Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.
Woodruff struck out four over two scoreless innings, allowing no hits and no walks, in the 6-5 win over the Dodgers. The Brewers take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Woodruff had a Box-Toppers game score of +6.0 for pitching, highest among Brewers players. Separately, Woodruff had a Box-Toppers game score of +2.0 for batting, hitting a third-inning solo home run, the Brewers’ first score of the game (HR 1-1 R BI). Woodruff had the second-highest Box-Toppers game score among Brewers batters.
Woodruff is the first player this postseason to earn Player of the Game honors twice, which is a little odd considering he’s a middle reliever, a position that only occasionally earns Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. Woodruff was also Player of the Game Oct. 4 in the NL Division Series Game 1 win over the Rockies.
Woodruff had 1.0 Box-Toppers point this season, earned Sept. 2. He has 2.0 total career regular season Box-Toppers points, earning the other point Aug. 4, 2017. That means Woodruff has earned Player of the Game honors this postseason as much as he has in his entire career.
With 1.0 Box-Toppers point this season, Woodruff is 640th in Box-Toppers season player rankings, 164th among NL pitchers and 43rd among NL middle relievers.
Brewers reliever Josh Hader had the second-highest Box-Toppers game score of +5.0 (3IP 2H 0R 0BB 4K ND).
Pinch hitter Domingo Santana had the highest Box-Toppers game score among Brewers batters of +3.0 (1-1 R 2BI).
Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw had a Box-Toppers game score of -12.0, lowest among all players (3IP 6H 5R 4ER 2BB 2K L).
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG)| BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| +6.0 | MIL 6, LAD 5 | Brandon Woodruff (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Coming Saturday:
National League Championship Series Game 2, Brewers lead Dodgers, 1-0
The pitching matchup Saturday:
Dodgers—Hyun-Jin Ryu, 10.1 Box-Toppers points, 49th among all players, 26th among NL pitchers.
Ryu was Player of the Game in the NLDS Game 1 win over the Braves on Oct. 4.
Brewers—Wade Miley, 4.0 Box-Toppers points, 249th among all players, 84th among NL pitchers.
Miley appeared in the NLDS Game 3 win over the Rockies (4.2IP 3H 0R 0BB 0K ND) but did not earn Player of the Game, which went to relief pitcher Corbin Burnes.
American League Championship Series Game 1, Astros at Red Sox
The pitching matchup Saturday:
Astros—Justin Verlander, 24.1 Box-Toppers points, third among all players, second among AL pitchers.
Verlander was Player of the Game in the ALDS Game 1 win over the Indians on Oct. 5.
Red Sox—Chris Sale, 20.1 Box-Toppers points, sixth among all players, fourth among AL pitchers.
Sale was Player of the Game in the ALDS Game 1 win over the Yankees on Oct. 5. He also pitched one inning in the deciding Game 4 ALDS win over the Yankees, but did not earn Player of the Game.
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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