Blog
Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player over both the past two seasons and past six seasons.
Scherzer has the most Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons (50.1 over 2017 and 2018) and the most points over the past six seasons (137.0 from 2013 to 2018).
Read MoreBox-Toppers is voting for eight players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) ballot.
Read MoreTwins pitcher Ervin Santana had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers points from 2017 to 2018.
Santana, who earned 16.1 Box-Toppers points in 2017 (ninth among all players), earned no points in 2018. His decline of 16.1 points was just ahead of Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg, whose 6.7 points in 2018 represented a 15.1-point drop from the 22.5 points he earned in 2017.
Read MoreRays pitcher Blake Snell had the biggest improvement in Box-Toppers point totals from 2017 to 2018, and is this season’s Box-Toppers’ Most Improved Player.
Snell had 22.2 more Box-Toppers points in 2018 than he did in 2017. In 2017, he had 5.0 Box-Toppers points and in 2018, he had 27.2 points, first among all players.
Read MoreDepending on how you look at it, Box-Toppers points leaders took home two (or three or four) of the six major postseason awards for 2018.
There were two awards won outright by Box-Toppers points leaders in their categories:
Read MoreChristian Yelich of the Brewers, who led National League batters in Box-Toppers points in 2018 with 11.5, was voted NL Most Valuable Player Thursday.
And Mookie Betts of the Red Sox, who ranked second among American League batters in Box-Toppers points with 10.9, was voted AL Most Valuable Player. Teammate J.D. Martinez, who led AL batters with 12.5 Box-Toppers points, finished fourth in AL MVP voting.
Read MoreRays pitcher Blake Snell, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2018, was voted the American League Cy Young Award winner Wednesday.
But Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom, who won the National League Cy Young Award, ranked third in Box-Toppers points among NL pitchers and in fact, needed another half season worth of points to catch Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, who led NL pitchers.
Read MoreBox-Toppers top-ranked rookies, Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves and Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, were voted 2018 Rookies of the Year Monday.
The honors for the 2018 season were awarded Monday by the Baseball Writers Association of America. The Internet Baseball Writers Association of America also named both as top rookies for 2018 on Monday.
Read MoreJosh Hader of the Brewers and Edwin Diaz of the Mariners are winners of this year’s reliever of the year awards as voted on by the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA).
Hader wins the 2018 IBWAA Hoyt Wilhelm National League Relief Pitcher of the Year Award and Diaz is selected as the 2018 IBWAA Rollie Fingers American League Relief Pitcher of the Year. The awards were announced Sunday.
Read MoreAbout half of the top batters by position as measured by Box-Toppers points are among Silver Slugger Award winners announced Thursday.
The awards are given to the top batter in each position in both leagues. But as measured by Box-Toppers points, only seven (maybe eight) of the 17 announced winners would have been the same.
Read MoreHere is a detailed look at Box-Toppers point leaders for 2018.
The chart accompanying this post shows points leaders for the season by several different categories and classifications.
Read MoreBaseball’s postseason award finalists named this week are also among Box-Toppers’ top-ranked players for 2018.
The lone exception: J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox, who led all batters in 2018 with 12.5 Box-Toppers points, is not among the three finalists for the American League Most Valuable Player Award.
Read MoreBlake Snell tops Box-Toppers list of the top 100 players in 2018.
The Rays pitcher had 27.2 Box-Toppers points during the regular season, which is the 12th-highest single-season point total since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began.
Read MoreThe Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2018 regular season are led by overall Box-Toppers points leader, Rays pitcher Blake Snell.
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 the batters—eight in the NL and nine (including the designated hitter) in the AL—are the top four starting pitchers in each league and the top closing pitcher.
Read MoreRed Sox pitcher David Price is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Sunday’s World Series Game 5 as Boston wins its fourth title since 2004.
The Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 Sunday to win the best-of-seven series, 4-1.
Price struck out five over seven innings, allowing one run, three hits and two walks.
Read MoreSteve Pearce of the Red Sox is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s World Series Game 4.
The Boston Red Sox win 9-6 to take a 3-1 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the best-of-seven game series.
Pearce homered, doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs. It is his first Player of the Game honor of the 2018 postseason.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Walker Buehler is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s World Series Game 3.
The Los Angeles Dodgers win 3-2 in 18 innings, but the Boston Red Sox lead the best-of-seven series, 2-1.
Buehler struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks. He did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Red Sox tied the game after he exited.
Read MoreRed Sox pitcher David Price is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s World Series Game 2.
The Boston Red Sox win 4-2 to take a 2-0 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the best-of-seven game series.
Price struck out five over six innings, allowing two runs, three hits and three walks.
Read MoreEduardo Nunez of the Red Sox is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Tuesday’s World Series Game 1.
The Boston Red Sox win 8-4 to take a 1-0 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the best-of-seven game series.
Nunez hit a pinch-hit, three-run homer in the seventh inning, extending the Red Sox lead to 8-4.
Read More
The Boston Red Sox have a considerable edge on paper over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2018 World Series.
The Red Sox were the runaway leaders in team Box-Toppers points from August on and were serious playoff contenders all season long. Not only did the Red Sox finish far atop Box-Toppers team rankings for the season, they had baseball’s best record in 2018 and won a team-record 108 games.
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.