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Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to second place in season player rankings.
Also Friday, Astros pitcher Hunter Brown becomes the new leader in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Other Player of the Game winners Friday include Cardinals pitcher Erick Fedde, Jasson Domínguez of the Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers.
Read MoreRangers pitcher Jacob deGrom is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, three players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after earning Player of the Game honors—Pete Alonso of the Mets rises to second place, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler rises to seventh place and Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodón rises to ninth place.
Read MoreBrandon Nimmo of the Mets is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, recording the highest Box-Toppers game score for a batter winning Player of the Game honors this season.
Other Player of the Game winners Monday include Orioles pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano, Ryan Jeffers of the Twins and Gavin Lux of the Reds.
Read MoreWhite Sox pitcher Shane Smith is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Salvador Perez of the Royals wins Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in both games of a doubleheader, becoming the 14th player since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995 to achieve that feat.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Max Fried is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, two players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after both earned Player of the Game honors—Jackson Chourio of the Brewers rises to third place and Rangers pitcher Tyler Mahle rises to ninth.
Read MoreAaron Judge of the Yankees is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Other Player of the Game winners Saturday include Phillies pitcher Jesús Luzardo, Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga and Matt McLain of the Reds.
Read MoreMariners pitcher Logan Gilbert is Thursday’s Opening Day Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Other notable Player of the Game winners Thursday include two 2024 Box-Toppers points leaders—Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, who led all players (21.4 points) and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers, who led all National League batters (11.0).
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Logo source: Chris Creamer’s SportsLogos.Net
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).
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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 MoreDodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Tuesday’s regular season opening game in Tokyo, Japan.
Yamamoto struck out four over five innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 4-1 win over the Cubs, the first official game of the 2025 season.
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The most notable change in Box-Toppers “all-time” career points top 10 lists at the end of 2024 is an almost complete lack of change.
No players changed position, and only three—Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander—earned any Box-Toppers points in 2024, each adding just 2.0. The lack of movement contrasts with 2023 when four players combined for 40.9 points and when Scherzer and Verlander both rose one spot in the rankings.
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Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole leads players in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2019.
Cole has 104.1 Box-Toppers points over the period 2019-24, 22.5 points ahead of second-ranked player, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, who has 81.6 over that span.
Read MoreBox-Toppers coverage of the 2025 Major League Baseball season begins with the first spring training game Thursday.
Since 1995, Box-Toppers has tracked each Major League game played, tracking 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.
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Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler has more Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons than any other player.
Wheeler earned 36.1 Box-Toppers points over 2023 and 2024. He ranked 11th among all players in 2022 with 14.7 Box-Toppers points and first among all players in 2024 with 21.4 points. Wheeler ranked fifth among National League pitchers in 2023 and led NL pitchers in 2024.
Read MoreA 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 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.
Read MoreIn 2024, teams with the most Box-Toppers points earned by pitchers generally ranked higher in overall Box-Toppers team rankings.
For example, the Philadephia Phillies led all teams with 124.9 Box-Toppers points. Pitchers earned 78.0 of those points, fifth-most among all teams. Box-Toppers’ seven top-ranked teams were all among the top 10 in points earned by pitchers.
However, the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers were a notable anomaly. While the team finished eighth overall in Box-Toppers points (113.7), they finished 11th in points earned by pitchers (66.2) and third in points earned by batters (47.5).
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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.
Braves pitcher Spencer Strider had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2023 to 2024.
Strider led all players in 2023 with 21.1 Box-Toppers points but earned just 1.0 point in 2024, a 20.1-point decline, which is also the fifth-largest decline (in regular-length seasons) since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.
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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 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.