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Guardians pitcher Gavin Williams and Brewers’ reliever JoJo Romero earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in Thursday’s League Championship Series games.
Williams earned the win as the Cleveland Guardians edged the Tampa Bay Rays to take a 2-1 series lead in the American League Championship Series. Romero, meanwhile, led the Milwaukee Brewers as they swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.
Read MoreThe American League’s top two-seeded teams play in the AL Championship Series, but Box-Toppers favors the second-seeded Cleveland Guardians over the top-seed Tampa Bay Rays.
The Rays have far more wins than the Guardians (98 vs. 85) but rank only marginally higher in Box-Toppers team rankings:
Rays: 115.0 combined Box-Toppers points in 2026, fifth overall, second among AL teams.
Guardians: 112.1 points, seventh overall, third among AL teams.
The Guardians hold the Box-Toppers edge over the Rays in several key categories.
Read MoreMiddle relievers swept Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors Wednesday across all four Division Series games, as three teams advanced to the League Championship Series.
Guardians pitcher Foster Griffin led all winners in Cleveland's ALDS Game 3 victory over the White Sox, staving off elimination and forcing a Game 4.
Wednesday’s other Player of the Game winners:
Aaron Ashby, Brewers: Earned top player honors in Milwaukee’s NLDS Game 4 victory, eliminating San Diego.
Tanner Scott, Dodgers: Earned top player honors in Los Angeles' NLDS Game 4 victory, eliminating Atlanta.
Ian Seymour, Rays: Earned top player honors in Tampa Bay's ALDS Game 3 victory, completing a three-game sweep of New York.
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto leads Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in Tuesday’s National League Division Series games.
Yamamoto won top player honors in the Game 3 win over the Braves. Meanwhile, Jake Cronenworth is Box-Toppers’ top player in Tuesday’s other NL Division Series game, keeping the Padres alive with their win over the Brewers.
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Source: MLB.com
Both American League Division Series begin Saturday.
The Chicago White Sox face the Cleveland Guardians in one best-of-five game series while the New York Yankees face the Tampa Bay Rays in the other. The top two AL seeds, the Rays (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 MoreRays pitcher Nick Martinez is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Other Player of the Game winners Sunday include Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell, Pedro Ramírez of the Cubs and Nick Loftin of the Royals.
Read MoreRangers pitcher Jacob deGrom is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Other Player of the Game winners Thursday include Reds pitcher Nick Martinez and Brandon Lowe of the Rays.
Read MoreOrioles pitcher Cade Povich is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Tuesday’s spring training games.
Other Player of the Game winners Tuesday include Rockies pitcher Chase Dollander, Reds pitcher Nick Martinez, Giants pitcher Robbie Ray, Victor Ramos of the Mariners and Keibert Ruiz of the Nationals.
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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Box-Toppers three top-ranked rookies are named to Box-Toppers 2024 All-Rookie Team: Yankees pitcher Luis Gil, Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes and Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga.
The past season’s Rookie of the Year winners—Yankees pitcher Luis Gil and Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes—are among the Box-Toppers 2024 All-Rookie Team players.
Gil is placed on the Box-Toppers All-Rookie Team as the second starting pitcher and Skenes is placed as the third starter. Gil ranked second among rookie starting pitchers with 17.4 Box-Toppers points and Skenes ranked third with 13.0 Box-Toppers points. Both finished behind Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga, Box-Toppers’ top-ranked rookie pitcher, who earned 20.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024.
Read MoreReds pitcher Nick Martinez is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers earns Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second straight day and third time in the past week, rising to fifth place among National League batters in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Clarke Schmidt is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Schmidt struck out eight over eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 5-0 win over the Twins.
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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.
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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 MoreRed Sox pitcher Nick Pivetta is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Pivetta struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 3-0 win over the Orioles.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Luis Garcia is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen regains the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreGuardians pitcher Shane Bieber is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Saturday’s spring training games.
Bieber struck out 11 over 6 2/3 innings, allowing one run, four hits and no walks, in the 4-2 win over the Rockies.
Read MorePadres pitcher Nick Martinez is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Wednesday’s spring training games.
Martinez struck out four over four scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 5-1, seven-inning win over the Rangers.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Justin Verlander and Padres closing pitcher Josh Hader are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in Wednesday’s two league championship series games.
Read MoreThe San Diego Padres hold the advantage over the Philadelphia Phillies in the upcoming 2022 National League Championship Series.
Going into the postseason, both teams would have been voted Least Likely to Succeed, as they are the two-lowest seeded NL playoff teams and both rank lowest in Box-Toppers rankings among NL postseason teams.
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.