Jeimer Candelario of the Angels is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Tuesday’s spring training games while Nick Castellanos of the Padres earns National League Player of the Day.
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Verlander signing by Tigers leads flurry of player moves as spring training opens
As Major League spring training camps open, a flurry of veteran signings this past week is reshaping baseball rosters, including Justin Verlander returning to the Detroit Tigers, bringing his 250.0 career Box-Toppers points back to where his journey began.
Other major moves include Zac Gallen reuniting with the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres taking flyers on Nick Castellanos and Germán Márquez. The Baltimore Orioles added consistency with Chris Bassitt, while the Pittsburgh Pirates bolstered their lineup with veteran Marcell Ozuna.
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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.
Why Judge, Raleigh, Ohtani don’t appear on Box-Toppers’ 2025 MVP ballots
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 MoreA look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2024
A 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 MorePadres’ Tatis, Phillies’ Castellanos top players in Sunday’s NL Division Series games
Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres and Nick Castellanos of the Phillies are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in Sunday’s two National League Division Series playoff games.
Both NL Division Series are now even heading into Monday’s travel day before resuming Tuesday.
Read MoreRays’ Bradley tops players for Sunday, June 30; Brewers’ Peralta tops NL players
Rays pitcher Taj Bradley is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole extended his streak of consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points to 12 after winning his first Player of the Game honor of 2024.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2023
Analyzing 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.
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Braves, Astros, Mariners among leaders in Box-Toppers offseason team rankings
The Atlanta Braves are Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team going into 2024, with a roster mostly intact from 2023 when they had baseball’s best record.
Meanwhile, the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners are Box-Toppers’ top two American League teams, with the Mariners having one of the best offseason improvements of any team so far. And also, while the Los Angeles Dodgers have made big offseason splashes adding Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow and Teoscar Hernandez, their offseason ranking has actually fallen from third place last season to fourth place now.
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 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.
Read MoreCastellanos tops players in Thursday’s NLDS win, as Phillies eliminate Braves in 4 games
Nick Castellanos of the Phillies is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Thursday’s National League Division Series win over the Braves.
Castellanos hit two solo home runs and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs.
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Source: MLB.com
Box-Toppers’ NL Division Series preview: Phillies vs. Braves, Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers
Both National League Division Series begin Saturday.
The Philadelphia Phillies face the Atlanta Braves in one best-of-five game series and the Arizona Diamondbacks face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the other. The top two NL seeds, the Braves (first) and the Dodgers (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played this week.
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Source: MLB.com
A Box-Toppers preview of the four Wild Card Series beginning Tuesday, Oct. 3
The Wild Card round of Major League Baseball’s postseason begins Tuesday with four best-of-three series.
Here is a Box-Toppers look at the eight teams competing in the four Wild Card round series.
Read MoreTigers’ Skubal tops players for Thursday, Sept. 21; Yankees’ Cole rises to 10th
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreDiamondbacks’ Gallen tops players for Wednesday, April 26, rising to lead rankings
Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to first place in season player rankings.
Gallen struck out 12 over 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks, in the 2-0 win over the Royals.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2022
In 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.
Read MoreShohei Ohtani leads players in Box-Toppers points over past 2 seasons (2021-22)
Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani has more Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons than any other player.
Ohtani has earned 40.8 Box-Toppers points over 2021 and 2022. He ranked second among all players in 2021 with 24.7 Box-Toppers points and 12th among all players in 2021 with 16.1 points. Ohtani ranked second among American League pitchers in 2022 and third among AL pitchers in 2021.
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.
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Astros hold Box-Toppers points edge over Phillies in 2022 World Series
The Houston Astros hold significant Box-Toppers points advantages over the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2022 World Series.
The Astros were Box-Toppers’ second-ranked team in the regular season while the Phillies were 13th overall, just barely above the middle of the pack of all 30 teams. The Astros are the highest-ranked American League team in Box-Toppers rankings, while the Phillies are the lowest-ranking National League postseason team.
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