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Source: MLB.com
Both American League Division Series begin Saturday.
The Detroit Tigers face the Cleveland Guardians in one best-of-five game series and the Kansas City Royals face the New York Yankees in the other. The top two AL seeds, the Yankees (first) and the Guardians (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played this week.
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The Philadelphia Phillies maintain the Box-Toppers team rankings lead for the 14th week, despite winning only one game in the past week and making only minimal moves at a trade deadline which shook up team rankings.
Among the changes this week: The New York Yankees rise past the Baltimore Orioles to regain the lead among American League teams and the Los Angeles Dodgers are the hottest team of the week, in part due to landing the top trade deadline acquisition, picking up pitcher Jack Flaherty (9.0 Box-Toppers points) from the Tigers.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2024 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the New York Mets made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the San Diego Padres saw the biggest decline.
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The Atlanta Braves are Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team going into 2024, with a roster mostly intact from 2023 when they had baseball’s best record.
Meanwhile, the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners are Box-Toppers’ top two American League teams, with the Mariners having one of the best offseason improvements of any team so far. And also, while the Los Angeles Dodgers have made big offseason splashes adding Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow and Teoscar Hernandez, their offseason ranking has actually fallen from third place last season to fourth place now.
Read MoreBox-Toppers favors the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series, though the Arizona Diamondbacks have the slight edge among starting pitchers.
Both teams fought through higher-ranked teams to make their way to the league championship series, so neither is particularly highly ranked in Box-Toppers team rankings for 2023.
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Source: MLB.com
Both National League Division Series begin Saturday.
The Philadelphia Phillies face the Atlanta Braves in one best-of-five game series and the Arizona Diamondbacks face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the other. The top two NL seeds, the Braves (first) and the Dodgers (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played this week.
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Source: MLB.com
The Wild Card round of Major League Baseball’s postseason begins Tuesday with four best-of-three series.
Here is a Box-Toppers look at the eight teams competing in the four Wild Card round series.
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The Texas Rangers maintain the lead in Box-Toppers team rankings for the second week.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Braves continue to lead National League teams and the Philadelphia Phillies are the week’s hottest team.
Read MorePhillies pitcher Michael Lorenzen is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, pitching a no-hitter.
Also Wednesday, Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani maintains his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman rises to second in player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
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The Texas Rangers, largely on the strength of their trade deadline pitcher acquisitions, rise to lead this week’s Box-Toppers season team rankings.
The Rangers gained the most Box-Toppers points by far of any team in the past week (21.1) thanks mostly to acquiring Max Scherzer (10.4 points) from the Mets and Jordan Montgomery (6.7 points) from the Cardinals.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Freddy Peralta is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Peralta struck out six over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 3-0 win over the Reds.
Read MoreIsaac Paredes of the Rays is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Paredes hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, in the 8-5 win over the Mets. Paredes went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in five runs.
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The New York Mets are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2023 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the World Series champion Houston Astros saw the biggest decline.
Read MoreAngels pitcher Michael Lorenzen is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Lorenzen struck out seven over six innings, allowing one run, two hits and no walks, in the 6-2 win over the Marlins.
Read MoreRed Sox pitcher Rick Porcello is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander, who ranks sixth in Box-Toppers season player rankings, earns Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreRed Sox pitcher Chris Sale is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to eighth place in season player rankings.
Sale struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 11-0 win over the Yankees.
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While batters made modest gains in 2017, earning more Box-Toppers points and Player of the Game honors than in 2016, pitchers were still dominant, earning the most Box-Toppers points and far and away the most Player of the Day honors for the season.
Here's a look at some key statistics in a comprehensive look at all 2,430 Major League Baseball games played and tracked in 2017 by Box-Toppers.
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Reds pitcher Michael Lorenzen is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Lorenzen pitched two scoreless innings, striking out three and earning the win, in the 4-3, 10-inning win over the Pirates.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.0 |
| 2 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 5.7 |
| 3 | Nova, Ivan 2796 | pi sp | pit nl | 5.0 |
| 4 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 5.0 |
| 5 | Holland, Greg 2906 | pi cp | col nl | 5.0 |
| 6 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 4.7 |
| 7 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 4.4 |
| 8 | Triggs, Andrew 3723 | pi sp | oak al | 4.4 |
| 9 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 4.0 |
| 10 | Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | bos al | 4.0 |
American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Jake Odorizzi struck out six over five innings, allowing two hits and two runs, in the 4-2 win over the Marlins. Odorizzi picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was tied, 2-2, when he exited.
Lorenzen and Odorizzi had identical Box-Toppers game scores Monday (+5.0), but Lorenzen wins overall Player of the Day honors on a tiebreaker—he earned the win his game, while Odorizzi picked up a no-decision, even though Odorizzi pitched more innings than Lorenzen (5.0 vs. 2.0).
American League Batter of the Day—Tyler Collins of the Tigers hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-4, scoring twice, in the 7-1 win over the Indians.
National League Batter of the Day—Aaron Altherr of the Phillies hit two doubles and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 10-2 win over the Cubs.
Rankings—Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. has the most season Box-Toppers points of the 11 who earned Player of the Game honors Monday. McCullers (6.1IP 6H 2R 2BB 10K ND in the 6-2 win over the Rangers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 3.0 for the season. He ranks 24th among all players and 12th among AL pitchers.
Debut—Jorge Bonifacio of the Royals made his Box-Toppers debut Monday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Bonifacio (HR 2-3 R 2BI in the 6-1 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut April 21 and was playing in his eighth career game. He is the 3,783rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Comment—After Sunday’s record-breaking day in Box-Toppers, in which Anthony Rendon of the Nationals had what seems to be the highest Box-Toppers game score for a batter (+15.0) in Box-Toppers’ 23-season tracking history, Monday’s game scores were some of the lowest of the season. In fact, the +5.0 game score earned by Lorenzen was the lowest such score to earn Player of the Day honors all season. If Lorenzen had earned Player of the Game honors with that score Sunday, he would have ranked ninth among the 15 games played and earned only 1.0 Box-Toppers point, rather than the 2.0 he received Monday, and would have received barely a mention. But in a comparatively lackluster, ho-hum Monday, he is the top dog, the lead story.
Scoring—Lorenzen earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Odorizzi earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Collins and Altherr each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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.
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| 5/1 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 5.0 | CIN 4, PIT 3 (F/10) | Michael Lorenzen (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| AL | 5.0 | `TB 4, MIA 2 | Jake Odorizzi | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |
| 4.1 | `HOU 6, TEX 2 | Lance McCullers Jr. | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | DET 7, CLE 1 | Tyler Collins, CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 3.0 | PHI 10, CHC 2 | Aaron Altherr, LF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | MIL 7, STL 5 (F/10) | Jonathan Villar, 2B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | TOR 7, NYY 1 | Ryan Goins, SS | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.2 | `SF 4, LAD 3 | Steven Okert (H,2) | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | NYM 7, ATL 5 | Michael Conforto, LF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | KC 6, CHW 1 | Jorge Bonifacio, RF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | BAL 5, BOS 2 | Manny Machado, 3B | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | hou al | 3.0 | 9.1 | 15.8 | 15.8 | -3.1 |
| Altherr, Aaron 3563 | lf ph | phi nl | 2.5 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 0.0 |
| Conforto, Michael 3622 | cf | nym nl | 2.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | -3.0 |
| Lorenzen, Michael 3479 | pi cp | cin nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 1.0 |
| Odorizzi, Jake 3291 | pi sp | tb al | 1.7 | 8.1 | 27.8 | 27.8 | -4.7 |
| Collins, Tyler 3302 | cf | det al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 1.5 |
| Machado, Manny 3087 | 3b ss | bal al | 1.0 | 13.7 | 24.7 | 24.7 | -11.7 |
| Villar, Jonathan 3233 | 2b ss | mil nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | -3.0 |
| Goins, Ryan 3478 | ss 2b | tor al | 1.0 | 2.5 | 7.0 | 7.0 | -0.5 |
| Okert, Steven 3745 | pi mr | sf nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| Bonifacio, Jorge 3783 | rf | kc al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Tuesday’s Player of the Day.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 9.7 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 8.0 |
| 3 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 7.0 |
| 4 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 7.0 |
| 5 | Miller, Shelby 3134 | pi sp | atl nl | 7.0 |
| 6 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 6.7 |
| 7 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 6.7 |
| 8 | Fielder, Prince 2029 | dh | tex al | 6.5 |
| 9 | Harper, Bryce 3011 | lf rf | dc nl | 6.5 |
| 10 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | det al | 6.4 |
Also Tuesday, Prince Fielder of the Rangers earned Player of the Game honors for the second straight day—and fourth time in five days—rising into Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings. Two other players who earned Player of the Game honors Tuesday also rose in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings for the season—Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom and Tigers pitcher David Price.
Player of the Day—Kershaw pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out 10, in the 8-0 win over the Braves.
Kershaw rises to 21st place among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He now has 137.6 career Box-Toppers points and passes Bartolo Colon (136.4) on that list. He trails 20th-place player Andy Pettitte (138.5).
Kershaw led all players in 2014 with 31.5 Box-Toppers points, the fourth-highest single-season total in 20 seasons of Box-Toppers record keeping. Tuesday marked the first time this season he earned overall Player of the Day honors, something he did eight times last year. However, despite his high point total last season, he is not that far off his 2014 pace. At this point last season, he had 5.0 Box-Toppers points and had earned Player of the Day honors twice. With the 2.0 Box-Toppers points he earned Tuesday for being Player of the Day, he has 4.0 points this season and ranks 14th among NL pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Josh Donaldson of the Blue Jays hit two home runs, including a walk-off, three-run homer in the 10-9 win over the White Sox. Donaldson also doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring five times and driving in four.
National League Batter of the Day—Randal Grichuk of the Cardinals homered and went 2-for-3, driving in two runs, in the 6-4 win over the Diamondbacks.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day Tuesday since the overall AL Player of the Day was a batter (Josh Donaldson of the Blue Jays).
Notable—Prince Fielder of the Rangers earned Player of the Game honors for the second time in as many days and the fourth time in five days, rising into Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings.
Fielder (3R-HR 2B 3-5 in the 4-3 win over the Indians) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.5 for the season, rising to eighth place among all players. Fielder, who Monday rose to lead all AL batters in Box-Toppers points for 2015, now ranks ahead of all batters in baseball this season, passing Bryce Harper of the Nationals, who also has 6.5 points this season. (Harper ranks behind Fielder because he had fewer Box-Toppers points in 2014. Fielder had 1.0 point in 2014, Harper had 0.0.)
Fielder has earned 5.0 Box-Toppers points in the past five days:
Fielder has earned all 6.5 of his points in the past 14 days. He was AL Batter of the Day on May 13, the first time this season he earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors.
Rankings—Two other player rose in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings after they earned Player of the Game honors Tuesday:
Debut—Reds pitcher Michael Lorenzen made his Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Lorenzen (7IP 2H R ND in the 2-1 win over the Rockies) made his Major League debut April 29 and was playing in his sixth career game. He is the 3,479th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Donaldson earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Grichuk earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 5/26 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 13.0 | Dodgers | Clayton Kershaw (W, 3-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | |
| AL | 9.0 | Blue Jays | Josh Donaldson 3B | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 7.1 | Yankees | Adam Warren (W, 3-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 6.1 | `Mets | Jacob deGrom | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 9 | ||
| 6.0 | Mariners | Kyle Seager 3B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 6.0 | `Padres | Odrisamer Despaigne | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | Tigers | David Price (W, 4-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.2 | Pirates | Jeff Locke (W, 3-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | Twins | Mike Pelfrey (W, 4-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 3.0 | `Cubs | Kyle Hendricks | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 3.0 | `Reds | Michael Lorenzen | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | Astros | Luke Gregerson (S, 13) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | Rangers | Prince Fielder DH | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Cardinals | Randal Grichuk CF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1.1 | `Giants | Sergio Romo | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 1 | 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. | ||||||||||||||||
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.