Astros pitcher Justin Verlander is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s American League Championship Series Game 6, as Houston pulls even in the series with the New York Yankees.
ALCS Game 6: Astros 7, Yankees 1
Verlander struck out eight over seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits and one walk. The Astros tie the Yankees in the best-of-seven game series, 3-3, with the deciding Game 7 coming Saturday.
Verlander had 14.7 Box-Toppers points in the regular season, ranked 16th among all players, sixth among AL pitchers.
Verlander had a Box-Toppers game score of +9.0, highest of any Astros player. Jose Altuve had the highest Box-Toppers game score of any Astros batter of +2.0 (HR 2-4 R 3BI). Yankees starting pitcher Luis Severino had a Box-Toppers game score of -5.8 (4.2 3H 3R 4BB 3K L). Severino has the most 2017 Box-Toppers points of any player in the ALCS—21.1 Box-Toppers points, seventh among all players, fourth among AL pitchers. He has not earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors now in his four postseason appearances.
Verlander becomes the fifth player in the 2017 postseason to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors twice. Verlander was Player of the Game in Game 2 of the ALCS won by the Astros 2-1. Verlander had a Box-Toppers game score of +14.0 (CG 5H R BB 13K W) in that game.
The other four players to earn Player of the Game honors twice in the 2017 postseason are Masahiro Tanaka of the Yankees, Dallas Keuchel of the Astros and Kenley Jansen and Yu Darvish of the Dodgers.
Game 7 of the series is Saturday in Houston. The winner faces the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series beginning Tuesday in Los Angeles.
Top player from each game
| BTG | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| 9.0 | HOU 7, NYY 1 | Justin Verlander W (2-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
Coming Saturday:
American League Championship Series Game 7, Yankees at Astros, series tied 3-3
The pitching matchup:
Yankees—CC Sabathia, 7.7 Box-Toppers points, 82nd among all players, 26th among AL pitchers.
Astros—Charlie Morton, 7.7 Box-Toppers points, 83rd among all players, 27th among AL pitchers.
It’s a rematch of Game 3 of the ALCS won by the Yankees 8-1. While Sabathia pitched better than Morton that game, neither earned Player of the Game honors. That went to Todd Frazier of the Yankees. Sabathia had a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0 (6IP 3H 0R 4BB 5K W), while Morton had a Box-Toppers game score -15.8 (3.2IP 6H 7R 2BB 3K L).
Neither Sabathia nor Morton has earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in their other 2017 postseason appearances:
Sabathia has appeared two other times:
- ALDS Game 2 on Oct. 6—Sabathia had a Box-Toppers game score of -1.9 (5.1IP 3H 4R 2ER 3BB 5K ND) in the 9-8 loss to the Indians. Indians pitcher Josh Tomlin was Player of the Game with a Box-Toppers game score of +5.0.
- ALDS Game 5 on Oct. 11—Sabathia had a Box-Toppers game score of +4.1 (4.1IP 5H 2R 0BB 9K ND) in the 5-2 win over the Indians. Yankees closing pitcher Aroldis Chapman was Player of the Game with a Box-Toppers game score of +5.0.
Morton has appeared one other time:
- ALDS Game 4 on Oct. 9—Morton had a Box-Toppers game score of -2.9 (4.1IP 7H 2R 2BB 6K ND) in the 5-4 win over the Red Sox. George Springer was Player of the Game with a Box-Toppers game score of +1.0.
While Sabathia and Morton are starting, it will likely be all hands on deck for pitchers in Game 7. The Yankees hold a Box-Toppers point advantage among pitchers, but much of that advantage comes from Severino and his 21.1 points. Severino will likely not be available for Game 7 because he started Game 6 Friday.
See Box-Toppers ALCS series preview with player-by-player matchups.
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.
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Box-Toppers
Tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score stats. A method to measure & compare baseball's top players.
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. 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.