The Milwaukee Brewers visit the Washington Nationals in the National League one-game Wild Card playoff game Tuesday.
Starting pitchers are:
Brewers—Brandon Woodruff, 7.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked 94th among all players, 40th among NL pitchers.
Nationals—Max Scherzer, 15.4 Box-Toppers points, ranked 15th among all players, ninth among NL pitchers.
The Brewers rank 14th in overall Box-Toppers team rankings with its players accumulating 104.9 Box-Toppers points in 2019, seventh among NL teams and lowest among all 10 teams qualifying for the postseason. They rank below four teams that did not qualify for the postseason—the Cleveland Indians (ranked ninth with 110.8 points), the New York Mets (ranked 10th with 108.7 points), the Chicago Cubs (ranked 11th with 107.9 points) and the Boston Red Sox (ranked 13th with 105.0 points).
The Nationals rank second in overall Box-Toppers team rankings with its players accumulating 132.9 Box-Toppers points in 2019, first among NL teams. Though the Nationals lead NL teams in Box-Toppers points, they are third among NL teams in winning percentage (.574), behind the Los Angeles Dodgers (.654) and the Atlanta Braves (.599). The Nationals finished second in the NL East, four games behind the Braves.
The Nationals were the hottest team in the final 10 days of the season, picking up 10.5 Box-Toppers points from Sept. 20 to 29, more than any other team. The Brewers picked up 6.5 points over that span, tied for ninth-most.
The highest-ranking player on either team is Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg (20.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked third among all players, first among NL pitchers) who has had his usual rest between starts and the team says he will be available to pitch in relief Tuesday, if necessary. Strasburg last started Thursday, Sept. 26, earning Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors.
Nationals top batter is Asdrubal Cabrera (9.0 Box-Toppers points), who ranks 64th among all players and seventh among NL batters. Cabrera began the season with the Texas Rangers, earning 3.5 points before being released Aug. 3 and signing with the Nationals shortly afterward, earning 5.5 more points in the final two months of the season.
The highest-ranking player on the Brewers is closing pitcher Josh Hader (17.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked eighth among all players, third among NL pitchers and first among all closers).
Hader had more than twice as many Box-Toppers points as any other relief pitcher in baseball. His total is the third-highest single-season total for a closing pitcher since Box-Toppers started separately tracking relievers in 1998. The only other player who earned more points in a season as a closer is Eric Gagne of the Dodgers, who did it twice (19.7 points in 2004 and 19.0 points in 2003).
Earlier this season, Hader seemed poised to shatter Gagne’s “all-time” record. On June 27, he reached 14.7 Box-Toppers points before the season’s halfway point and was on pace to earn 29.4 for the season. But Hader only earned 3.0 points since and trails Gagne’s record by 2.0 points.
Brewers top batter is rightfielder Christian Yelich, who is out for the season with a fractured kneecap. Yelich’s 11.7 Box-Toppers points ranks 31st among all players and second among NL batters.
The Brewers top batter who will be available for Tuesday’s Wild Card game is third baseman Mike Moustakas (5.5 points), who ranks 161st among all players and 29th among NL batters.
The winner of the NL Wild Card game will face the Dodgers in the best-of-five NL Division Series beginning Thursday in Los Angeles. The Dodgers are Box-Toppers second-ranked NL team with 129.9 Box-Toppers points, ranked just behind the Nationals. They rank third overall.
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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Brewers vs. Nationals
Here are players for both teams in the NL Wild Card Game Tuesday. Players are listed for both teams ranked by Box-Toppers points earned in 2019. 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.| Milwaukee Brewers | Washington Nationals | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos | BTP | Player | Pos | BTP | |
| Hader, Josh 3881 | pi cp | 17.7 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | 20.7 | |
| Yelich, Christian 3334 | rf | 11.7 | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | 16.4 | |
| Lyles, Jordan 3100 | pi sp | 8.7 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | 15.4 | |
| Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi mr | 8.0 | Cabrera, Asdrubal 2362 | 3b 2b | 9.0 | |
| Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | 7.7 | Sanchez, Anibal 2187 | pi sp | 7.0 | |
| Anderson, Chase 3328 | pi sp | 6.0 | Soto, Juan 3994 | lf | 6.0 | |
| Moustakas, Mike 2967 | 3b | 5.5 | Rendon, Anthony 3258 | 3b | 5.0 | |
| Gonzalez, Gio 2626 | pi sp | 4.7 | Elias, Roenis 3309 | pi cp | 5.0 | |
| Arcia, Orlando 3717 | ss | 4.7 | Hudson, Dan 2776 | pi mr | 5.0 | |
| Hiura, Keston 4189 | 2b | 4.2 | Suzuki, Kurt 2344 | ca | 4.5 | |
| Davies, Zach 3581 | pi sp | 4.0 | Kendrick, Howie 2191 | 1b 2b | 4.5 | |
| Thames, Eric 2909 | 1b ph | 3.5 | Ross, Joe 3499 | pi sp | 4.0 | |
| Guerra, Junior 3633 | pi mr cp | 3.0 | Robles, Victor 4087 | cf rf | 3.5 | |
| Pomeranz, Drew 3061 | pi sp cp | 3.0 | Doolittle, Sean 3052 | pi cp | 3.0 | |
| Grisham, Trent 4246 | lf rf cf | 2.5 | Turner, Trea 3730 | ss | 3.0 | |
| Braun, Ryan J. 2300 | lf | 2.0 | Strickland, Hunter 3546 | pi cp mr | 3.0 | |
| Grandal, Yasmani 3058 | ca 1b | 2.0 | Parra, Gerardo 2746 | 1b rf cf | 2.7 | |
| Houser, Adrian 4162 | pi cp sp | 2.0 | Dozier, Brian 3219 | 2b | 2.5 | |
| Suter, Brent 3843 | pi mr sp | 1.0 | Fedde, Erick 4065 | pi mr sp | 2.0 | |
| Albers, Matt 2274 | pi mr cp | 1.0 | Voth, Austin 4082 | pi sp | 2.0 | |
| Austin, Tyler 3732 | dh 1b ph | 1.0 | Rainey, Tanner 4153 | pi mr | 2.0 | |
| Saladino, Tyler 3645 | lf ss 3b | 1.0 | Adams, Matt 3220 | 1b | 1.7 | |
| Hellickson, Jeremy 2778 | pi sp | 1.0 | ||||
| Zimmerman, Ryan 2180 | 1b | 1.0 | ||||
| Eaton, Adam 3253 | rf | 1.0 | ||||
| Guerra, Javy 2925 | pi cp sp | 1.0 | ||||
| Holland, Greg 2906 | pi cp | 1.0 | ||||
| Totals | 104.9 | Totals | 132.9 | |||