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The Philadelphia Phillies have the most players among the top 100 in Box-Toppers’ 2026 player rankings at the All-Star break.
The Phillies have six players on the list, followed by three teams that have five each—the Cleveland Guardians, Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals.
Read MorePhillies pitcher Zack Wheeler is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to seventh place in season player rankings.
Other Player of the Game winners Sunday include Red Sox pitcher Payton Tolle, Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes, Alex Bregman of the Cubs and J.P. Crawford of the Mariners.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Cade Cavalli is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, recording the third-highest Box-Toppers game score of the season.
Also Tuesday, Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez regains the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Mariners pitcher Bryan Woo bolsters his sixth-place spot in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day after recording the highest game score in more than eight years. His dominant shutout performance maintains his second-place spot in the season player rankings.
Other top Friday players include Bo Bichette of the Mets, Mariners pitcher Bryce Miller, Yordan Alvarez of the Astros, Red Sox pitcher Sonny Gray and George Springer of the Blue Jays.
Read MoreAngels pitcher Reid Detmers is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Other Player of the Game winners Sunday include Nationals pitcher Foster Griffin, Ketel Marte of the Diamondbacks, Guardians pitcher Parker Messick and Nick Allen of the Astros.
Read MoreGuardians pitcher Gavin Williams is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to second place in season player rankings.
Also Saturday, Braves pitcher Chris Sale rises to 10th place on Box-Toppers’ “all-time” career points list, passing Alex Rodriguez. Sale, who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday, also rises to seventh place in season player rankings.
Read MorePhillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Thursday, as 22 Major League teams open their 2026 seasons.
Other top players Thursday include Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, Chase DeLauter of the Guardians, Alec Burleson of the Cardinals and Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
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All 30 teams open their seasons over three days—Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Here is each team’s opening day starter and the pitching matchups for each team’s first game of the season.
Welcome to Opening Day of the 2026 Major League Baseball season.
This marks the 32nd season of Box-Toppers tracking the players who most help their teams win, based on box score statistics.
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The New York Yankees are Box-Toppers’ pick to win the 2026 World Series, defeating the projected National League champion Chicago Cubs.
Box-Toppers projects the Yankees will win 100 games and the American League pennant, ahead of the Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners, and Boston Red Sox.
Read MoreVenezuela pitcher Eduardo Rodríguez is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Tuesday’s World Baseball Classic Championship Game.
Rodríguez, who pitches for the Arizona Diamondbacks in Major League Baseball, struck out four over 4 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 3-2 win over the United States.
Read MoreAthletics pitcher Jacob Lopez is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Saturday’s spring training games.
Other top players Saturday include Brandon Nimmo of the Rangers, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, Bryce Elder of the Braves and Freddy Fermin of the Padres.
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The New York Yankees enter 2026 as Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team, but their lead is a precarious one.
While the Yankees’ current roster combined for a league-leading 128.5 Box-Toppers points in 2025—narrowly edging out the Chicago Cubs (125.8 points)—the raw totals don't tell the whole story.
Read MoreBox-Toppers coverage of the 2026 Major League Baseball season begins with the first spring training games Friday.
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. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point 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.
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Five Box-Toppers category leaders were also 2025 Players Choice Award winners, headlined by the surprising National League Outstanding Player selection, Kyle Schwarber, who beat out unanimous NL MVP Shohei Ohtani for the honor.
But while the players and Box-Toppers data found common ground for the top NL player, a massive disparity emerged for the game’s overall top honor. Players voted Cal Raleigh of the Mariners as Player of the Year, even though he earned just 6.0 Box-Toppers points—ranking 24th among American League batters and 139th among all players.
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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.
Read MoreOverall Box-Toppers points leader, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, leads the Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2025 regular season.
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.
Read MoreFour Box-Toppers points leaders are among players selected for 2025’s 16-member “All-MLB” Team. Five other Box-Toppers leaders are among the “All-MLB” Second Team.
The All-MLB team is selected with half the vote coming from fans and half coming from an expert panel. Unlike the selections for baseball’s All-Star Game, players are chosen not based on their affiliation with the American League or National League. Instead, players are selected from all Major League Baseball teams, regardless of league affiliation, and are designated as “First Team” or “Second Team.”
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Three of six Box-Toppers’ choices won major postseason honors and three did not. Top row players all won: Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal won AL Cy Young, Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes won NL Cy Young and Drake Baldwin of the Braves won NL Rookie of the Year. Box-Toppers choices in the bottom row all lost: Skubal for AL MVP, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies for NL MVP and Athletics pitcher Jacob Lopez for AL Rookie of the Year.
Box-Toppers’ choices for baseball’s major postseason player awards won three of six 2025 honors.
However, for three other awards announced in the past week, voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA), Box-Toppers leaders were not among the winners.
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Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers won 2025 Most Valuable Player Awards Thursday over Box-Toppers’ choices for the awards, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal and Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies.
Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers won 2025 Most Valuable Player Awards Thursday over Box-Toppers’ choices for the awards, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal and Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies.
Both Judge and Ohtani won their league’s award for the second straight year—Judge in the American League and Ohtani in the National League.
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Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, who led all players with 22.1 Box-Toppers points, won the American League Cy Young Award. Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes, who led National League players with 21.1 Box-Toppers points, won the NL Cy Young Award.
Both pitchers who led their leagues in Box-Toppers points for the season won the 2025 Cy Young Awards on Wednesday.
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, who led all players with 22.1 Box-Toppers points, won the American League Cy Young Award. Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes, who led National League players with 21.1 Box-Toppers points, won the NL Cy Young Award.
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.