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The 2024 Box-Toppers rookie leaders, Luis Gil and Shota Imanaga, both faltered during sophomore slumps in 2025, recording the two largest year-over-year Box-Toppers point declines.
Yankees pitcher Gil, whose Box-Toppers point total slid 16.4 points and Cubs pitcher Imanaga, whose total slipped 13.7 points, lead this year’s list of Box-Toppers’ big dippers.
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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 MoreBrewers pitcher Nestor Cortes is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Aaron Judge of the Yankees rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Batter of the Day honors.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Nestor Cortes is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Monday’s spring training games.
Other Player of the Game winners Monday include Guardians pitcher Gavin Williams, Heliot Ramos of the Giants and Luis Robert Jr. of the White Sox.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2025 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the New York Yankees lead American League teams, the Toronto Blue Jays made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points and the Atlanta Braves had the biggest decline.
Read MoreHere’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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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.
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Box-Toppers points leaders Aaron Judge of the Yankees (left), Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers (middle) and Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (left) also were winners of the 2024 Players Choice Awards as voted by members of the players’ union.
Three Box-Toppers category leaders also won Players Choice Awards for 2024 as voted by the players’ union:
Aaron Judge of the Yankees was voted American League Outstanding Player and also was Box-Toppers’ choice as AL Most Valuable Player.
Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers was voted National League Outstanding Player and was also Box-Toppers’ choice as NL Most Valuable Player.
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal was voted AL Outstanding Pitcher and also was Box-Toppers’ choice as NL Cy Young Award winner.
While Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga is Box-Toppers’ most improved player in 2024, our choices for Comeback Players of the Year are Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes and Braves pitcher Reynaldo Lopez.
Meanwhile, one of the consensus choices for Comeback Player of the Year—Braves pitcher Chris Sale—ranks 13th among Box-Toppers’ most-improved players in 2024.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Walker Buehler is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Monday’s World Series Game 3.
The Los Angeles Dodgers win 4-2 to take a 3-0 lead over the New York Yankees in the best-of-seven-game series. Buehler struck out five over five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks.
Read MoreFreddie Freeman of the Dodgers, who hit a walk-off, 10th-inning grand slam, is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s World Series Game 1.
The Los Angeles Dodgers win 6-3 in 10 innings to take a 1-0 lead over the New York Yankees in the best-of-seven-game series.
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The New York Yankees hold dominating Box-Toppers points advantages over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2024 World Series.
Looking at the Box-Toppers numbers alone, the Yankees can’t lose. But the Dodgers this postseason through mojo and moxie (and Mookie), have won two postseason series despite being severely depleted at starting pitching, the same handicap they face in the World Series.
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Source: MLB.com
Both American League Division Series begin Saturday.
The Detroit Tigers face the Cleveland Guardians in one best-of-five game series and the Kansas City Royals face the New York Yankees in the other. The top two AL seeds, the Yankees (first) and the Guardians (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played this week.
Read MoreDiamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Mariners pitcher George Kirby rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Read MoreNationals pitcher MacKenzie Gore is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Mets pitcher Sean Manaea rises to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MorePadres pitcher Dylan Cease is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to second place in season player rankings.
Also Wednesday, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal increases his lead among American League pitchers in Box-Toppers season player rankings, rising to fourth place overall, after earning Player of the Game honors. In addition, Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes rises to eighth place in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Frankie Montas is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also two of Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners are in the season player rankings top 10 list: Astros pitcher Framber Valdez ranks seventh and Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes rises to eight place.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Tobias Myers is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Myers struck out 11 over six innings, allowing one run, four hits and one walk, in the 5-2 win over the Rockies.
Read MoreMariners pitcher Bryce Miller is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Miller struck out 10 over seven innings, allowing one run, two hits and no walks, in the 5-1 win over the Rays.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Nestor Cortes is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Cortes struck out four over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 8-1 win over the Guardians.
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.