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Mets pitcher Steven Matz is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, two players rise into Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list: Tim Beckham of the Mariners rises to fourth place after earning American League Batter of the Day honors and Tigers pitcher Matt Moore rises to eighth place after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MorePirates 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 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 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 MoreNationals 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 MoreAs 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 MoreThree 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 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 MoreTim 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 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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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 MoreBlake 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 MoreStriving 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 MoreKhris 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 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.