Royals’ Jakob Junis tops players for Monday, Sept. 3; Nationals’ Scherzer extends player rankings lead

Royals pitcher Jakob Junis is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Monday, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer extends his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

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Box-Toppers' big dippers—players whose 2017 point total declined most from 2016: Jose Fernandez leads list

Sadly, Jose Fernandez leads the list of players whose Box-Toppers point total declined most from 2016 to 2017. The 22.4-point decline is 8.0 points more than the next biggest decline which was the highest among players active in 2017—that belongs to Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto, whose 2017 point total dipped 14.4 points, from 16.4 in 2016 to 2.0 in 2017.

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Box-Toppers top closing pitchers by time frame

Trevor Hoffman leads closing pitchers in career Box-Toppers points, ahead of Mariano Rivera, the all-time saves leader.

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Cubs' Aroldis Chapman tops players in World Series Game 5; Indians lead series, 3-2

Cubs closing pitcher Aroldis Chapman is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in World Series Game 5 Sunday.

The Chicago Cubs win 3-2 as the Cleveland Indians maintain a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Chapman pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit, no walks, striking out four and earning the save. Chapman had the highest Box-Toppers game score of all Cubs players, +5.2.

This is the second time this postseason Chapman has been Box-Toppers Player of the Game. He was also top player in the National League Division Series Game 4 win vs. the Giants.

Chapman had 7.4 Box-Toppers points during the regular season, 104th among all players, 33rd among NL pitchers and second among NL closers, behind Jeurys Familia of the Mets (8.0).

Starting pitcher Jon Lester had the second-highest Box-Toppers game score among Cubs players, +3.0 (6IP 4H 2R 0BB 5K W). Lester has the highest regular season Box-Toppers point total of any player remaining in the postseason 22.1, ranked fourth among all players, third among NL pitchers.

Kris Bryant had the highest Box-Toppers game score among Cubs batters Sunday, 0.0 (HR 1-3 R BI).

Indians starting pitcher Trevor Bauer had a Box-Toppers game score of −1.0 (4IP 6H 3R 0BB 7K L).

Monday is a travel day in the World Series. Game 6 is Tuesday in Cleveland.

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 Cubs in World Series Game 5: Cubs 3, Indians 2

Here are the Box-Toppers game scores of all Cubs who played in World Series Game 5 listed from highest-to-lowest Box-Toppers game score.

BTG Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
5.2 * Aroldis Chapman (S,4) - - - - - - 2.2 1 0 0 0 4
3.0 Jon Lester (W,3-1) - - - - - - 6.0 4 2 2 0 5
0.0 Kris Bryant, 3B 3 1 1 1 1 2 - - - - - -
0.0 David Ross, C 1 0 0 1 0 0 - - - - - -
0.0 Carl Edwards Jr., P 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - - - - -
-0.9 Carl Edwards Jr. (H,3) - - - - - - 0.1 1 0 0 0 0
-1.0 Addison Russell, SS 4 0 2 1 0 1 - - - - - -
-1.0 Anthony Rizzo, 1B 3 1 1 0 1 0 - - - - - -
-1.0 Ben Zobrist, LF 3 1 1 0 1 0 - - - - - -
-1.0 a-Miguel Montero, PH 1 0 0 0 0 1 - - - - - -
-1.0 Aroldis Chapman, P 1 0 0 0 0 1 - - - - - -
-1.0 Willson Contreras, C 1 0 0 0 0 0 - - - - - -
-2.0 Jon Lester, P 2 0 0 0 0 2 - - - - - -
-3.0 Jason Heyward, RF 4 0 1 0 0 3 - - - - - -
-3.0 Javier Baez, 2B 4 0 1 0 0 3 - - - - - -
-3.0 Dexter Fowler, CF 3 0 0 0 0 1 - - - - - -
* Player of the Game
BTG: Box-Toppers game score

Coming Tuesday in Cleveland:

World Series Game 6, Indians lead Cubs in series, 3-2

The pitching matchup Tuesday:

Cubs—Jake Arrieta, 15.7 Box-Toppers points, ninth among all players, sixth among NL pitchers. Arrieta was Player of the Game in World Series Game 2.

Indians—Josh Tomlin, 5.0 Box-Toppers points, 202nd among all players, 63rd among American League pitchers. Tomlin was Player of the Game in the American League Championship Series Game 2 vs. the Blue Jays.

On paper, the 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner Arrieta outmatches Tomlin. In addition, Arrieta is pitching on five days rest having last pitched and won in Game 2. Tomlin is pitching on short rest, just three days, after having 58 pitches over 4 2/3 innings in Game 3 Friday.

But Tomlin was also outmatched in his Game 3 start vs. Kyle Hendricks of the Cubs (13.4 Box-Toppers points, ranked 17th) and the Indians still prevailed, 1-0, thanks to the Indians bullpen aces Andrew Miller and Cody Allen.

Box-Toppers World Series preview

Box-Toppers 2016 final team rankings

Box-Toppers 2016 final top 10 player rankings

Box-Toppers point totals of all Cubs players active at season’s end

Box-Toppers point totals of all Indians players active at season’s end

Box-Toppers ALCS Preview

Box-Toppers NLCS Preview

Game 5 narrative via Box-Toppers Twitter feed

Here are real-time tweets from Box-Toppers Wednesday as World Series Game 5 progressed:

NLCS Preview: Cubs seem to have the advantages over the Dodgers—but these are the Cubs

Cubs rank higher in Box-Toppers team rankings, its four starters rank among the top 10 NL pitchers, they have Kris Bryant. Dodgers have Kershaw who they needed for each NLDS win. 

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Cubs' Aroldis Chapman, Dodgers' Joe Blanton top players in Tuesday's NLDS games

Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman and Dodgers reliever Joe Blanton are Box-Toppers’ top players in Tuesday’s two National League Division Series games.

National League Division Series Game 4: Cubs 6, Giants 5

Chapman is Box-Toppers Player of the Game as the Cubs eliminate the Giants in the best-of-five game series, 3-1, with a four-run, ninth-inning comeback.

Chapman pitched a scoreless ninth inning, striking out the side and allowing no hits and no walks. He earned the save.

Chapman had 7.4 Box-Toppers points during the regular season, 104th among all players, 33rd among NL pitchers and second among NL closers, behind Jeurys Familia of the Mets (8.0).

Chapman led all Cubs players with a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0. Willson Contreras led all Cubs batters with a Box-Toppers game score of +2.0 (1-1 2BI). Cubs starting pitcher John Lackey had a Box-Toppers game score of −7.0 (4IP 7H 3R 2BB 4K ND).

Meanwhile, Giants starting pitcher Matt Moore held a commanding lead as Box-Toppers Player of the Game going into the ninth inning. Moore had the highest Box-Toppers game score of any player on either team, +11.0 (8IP 2H 2R 2BB 10K ND). But Moore lost his Player of the Game lead when the Cubs went ahead in the ninth and won the game.

The Cubs eliminate the Giants in four games, 3-1. The Cubs were the runaway leader in Box-Toppers team rankings, leading nearly all the season with 139.5 Box-Toppers points. The Giants were the lowest-ranking team to qualify for the postseason, ranked 10th with 112.7.

This also ends the Giants’ streak of winning the World Series in even-numbered years after winning in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

The Cubs now advance to the best-of-seven game National League Championship Series beginning Saturday in Chicago against either the Dodgers or the Nationals.

National League Division Series Game 4: Dodgers 6, Nationals 5

Dodgers middle reliever Joe Blanton is Box-Toppers Player of the Game Tuesday as the Dodgers even the best-of-five game NL Division Series against the Nationals at two games apiece.

Blanton pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing no hits, no walks, striking out two and earning the win.

Blanton had no Box-Toppers points during the regular season. He had 3.0 points in 2015 with the Royals and the Pirates. His best year was 2012 with the Phillies and Dodgers when he had 9.4.

Blanton had the highest Box-Toppers game score among Dodgers players (+3.0). He qualified to be Player of the Game because, though he pitched fewer than the required three innings, he did earn the win. Top Dodgers batter was Adrian Gonzalez, who had a Box-Toppers game score of +1.0 (HR 1-3 R 2BI). Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw seemed on track to earn Player of the Game honors until the seventh inning when the Nationals scored three runs and tied the game. Kershaw ended with a Box-Toppers game score of −1.8 (6.2IP 7H 5R 2BB 11K ND). Nationals top player was Daniel Murphy, who had a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 (2-3 4BI).

The Dodgers and Nationals face off in the deciding Game 5 of the NLDS Thursday in Washington.

There are no games Wednesday.

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 each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

BTG Game Player of Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
4.0 CHC 6, SF 5 Aroldis Chapman (S,3) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
3.1 LAD 6, WSH 5 Joe Blanton (W,1-0) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 2
BTG: Box-Toppers game score

A look at Box-Toppers All-Stars: Top players by position & league for July 21

11 AL players and seven NL players are leaders in Box-Toppers points for their position for both 2016 and 2015-16.

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An All-Star break look at who Box-Toppers deems to be All-Stars

A look at Box-Toppers points leaders by position and by league for the 2016 season and for the combined 2015-16 seasons.

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A look at Box-Toppers All-Stars at the season's halfway point

Box-Toppers points leaders by position and league in both the 2016 season the combined 2015-16 seasons.

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A late June look at Box-Toppers All-Star teams, led by Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw

Eight AL players and five NL players occupy All-Star spots at their position in both the 2016 season and the combined 2015-16 seasons.

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Box-Toppers top-ranked pitchers—Jake Arrieta, Dallas Keuchel—win 2015 Cy Young Awards

Cubs' Jake Arrieta led NL pitchers with 29.1 Box-Toppers points. Astros' Dallas Keuchel led AL pitchers with 21.4 Box-Toppers points. Both won their league's Cy Young Award.

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Kelvin Herrera tops players as Royals defeat Mets in World Series in 5 games

Kelvin Herrera pitched three scoreless innings—the seventh, eighth and ninth—to earn Player of the Game honors as the Kansas City Royals won the 2015 World Series Sunday.

The Royals again came from behind in Game 5, scoring two runs in the top of the ninth to tie the game 2-2 and scoring five in the top of the 12th inning to defeat the Mets, 7-2 in the 12-inning game and 4-1 in the best-of-seven series.

Herrera kept the Mets off the board for three innings, giving up one hit and striking out three. He had a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0, highest among Royals players. While he did not earn the win or the save, picking up a no-decision, he did pitch the requisite three innings required to be eligible to earn Player of the Game honors. He is the only pitcher this postseason to earn Player of the Game honors without earning a win or a save.

Had Herrera not pitched three innings, Player of the Game honors would have gone to Royals top batter, pinch hitter Christian Colon, who hit the go-ahead 12th-inning single (1-1 R BI). Colon had a Box-Toppers game score of +2.0.

Closing pitcher Wade Davis had a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 (1IP H 0R 3K), but was not eligible to earn Player of the Game honors because he pitched fewer than three innings and did not pick up the win or the save. Davis was not eligible to earn the save because the Royals led by more than three runs when he entered.

Herrera, during the regular season, had no Box-Toppers points. In both 2013 and 2014, Herrera had 2.0 points each season. It is the third straight World Series game in which the Player of the Game had zero regular season Box-Toppers points:

Royals starting pitcher Edinson Volquez had a Box-Toppers game score of +1.0 (6IP 2H 2R 5K ND). Mets starting pitcher Matt Harvey had a Box-Toppers game score of +6.0 (8IP 5H 2R 2BB 9K ND), highest among all players Sunday.

Mets pitcher Jeurys Familia, who had a blown save pitching in the ninth and 10th innings, had the Mets second-highest Box-Toppers game score of +4.0 (2IP 0H 0R 2K). Curtis Granderson had the highest Box-Toppers game score among Mets batters of 0.0 (HR 1-4 2R BI). Addison Reed, who picked up the loss for the Mets, had the lowest Box-Toppers game score of all players of −5.9 (0.1IP 3H 5R BB 0K).

Royals catcher Salvador Perez was named World Series Most Valuable Player. He did not earn Player of the Game honors in any World Series game and had a positive Box-Toppers game score in only one game the Royals won—in Game 4, he had a score of +1.0, highest among Royals batters.

Game 5 narrative via Box-Toppers Twitter feed

Mets pitcher Matt Harvey had complete control of World Series Game 5—until he didn't. Here are real-time tweets from @BoxToppers as the game progressed, complete with real-time statistical errors:

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.

Top Royals in World Series Game 5

Here are the Box-Toppers game scores of all Royals who played in World Series Game 5 listed from highest-to-lowest Box-Toppers game score (pitchers are listed twice—once for batting and once for pitching). Kelvin Herrera is Player of the Game (POG).

11/1 Score Team Players AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
POG 5.0 `Royals Kelvin Herrera - - - - - - 3.0 1 0 0 0 3
3.0 Royals Wade Davis - - - - - - 1.0 1 0 0 0 3
2.0 Royals Christian Colon, PH 1 1 1 1 0 0 - - - - - -
1.0 Royals Lorenzo Cain, CF 5 1 2 3 1 2 - - - - - -
1.0 Royals Jarrod Dyson, PR 0 1 0 0 0 0 - - - - - -
1.0 Royals Edinson Volquez - - - - - - 6.0 2 2 1 5 5
1.0 Royals Luke Hochevar (W,2-0) - - - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 1 0
0.0 Royals Drew Butera, C 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - - - - -
0.0 Royals Kelvin Herrera, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - - - - -
0.0 Royals Luke Hochevar, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - - - - -
0.0 Royals Wade Davis, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - - - - -
-1.0 Royals Edinson Volquez, P 2 0 1 0 0 1 - - - - - -
-1.0 Royals Kendrys Morales, PH 1 0 0 0 0 1 - - - - - -
-2.0 Royals Eric Hosmer, 1B 6 1 2 1 0 2 - - - - - -
-2.0 Royals Paulo Orlando, RF 3 1 0 0 0 0 - - - - - -
-3.0 Royals Alcides Escobar, SS 6 1 1 1 0 2 - - - - - -
-3.0 Royals Salvador Perez, C 5 0 1 1 0 1 - - - - - -
-3.0 Royals Ben Zobrist, 2B 5 1 1 0 1 0 - - - - - -
-3.0 Royals Alex Rios, RF 3 0 0 0 0 1 - - - - - -
-4.0 Royals Alex Gordon, LF 4 0 0 0 1 0 - - - - - -
-5.0 Royals Mike Moustakas, 3B 6 0 1 0 0 1 - - - - - -
`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Though the baseball season is now over, in coming days, Box-Toppers will feature season-end features, including Box-Toppers 2015 All-Star teams, top 100 player rankings and analysis of the Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Awards, among many other things. Stay current on Twitter, Facebook or subscribe to Box-Toppers’ RSS feed.

Mets' David Wright (HR 2-5 4BI) tops players in World Series Game 3, Friday, Oct. 30

David Wright hit a two-run homer and drove in four total runs as the New York Mets won Game 3 of the World Series Friday, beating the Kansas City Royals, 9-3.

Wright, who also had two hits, is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Game as the Royals now lead the Mets 2-1 in the best-of-seven games series.

Wright had a Box-Toppers game score Friday of +2.0, tied for the highest among Mets players with two other batters, Curtis Granderson (HR 2-3 3R 2BI) and Juan Uribe (1-1 R BI). But Wright beat both his teammates on tiebreakers—Wright beat Granderson because he had more runs batted in (4 vs. 2) and he beat Uribe because he had more at bats (5 vs. 1).

Pitcher Jeurys Familia also had a Box-Toppers game score of +2.0. But in cases of Box-Toppers game score ties, batters hold the tiebreaker over pitchers under Box-Toppers rules. Also, Familia did not qualify to earn Player of the Game because he did not have at least three innings pitched and did not earn the win or save.

Wright, during the regular season had 0.0 Box-Toppers points, playing in only 38 games due to injury. It is the first time this postseason he has earned Player of the Game honors. In fact, it is the first time he has earned Player of the Game honors since July 11, 2014. That was the only time during the 2014 season that Wright earned Player of the Game honors, giving him 1.5 Box-Toppers points for 2014. Wright does have 74.1 career Box-Toppers points, second among active National League third basemen, and had regular season Box-Toppers points for 11 straight seasons from 2004 to 2014.

Mets starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard picked up the win but had the second-lowest Box-Toppers game score Friday of all Mets players of −3.0 (6IP 7H 3R 2BB 6K). However, Syndergaard had a higher Box-Toppers game score for batting of 0.0 (1-2 R).

Royals starting pitcher Yordano Ventura picked up the loss and had the lowest Box-Toppers game score among all players Friday of −12.9 (3.1IP 7H 5R BB 2K). Alex Rios had the highest Box-Toppers game score among Royals players eligible to earn Player of the Game honors of 0.0 (1-3 R BI).

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.

Top Mets in World Series Game 3

Here are the Box-Toppers game score of all Mets who played in World Series Game 3 listed from highest-to-lowest Box-Toppers game score (pitchers are listed twice—once for batting and once for pitching). David Wright is Player of the Game (POG).

10/30 Score Team Players AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
POG 2.0 Mets David Wright, 3B 5 1 2 4 0 2 - - - - - -
2.0 Mets Curtis Granderson, RF 5 3 2 2 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Mets Juan Uribe, PH 1 1 1 1 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Mets Jeurys Familia - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
1.0 Mets Addison Reed - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 0
1.0 Mets Tyler Clippard - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 0
0.0 Mets Michael Conforto, LF 2 0 1 1 0 0 - - - - - -
0.0 Mets Juan Lagares, PH-CF 2 1 1 0 0 0 - - - - - -
0.0 Mets Noah Syndergaard, P 2 1 1 0 0 1 - - - - - -
0.0 Mets Addison Reed, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - - - - -
0.0 Mets Tyler Clippard, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - - - - -
0.0 Mets Jeurys Familia, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - - - - 0
-1.0 Mets Yoenis Cespedes, CF-LF 3 0 1 1 0 1 - - - - - -
-1.0 Mets Kirk Nieuwenhuis, PH 1 0 0 0 0 1 - - - - - -
-2.0 Mets Travis d'Arnaud, C 4 0 2 0 0 0 - - - - - -
-2.0 Mets Lucas Duda, 1B 4 1 1 0 0 2 - - - - - -
-2.0 Mets Wilmer Flores, SS 3 1 0 0 0 0 - - - - - -
-3.0 Mets Noah Syndergaard (W,2-1) - - - - - - 6.0 7 3 3 2 6
-4.0 Mets Daniel Murphy, 2B 4 0 0 0 1 1 - - - - - -

Coming Saturday in New York:

World Series Game 4, Royals lead Mets, 2-1

The pitching match-up Saturday:

Royals—Chris Young, 8.0 Box-Toppers points, 78th among all players, 29th among AL pitchers. Young was Player of the Game in World Series Game 1.

Mets—Steven Matz, 3.5 Box-Toppers points, 298th among all players, 76th among NL pitchers.

World Series preview (Corrected 10/31: Previously, David Wright’s 2015 Box-Toppers point total was listed as 1.5, which was his total during 2014. Wright actually had 0.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015)

Box-Toppers season-end player rankings report

Box-Toppers point totals of all Royals players active at season's end

Box-Toppers point totals of all Mets players active at season's end

Jeurys Familia tops players in NLDS Game 5 as Mets eliminate Dodgers, Thursday, Oct. 15

Jeurys Familia pitched two scoreless innings, picking up the save, as the New York Mets eliminated the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday in Game 5 of the National League Division Series.

National League Division Series Game 5: Mets 3, Dodgers 2

Familia, Box-Toppers Player of the Game, allowed no hits and struck out two, earning a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0, highest among all Mets players, as the Mets beat the Dodgers in the best-of-five game series, 3-2.

During the regular season, Familia had 8.0 Box-Toppers points, ranked 88th among all players, 28th among NL pitchers and second among NL closing pitchers, behind Aroldis Chapman of the Reds. (Chapman also had 8.0 Box-Toppers points this season, but ranked higher because he had more Box-Toppers points than Familia in 2014—seven vs. zero.)

Both starting pitchers in the game were ranked in the top 10 of Box-Toppers player rankings, but neither earned Player of the Game:

  • Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom, 22.4 Box-Toppers points, third among all players, third among NL pitchers. deGrom (6IP 6H 2R 7K W) had a Box-Toppers game score of 0.
  • Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke, 20.7 Box-Toppers points, seventh among all players, fifth among NL pitchers. Greinke (6.2 IP 6H 3R 9K L) had a Box-Toppers game score of +2.2.

The Dodgers ranked slightly higher than the Mets in regular season Box-Toppers team rankings. The Dodgers ranked sixth among all teams, with 122.5 Box-Toppers points. But the Mets were only 0.5 points behind, with 122.0, ranking seventh among all teams.

With the Mets win, the team with the higher-ranked starting pitcher has won 15 of 21 postseason games this year—deGrom of the Mets (22.4) ranked ahead of Greinke of the Dodgers (20.7).

The Mets will now face the Chicago Cubs in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series beginning Saturday in New York.

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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

10/15 Score Team Players AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
POG 4.0 Mets Jeurys Familia (S,2) - - - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 0 2

Royals' Moustakas tops players for Thursday, Sept. 24; Kershaw's chances to pass Arrieta for Box-Toppers lead diminish

Mike Moustakas of the Royals is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Thursday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw did not earn Player of the Game honors in his start, greatly reducing the chances that he will take the Box-Toppers point lead this season and further solidifying Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta’s chances that he will end the season as leader.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 24.  


 Player Pos Team BTP
1 Arrieta, Jake 2738 pi sp chi nl 25.1
2 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 22.7
3 Price, David 2593 pi sp tor al 21.1
4 deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp nym nl 20.4
5 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 20.4
6 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp lad nl 19.7
7 Hernandez, Felix 2064 pi sp sea al 19.4
8 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp pit nl 18.0
9 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp chi al 17.1
10 Bumgarner, Madison 2753 pi sp sf nl 17.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Moustakas homered, doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 10-4 win over the Mariners.

National League Player of the Day—Stephen Piscotty of the Cardinals homered and went 3-for-4, driving in four runs, in the 7-3 win over the Brewers.

American League and National League Batters of the Day—There are no separate AL and NL Batters of the Day for Thursday because both the overall Player of the Day and the NL Player of the Day were batters—Mike Moustakas and Stephen Piscotty.

Notable—Mets closing pitcher Jeurys Familia has the highest Box-Toppers point total of any of the 12 who earned Player of the Game honors Thursday. Familia (1IP 0H 0R K Sv in the 6-4 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.0 for the season. He ranks 81st among all players, 27th among NL pitchers and second among NL closers, behind Aroldis Champman of the Reds (8.0 points).

Kershaw, Arrieta and the Box-Toppers points lead—While Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers won his game, he did not earn Player of the Game honors. Kershaw (5IP 6H 3R 9K W in the 6-3 win over the Diamondbacks) had a Box-Toppers game score of +1. Player of the Game was Chris Heisey (1-3 R 4BI) with a Box-Toppers game score of +3.

Kershaw’s chances to repeat as Box-Toppers points leaders and his chances to repeat as leader among NL pitchers for the fifth straight season now seem to be greatly diminished. With 10 days left in the season, Kershaw probably will not make more than one more start and he already trails overall Box-Toppers points leader, Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta (25.1), by 2.4 points. If Kershaw makes one more start, the most he can earn is 2.0 points, giving him 24.7, short of Arrieta’s total.

But if Kershaw does make two more starts—or even two more appearances this season—he may have a chance, but would have to earn at least Player of the Game honors in both games. However, if Arrieta earns overall Player of the Day honors in his start Sunday, he would probably wrap up Box-Toppers Player of the Year honors, barring any miracle by another player.

The only other player who has a realistic chance of catching or passing Arrieta is Blue Jays pitcher David Price. Price has 21.1 Box-Toppers points, third place among all players and trails Arrieta by 4.0 Box-Toppers points. Price likely has two starts remaining, the first of which is Saturday. Price would have to earn overall Player of the Day honors in both starts, earning 2.0 Box-Toppers points each time, to give him 25.1 Box-Toppers points, the same total Arrieta currently has. Price would win the tiebreaker over Arrieta because he had more Box-Toppers points in 2014—19.1 vs. 14.7. But again, if Arrieta even earns Player of the Game honors in a start, Price would have no realistic shot of catching him.

Rankings—Two other pitchers in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings started Thursday, but neither earned Player of the Game honors:

  • Chris Sale of the White Sox (7IP 7H 3R 8K L in the 3-2 loss to the Yankees) had a Box-Toppers game score of +1. Player of the Game was Carlos Beltran of the Yankees (2-4 R 3BI, Box-Toppers game score +2). Sale is ranked ninth in Box-Toppers player rankings, fourth among AL pitchers, with 17.1 points.
  • Madison Bumgarner of the Giants (7IP 3H 3R 9K ND in the 5-4 loss to the Padres) had a Box-Toppers game score of +4. Player of the Game was Derek Norris of the Padres (3-4 R 3BI, Box-Toppers game score of +3). (Bumgarner had a higher Box-Toppers game score than Norris, but Norris earned Player of the Game because he had the highest score on the Padres—the team that won the game.) Bumgarner is ranked 10th in Box-Toppers player rankings, sixth among NL pitchers, with 17.0 points.

Scoring—Moustakas earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Piscotty earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

9/24 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 6.0 Royals Mike Moustakas, 3B 3 3 3 3 2 0 - - - - - -
5.0 Rays Erasmo Ramirez (W,11-6) - - - - - - 7.0 4 2 2 0 6
NL 4.0 Cardinals Stephen Piscotty, 1B-LF 4 1 3 4 0 1 - - - - - -
3.1 `Marlins Chris Narveson - - - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 2
3.0 Padres Derek Norris, C 4 1 3 3 0 1 - - - - - -
3.0 Dodgers Chris Heisey, CF-RF 3 1 1 4 0 1 - - - - - -
3.0 Pirates Mark Melancon (S,50) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.0 Rangers Delino DeShields, CF 5 2 3 2 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Yankees Carlos Beltran, RF 4 1 2 3 0 1 - - - - - -
2.0 Orioles Matt Wieters, C 4 2 2 2 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Indians Carlos Santana, DH 3 1 1 3 2 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Mets Jeurys Familia (S,42) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Rays' Chris Archer tops players for Thursday, April 16, rises to 2nd in Box-Toppers player rankings

Rays pitcher Chris Archer is Thursday’s Player of the Day.

Archer pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out 11 in the 4-2 win over the Blue Jays.

Archer rose to second place in Box-Toppers player rankings. He earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season. Overall leader, Athletics pitcher Scott Kazmir, has 3.7 Box-Toppers points.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of April 16.  


 Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kazmir, Scott 1947 pi sp oak al 3.7
2 Archer, Chris 3194 pi sp tb al 3.0
3 Bauer, Trevor 3065 pi sp cle al 3.0
4 Harvey, Matt 3075 pi sp nym nl 2.7
5 Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 rf fla nl 2.5
6 Hernandez, Felix 2064 pi sp sea al 2.0
7 Wainwright, Adam 2150 pi sp stl nl 2.0
8 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp lad nl 2.0
9 Odorizzi, Jake 3291 pi sp tb al 2.0
10 Gonzalez, Miguel 3062 pi sp bal al 2.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

National League Player of the Day—Cardinals pitcher John Lackey pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out eight in the 4-0 win over the Brewers.

National League Batter of the Day—Paul Goldschmidt of the Diamondbacks hit a three-run homer and scored two runs in the 7-6 win over the Giants.

American League Batter of the Day—Kurt Suzuki of the Twins hit a two-run homer and went 2-for-4 in the 8-5 win over the Royals.

Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Thursday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:

  • Mets pitcher Jeurys Familia (1IP 0R K Sv in the 7-5 win over the Marlins) made his Major League debut Sept. 4, 2012, and was playing in his 99th career game. He is the 3,446th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Michael Taylor of the Nationals (1-2 HR in the 5-2 win over the Phillies) made his Major League debut Aug. 12, 2014, and was playing in his 27th career game. He is the 3,447th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Archer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lackey earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Goldschmidt and Suzuki each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

4/16 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 14.0 Rays Chris Archer (W, 2-1) - - - - - - 7.0 2 0 0 2 11
NL 9.0 Cardinals John Lackey (W, 1-0) - - - - - - 7.0 5 0 0 1 8
2.0 Mets Jeurys Familia (S, 4) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
BAT 1.0 Dbacks Paul Goldschmidt 1B 5 2 1 3 1 0 - - - - - -
BAT 1.0 Twins Kurt Suzuki C 4 1 2 2 0 0 - - - - - -
1.0 Nationals Michael Taylor CF 2 1 1 1 1 0 - - - - - -

Box-Toppers' top rookies—Jose Abreu, Jacob deGrom—easily win 2014 Rookie of the Year Awards

Box-Toppers’ leading rookies easily won each league’s Rookie of the Year Award Monday.

First baseman Jose Abreu of the White Sox won the American League award unanimously and Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom won the National League award with 26 out of 30 first place votes.

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