Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Wednesday’s National League Wild Card game.
Arrieta pitched a complete game shutout, striking out 11 and allowing four hits, in the 4-0 win over the Pirates.
Arrieta led all players during the regular season with 29.1 Box-Toppers points, the eighth-highest single-season total since 1995. He outdueled Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole, who had 19.0 Box-Toppers points during the regular season, ninth among all players and sixth among NL pitchers. Cole (5IP 6H 4R 4K L) had a Box-Toppers game score of -6.
The Pirates’ loss means the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers rankings is eliminated from the playoffs. The Pirates had 129.6 Box-Toppers points on the season. The Cubs, rank third with 127.4, are now the top-ranked NL team remaining in the playoffs.
The Cubs carried more momentum into the postseason, picking up 11.0 Box-Toppers points in the final 10 days of the season. The Pirates, by comparison, had 5.5 during that period.
The Cubs will face face the St. Louis Cardinals in the best-of-five NL Divisional Series beginning Friday in St. Louis. The Cardinals have baseball’s best record, but rank fourth in Box-Toppers team rankings, behind both the Cubs and Pirates, with 124.3 Box-Toppers points.
Top player from NL Wild Card Game
| 10/7 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| POG | 16.0 | Cubs | Jake Arrieta (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
Coming Thursday: The American League begins both division playoff series Thursday.
AL Division Series Game 1, Rangers at Blue Jays
The Blue Jays rank fifth in Box-Toppers team rankings with 124.1 Box-Toppers points. The Rangers rank 10th with 107.2. In the final 10 days of the season, the Blue Jays picked up 6.5 Box-Toppers points, while the Rangers earned 5.7
The pitching matchup Thursday:
Rangers—Yovani Gallardo, 5.0 Box-Toppers points, ranked 176th among all players, 62nd among AL pitchers.
Blue Jays—David Price, 21.1 Box-Toppers points, ranked fifth among all players, second among AL pitchers.
Rangers vs. Blue Jays
Here are players for both teams in the AL Division Series beginning Thursday. Players are listed for both teams ranked by Box-Toppers points earned in 2015. All players listed were on active Major or Minor League rosters at the end of the season—not necessarily all of them will be included on postseason rosters.
| Texas Rangers | Toronto Blue Jays | |||||
| Player | Pos | BTP | Player | Pos | BTP | |
| Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | 15.4 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | 21.1 | |
| Beltre, Adrian 1141 | 3b | 12.5 | Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 | dh | 10.4 | |
| Fielder, Prince 2029 | dh | 11.5 | Bautista, Jose 2169 | rf | 10.0 | |
| Lewis, Colby 1567 | pi sp | 7.7 | Donaldson, Josh 3144 | 3b | 9.9 | |
| Moreland, Mitch 2799 | 1b | 6.2 | Hutchison, Drew 3038 | pi sp | 9.0 | |
| Tolleson, Shawn 3077 | pi cp | 6.0 | Estrada, Marco 2847 | pi sp | 8.0 | |
| Gallardo, Yovani 2333 | pi sp | 5.0 | Tulowitzki, Troy 2308 | ss | 6.0 | |
| Napoli, Mike 2161 | 1b | 4.5 | Dickey, R.A. 1734 | pi sp | 5.0 | |
| Choo, Shin-Soo 2267 | rf | 4.5 | Martin, Russell 2202 | ca | 5.0 | |
| DeShields, Delino 3557 | cf | 4.5 | Smoak, Justin 2731 | 1b | 5.0 | |
| Hamilton, Josh 2332 | lf dh ph | 3.5 | Goins, Ryan 3478 | ss 2b | 4.5 | |
| Chirinos, Robinson 2924 | ca | 3.5 | Osuna, Roberto 3512 | pi cp | 4.0 | |
| Odor, Rougned 3336 | 2b | 3.0 | Pillar, Kevin 3486 | cf | 3.5 | |
| Holland, Derek 2634 | pi sp | 2.7 | Travis, Devon 3436 | 2b | 3.0 | |
| Martinez, Nick 3430 | pi sp | 2.0 | Stroman, Marcus 3327 | pi sp | 2.7 | |
| Dyson, Sam 3399 | pi mr cp | 2.0 | Buehrle, Mark 1407 | pi sp | 2.0 | |
| Patton, Spencer 3416 | pi mr | 2.0 | Colabello, Chris 3235 | lf dh 1b | 2.0 | |
| Gonzalez, Chi Chi 3490 | pi sp | 1.7 | Sanchez, Aaron 3392 | pi sp | 2.0 | |
| Blanks, Kyle 2661 | 1b | 1.5 | Cecil, Brett 2566 | pi cp mr | 2.0 | |
| Gallo, Joey 3485 | 3b | 1.5 | Pennington, Cliff 2641 | ss 3b | 2.0 | |
| Perez, Martin 3213 | pi sp | 1.0 | Navarro, Dioner 2087 | ca | 1.0 | |
| Gimenez, Chris 2870 | ca | 1.0 | Revere, Ben 2886 | lf | 1.0 | |
| Ohlendorf, Ross 2457 | pi mr | 1.0 | Loup, Aaron 3146 | pi mr cp | 1.0 | |
| Claudio, Alex 3459 | pi mr | 1.0 | Hendriks, Liam 3339 | pi mr | 1.0 | |
| Klein, Phil 3477 | pi sp | 1.0 | Delabar, Steve 3020 | pi mr | 1.0 | |
| Strausborger, Ryan 3560 | lf | 1.0 | Carrera, Ezequiel 2873 | lf ph | 1.0 | |
| Pompey, Dalton 3450 | cf | 1.0 | ||||
| Total | 107.2 | Total | 124.1 | |||
AL Division Series Game 1, Astros at Royals
The Royals have the most Box-Toppers team points in the AL with 127.5, ranked second overall, behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Astros rank eighth with 118.4. In the final 10 days of the season, the Astros were slightly hotter than the Royals—7.9 vs. 6.0.
The pitching matchup Thursday:
Astros—Collin McHugh, 9.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked 49th among all players, 19th among AL pitchers.
Royals—Yordano Ventura, 11.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked 30th among all players, 15th among AL pitchers.
Astros vs. Royals
Here are players for both teams in the AL Division Series beginning Thursday. Players are listed for both teams ranked by Box-Toppers points earned in 2015. All players listed were on active Major or Minor League rosters at the end of the season—not necessarily all of them will be included on postseason rosters.
| Houston Astros | Kansas City Royals | |||||
| Player | Pos | BTP | Player | Pos | BTP | |
| Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | 21.4 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | 12.8 | |
| Kazmir, Scott 1947 | pi sp | 12.7 | Ventura, Yordano 3294 | pi sp | 11.7 | |
| McHugh, Collin 3316 | pi sp | 9.7 | Hosmer, Eric 2886 | 1b | 9.0 | |
| Correa, Carlos 3506 | ss | 7.2 | Cain, Lorenzo 3171 | cf | 8.2 | |
| Fiers, Michael 3029 | pi sp | 7.0 | Young, Chris R. 1933 | pi sp | 8.0 | |
| Altuve, Jose 3007 | 2b | 7.0 | Holland, Greg 2906 | pi cp | 8.0 | |
| McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | 6.7 | Moustakas, Mike 2967 | 3b | 7.7 | |
| Gomez, Carlos 2397 | cf | 6.0 | Volquez, Edinson 2220 | pi sp | 7.0 | |
| Rasmus, Colby 2608 | lf rf cf | 6.0 | Rodriguez, Wandy 2117 | pi sp | 6.7 | |
| Gregerson, Luke 2563 | pi cp | 6.0 | Infante, Omar 1949 | 2b | 5.2 | |
| Valbuena, Luis 2600 | 3b | 4.5 | Morales, Kendrys 2142 | dh | 4.7 | |
| Gattis, Evan 3179 | dh | 4.0 | Perez, Salvador 2972 | ca | 4.5 | |
| Harris, Will 3093 | pi mr cp | 3.7 | Gomes, Jonny 2059 | lf rf | 4.5 | |
| Qualls, Chad 1958 | pi mr cp | 3.0 | Gordon, Alex 2328 | lf | 4.5 | |
| Lowrie, Jed 2437 | ss dh | 2.5 | Duffy, Danny 2915 | pi sp | 4.0 | |
| Feldman, Scott 2632 | pi sp cp | 2.0 | Davis, Wade 2681 | pi cp | 4.0 | |
| Marisnick, Jake 3428 | cf | 2.0 | Escobar, Alcides 2663 | ss | 3.5 | |
| Tucker, Preston 3525 | rf lf | 2.0 | Rios, Alex 1989 | rf | 2.5 | |
| Carter, Chris 2828 | dh | 1.0 | Guthrie, Jeremy 2290 | pi sp | 2.0 | |
| Springer, George 3337 | rf | 1.0 | Dyson, Jarrod 2813 | cf pr | 2.0 | |
| Fields, Josh 3247 | pi mr | 1.0 | Medlen, Kris 2596 | pi sp | 2.0 | |
| Conger, Hank 2843 | ca | 1.0 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | 1.0 | |
| Oberholtzer, Brett 3244 | pi sp | 1.0 | Morales, Franklin 2369 | pi mr sp | 1.0 | |
| Zobrist, Ben 2216 | lf ss | 1.0 | ||||
| Hochevar, Luke 2440 | pi mr | 1.0 | ||||
| Orlando, Paulo 3526 | cf | 1.0 | ||||
| Totals | 118.4 | Totals | 127.5 | |||
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.