Royals sweep Giants in series—in regular season, interleague series back in August, that is

On Friday, Aug. 8, two teams that seemed destined to meet in the World Series began a regular season interleague series.

Yes, the Baltimore Orioles faced the St. Louis Cardinals. The Orioles, up five games in the American League East and the Cardinals, a game out in the National League Central.

 Incidentally, two other teams faced each other in another interleague series beginning that night. But these were two ragtag teams struggling to hold on to their Wild Card spots, both in second place in their division. Few people were likely touting this as a possible World Series preview, few even could find intrigue in matching up two teams from different leagues with no trace of geographical or historical rivalry of any kind.

But it was on the schedule, so the San Francisco Giants traveled to Kansas City to face the Royals in a three-game series. A little more than two months later, these two unlikely teams have made their way to the World Series to face each other again.

The Royals swept the three-game series in August. Here is a series recap with Box-Toppers Players of the Game for each game:

Friday, Aug. 8: Royals 4, Giants 2

Player of the Game: Billy Butler of the Royals hit a home run and went 2-for-3, driving in three runs. Butler earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game and finished the season with 2.5 Box-Toppers points. 

Madison Bumgarner was starting pitcher for the Giants and picked up the loss. He pitched a complete game (eight innings) and allowed seven hits and four runs, striking out five. Bumgarner finished the season with 22.6 Box-Toppers points, ranked third among all players, second among NL pitchers.

Complete Box-Toppers results for Aug. 8.

Saturday, Aug. 9: Royals 5, Giants 0

Player of the Game: Royals pitcher James Shields pitched a complete game shutout, allowing four hits and striking out five. Shields earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game and finished the season with 13.7 Box-Toppers points.

Giants pitcher Tim Hudson (6IP 6H 3R K) picked up the loss.

Complete Box-Toppers results for Aug. 9.

Sunday, Aug. 10: Royals 7, Giants 4

Player of the Game: Norichika Aoki of the Royals went 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in a run. Aoki earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game and finished the season with 2.0 Box-Toppers points. Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum (3.1IP 7H 6R 2K) picked up the loss.

Complete Box-Toppers results for Aug. 10.

That same weekend, as mentioned previously, the Orioles and the Cardinals met—two teams that seemed more likely to go to the World Series, but two teams that would both go on to lose their league championship series. For what it’s worth, the Orioles took two out of three in that series.

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.

Top player from each game

Here are the Players of the Game from each of the three games played between the Giants and Royals in August. The Royals swept the series, 3-0.

Date Score Team Player of the Game AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
8/8 3.0 Royals Billy Butler 1B 3 1 2 3 0 0 - - - - - -
8/9 9.0 Royals James Shields (W, 11-6) - - - - - - 9.0 4 0 0 1 5
8/10 3.0 Royals Norichika Aoki RF 2 2 2 1 2 0 - - - - - -

NLCS Preview: Cardinals have slight Box-Toppers points edge, but Giants have 2 of NL's top stars

The St. Louis Cardinals are fifth in Box-Toppers team rankings, the highest-ranked team remaining in the playoffs. That would seem to give them the advantage as they take on the eighth-ranked San Francisco Giants in the National League Championship Series.

But the Giants can lay claim to two of the league’s top players—pitcher Madison Bumgarner (22.6 Box-Toppers points, ranked third among all players and second among NL pitchers) and catcher Buster Posey (8.5 Box-Toppers points, ranked second among NL batters). The best-of-seven game NLCS begins Saturday in St. Louis.

Below are position-by-position match-ups of each player likely in the starting line-up for both teams, along with the highest-rated starting pitchers in Box-Toppers points, the top closing pitcher and an extra pitcher. Also listed are each player’s Box-Toppers points earned in 2014, along with their overall rank among all players.

Cardinals players accumulated more Box-Toppers points than the Giants during the regular season—114.8 vs. 110.8. (Team rankings report.)

Both the Cardinals and Giants will have two players each on Box-Toppers end-of-season NL All-Star team. Bumgarner and Posey are the Giants’ All-Stars—Posey led NL catchers in Box-Toppers points and Bumgarner was second among NL pitchers. Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright (18.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked fourth among NL pitchers) and Matt Holliday (7.5 points, ranked third among NL outfielders) will also be on Box-Toppers NL All-Star team.

Matching up the eight prospective starting batters on each team position-by-position, the teams are evenly split—both have the advantage in four positions. However, the Giants may have the advantage from the bench. Their top batter who has not started recently is Mike Morse, who has 6.5 Box-Toppers points.

Matching up pitchers from highest to lowest Box-Toppers points, the Giants have the advantage matching up Bumgarner’s 22.6 Box-Toppers points against anyone, including Wainwright and his 18.7. But after that, the Cardinals have the advantage matching up the remaining three starting pitchers, the closing pitchers and the next highest-rated pitcher. We’ve listed Sergio Romo as the closer for the Giants (even though Santiago Casilla has been closing games recently) because Romo has more Box-Toppers points.

Adding up Box-Toppers points for the eight batters and six pitchers listed below, the Cardinals have the slight point total advantage—85.8 Box-Toppers points vs. 85.6.

The Giants had the largest opening day payroll of the four playoff teams remaining, $154 million, ranked seventh among all teams. The Cardinals had an opening day payroll of $111 million, ranked 13th, above both American League Championship Series teams (Orioles, 15th and the Royals, 19th).

NLCS Game 1, Giants at Cardinals

Both teams will start their aces Saturday:

Giants: Madison Bumgarner, 22.6 Box-Toppers points, ranked third among all players, second among NL pitchers.

Cardinals: Adam Wainwright, 18.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked eighth among all players, fourth among NL pitchers.

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.

NL Championship Series player comparisons

Likely starting players for the Giants and Cardinals listed by position with their Box-Toppers point total (BTP) for the 2014 regular season and their overall player rank among all players

Pos Giants BTP Rank Cardinals BTP Rank
1B Brandon Belt 2.0 412 Matt Adams 1.0 530
2B Joe Panik 1.0 701 Kolten Wong 5.5 182
SS Brandon Crawford 3.0 322 Jhonny Peralta 6.0 112
3B Pablo Sandoval 4.5 220 Matt Carpenter 2.0 407
CA Buster Posey 8.5 76 Yadier Molina 0 754
CF Gregor Blanco 3.0 346 Jon Jay 3.0 314
LF Travis Ishikawa 1.0 644 Matt Holliday 7.5 97
RF Hunter Pence 2.5 367 Randal Grichuk -* -*
SP Madison Bumgarner 22.6 3 Adam Wainwright 18.7 8
SP Tim Lincecum 10.4 54 Lance Lynn 10.7 48
SP Tim Hudson 8.7 71 John Lackey 10.7 50
SP Ryan Vogelsong 8.7 74 Shelby Miller 9.0 64
CP Sergio Romo 4.0 242 Trevor Rosenthal 5.0 187
PI Jake Peavy 5.7 165 Justin Masterson 6.7 124

* Randal Grichuk has yet to earn Player of the Game honors and has not made his Box-Toppers debut. He made his Major League debut April 28 and played in 47 regular season games.

ALCS Preview: Royals may have edge not because their pitching is strong, but because Orioles' pitching is weak

The Kansas City Royals may have an edge over the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Championship Series not because their pitching is so strong but because the Orioles pitching staff is comparatively weaker.

However, the Orioles have the overall higher Box-Toppers team ranking and have two outfielders on Box-Toppers end-of-season 2014 All-Star team. The best-of-seven game ALCS begins Friday in Baltimore.

Below are position-by-position match-ups of each player likely in the starting line-up for both teams, along with the highest-rated starting pitchers in Box-Toppers points, the top closing pitcher and an extra pitcher. Also listed are each player’s Box-Toppers points earned in 2014, along with their overall rank among all players.

The top pitcher for both teams, James Shields of the Royals, had 13.7 Box-Toppers points during the regular season, ranking 22nd among all players. The Orioles top pitcher is Bud Norris, with 10.7, ranked 51st among all players. Only three other teams in baseball had their top pitcher earn fewer Box-Toppers points than Norris:

• Padres, Ross Tyson, 9.7.

• Red Sox, Koji Uehara, 9.0.

• Rockies, Tyler Matzek, 4.7.

In fact, the Orioles are one of only two teams in baseball whose leader in Box-Toppers points was a batter—Adam Jones, with 11.5 points, ranked 40th among all players. (The other team was the Rockies—Troy Tulowitzki had 11.6 points.)

Matching up the four top starting pitchers from highest to lowest Box-Toppers points from both teams, the Royals have the edge each time (see the chart below). The Royals also have the edge in closers (Greg Holland with 7.0 over Zachary Britton with 6.0). The Royals also have the edge when matching up the next-highest rated pitcher (Jeremy Guthrie, 7.0 over Ubaldo Jimenez, 3.7). And one more thing, not included in the chart below—the Royals also have the AL’s top middle relief pitcher, Wade Davis, who has 7.0 Box-Toppers points.

The Orioles have the edge in overall Box-Toppers team rankings from 2014. They rank sixth among all teams with 113.4 Box-Toppers points, while the Royals are ranked 10th with 101.1 points—the Royals were the lowest ranked team that qualified for any of the four league division series. However, the Orioles will play the ALCS without suspended first baseman, Chris Davis, who earned 6.2 Box-Toppers points during the regular season.

The Orioles also have two players who will be on Box-Toppers end-of-season AL All-Star team. Adam Jones had the most Box-Toppers points among AL outfielders with 11.5. Nelson Cruz was second with 8.5. The Orioles also have the most notable batter (not included in the prospective starting line-up below) coming off the bench—Delmon Young with 5.5 Box-Toppers points.

However, looking at the prospective starting line-ups below, Royals batters have higher Box-Toppers point totals at five positions, while the Orioles are better in four. Also, adding up Box-Toppers points for the nine batters and six pitchers listed below, the Royals have the point total advantage—83.1 Box-Toppers points vs. 81.5.

Both teams were able to get a lot of bang for their buck this season, spending comparatively little and making it all the way to the ALCS. The Orioles had an opening day payroll of $107 million, ranking 15th among all teams. The Royals’ payroll of $92 million, ranked 19th.

ALCS Game 1, Royals at Orioles

The pitching matchup Friday:

Royals: James Shields, 13.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked 22nd among all players, 11th among AL pitchers.

Orioles: Chris Tillman, 6.0 Box-Toppers points, ranked 152nd among all players, 53rd among AL pitchers.

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.

AL Championship Series player comparisons

Likely starting players for the Royals and Orioles listed by position with their Box-Toppers point total (BTP) for the 2014 regular season and their overall player rank among all players

Pos Royals BTP Rank Orioles BTP Rank
1B Eric Hosmer 2.5 368 Steve Pearce 7.0 121
2B Omar Infante 4.0 243 Jonathan Schoop 2.5 395
SS Alicides Escboar 5.0 190 J.J. Hardy 4.2 236
3B Mike Moustakas 4.0 251 Ryan Flaherty 0 761
CA Salvador Perez 4.7 210 Caleb Joseph 2.0 470
CF Lorenzo Cain 2.0 421 Adam Jones 11.5 40
LF Alex Gordon 3.0 203 Alejandro De Aza 1.0 537
RF Norichika Aoki 2.0 443 Nick Markakis 3.0 320
DH Billy Butler 2.5 365 Nelson Cruz 8.5 77
SP James Shields 13.7 22 Bud Norris 10.7 51
SP Danny Duffy 10.0 58 Miguel Gonzalez 8.7 70
SP Yordano Ventura 8.7 75 Wei-Yin Chen 6.7 131
SP Jason Vargas 7.0 107 Chris Tillman 6.0 152
CP Greg Holland 7.0 106 Zachary Britton 6.0 161
PI Jeremy Guthrie 7.0 113 Ubaldo Jimenez 3.7 270

Athletics' Jon Lester faces Royals' James Shields in AL Wild Card Game

The Oakland Athletics visit the Kansas City Royals Tuesday in the American League one-game Wild Card playoff game.

Starting pitchers are:

Athletics: Jon Lester, 16.4 Box-Toppers points, ranked sixth among AL pitchers, 12th overall.

Royals: James Shields, 13.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked 11th among AL pitchers, 22nd overall.

While the Royals have one more win on the season than the Athletics (89 vs. 88), the Athletics have a wide lead in team Box-Toppers points—117.6 vs. 101.1. The Athletics rank third overall and second among AL teams while the Royals rank 10th overall, sixth among AL teams.

The Athletics led Box-Toppers team rankings much of the season and were bolstered by mid-season trades that brought in Lester from the Red Sox and Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzija from the Cubs. However, the Athletics slumped after those trades, fell out of Box-Toppers team rankings top spot and were in danger of not making the postseason. In fact, the Athletics were the final team to qualify for a postseason spot with their win Sunday.

The winner of Tuesday’s AL Wild Card game will face the Los Angeles Angels in the best-of-five AL Division Series beginning Thursday in Los Angeles. The Angels are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers rankings with 124.2 Box-Toppers points.

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.

Welcome to Box-Toppers for the 2014 Major League Baseball season

Welcome to a new season of baseball tracked by 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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.

Think of it this way: A Box-Toppers point is similar to a win for a pitcher, except that all players—pitchers and batters—are eligible. The “win” has always seemed like a weird stat, anyway. Why is only the pitcher responsible for the win? Why can’t a batter who did more to earn the win also be eligible to earn it? And it also seems weird that sometimes the pitcher who did the worst could actually “earn” the win, simply because he left the game with his team leading.

That said, pitchers generally score higher than batters in Box-Toppers points. In 2013, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw led all players with 21.7 Box-Toppers points. Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer led American League players with 18.1. Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers led all batters with 16.9 and Paul Goldschmidt of the Diamondbacks led all National League batters with 13.7.

Taking a closer look at Kershaw’s 21.7 Box-Toppers point total: 

• He earned Player of the Game honors in 16 of the Dodgers’ victories (giving him 16.0 Box-Toppers points).

• He was overall Player of the Day five times (giving him 5.0 Box-Toppers bonus points).

• He was NL Player of the Day once (giving him 0.7 Box-Toppers bonus points).

Kershaw earned a win in 15 of the games in which he was Player of the Game (he had 16 total wins in 2013). On June 15, he was the game’s top player though he earned a no decision.

Box-Toppers and baseball writers agreed on three of the four players chosen for major postseason awards in 2013: Kershaw won the NL Cy Young Award, Scherzer won the AL Cy Young Award and Cabrera won AL Most Valuable Player Award. But baseball writers picked Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates over Goldschmidt for NL MVP (Goldschmidt finished second in MVP voting).

McCutchen did not fare as well in Box-Toppers points. He had 6.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, 22nd among NL batters. Teammate Pedro Alvarez had more Box-Toppers points than McCutchen with 7.7.

To be fair, McCutchen had better Box-Toppers seasons in both 2011 and 2012 (he was among the top 10 NL batters in 2011). In addition, Box-Toppers scope is limited. It does not look at a player’s defense. It also does not look at clubhouse leadership or the immeasurable intangibles which are extensively definitively quantified and calculated. 

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This is the second season of Box-Toppers.com as a website, sharing this method of following baseball’s top players with an ostensibly larger audience. But I’ve been following baseball with this system since 1995, which means two things:

• 2014 is Box-Toppers’ 20th season.

• I have been keeping track of games longer than Derek Jeter has been in the Major Leagues.

Jason Giambi is the only player who has received Box-Toppers points in each of the previous 19 seasons. As a member of the Cleveland Indians, he has a chance to be the first to earn points in each of 20 seasons in April (he is currently on the 15-day disabled list). Giambi, 43, has 133.4 Box-Toppers points (since 1995), seventh among all batters since Box-Toppers record keeping began.

What to expect from Box-Toppers in 2014:

• Each day, Box-Toppers will have a report on the day’s games (usually posted the morning after games), showing each game’s Player of the Game and top overall Players of the Day. (Here is an example of a post from the games of Sept. 11, 2013.)

• Weekly posts showing rankings of Box-Toppers points leaders and team standings (usually posted on Fridays). (Example posts from 2013 shown in links.)

• Links to Box-Toppers posts and other comments can be found through Twitter, Facebook or RSS. Occasionally, there will be a notable Box-Toppers statistic posted on Twitter and Facebook as #statofday. One thing I will also try this year is to follow one player and post his Box-Toppers status to Twitter and Facebook through the season. I’m going to choose Derek Jeter of the Yankees in his final season (#jeterwatch).

Some recent Box-Toppers posts have included:

• Predictions for the 2014 season, based on past Box-Toppers statistics. (Spoiler alert: Box-Toppers picks the Dodgers over the Tigers in the World Series).

• The Box-Toppers 2014 pre-season All-Star team.

• The Stick-A-Fork-In-Them series, featuring players whose careers are done (or may be done), including the likes of Alex Rodriguez, Johan Santana, Roy Halladay, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. 

• A look at who has led in Box-Toppers points over the previous two seasons (2012 and 2013) and over the previous six seasons (2008 to 2013). (Spoiler alert: It was Clayton Kershaw in both cases, who also led all players in 2013.)

• A closer look at how Box-Toppers leaders fared in MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year voting in 2013.

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And as we start another season, I rededicate this effort in the memory of my brother, Andy, who was the true baseball fan in the family. Andy died at 40 in 2010. He had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2005. (More on Andy in last year’s inaugural Welcome-to-Box-Toppers post.)

Play ball.