Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Tuesday’s National League Wild Card Game.
Strasburg pitched three innings of scoreless middle relief, striking out four, allowing two hits and no walks and picking up the win, in the 4-3 win over the Brewers. The Nationals advance to the NL Divisional Series Thursday against the Dodgers.
Strasburg had a Box-Toppers game score of +5.0, best among all Nationals players. During the regular season, Strasburg had 20.7 Box-Toppers points, third among all players and first among NL pitchers, ahead of Jacob deGrom of the Mets (19.1).
Nationals starter Max Scherzer had a Box-Toppers game score of -2.0 (5IP 4H 3R 3BB 6K ND) and closer Daniel Hudson had a game score of +1.0 (1IP H 0R 0BB K Sv).
Only two Nationals batters had positive Box-Topper game scores Tuesday:
Pinch runner Andrew Stevenson (0-0 R 0BI, Box-Toppers game score +1.0).
Pinch hitter Michael Taylor (0-0, HBP R 0BI, Box-Toppers game score +1.0).
The Nationals trailed from the second batter in the top of the first inning (when Scherzer gave up a two-run homer to Yasmani Grandal) until just moments prior to the third out in the bottom of the eighth inning (when Juan Soto singled and three runs scored to put the Nationals in the lead, before he was thrown out between second and third).
Brewers closer Josh Hader, who picked up the loss after giving up three runs in the eighth inning, had a Box-Toppers game score Tuesday of -5.0 (1IP 2H 3R 2ER BB 2K L).
During the regular season, Hader earned 17.7 Box-Toppers points, eighth among all players, third among NL pitchers and first among all closers. In fact, Hader’s 17.7 Box-Toppers points is the third-most in a single season by a closer since 1998. However, Hader earned most of those points in the first half of the season. 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 after that.
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 Brewers, now eliminated from the postseason, ranked 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.
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.
Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.
Top player from NL Wild Card game
| BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +5.0 | WSH 4, MIL 3 | Stephen Strasburg (W, 1‑0) | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.