David Wright hit a two-run homer and drove in four total runs as the New York Mets won Game 3 of the World Series Friday, beating the Kansas City Royals, 9-3.
Wright, who also had two hits, is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Game as the Royals now lead the Mets 2-1 in the best-of-seven games series.
Wright had a Box-Toppers game score Friday of +2.0, tied for the highest among Mets players with two other batters, Curtis Granderson (HR 2-3 3R 2BI) and Juan Uribe (1-1 R BI). But Wright beat both his teammates on tiebreakers—Wright beat Granderson because he had more runs batted in (4 vs. 2) and he beat Uribe because he had more at bats (5 vs. 1).
Pitcher Jeurys Familia also had a Box-Toppers game score of +2.0. But in cases of Box-Toppers game score ties, batters hold the tiebreaker over pitchers under Box-Toppers rules. Also, Familia did not qualify to earn Player of the Game because he did not have at least three innings pitched and did not earn the win or save.
Wright, during the regular season had 0.0 Box-Toppers points, playing in only 38 games due to injury. It is the first time this postseason he has earned Player of the Game honors. In fact, it is the first time he has earned Player of the Game honors since July 11, 2014. That was the only time during the 2014 season that Wright earned Player of the Game honors, giving him 1.5 Box-Toppers points for 2014. Wright does have 74.1 career Box-Toppers points, second among active National League third basemen, and had regular season Box-Toppers points for 11 straight seasons from 2004 to 2014.
Mets starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard picked up the win but had the second-lowest Box-Toppers game score Friday of all Mets players of −3.0 (6IP 7H 3R 2BB 6K). However, Syndergaard had a higher Box-Toppers game score for batting of 0.0 (1-2 R).
Royals starting pitcher Yordano Ventura picked up the loss and had the lowest Box-Toppers game score among all players Friday of −12.9 (3.1IP 7H 5R BB 2K). Alex Rios had the highest Box-Toppers game score among Royals players eligible to earn Player of the Game honors of 0.0 (1-3 R BI).
About Box-Toppers—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 Mets in World Series Game 3
Here are the Box-Toppers game score of all Mets who played in World Series Game 3 listed from highest-to-lowest Box-Toppers game score (pitchers are listed twice—once for batting and once for pitching). David Wright is Player of the Game (POG).
| 10/30 | Score | Team | Players | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| POG | 2.0 | Mets | David Wright, 3B | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Mets | Curtis Granderson, RF | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Mets | Juan Uribe, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Mets | Jeurys Familia | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | Mets | Addison Reed | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1.0 | Mets | Tyler Clippard | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 0.0 | Mets | Michael Conforto, LF | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.0 | Mets | Juan Lagares, PH-CF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.0 | Mets | Noah Syndergaard, P | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.0 | Mets | Addison Reed, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.0 | Mets | Tyler Clippard, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.0 | Mets | Jeurys Familia, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | ||
| -1.0 | Mets | Yoenis Cespedes, CF-LF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| -1.0 | Mets | Kirk Nieuwenhuis, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| -2.0 | Mets | Travis d'Arnaud, C | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| -2.0 | Mets | Lucas Duda, 1B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| -2.0 | Mets | Wilmer Flores, SS | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| -3.0 | Mets | Noah Syndergaard (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 6 | ||
| -4.0 | Mets | Daniel Murphy, 2B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Coming Saturday in New York:
World Series Game 4, Royals lead Mets, 2-1
The pitching match-up Saturday:
Royals—Chris Young, 8.0 Box-Toppers points, 78th among all players, 29th among AL pitchers. Young was Player of the Game in World Series Game 1.
Mets—Steven Matz, 3.5 Box-Toppers points, 298th among all players, 76th among NL pitchers.
World Series preview (Corrected 10/31: Previously, David Wright’s 2015 Box-Toppers point total was listed as 1.5, which was his total during 2014. Wright actually had 0.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015)
Box-Toppers season-end player rankings report
Box-Toppers point totals of all Royals players active at season's end
Box-Toppers point totals of all Mets players active at season's end