Travis Ishikawa’s three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth Thursday sent the San Francisco Giants to the World Series and made Ishikawa Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Ishikawa’s walk-off blast gave the Giants a 6-3 win over the Cardinals in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. The Giants won the best-of-five game series 4-1 and advance to the World Series. Game 1 will be Tuesday in Kansas City against the American League champion Royals.
Ishikawa, who went 1-for-3 with the run and three RBIs, had the highest Box-Toppers game score of any Giants player of +2.
During the regular season, Ishikawa had 1.0 Box-Toppers point, ranked 644th among all players and 159th among NL batters.
While Ishikawa only earned Player of the Game honors once during the season (on Aug. 20), he has earned Player of the Game honors twice during the postseason, both times in the NLCS and previously just two days ago, when he was Player of the Game in the Giants’ Game 3 win.
The Giants were ranked eighth in Box-Toppers team rankings during the regular season. Giants players accumulated 110.8 Box-Toppers points. The Cardinals were ranked fifth with 114.8 Box-Toppers points.
The Giants were the lowest-ranked of four NL teams qualifying for the NL Division Series. In the World Series, they will face the lowest-ranked American League team to qualify for the playoffs—the Kansas City Royals, ranked 10th in Box-Toppers team rankings with 101.1 Box-Toppers points.
The starting pitchers in Game 5, Madison Bumgarner of the Giants and Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals, were the final two players in Box-Toppers player rankings top 10 who were still active in the playoffs.
Bumgarner (22.6 Box-Toppers points, ranked third) had a Box-Toppers game score Thursday of 0. He gave up three runs and five hits over eight innings, striking out five and walking two. He earned a no decision.
Wainwright (18.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked eighth) had a Box-Toppers game score of +4. He gave up two runs and four hits over seven innings, striking out seven and walking two. He earned a no decision—however, when he exited the game, the Cardinals had a 3-2 lead.
Box-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. 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.
Top player from each game
Players of the Game (POG) listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 1015 | Score | Team | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| POG | 2.0 | Giants | Travis Ishikawa LF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |