The Texas Rangers and Milwaukee Brewers have experienced the steepest declines in the league as we approach the 2026 season.
While both teams have seen their Box-Toppers rankings plummet, the reasons behind their slides are very different.
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Box-Toppers’ top NL relief pitcher Edwin Díaz of the Mets wins 2025 NL Reliever of the Year. Aroldis Chapman of the Red Sox wins AL Reliever of the Year ahead of Box-Toppers’ top AL reliever Jeff Hoffman of the Blue Jays.
One of Box-Toppers’ top two relief pitchers—Edwin Díaz—wins Reliever of the Year
Box-Toppers’ top-ranked National League relief pitcher won NL Reliever of the Year, but Box-Toppers’ top American League reliever did not win the AL Award.
Edwin Díaz of the Mets, who led NL relievers with 8.0 Box-Toppers points, won the NL award. But Aroldis Chapman of the Red Sox won the AL award, ahead of Box-Toppers’ top AL reliever, Jeff Hoffman of the Blue Jays.
Read MoreOrioles’ Young tops players for Friday, Aug. 15; Brewers’ Yelich extends NL batting lead
Orioles pitcher Brandon Young is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, earning his first career Box-Toppers points.
Also Friday, Christian Yelich of the Brewers extends his lead among National League batters in 2025 Box-Toppers points—becoming the first batter to reach 10 Box-Toppers points this season—after earning NL Batter of the Day honors.
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Logo source: Chris Creamer’s SportsLogos.Net
Box-Toppers picks Dodgers over Orioles in 2025 World Series, plus our awards forecasts
Box-Toppers picks the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 2025 World Series, beating the predicted American League champion Baltimore Orioles.
Box-Toppers projects the Dodgers will have the most wins among all teams—108—and that National League teams will be among the most dominant. Eight of the 15 NL teams are projected to have as many or more wins as the best American League teams (89).
Read MoreA detailed look at Box-Toppers points leaders for 2024: Top players by position in each league
Here’s an overview of Box-Toppers point leaders for 2024. The chart shows:
• Overall top 10 leaders and top 10 pitchers and batters in the American and National leagues.
• Top batters by position—top 10 for outfielders and top five for other positions.
• The top 10 players with the biggest declines ("dippers") and increases ("risers") in points from 2023.
• Top relief pitchers, featuring the top five closing (CP) and middle relief (MR) pitchers in both leagues.
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Dodgers, Mets, Phillies among leaders in Box-Toppers offseason team rankings
The Los Angeles Dodgers are Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team going into 2025 but with player injuries factored in, the New York Mets hold the overall edge.
The current 2025 roster of last year’s World Series champion Dodgers accumulated 118.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024, most of any team. However, with several players injured and expected to miss time in 2025, their injury-adjusted Box-Toppers point total drops to 106.7, fifth among all teams.
Read MoreBox-Toppers 2024 year-end All-Star teams
Overall Box-Toppers points leader, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, leads the Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2024 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.
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Box-Toppers’ top NL relief pitcher Ryan Helsley of the Cardinals wins 2024 NL Reliever of the Year. Emmanuel Clase of the Guardians wins AL Reliever of the Year ahead of Box-Toppers’ top AL reliever Josh Hader of the Astros.
One of Box-Toppers' two top relief pitchers—Ryan Helsley—wins Reliever of the Year
Ryan Helsley of the Cardinals, who led NL relievers with 12.0 Box-Toppers points, won the NL award. But Emmanuel Clase of the Guardians won the AL award, ahead of Box-Toppers’ top AL reliever, Josh Hader of the Astros.
Hader led AL closers with 11.0 Box-Toppers points while Clase earned 4.0 points, eighth among AL closers. Clase did, however, lead AL closers with 47 saves in 2024. Hader had 34 saves in 2024, second-most in the AL.
Read MoreSeven Box-Toppers points leaders among players named to 2024 All-MLB First Team
Seven Box-Toppers points leaders are among players selected for 2024’s 16-member “All-MLB” Team announced Thursday.
Three other Box-Toppers leaders were chosen for the “All-MLB” Second Team.
The All-MLB team was 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 on not selected based on their affiliation with American League or National League. Rather, all players are chosen from all Major League Baseball regardless of league as “First Team” or “Second Team” players.
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A Box-Toppers look at postseason awards—For 1st time in 30 years, our picks may win
Box-Toppers points leaders have never won all four major postseason awards since tracking began in 1995.
But this year, in the 30th season of tracking, there is a chance that the four Box-Toppers points category leaders (both league’s batters and pitchers) may win the four major awards (both league’s Most Valuable Player and Cy Young awards).
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A Box-Toppers preview of the four Wild Card Series beginning Tuesday, Oct. 1
The Wild Card round of Major League Baseball’s postseason begins Tuesday with four best-of-three series.
All series take place at the higher-seed’s home ballpark. The winners of each series will face one of their league’s top-two seeded teams in league divisional series beginning Saturday.
Read MoreTigers’ Skubal tops players Tuesday, Sept. 24, securing 2024 AL B-T Player of the Year
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to second place in season player rankings and securing 2024 American League Box-Toppers Player of the Year honors.
Skubal struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 2-1 win over the Rays.
Read MoreGiants’ Snell tops players Tuesday, Sept. 17; Phillies’ Wheeler extends 2024 points lead
Giants pitcher Blake Snell is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler extends his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read More2024 Box-Toppers points leader Yankees’ Gil leads list of worthy but unchosen All-Stars
Three of Box-Toppers four main category leaders, including the overall leader in Box-Toppers points for 2024, were not selected to the 2024 Major League Baseball All-Star teams.
Yankees pitcher Luis Gil, who leads all players with 14.4 Box-Toppers points, was not selected to participate in the All-Star Game. Joining him as key All-Star snubs are Dylan Cease of the Padres, who leads National League pitchers with 12.4 points and outfielder Brenton Doyle of the Rockies, who leads NL batters with 8.7 points.
Read MoreRays’ Bradley tops players Friday, July 12; Reds’ Hinds tops NL players in B-T debut
Rays pitcher Taj Bradley is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Bradley struck out eight over seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits and two walks, in the 2-0 win over the Guardians.
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Dodgers lead 2024 Box-Toppers preseason team rankings; Rays top AL teams
The Los Angeles Dodgers are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2024 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the New York Mets made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the San Diego Padres saw the biggest decline.
Read MoreFour Box-Toppers points leaders among players named to 2023 All-MLB First Team
Only four Box-Toppers points leaders are among players selected for 2023’s 16-member “All-MLB” team announced this month. Three other Box-Toppers leaders were chosen for the “All-MLB” Second Team.
The All-MLB team players are not selected based on their affiliation with American League or National League. Rather, all players are chosen regardless of league as “First Team” or “Second Team” players.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ top-ranked relievers—Bautista, Williams—win Reliever of Year Awards
Box-Toppers’ top-ranked relief pitchers in both leagues were named 2023 Relievers of the Year by Major League Baseball.
Felix Bautista of the Orioles, who led American League relievers with 11.0 Box-Toppers points, won the AL award and Devin Williams of the Brewers, who led National League relievers with 8.0 Box-Toppers points, won the NL award.
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Box-Toppers choices for major postseason awards: AL MVP—Shohei Ohtani, Angels; NL MVP—Pete Alonso, Mets; AL Cy Young—Chris Bassitt, Blue Jays; NL Cy Young—Spencer Strider, Braves; AL Rookie of the Year—Gunnar Henderson, Orioles; NL Rookie of the Year—James Outman, Dodgers.
A look at Box-Toppers’ leaders for postseason awards, plus an award finalist overview
You’re going to hate Box-Toppers’ choices for postseason player honors.
That’s the impression I get from listening to and reading baseball commentators who by August were already declaring players as not even de facto but actual “don’t-argue-with-me-because-I’m-right-and-there’s-clearly-no-dispute” award winners.
Read MoreNLCS Preview: Phillies favored to advance, though Diamondbacks have pitching edge
Box-Toppers favors the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series, though the Arizona Diamondbacks have the slight edge among starting pitchers.
Both teams fought through higher-ranked teams to make their way to the league championship series, so neither is particularly highly ranked in Box-Toppers team rankings for 2023.
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