Trevor Bauer of the Indians and Jose Altuve of the Astros are Box-Toppers Players of the Game in Thursday’s pair of American League Division Series openers.
Bauer struck out eight over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 4-0 win over the Yankees. The Indians now lead the Yankees 1-0 in the best-of-five series.
Bauer had 9.7 Box-Toppers points during the regular season, 39th among all players and 13th among AL pitchers.
Bauer had a Box-Toppers game score Thursday of +11.2. Indians top batter in the game was right fielder Jay Bruce (HR 2B 2-3 2R 3BI), with a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0.
Astros 8, Red Sox 2—In the other ALDS Game 1, Jose Altuve of the Astros earned Player of the Game, hitting three solo home runs and going 3-for-4.
During the regular season, Altuve had only 2.5 Box-Toppers points, earning Player of the Game honors in just two Astros wins in 2017. However, in 2016, he had 12.5 points and ranked third among AL batters.
Altuve had a Box-Toppers game score Thursday of +5.0. Astros starting pitcher Justin Verlander had a Box-Toppers game score of -3.0 (6IP 6H 2R 2BB 3K W). Verlander had 14.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked 16th among all players and sixth among AL pitchers.
Red Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale had a Box-Toppers game score Thursday of -13.0. Sale is Box-Toppers 2017 Player of the Year, leading all players with 25.1 Box-Toppers points.
Top player from each game
| BTG | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| 11.2 | CLE 4, NYY 0 | Trevor Bauer W (1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| 5.0 | HOU 8, BOS 2 | Jose Altuve 2B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
AL Division Series Game 2, Astros lead Red Sox, 1-0
The pitching matchup Friday:
Red Sox—Drew Pomeranz, 8.4 Box-Toppers points, 66th among all players, 22nd among AL pitchers.
Astros—Dallas Keuchel, 9.4 Box-Toppers points, 48th among all players, 15th among AL pitchers.
AL Division Series Game 2, Indians lead Yankees, 1-0
The pitching matchup Friday:
Yankees—CC Sabathia, 7.7 Box-Toppers points, 82nd among all players, 26th among AL pitchers.
Indians—Corey Kluber, 22.0 Box-Toppers points, fifth among all players, second among AL pitchers.
NL Division Series Game 1, Cubs at Nationals
The Washington Nationals rank third in Box-Toppers final 2017 team rankings with 135.3 Box-Toppers points. The Chicago Cubs rank sixth with 120.5.
However, the Cubs ended the season on a hot streak, earning 9.7 points in the season’s final 10 days. The Nationals earned 5.7 points in that span.
The pitching matchup Friday:
Cubs—Kyle Hendricks, 3.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked 280th among all players, ranked 76th among NL pitchers.
Nationals—Stephen Strasburg, 22.5 Box-Toppers points, ranked fourth among all players, ranked third among NL pitchers.
The Nationals have two players ranked among Box-Toppers overall top 10 players. In addition to Strasburg, starting Friday, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer ranks second among all players with 25.0 Box-Toppers points, first among NL pitchers. Scherzer would likely have started Game 1 but was pulled from his final start of the season last Saturday with hamstring issues. With those issues lingering, he is now tentatively scheduled to start Game 3 on Monday.
The Cubs have two players ranked among top 10 in specific player categories:
- Jose Quintana (15.0 Box-Toppers points) ranks ninth among NL pitchers. Quintana is scheduled to start Game 3, possibly matching up against Scherzer.
- Anthony Rizzo (15.5 Box-Toppers points) ranks first among NL batters.
Cubs vs. Nationals
Here are players for both teams in the NL Division Series beginning Friday. Players are listed for both teams ranked by Box-Toppers points earned in 2017. 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.| Chicago Cubs | Washington Nationals | |||||
| Player | Pos | BTP | Player | Pos | BTP | |
| Rizzo, Anthony 3063 | 1b | 15.5 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | 25.0 | |
| Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | 15.0 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | 22.5 | |
| Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | 10.7 | Gonzalez, Gio 2626 | pi sp | 9.7 | |
| Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | 6.7 | Rendon, Anthony 3258 | 3b | 8.0 | |
| Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | 6.0 | Murphy, Daniel 2589 | 2b | 7.5 | |
| Bryant, Kris 3465 | 3b | 6.0 | Zimmerman, Ryan 2180 | 1b | 7.2 | |
| Montgomery, Mike 3513 | pi sp | 6.0 | Roark, Tanner 3261 | pi sp | 7.0 | |
| Contreras, Willson 3776 | ca | 5.5 | Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | 7.0 | |
| Baez, Javier 3395 | 2b 3b | 5.2 | Doolittle, Sean 3052 | pi cp | 6.0 | |
| Davis, Wade 2681 | pi cp | 5.0 | Kintzler, Brandon 3150 | pi cp | 6.0 | |
| Schwarber, Kyle 3536 | lf | 4.5 | Madson, Ryan 1841 | pi mr | 4.0 | |
| Wilson, Justin 3140 | pi cp | 4.0 | Taylor, Michael 3447 | cf | 3.7 | |
| Avila, Alex 2642 | ca 1b | 4.0 | Ross, Joe 3499 | pi sp | 3.0 | |
| Edwards, Carl Jr. 3775 | pi mr | 4.0 | Albers, Matt 2274 | pi cp mr | 3.0 | |
| Hendricks, Kyle 3386 | pi sp | 3.7 | Wieters, Matt 2643 | ca | 2.0 | |
| Russell, Addison 3559 | ss | 3.5 | Lind, Adam 2238 | 1b ph | 2.0 | |
| Almora, Albert Jr. 3764 | cf | 3.5 | Jackson, Edwin 1812 | pi sp | 2.0 | |
| Happ, Ian 3798 | cf lf 3b | 3.0 | Turner, Trea 3730 | ss | 1.7 | |
| Butler, Eddie 3483 | pi sp | 2.7 | Kendrick, Howie 2191 | 2b lf 1b | 1.5 | |
| Heyward, Jason 2695 | rf | 2.0 | Drew, Stephen 2210 | ss 2b | 1.5 | |
| Jay, Jon 2861 | lf ph | 2.0 | Lobaton, Jose 3216 | ca | 1.0 | |
| Uehara, Koji 2802 | pi cp | 1.0 | Romero, Enny 3726 | pi mr | 1.0 | |
| Rivera, Rene 3323 | ca | 1.0 | Turner, Jacob 3120 | pi cp sp | 1.0 | |
| Goodwin, Brian 3835 | lf cf | 1.0 | ||||
| Grace, Matt 3888 | pi sp | 1.0 | ||||
| Totals | 120.5 | Totals | 135.3 | |||
NL Division Series Game 1, Diamondbacks at Dodgers
The Dodgers led Box-Toppers team rankings much of the season, but slumped late and finished second overall (behind the Cleveland Indians) with 138.9 points, leading all NL teams.
The Diamondbacks finished eighth among all teams with 118.3 Box-Toppers points, fourth among NL teams.
The pitching matchup Friday:
Diamondbacks—Taijuan Walker, 5.0 Box-Toppers points, ranked 188th among all players, 54th among NL pitchers.
Dodgers—Clayton Kershaw, 23.1 Box-Toppers points, ranked third among all players, second among NL pitchers.
In addition to Kershaw, there are two other Dodgers players among the top 10 in specific Box-Toppers categories:
- Alex Wood (15.7 Box-Toppers points) ranks eighth among NL pitchers. Wood is scheduled to start Game 4 (if necessary) on Tuesday.
- Cody Bellinger (8.7 Box-Toppers points) ranks 10th among NL batters. Bellinger earned 7.7 of his points prior to the All-Star break. He earned just 1.0 additional point the rest of the season on Aug. 12.
The Diamondbacks have two pitchers among Box-Toppers overall top 10 players, but both were used in Wednesday’s NL Wild Card Game and were not available to start Friday:
- Zack Greinke (20.1 Box-Toppers points, ranked eighth overall, fourth among NL pitchers) is now slated to start Game 3 on Monday. Greinke pitched 3 2/3 innings on Wednesday.
- Robbie Ray (16.0 Box-Toppers points, ranked 10th overall, fifth among NL pitchers) is slated as a possibility to start Game 2 Saturday. Ray pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief on Wednesday.
Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers
Here are players for both teams in the NL Division Series beginning Friday. Players are listed for both teams ranked by Box-Toppers points earned in 2017. 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.| Arizona Diamondbacks | Los Angeles Dodgers | |||||
| Player | Pos | BTP | Player | Pos | BTP | |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | 20.1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | 23.1 | |
| Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | 16.0 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | 15.7 | |
| Godley, Zack 3538 | pi sp | 11.0 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | 13.0 | |
| Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | 9.7 | Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | 12.7 | |
| Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 | 1b | 7.4 | Maeda, Kenta 3609 | pi sp | 10.0 | |
| Rodney, Fernando 1803 | pi cp | 7.0 | Bellinger, Cody 3781 | 1b rf lf | 8.7 | |
| Lamb, Jake 3517 | 3b | 6.9 | Jansen, Kenley 2871 | pi cp | 7.0 | |
| Martinez, J.D. 2922 | rf | 5.5 | Seager, Corey 3587 | ss | 7.0 | |
| Walker, Taijuan 3453 | pi sp | 5.0 | Puig, Yasiel 3193 | rf | 6.0 | |
| Drury, Brandon 3744 | 2b | 4.5 | Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139 | pi sp | 5.0 | |
| Iannetta, Chris 2239 | ca | 3.2 | Taylor, Chris 3684 | lf | 4.5 | |
| Pollock, A.J. 3142 | cf | 2.5 | McCarthy, Brandon 2082 | pi sp | 4.0 | |
| Herrmann, Chris 3196 | ca ph | 2.0 | Granderson, Curtis 2051 | rf lf | 3.2 | |
| Peralta, David 3370 | rf | 2.0 | Utley, Chase 1861 | 2b 1b ph | 3.0 | |
| McFarland, T.J. 3585 | pi mr cp | 2.0 | Turner, Justin 2865 | 3b | 2.5 | |
| Sherfy, Jimmie 3891 | pi mr cp | 2.0 | Forsythe, Logan 3364 | 2b | 2.0 | |
| Vargas, Ildemaro 3924 | 3b | 1.5 | Grandal, Yasmani 3058 | ca | 1.5 | |
| Tomas, Yasmany 3489 | lf | 1.0 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | 1.0 | |
| Bradley, Archie 3438 | pi mr sp | 1.0 | Stripling, Ross 3629 | pi mr sp | 1.0 | |
| Miller, Shelby 3134 | pi sp | 1.0 | Watson, Tony 3215 | pi mr cp | 1.0 | |
| Descalso, Daniel 2855 | ph 1b | 1.0 | Pederson, Joc 3621 | cf | 1.0 | |
| Hoover, J.J. 3163 | pi mr | 1.0 | Hernandez, Enrique 3541 | 2b ph | 1.0 | |
| Chafin, Andrew 3397 | pi mr | 1.0 | Baez, Pedro 3678 | pi mr | 1.0 | |
| Delgado, Randall 2939 | pi sp | 1.0 | Ethier, Andre 2137 | rf lf ph | 1.0 | |
| Fuentes, Reymond 3301 | cf ph | 1.0 | Fields, Josh 3247 | pi mr | 1.0 | |
| Banda, Anthony 3867 | pi sp | 1.0 | Ravin, Josh 3501 | pi cp | 1.0 | |
| Hazelbaker, Jeremy 3759 | ph | 1.0 | Barnes, Austin 3856 | ca | 1.0 | |
| Totals | 118.3 | Totals | 138.9 | |||
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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