Royals pitcher Brady Singer is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Singer struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 11-0 win over the Twins.
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Box-Toppers picks Dodgers over Astros in 2024 World Series, plus our awards forecasts
Box-Toppers picks the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 2024 World Series, beating the predicted American League champion Houston Astros.
Box-Toppers projects the Dodgers will have the most wins among all teams—103—and will be one of three teams with 99 or more wins, along with the Astros and the Atlanta Braves.
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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 MoreDodgers’ Evan Phillips tops players in Seoul Series opening game win over Padres
Dodgers closing pitcher Evan Phillips is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Wednesday’s regular season opening game in Seoul, South Korea.
Phillips struck out one in one scoreless, hitless inning, walking none and picking up the save, in the 5-2 win over the Padres, the first official game of the 2024 season.
Read MoreNationals’ Irvin, Blue Jays’ Bassitt top players in spring games for Wednesday, March 13
Nationals pitcher Jake Irvin is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Wednesday’s spring training games.
Meanwhile, Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt, who led American League pitchers in 2023 with 20.1 Box-Toppers points, is Wednesday’s AL Player of the Day.
Read MoreAthletics’ Sears, Padres’ Locastro top players in spring games for Sunday, March 3
Gerrit Cole leads players in Box-Toppers points over past 6 seasons (2018-23)
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole leads players in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2018.
Cole has 112.4 Box-Toppers points over the period 2018-23, 17.4 points ahead of second-ranked player, Rangers pitcher Max Scherzer, who has 95.0 over that span.
Read MoreShohei Ohtani leads players in Box-Toppers points over past 2 seasons (2022-23)
Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani has more Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons than any other player.
Ohtani has earned 44.1 Box-Toppers points over 2022 and 2023. He ranked second among all players in 2022 with 24.7 Box-Toppers points and third among all players in 2023 with 19.4 points.
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.
Read MoreA detailed look at Box-Toppers points leaders for 2023: Top players by position in each league
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 MoreA pitchers vs. batters breakdown of each team’s Box-Toppers point total for 2023
The World Series champion Texas Rangers, leaders among all teams in Box-Toppers points in 2023, also led all teams in points earned by pitchers. The Los Angeles Dodgers, meanwhile, which finished third overall among all teams, had the most points won by batters in 2023.
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 MoreHow 2023 Silver Sluggers winners fared in Box-Toppers rankings
Six of the 20 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards in 2023 were also among the leaders at their positions in 2023 Box-Toppers point totals.
The awards are given to the top batter in each position in both leagues, voted on by Major League Baseball coaches and managers. Box-Toppers, analyzing traditional box scores, tracks which player most helps his team win the most games, awarding points for the top player in each game.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ top-ranked nominees—Ohtani, Acuna—win 2023 Hank Aaron Awards
Box-Toppers’ top-ranked nominees in both leagues won 2023’s Hank Aaron Awards for top offensive player. But Box-Toppers would have chosen two other players for the honors.
Shohei Ohtani of the Angels won the award in the American League and Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves won the award in the National League.
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 MoreCan Shohei Ohtani continue his lofty, Angelic Box-Toppers rankings with Dodgers?
Shohei Ohtani, who signed a record free-agent deal with the Dodgers, has consistently been among Box-Toppers' highest-ranking players over the past three seasons.
However, his second surgery to repair his pitching elbow's ulnar collateral ligament, raises concerns about his future effectiveness. A Box-Toppers look at Ohtani’s career and the mixed outcomes of pitchers with a second elbow surgery.
Read MoreBox-Toppers points leaders Ohtani, Henderson win 2023 Players Choice Awards
Only two of Box-Toppers category leaders also won Players Choice Awards for 2023 as voted by the players’ union: Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, who was voted American League Outstanding Player and Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles was voted AL Outstanding Rookie.
Read MoreBox-Toppers 2023 year-end All-Star teams
The Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2023 regular season are led by overall Box-Toppers points leader, Braves pitcher Spencer Strider.
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 leaders win two of the six major postseason awards in 2023: Shohei Ohtani of the Angels wins AL Most Valuable Player and Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles wins AL Rookie of the Year. The other four Box-Toppers leaders did not win awards in their category: Pete Alonso of the Mets was not NL MVP, Chris Bassitt of the Blue Jays was not AL Cy Young Award winner, Spencer Strider of the Braves did not win NL Cy Young and James Outman of the Dodgers was not NL Rookie of the Year.
Awards wrap-up: Box-Toppers leaders win 2 of 6 major postseason honors in 2023
Box-Toppers’ choices for baseball’s major postseason awards won two of six of the 2023 honors.
Shohei Ohtani of the Angels won the American League Most Valuable Player Award and Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles won the AL Rookie of the Year Award.
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