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A Box-Toppers look at upcoming World Series pitching matchups.▪️ Tuesday’s Game 3
▪️ Wednesday’s Game 4
▪️ Thursday’s Game 5
The Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros have reset their World Series pitching matchups after rain postponed Game 3 in Philadelphia Monday.
The best-of-seven game series is tied at 1-1.
The entire series has now been shifted forward a day, including leaving the potential travel day intact, meaning the series schedule will now be:
Tuesday, Nov. 1—Game 3 in Philadelphia.
Wednesday, Nov. 2—Game 4 in Philadelphia.
Thursday, Nov. 3—Game 5 in Philadelphia (previously a travel day).
Friday, Nov. 4—Travel day (if necessary).
Saturday, Nov. 5—Game 6 (if necessary) in Houston (previously the date of Game 7).
Sunday, Nov. 6—Game 7 (if necessary) in Houston.
The delay has allowed teams the opportunity to reset their pitching matchups. The Phillies had planned to start Noah Syndergaard in Monday’s Game 3, but are going with Ranger Suarez, who was previously lined up for Game 4.
In fact, pitching matchups for the next three games in Philadelphia have been tentatively set and will be previewed ahead.
World Series Game 3, Astros at Phillies, series tied, 1-1
Tuesday’s pitching matchup (for more, see matchups chart below):
Astros—Lance McCullers Jr., 5.4 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 156th overall and 55th among AL pitchers.
Phillies—Ranger Suarez, 4.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 162nd overall and 56th among NL pitchers.
McCullers has made two postseason starts but did not win Player of the Game honors in either: Oct. 15 in ALDS Game 3 win over the Mariners and Oct. 23 in the ALCS Game 4 win over the Yankees. While his 5.4 points for 2022 is relatively low, he was out with injury much of the season, pitching only the final six weeks. Extrapolating that over the entire season would give him more than 20.0 points, which would be among the top 10 overall players.
Suarez has made four postseason appearances in 2022, but has not won Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in any of them. He’s made two starts—Oct. 11 in the NLDS Game 1 win over the Braves and Oct. 21 in the NLCS Game 3 win over the Padres. He’s also made two relief appearances—Oct. 23 in the NLCS Game 5 win over the Padres and Oct. 28 in the World Series Game 1 win over the Astros.
A Box-Toppers look at Tuesday’s pitching matchups
A Box-Toppers look at the upcoming day’s probable pitching matchups. Teams are paired below with visiting teams on top and home teams on the bottom. Each team’s starting pitcher is shown with their Box-Toppers point total from 2022 (’22), over a two-year period (’21-22), over a six-year period (’17-22) and their career point total.Back to top
| Game | Starter | ’22 | ’21‑22 | ’17‑22 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOU | McCullers, Lance 3488 | 5.4 | 14.1 | 36.9 | 49.7 |
| PHI | Suarez, Ranger 4228 | 5.0 | 14.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 |
What are those numbers after players' names?
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default, game-by-game view.
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Here is a look at announced pitching matchups in games later this week:
World Series Game 4, Astros at Phillies
Wednesday’s pitching matchups:
Astros—Cristian Javier, 15.7 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 16th overall and seventh among AL pitchers.
Phillies—Aaron Nola, 16.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 13th overall and ninth among NL pitchers.
Javier has made two postseason starts, earning Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors once, Oct. 22 in the ALCS Game 3 win over the Yankees. He also started the Oct. 11 ALDS Game 1 win over the Mariners.
Nola has earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors twice in four postseason starts. He was Player of the Game Oct. 8 in the NL Wild Card Game 2 win over the Phillies and Oct. 14 in the NL Division Series Game 3 win over the Braves. He also started Oct. 19 in the NL Championship Series Game 2 loss to the Padres and Oct. 28 in the World Series Game 1 win over the Astros, but had the lowest Box-Toppers game score among all Phillies players in that game, giving up five early runs.
A Box-Toppers look at Wednesday’s pitching matchups
A Box-Toppers look at the upcoming day’s probable pitching matchups. Teams are paired below with visiting teams on top and home teams on the bottom. Each team’s starting pitcher is shown with their Box-Toppers point total from 2022 (’22), over a two-year period (’21-22), over a six-year period (’17-22) and their career point total.Back to top
| Game | Starter | ’22 | ’21‑22 | ’17‑22 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOU | Javier, Cristian 4290 | 15.7 | 21.7 | 23.7 | 23.7 |
| PHI | Nola, Aaron 3569 | 16.0 | 26.7 | 81.0 | 89.7 |
What are those numbers after players' names?
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default, game-by-game view.
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World Series Game 5, Astros at Phillies
Thursday’s pitching matchups:
Astros—Justin Verlander, 26.0 Box-Toppers points, first among all players and first among AL pitchers.
Phillies—Noah Syndergaard, 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 335th overall and 96th among NL pitchers.
Verlander has made three starts this postseason, earning Player of the Game honors once—in the Oct. 19 AL Championship Series Game 1 win over the Yankees. But Verlander has had two uncharacteristically bad starts this postseason:
Oct. 11 in the AL Division Series Game 1 win over the Mariners, in which he had a -16.0 Box-Toppers game score (4IP 10H 6R BB 3K ND).
Oct. 28 in the World Series Game 1 loss to the Phillies, in which he had a -8.0 game score (5IP 6H 5R 2BB 5K ND).
Syndergaard has made three postseason appearances, earning Player of the Game honors once in his only start, in the Oct. 15 NLDS Game 4 win over the Braves. He also appeared in relief in both the Oct. 12 NLDS Game 2 loss to the Braves and the Oct. 22 NLCS Game 4 win over the Padres.
A Box-Toppers look at Thursday’s pitching matchups
A Box-Toppers look at the upcoming day’s probable pitching matchups. Teams are paired below with visiting teams on top and home teams on the bottom. Each team’s starting pitcher is shown with their Box-Toppers point total from 2022 (’22), over a two-year period (’21-22), over a six-year period (’17-22) and their career point total.Back to top
| Game | Starter | ’22 | ’21‑22 | ’17‑22 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOU | Verlander, Justin 2112 | 26.0 | 26.0 | 93.3 | 232.6 |
| PHI | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 25.4 | 52.5 |
What are those numbers after players' names?
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default, game-by-game view.
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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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