The Chicago Cubs lead Box-Toppers first weekly team rankings report of the 2020 season.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota Twins are the top-ranked American League team and the Oakland Athletics are the hottest team of the past week.
Read MoreAngels’ Dylan Bundy tops players for Thursday, Aug. 6, rises to 2nd in player rankings
Angels pitcher Dylan Bundy is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Bundy pitched a complete game, striking out 10 and allowing one run, four hits and no walks, in the 6-1 win over the Mariners.
Read MoreBlue Jays’ Ryu tops players for Wednesday, Aug. 5; Cubs’ Darvish rises to 9th in player rankings
Blue Jays pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreMarlins’ Lopez tops players for Tuesday, Aug. 4; Indians’ Bieber extends player rankings lead
Marlins pitcher Pablo Lopez is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Indians pitcher Shane Bieber extends his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreAthletics’ Montas tops players for Monday, Aug. 3; Reds’ Gray rises to 3rd in player rankings
Athletics pitcher Frankie Montas is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Monday, three players rose in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after each earned Player of the Game honors. Reds pitcher Sonny Gray rose to third place, Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole rose to fifth place and Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom rose to sixth place.
Read MoreReds’ Bauer tops players for Sunday, Aug. 2; Yankees’ Judge rises to 3rd in player rankings
Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to ninth in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Meanwhile, three other players rose into Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday—Aaron Judge of the Yankees rises to third place, Cubs pitcher Jon Lester rises to sixth and Athletics pitcher Chris Bassitt rises to seventh.
Read MoreCubs’ Tyler Chatwood tops players for Saturday, Aug. 1, rises to 2nd in player rankings
Cubs pitcher Tyler Chatwood is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to second place in season player rankings.
Chatwood struck out 11 over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 4-3 win over the Pirates.
Read MoreMariners’ Walker tops players for Friday, July 31; Cubs’ Darvish tops NL players
Mariners pitcher Taijuan Walker is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Walker struck out eight over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 5-3 win over the Athletics.
Read MoreIndians’ Bieber tops players for Thursday, July 30, rises to lead season player rankings
Indians pitcher Shane Bieber is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Bieber struck out 13 over eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 2-0 win over the Twins.
Read MoreBrewers’ Woodruff tops players for Wednesday, July 29; Rangers’ Lynn rises to lead player rankings
Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Meanwhile, Rangers pitcher Lance Lynn rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors. He is one of three players Wednesday to win Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for a second time this season.
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Sixteen teams will make the postseason in 2020, rather than 10 under the previous plan. Eight qualifying teams in each league will be seeded from 1-8 and will faceoff in a best-of-three game Wild Card series played entirely at the home of the higher seed. Winners of the Wild Card will face off in the Division Series and the playoffs will proceed in a similar format to recent years.
Box-Toppers projects 2020 postseason as it expands to 16 teams
One more revision for Box-Toppers postseason predictions now that the playoff format has expanded from 10 to 16 teams. While it provides six more postseason, it doesn’t change our pick of the Yankees over the Nationals in the World Series.
Read MoreDiamondbacks’ Kelly tops players for Tuesday, July 28; Blue Jays’ Roark tops AL players
Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Kelly struck out seven over 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 4-1 win over the Rangers.
Read MoreRays’ Glasnow tops players for Monday, July 27; Cubs’ Lester earns Box-Toppers points in 15th straight season
Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Cubs pitcher Jon Lester extended his streak of consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points to 15—tied for the third-longest active streak—after earning National League Player of the Day honors. Lester also rises to 12th place on Box-Toppers “all-time” career points list.
Read MoreTwins’ Cruz tops players for Sunday, July 26, earning Box-Toppers points in 15th straight season
Nelson Cruz of the Twins is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, extending his streak of earning Box-Toppers points to 15 consecutive seasons.
Cruz hit two homers and two doubles, going 4-for-5, scoring four times and driving in seven runs, in the 14-2 win over the White Sox.
Read MoreAngels’ Bundy tops players for Saturday, July 25; Phillies’ Gosselin tops NL players
Angels pitcher Dylan Bundy is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Bundy struck out seven over 6 2/3 innings, allowing one run, three hits and no walks, in the 4-1 win over the Athletics.
Read MoreCubs’ Hendricks tops players for Friday, July 24; Astros’ Verlander extends streak earning points to 15 seasons
Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Meanwhile, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander extended his consecutive streak of seasons earning Box-Toppers points to 15, tied for the third-longest active streak.
Read MoreDodgers’ Hernandez tops players in Thursday, July 23’s season opening games
Enrique Hernandez of the Dodgers is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s pair of season opening games.
Hernandez homered and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 8-1 win over the Giants.
Read MorePlay ball? Trouble with COVID's curve: Do we even deserve baseball in 2020?
To get a reward, you need to complete a task. As other nations sacrificed to bring coronavirus case counts down, to flatten the curve, we didn’t. Cases increased. It seems crazy to reward ourselves now with baseball, putting many at risk, simply because we want it. We are not worthy.
And yet, here we are: So here’s an opening day introduction to Box-Toppers, tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score statistics. We begin our 26th season of tracking and our eighth season on the web.
Read MoreRockies’ Drew Butera tops players in Wednesday, July 22’s final summer exhibition games
Drew Butera of the Rockies is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Wednesday’s final day of summer exhibition games.
Butera homered, doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 7-3 win over the Rangers.
Read MoreAstros’ Aledmys Diaz tops players in Tuesday, July 21’s preseason exhibition games
Aledmys Diaz of the Astros is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Tuesday’s summer camp exhibition games.
Diaz homered and went 2-for-2, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 15-6 win over the Royals.
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