Yankees, Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet and Dane Myers of the Reds.
Read MorePhillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Thursday, as 22 Major League teams open their 2026 seasons.
Other top players Thursday include Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, Chase DeLauter of the Guardians, Alec Burleson of the Cardinals and Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
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The New York Yankees are Box-Toppers’ pick to win the 2026 World Series, defeating the projected National League champion Chicago Cubs.
Box-Toppers projects the Yankees will win 100 games and the American League pennant, ahead of the Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners, and Boston Red Sox.
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The New York Yankees enter 2026 as Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team, but their lead is a precarious one.
While the Yankees’ current roster combined for a league-leading 128.5 Box-Toppers points in 2025—narrowly edging out the Chicago Cubs (125.8 points)—the raw totals don't tell the whole story.
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Five Box-Toppers category leaders were also 2025 Players Choice Award winners, headlined by the surprising National League Outstanding Player selection, Kyle Schwarber, who beat out unanimous NL MVP Shohei Ohtani for the honor.
But while the players and Box-Toppers data found common ground for the top NL player, a massive disparity emerged for the game’s overall top honor. Players voted Cal Raleigh of the Mariners as Player of the Year, even though he earned just 6.0 Box-Toppers points—ranking 24th among American League batters and 139th among all players.
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Phillies pitcher Jesús Luzardo is Box-Toppers’ most improved player in 2025, becoming just the second player to win the honor in a second season since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.
Meanwhile, the consensus 2025 Comeback Player of the Year winner in the American League, Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom, ranks fifth among Box-Toppers’ most-improved players in 2025.
Read MoreOverall Box-Toppers points leader, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, leads the Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2025 regular season.
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.
Read MoreFour Box-Toppers points leaders are among players selected for 2025’s 16-member “All-MLB” Team. Five other Box-Toppers leaders are among the “All-MLB” Second Team.
The All-MLB team is selected with half the vote coming from fans and half coming from an expert panel. Unlike the selections for baseball’s All-Star Game, players are chosen not based on their affiliation with the American League or National League. Instead, players are selected from all Major League Baseball teams, regardless of league affiliation, and are designated as “First Team” or “Second Team.”
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Three of six Box-Toppers’ choices won major postseason honors and three did not. Top row players all won: Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal won AL Cy Young, Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes won NL Cy Young and Drake Baldwin of the Braves won NL Rookie of the Year. Box-Toppers choices in the bottom row all lost: Skubal for AL MVP, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies for NL MVP and Athletics pitcher Jacob Lopez for AL Rookie of the Year.
Box-Toppers’ choices for baseball’s major postseason player awards won three of six 2025 honors.
However, for three other awards announced in the past week, voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA), Box-Toppers leaders were not among the winners.
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Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers won 2025 Most Valuable Player Awards Thursday over Box-Toppers’ choices for the awards, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal and Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies.
Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers won 2025 Most Valuable Player Awards Thursday over Box-Toppers’ choices for the awards, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal and Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies.
Both Judge and Ohtani won their league’s award for the second straight year—Judge in the American League and Ohtani in the National League.
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Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, who led all players with 22.1 Box-Toppers points, won the American League Cy Young Award. Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes, who led National League players with 21.1 Box-Toppers points, won the NL Cy Young Award.
Both pitchers who led their leagues in Box-Toppers points for the season won the 2025 Cy Young Awards on Wednesday.
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, who led all players with 22.1 Box-Toppers points, won the American League Cy Young Award. Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes, who led National League players with 21.1 Box-Toppers points, won the NL Cy Young Award.
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These four are both Box-Toppers top-ranked players and finalists for major 2025 postseason awards: Tarik Skubal of the Tigers, Paul Skenes of the Pirates, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies and Drake Baldwin of the Braves.
In four of the six major postseason player awards, the 2025 Box-Toppers points leader for each honor is among the finalists announced by baseball writers.
There are two awards in which the Box-Toppers leader is not among the finalists: AL Most Valuable Player and AL Rookie of the Year.
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Here are Box-Toppers’ picks for major postseason awards: Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies, Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes, Athletics pitcher Jacob Lopez and Nick Baldwin of the Braves.
Box-Toppers’ points leaders for 2025 seem likely to win two of the four major postseason awards.
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, who led all players with 22.1 Box-Toppers points, seems likely to win the American League Cy Young Award. Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes, who led National League pitchers with 21.1 Box-Toppers points, is likely to win the NL Cy Young Award.
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2025 MVP contenders Aaron Judge of the Yankees, Cal Raleigh of the Mariners, George Springer of the Blue Jays, Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies and Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal.
Baseball’s Most Valuable Player Award favorites did not perform well in the Box-Toppers metric in 2025.
Aaron Judge of the Yankees, Cal Raleigh of the Mariners and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers all hit more than 50 home runs, racking up impressive statistics. However, all three were comparatively rarely the player who contributed most to their team’s wins.
Read MoreTigers pitcher Tarik Skubal tops players in Tuesday’s four Wild Card playoff games.
Other Player of the Game winners in Tuesday’s Wild Card series games: Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet, Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell and Cubs relief pitcher Daniel Palencia.
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Seven of the eight starting pitchers in Tuesday’s opening Wild Card round games have more than 10 Box-Toppers points in 2025, and are among the season’s top 40 overall players.
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, Box-Toppers’ 2025 Player of the Year, leads the way. His 22.1 Box-Toppers points led all players during the regular season, and he starts Game 1 of AL Wild Card Series against the Guardians.
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Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal is 2025 Box-Toppers Player of the Year, holding the lead in Box-Toppers points since Aug. 31.
Meanwhile, Paul Skenes of the Pirates rises to first place among National League pitchers, passing previous leader Zack Wheeler of the Phillies on Sept. 24.
Read MoreMariners pitcher Luis Castillo is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to ninth place in season player rankings.
Also Wednesday, Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes rises to first place among National League pitchers in 2025 Box-Toppers points, passing Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, after earning Player of the Game honors. Skenes, taking his first lead in the category in his final start of 2025, will finish first among NL pitchers for the season. He ranks second overall.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw will not pass Randy Johnson for the Box-Toppers-era career points record after failing to win Player of the Game honors in his next-to-last career start Friday.
Also, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal all but secured 2025 Box-Toppers Player of the Year honors Friday after Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet, who was the only player with a realistic chance of passing him, failed to win Player of the Game honors in his next-to-last start of the season.
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Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal leads Box-Toppers season player rankings for the third week in a row.
Meanwhile, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies rises this week to lead National League batters, passing the previous leader, Christian Yelich of the Brewers. Additionally, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, who is out for the season, continues to lead National League pitchers, as second-place Paul Skenes of the Pirates was again unable to surpass him this week.
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.