Rougned Odor of the Rangers and Luke Gregerson of the Astros are Box-Toppers Players of the Game in Thursday’s pair of American League Division Series openers.
Odor homered and scored three runs in the 5-3 win over the Blue Jays in Game 1 of the AL Division Series. The Rangers lead the best-of-five series, 1-0.
During the regular season, Odor earned 3.0 Box-Toppers points, 337th among all players, 76th among AL batters.
Blue Jays pitcher David Price, Box-Toppers’ fifth-ranked player, started the game and picked up the loss. Price (7IP 5H 5R 5K) had a Box-Toppers game score of −5. He had 21.1 Box-Toppers points for the season, ranked second among AL pitchers.
Astros closing pitcher Luke Gregerson is Player of the Game in the other AL Division Series Game 1. Gregerson picked up the save, pitching a scoreless ninth inning, allowing no hits and striking out two, in the 5-2 win over the Royals. The Astros lead the best-of-five series, 1-0.
Gregerson had 6.0 Box-Toppers points during the regular season, 150th among all players, 53rd among AL pitchers and sixth among AL closing pitchers.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 10/8 | Score | Team | BATTERS | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| POG | 3.0 | Rangers | Rougned Odor, 2B | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| POG | 3.0 | Astros | Luke Gregerson (S,1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Coming Friday: The National League Division Series playoffs begin with two Game 1s and the American League Division Series resume with two Game 2s:
AL Division Series Game 2, Rangers lead Blue Jays, 1-0
The pitching matchup Friday:
Rangers—Cole Hamels, 15.4 Box-Toppers points, 15th among all players, eighth among AL pitchers.
Blue Jays—Marcus Stroman, 2.7 Box-Toppers points, 368th among all players, 105th among AL pitchers. (Stroman was out recovering from injury much of 2015. In 2014, he had 13.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked 12th among AL pitchers.)
AL Division Series Game 2, Astros lead Royals, 1-0
The pitching matchup Friday:
Astros—Scott Kazmir, 12.7 Box-Toppers points, 26th among all players, 14th among AL pitchers,
Royals—Johnny Cueto, 12.8 Box-Toppers points, 25th among all players, 13th among AL pitchers.
NL Division Series Game 1, Cubs at Cardinals
Though the Chicago Cubs are the Wild Card team and have a lesser win-loss record than the NL Central champ St. Louis Cardinals, they have an edge in Box-Toppers team rankings. The Cubs passed the Cardinals in the final 10 days of the season to rank third in Box-Toppers team points with 127.4. The Cardinals, with baseball’s best record, rank fourth with 124.3. The Cubs surged at the end of the season, earning 11.0 Box-Toppers points in the final 10 days of the season. The Cardinals, by comparison, picked up only 3.5 during that period.
The two teams are the highest ranked NL teams remaining in the playoffs after the Cubs knocked off the top-rated Pittsburgh Pirates (129.6) in the NL Wild Card playoff.
The pitching matchup Friday:
Cubs—Jon Lester, 12.0 Box-Toppers points, 28th among all players, 13th among NL pitchers.
Cardinals—John Lackey, 9.7 Box-Toppers points, 51st among all players, 21st among NL pitchers.
Cubs vs. Cardinals
Here are players for both teams in the NL Divisional Series beginning Friday. Players are listed for both teams ranked by Box-Toppers points earned in 2015. 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.| Chicago Cubs | St. Louis Cardinals | |||||
| Player | Pos | BTP | Player | Pos | BTP | |
| Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | 29.1 | Martinez, Carlos 3371 | pi sp | 13.7 | |
| Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | 12.0 | Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | 11.4 | |
| Hammel, Jason 2235 | pi sp | 9.7 | Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | 9.7 | |
| Hendricks, Kyle 3386 | pi sp | 9.7 | Wacha, Michael 3276 | pi sp | 9.7 | |
| Rizzo, Anthony 3063 | 1b | 8.5 | Grichuk, Randal 3474 | rf lf cf | 9.5 | |
| Bryant, Kris 3465 | 3b | 8.5 | Garcia, Jaime 2508 | pi sp | 9.4 | |
| Montero, Miguel 2304 | ca | 5.5 | Rosenthal, Trevor 3124 | pi cp | 6.0 | |
| Haren, Danny 1787 | pi sp | 5.0 | Carpenter, Matt 2987 | 3b | 5.5 | |
| Schwarber, Kyle 3536 | lf ca | 5.0 | Moss, Brandon 2520 | rf lf | 5.0 | |
| Castro, Starlin 2767 | ss 2b | 4.5 | Piscotty, Stephen 3570 | lf rf 1b | 4.2 | |
| Wada, Tsuyoshi 3389 | pi sp | 3.7 | Wong, Kolten 3377 | 2b | 4.0 | |
| Soler, Jorge 3403 | rf ph | 3.2 | Reynolds, Mark 2297 | 1b | 4.0 | |
| Wood, Travis 2777 | pi sp | 3.0 | Siegrist, Kevin 3260 | pi mr | 4.0 | |
| Fowler, Dexter 2698 | cf | 2.5 | Villanueva, Carlos 2241 | pi mr cp | 3.7 | |
| Russell, Addison 3559 | ss | 2.5 | Wainwright, Adam 2150 | pi sp | 3.0 | |
| Jackson, Austin 2694 | cf | 2.0 | Lyons, Tyler 3178 | pi sp | 3.0 | |
| Rondon, Hector 3201 | pi cp | 2.0 | Adams, Matt 3220 | 1b ph | 2.5 | |
| Strop, Pedro 3005 | pi mr | 2.0 | Maness, Seth 3362 | pi cp mr | 2.0 | |
| Coghlan, Chris 2610 | lf | 1.0 | Kozma, Pete 3138 | 2b pr | 2.0 | |
| Rodney, Fernando 1803 | pi cp mr | 1.0 | Scruggs, Xavier 3514 | 1b | 2.0 | |
| Cahill, Trevor 2658 | pi mr | 1.0 | Holliday, Matt 1836 | lf dh | 1.5 | |
| Hunter, Tommy 2623 | pi mr | 1.0 | Pham, Thomas 3596 | lf cf | 1.5 | |
| Grimm, Justin 3153 | pi mr | 1.0 | Cishek, Steve 2997 | pi cp | 1.0 | |
| Richard, Clayton 2584 | pi sp | 1.0 | Bourjos, Peter 2790 | cf ph | 1.0 | |
| Motte, Jason 2926 | pi mr | 1.0 | Garcia, Greg 3331 | ph | 1.0 | |
| Beeler, Dallas 3528 | pi sp | 1.0 | Molina, Yadier 1967 | ca | 1.0 | |
| Ramirez, Neil 3439 | pi mr | 1.0 | Walden, Jordan 2864 | pi mr | 1.0 | |
| Broxton, Jonathan 2108 | pi mr | 1.0 | ||||
| Socolovich, Miguel 3456 | pi cp | 1.0 | ||||
| Totals | 127.4 | Totals | 124.3 | |||
NL Division Series Game 1, Mets at Dodgers
In Box-Toppers team rankings, the Dodgers and the Mets are almost identical.
The Dodgers hold the slight edge, ranking sixth among all teams, with 122.5 Box-Toppers points. But the Mets are only 0.5 points behind, with 122.0, ranking seventh among all teams. During the final 10 days of the season, the Dodgers picked up 6.0 Box-Toppers points, while the Mets earned 4.7.
The pitching matchup Friday:
Mets—Jacob deGrom, 22.4 Box-Toppers points, third among all players, third among NL pitchers.
Dodgers—Clayton Kershaw, 25.7 Box-Toppers points, second among all players, second among NL pitchers.
Mets vs. Dodgers
Here are players for both teams in the NL Divisional Series beginning Friday. Players are listed for both teams ranked by Box-Toppers points earned in 2015. 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 Mets | Los Angeles Dodgers | |||||
| Player | Pos | BTP | Player | Pos | BTP | |
| deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | 22.4 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | 25.7 | |
| Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | 15.4 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | 20.7 | |
| Cespedes, Yoenis 3008 | lf cf | 10.9 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | 7.7 | |
| Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | 10.4 | Ethier, Andre 2137 | rf lf | 6.5 | |
| Familia, Jeurys 3446 | pi cp | 8.0 | Anderson, Brett 2597 | pi sp | 6.0 | |
| Colon, Bartolo | pi sp | 6.7 | Bolsinger, Mike 3318 | pi sp | 5.7 | |
| Niese, Jonathon 2531 | pi sp | 6.0 | Gonzalez, Adrian 2193 | 1b | 4.0 | |
| Granderson, Curtis 2051 | rf | 4.0 | Jansen, Kenley 2871 | pi cp | 4.0 | |
| Nieuwenhuis, Kirk 3022 | cf rf lf ph | 4.0 | Kendrick, Howie 2191 | 2b | 4.0 | |
| Matz, Steven 3516 | pi sp | 3.5 | Van Slyke, Scott 3033 | cf lf 1b | 4.0 | |
| Uribe, Juan 1542 | 3b ph | 3.0 | Turner, Justin 2865 | 2b 3b ph | 4.0 | |
| Verrett, Logan 3518 | pi mr | 3.0 | Puig, Yasiel 3193 | rf | 3.5 | |
| Robles, Hansel 3580 | pi mr | 2.7 | Guerrero, Alex 3442 | lf ph | 3.5 | |
| Duda, Lucas 2818 | 1b | 2.5 | Rollins, Jimmy 1516 | ss | 3.0 | |
| d’Arnaud, Travis 3384 | ca | 2.5 | McCarthy, Brandon 2082 | pi sp | 2.0 | |
| Flores, Wilmer 3345 | ss 2b | 2.5 | Grandal, Yasmani 3058 | ca 1b | 2.0 | |
| Tejada, Ruben 2801 | ss | 2.0 | Ruggiano, Justin 2396 | lf ph | 2.0 | |
| Johnson, Kelly 2018 | lf 1b | 2.0 | Frias, Carlos 3434 | pi sp | 2.0 | |
| Murphy, Daniel 2589 | 2b | 1.5 | Johnson, Jim 2417 | pi mr | 2.0 | |
| Gee, Dillon 2808 | pi sp | 1.0 | Thomas, Ian 3539 | pi sp | 1.7 | |
| Lagares, Juan 3243 | cf ph | 1.0 | Seager, Corey 3587 | ss | 1.5 | |
| Cuddyer, Michael 1826 | lf 1b | 1.0 | Heisey, Chris 2866 | cf rf | 1.0 | |
| Reed, Addison 3023 | pi mr cp | 1.0 | Nicasio, Juan 2888 | pi sp | 1.0 | |
| Torres, Carlos 2668 | pi mr | 1.0 | Hatcher, Chris 3420 | pi cp | 1.0 | |
| Blevins, Jerry 2788 | pi mr | 1.0 | Howell, J.P. 2016 | pi mr | 1.0 | |
| Clippard, Tyler 2291 | pi cp | 1.0 | Garcia, Yimi 3440 | pi cp | 1.0 | |
| Gilmartin, Sean 3500 | pi mr | 1.0 | Hernandez, Enrique 3541 | ph | 1.0 | |
| Monell, Johnny 3463 | ph | 1.0 | Ravin, Josh 3501 | pi mr | 1.0 | |
| Total | 122.0 | Total | 122.5 | |||
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.