Both American League Division Series begin Monday.
The Houston Astros face the Oakland Athletics in one best-of-five game series and the New York Yankees take on the Tampa Bay Rays in the other series.
AL Division Series, Game 1: Astros vs. Athletics
The Astros rank 17th in Box-Toppers team rankings (34.4 Box-Toppers points), while the Athletics rank fourth (45.2), first among all AL teams.
The Athletics finished the season stronger than the Astros, picking up 6.7 Box-Toppers points in the final 10 days of the season, while the Astros picked up 5.0.
The Astros are the lowest-ranked team in Box-Toppers rankings to make the postseason, finishing behind the 15th-ranked Philadelphia Phillies (35.1), who did not qualify for the playoffs. The Astros rank eighth among AL teams in Box-Toppers rankings.
The Astros finished the season in second place in the AL West, seven games behind the Athletics and were the sixth seed among AL teams in the 2020 postseason, upsetting the third-seeded Minnesota Twins, two games to zero, in the opening Wild Card round of the playoffs.
The Athletics finished the season in first place in the AL West, seven games ahead of the Astros and were the second seed among AL teams in the 2020 postseason, defeating the seventh-seeded Chicago White Sox, two games to one, in the opening Wild Card round of the playoffs.
Due to the pandemic, the remainder of baseball’s postseason is being played at neutral site ballparks with limited days off. This series will be played at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles, with Oakland serving as the home team for up to three games of the series.
The pitching matchup Monday:
Astros—Lance McCullers Jr., 2.7 Box-Toppers points, 124th among all players, 41st among AL pitchers.
Athletics—Chris Bassitt, 6.4 Box-Toppers points, 16th among all players, eighth among AL pitchers.
Outfielder Kyle Tucker led all Astros in Box-Toppers points in 2020 with 5.0. Framber Valdez led all Astros pitchers with 4.7, second among all Astros. McCullers ranked fourth among Astros in the small sample-sized season with 2.7.
Bassitt led all Athletics players with 6.4 points. He also was Box-Toppers Player of the Game in the AL Wild Card Game 2 win over the White Sox Sept. 30. Outfielder Stephen Piscotty led Athletics batters in 2020 with 2.7 Box-Toppers points.
The Box-Toppers point totals of all players on the teams’ active rosters at season’s end are below. Players who did not earn Box-Toppers points in 2020 are not listed in the chart. However, here are notable players on both teams who did not earn points in 2020, along with their 2019 Box-Toppers point totals:
Astros
Pitcher Brad Peacock, 7.0 in 2019.
Closing pitcher Roberto Osuna, 4.0.
Middle reliever Josh James, 3.0.
Outfielder Josh Reddick, 3.0.
Second baseman Jose Altuve, 2.5
Athletics
Outfielder Seth Brown, 3.5 in 2019.
Outfielder Chad Pinder, 3.0.
Astros vs. Athletics
Here are players for both teams in the AL Division Series beginning Monday. Players are listed for both teams ranked by Box-Toppers points earned in 2020. 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.| Houston Astros | Oakland Athletics | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos | BTP | Player | Pos | BTP | |
| Tucker, Kyle 4277 | lf | 5.0 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | 6.4 | |
| Valdez, Framber 4048 | pi sp mr | 4.7 | Montas, Frankie 3803 | pi sp | 6.0 | |
| Pressly, Ryan 3186 | pi cp | 3.0 | Luzardo, Jesus 4282 | pi sp | 4.7 | |
| McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | 2.7 | Hendriks, Liam 3339 | pi cp | 4.0 | |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | 2.0 | Minor, Mike 2894 | pi sp | 2.7 | |
| Springer, George 3337 | rf cf | 2.0 | Piscotty, Stephen 3570 | rf | 2.7 | |
| Gurriel, Yuli 3796 | 1b 3b | 2.0 | Davis, Khris 3242 | dh | 2.5 | |
| Urquidy, Jose 4194 | pi sp | 2.0 | Semien, Marcus 3302 | ss | 2.0 | |
| Javier, Cristian 4290 | pi sp | 2.0 | Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | 2.0 | |
| Correa, Carlos 3506 | ss | 1.5 | Laureano, Ramon 4054 | cf | 2.0 | |
| Straw, Myles 4152 | cf pr | 1.5 | Smith, Burch 3281 | pi mr cp sp | 2.0 | |
| Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | 1.0 | Fiers, Mike 3029 | pi sp | 1.7 | |
| Bregman, Alex 3721 | 3b | 1.0 | Murphy, Sean 4246 | ca | 1.5 | |
| Alvarez, Yordan 4209 | dh | 1.0 | Chapman, Matt 3849 | 3b | 1.0 | |
| Brantley, Michael 2785 | dh lf | 1.0 | Olson, Matt 3836 | 1b | 1.0 | |
| Bielak, Brandon 4297 | pi sp | 1.0 | La Stella, Tommy 3367 | 2b dh | 1.0 | |
| Raley, Brooks 4336 | pi mr | 1.0 | Canha, Mark 3454 | cf 1b | 1.0 | |
| Grossman, Robbie 3267 | lf | 1.0 | ||||
| Totals | 34.4 | Totals | 45.2 | |||
AL Division Series, Game 1: Yankees vs. Rays
The Yankees rank 12th in Box-Toppers team rankings (39.9 Box-Toppers points), while the Rays rank ninth (43.4 points). The Yankees rank seventh among AL teams in Box-Toppers rankings while the Rays rank fifth.
The Rays finished the season slightly stronger, picking up 7.0 Box-Toppers points in the regular season’s final 10 days, compared to the Yankees’ 5.5 points over that span.
The Yankees finished the season in second place in the AL East, seven games out of first place, and were the fifth-seeded team in the AL playoffs, defeating the fourth-seed Cleveland Indians, two games to zero, in the opening Wild Card round of the playoffs
The Rays finished the season in first place in the AL East, seven games ahead of the Yankees and were the top-seeded team in the AL playoffs, defeating the eighth-seeded Toronto Blue Jays, two games to zero, in the opening Wild Card round of the playoffs.
Due to the pandemic, the remainder of baseball’s postseason is being played at neutral site ballparks with limited days off. This series will be played at Petco Park in San Diego, with Tampa Bay serving as the home team for up to three games of the series.
The pitching matchup Monday:
Yankees—Gerrit Cole, 7.4 Box-Toppers points, 12th among all players, fifth among AL pitchers.
Rays—Blake Snell, 3.7 Box-Toppers points, 63rd among all players, 25th among AL pitchers.
Cole ranks first among all Yankees players and Snell ranks second among all Rays players (behind pitcher Tyler Glasnow with 8.0 Box-Toppers points). It is a match-up of two recent Box-Toppers Player of the Year winners—Cole led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2019 with 32.2 while Snell led all players in 2018 with 27.2.
Snell and Cole both earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in their teams’ respective Wild Card Game 1 wins on Sept. 29. Snell was Player of the Game in the 3-1 win over the Blue Jays and Cole was top player in the 12-3 win over the Indians.
Yankees’ top batter is first baseman Luke Voit, who led AL batters with 6.0 Box-Toppers points in 2020. Top batter for the Rays is infielder Joey Wendle, who had 3.0 Box-Toppers points, 19th among AL batters.
The Box-Toppers point totals of all players on the teams’ active rosters at season’s end are below. Players who did not earn Box-Toppers points in 2020 are not listed. However, here are notable players on both teams who did not earn points in 2020, along with their 2019 Box-Toppers point totals:
Yankees
Pitcher James Paxton, 14.1 in 2019 (out with injuries much of the season).
Infielder Gleyber Torres, 12.0.
Pitcher Domingo German, 10.7 (served suspension for violating baseball’s domestic violence policy during 2020 season).
Third baseman Gio Urshela, 7.5.
Rays
Pitcher Yonny Chirinos, 7.0 in 2019.
First baseman Ji-Man Choi, 4.2
Middle reliever Jalen Beeks, 3.7.
Outfielder Austin Meadows, 3.5.
Yankees vs. Rays
Here are players for both teams in the AL Division Series beginning Monday. Players are listed for both teams ranked by Box-Toppers points earned in 2020. 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.| New York Yankees | Tamps Bay Rays | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos | BTP | Player | Pos | BTP | |
| Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | 7.4 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | 8.0 | |
| Voit, Luke 4053 | 1b | 6.0 | Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | 3.7 | |
| Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | 4.0 | Yarbrough, Ryan 3962 | pi mr sp | 3.0 | |
| Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf | 4.0 | Wendle, Joey 3756 | 3b 2b ph | 3.0 | |
| LeMahieu, DJ 3091 | 2b | 3.5 | Brosseau, Mike 4185 | 1b 2b 3b | 2.5 | |
| Green, Chad 3675 | pi mr cp | 2.0 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | 2.0 | |
| Garcia, Deivi 4318 | pi sp | 2.0 | Castillo, Diego 3995 | pi cp mr | 2.0 | |
| Sanchez, Gary 3701 | ca | 1.5 | Curtiss, John 4323 | pi mr cp | 2.0 | |
| Frazier, Clint 3847 | rf | 1.5 | Fairbanks, Pete 4273 | pi mr sp | 2.0 | |
| Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 | pi sp | 1.0 | Fleming, Josh 4316 | pi sp | 2.0 | |
| Gardner, Brett 2486 | cf | 1.0 | Tsutsugo, Yoshi 4294 | lf dh | 2.0 | |
| Ford, Mike 4235 | 1b dh ph | 1.0 | Renfroe, Hunter 3749 | rf | 1.7 | |
| Chapman, Aroldis 2826 | pi cp | 1.0 | Arozarena, Randy 4331 | lf cf | 1.5 | |
| Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 | dh lf | 1.0 | Kiermaier, Kevin 3373 | cf | 1.0 | |
| Andujar, Miguel 3839 | dh 3b pr | 1.0 | Anderson, Nick 4145 | pi cp mr | 1.0 | |
| Montgomery, Jordan 3814 | pi sp | 1.0 | Margot, Manuel 3861 | rf | 1.0 | |
| Nelson, Nick 4279 | pi mr | 1.0 | Drake, Oliver 3826 | pi cp | 1.0 | |
| Smith, Kevan 3872 | ca | 1.0 | ||||
| Lowe, Brandon 4108 | 2b rf | 1.0 | ||||
| Lowe, Nate 4340 | dh | 1.0 | ||||
| Slegers, Aaron 4304 | pi sp | 1.0 | ||||
| Totals | 39.9 | Totals | 43.4 | |||
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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