Pirates pitcher Joe Musgrove is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Musgrove struck out eight over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 2-0 win over the Reds.
Read MoreNationals’ Stephen Strasburg tops players for Thursday, April 4; Indians’ Bauer rises to lead season player rankings
Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Read MoreBrewers’ Freddy Peralta tops players for Wednesday, April 3; Blue Jays’ Shoemaker rises to lead player rankings
Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Blue Jays pitcher Matt Shoemaker rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Read More7 of top 10 strikeout leaders for 2018 are also among top 10 in season Box-Toppers points
Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, who led National League players in Box-Toppers points in 2018, led all pitchers in strikeouts in 2018.
In fact, seven of the overall top 10-ranked players in 2018 Box-Toppers points are among the top 10 season strikeout leaders. And all 10 strikeout leaders rank among the top 17 players in 2018 Box-Toppers points.
Read MoreRays’ Blake Snell tops players for Tuesday, April 2; Dodgers’ Bellinger extends lead in season player rankings
Rays pitcher Blake Snell is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers extends his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors for the third time already in the first week of the season.
Read MoreIndians’ Mike Clevinger tops players for Monday, April 1; Diamondbacks’ Duplantier tops NL players
Indians pitcher Mike Clevinger is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Clevinger struck out 12 over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and three walks, in the 5-3 win over the White Sox. Clevinger did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the White Sox took the lead after he exited, before the Indians regained the lead.
Read MoreMarlins’ Sandy Alcantara tops player for Sunday, March 31; Dodgers’ Bellinger rises to player rankings lead
Marlins pitcher Sandy Alcantara is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers takes the early outright lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors for the second straight day.
Read MoreIndians’ Trevor Bauer tops player for Saturday, March 30; Dodgers’ Bellinger tops NL players
Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Bauer struck out nine over seven innings, allowing one run, one hit and one walk, in the 2-1 win over the Twins. Bauer did not earn the win, picking up the no-decision, because the game was tied, 1-1, when he exited.
Read MoreBlue Jays’ Matt Shoemaker tops players for Friday, March 29; Padres’ Lucchesi tops NL players
Blue Jays pitcher Matt Shoemaker is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Shoemaker struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 6-0 win over the Tigers.
Read MoreTwins’ Jose Berrios tops players in Thursday, March 28's opening day games
Twins pitcher Jose Berrios is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s Opening Day games.
Berrios struck out 10 over 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 2-0 win over the Indians.
Read MoreAn opening day introduction to Box-Toppers, starting 25th season tracking players
As the 2019 Major League Baseball season opens, Box-Toppers begins its 25th season tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score statistics. Here is an introduction to Box-Toppers.
Read More3 of 10 RBI leaders are among their league's top 10 batters in Box-Toppers points in 2018
Three of the top 10 runs batted in leaders are among their league’s top 10 batters in Box-Toppers points in 2018.
They are J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox, Christian Yelich of the Brewers and Javier Baez of the Cubs.
Read MoreMariners’ Hunter Strickland tops players in Thursday, March 21’s final Japan series game
Mariners pitcher Hunter Strickland is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Strickland struck out one in one inning of relief, allowing no hits, runs or walks and earning the save, in the 5-4, 12-inning win over the Athletics.
Read MoreMariners’ Tim Beckham tops players in Wednesday's opening game in Japan
Tim Beckham of the Mariners is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day in baseball’s 2019 opening game in Japan.
Beckham homered and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 9-7 win over the Athletics.
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Box-Toppers picks Yankees over Cubs in 2019 World Series
Box-Toppers picks the New York Yankees to beat the Chicago Cubs in the 2019 World Series.
In addition, Box-Toppers projects the Yankees will win 111 games in 2019, one of four teams projected to win 100 or more games this season. All 2018 American League playoff teams are projected to return to the postseason, while three different teams are forecast for the National League postseason—the Nationals, Phillies and Mets.
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Yankees top Box-Toppers 2019 preseason team rankings; champion Red Sox fall to 2nd
The New York Yankees are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2019 preseason rankings, rising from second place at the end of the 2018 season.
The 2018 World Series-champion Boston Red Sox fall from first at the end of last season to second place in the 2019 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the Cincinnati Reds made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Arizona Diamondbacks had the biggest decline.
Read MoreWins leader Blake Snell also led players in Box-Toppers points in 2018
Blake Snell of the Rays, who led all pitchers in wins in 2018 with 21, also led all players in Box-Toppers points during the season with 27.2.
Six of the overall top 11 players in Box-Toppers points in 2018 are also among the top 11 pitchers in wins for the season. Plus, all 11 pitchers leading in wins are among the overall top 40 players in Box-Toppers points for the season.
Read MoreA correction: Rays' Blake Snell leads by wider margin after fixing errors in 2018 Box-Toppers stats
Striving to create a more perfect Box-Toppers, I discovered some errors in player tracking in 2018 and have been correcting them in recent weeks.
There were 10 total errors I discovered that changed the Box-Toppers point totals for 17 different players. Those errors were discovered after re-examining about one-third of the 2,430 games played in the 2018 season. So in other words, after looking at about 830 games, I found 10 errors.
Read MoreOnly 3 of top 10 home run hitters in 2018 are among Box-Toppers’ top 100-ranked players
Khris Davis of the Athletics led all players in home runs in 2018 but ranked relatively low in Box-Toppers player rankings—just 47th among American League batters.
Meanwhile, J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox, who led all batters in Box-Toppers points in 2018 with 12.5, ranked second in home runs. And just three of the top 10 home run hitters in 2018 are among the top 100 ranked players in Box-Toppers points for the season.
Read MoreHow 2019 Hall of Fame candidates fared in Box-Toppers
Four players—Mariano Rivera, Roy Halladay, Edgar Martinez and Mike Mussina—were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Tuesday.
The three pitchers selected—Rivera, Halladay and Mussina—are among the top 40 players in career Box-Toppers points (tracking began in 1995). Martinez ranks ninth among designated hitters in career Box-Toppers points since 1995, but he started his career in 1987, before the advent of Box-Toppers tracking.
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