Patrick Corbin tops players in Game 7 as Nationals win World Series over Astros

Nationals pitcher Patrick Corbin is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s World Series Game 7.

The Washington Nationals win 6-2, defeating the Houston Astros in the best-of-seven game series, 4-3, with each game in the series being won by the visiting team.

World Series Game 7 highlights

Scroll down to see Box-Toppers’ live Twitter narrative of Game 7. Follow tweet by tweet from game previews to changes in Box-Toppers Player of the Game leaders through the final out.

Corbin struck out three over three scoreless innings of middle relief, allowing two hits and no walks. Corbin entered in the sixth inning with the Nationals trailing 2-0. The Nationals scored three runs in the seventh and one in the eighth, so that the team was leading 4-2 when Corbin exited. The Nationals held the lead (and, in fact, extended it, scoring two more runs in the ninth inning, making it 6-2), giving Corbin the win.

Corbin earned 16.4 Box-Toppers points during the regular season, 12th among all players, sixth among National League pitchers and second among Nationals pitchers (behind Stephen Strasburg’s NL-leading 20.7 and ahead of Max Scherzer’s 15.4, which ranked ninth among NL pitchers in 2019).

It is the second time this postseason Corbin has earned Player of the Game honors. He was also Player of the Game as a starter in Oct. 15’s NL Championship Game Game 4 win over the Cardinals. He is one of eight players to earn Player of the Game honors more than once this postseason.

This was Corbin’s eighth appearance of the 2019 postseason and his fifth relief appearance. He also started NL Division Series Game 1 on Oct. 3, a loss to the Dodgers and started World Series Game 4 on Oct. 26, loss to the Astros. He appeared in relief in the NLDS Game 3 loss to the Dodgers on Oct. 6, in the NLDS Game 5 win over the Dodgers on Oct. 9, in the NLCS Game 2 win over the Cardinals on Oct. 12 and in the World Series Game 1 win over the Astros on Oct. 22.

Here are the players who have won Player of the Game honors more than once in the 2019 postseason and the number of times they did it:

Corbin had a Box-Toppers game score Wednesday of +4.0, highest among Nationals players. Teammate Howie Kendrick had the highest game score among Nationals batters of +2.0 (HR 2-3 R 2BI). 

Starter Zack Greinke had the highest Box-Toppers game score among Astros players of +1.1 (6.1IP 2H 2R 2BB 3K L). In fact, Greinke seemed to be cruising to Player of the Game honors until the top of the seventh inning. The Astros held a 2-1 lead and Greinke led all Astros in Box-Toppers game score. Greinke still led in Box-Toppers game score when he exited, but reliever Will Harris gave up the two-run homer to the first batter he faced, Howie Kendrick, vaulting the Nationals to a lead they never relinquished. Kendrick briefly was the leader for Player of the Game honors until Corbin’s game score surpassed him in the eighth inning.

In the early innings of the game, things didn’t look good for the Nationals. Starter Max Scherzer had the lowest Box-Toppers game score of any player in the game of -7.0 (5IP 7H 2R 4BB 3K ND) and exited trailing, 2-0.

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The Nationals win their first World Series title in franchise history. The franchise began as the Montreal Expos in 1969 before moving to Washington in 2005.

While the Astros and Nationals were Box-Toppers’ top two teams in 2019 regular season rankings, Box-Toppers had the Astros as big favorites going into the World Series.

The Astros were already leading Box-Toppers team rankings in late July when they acquired pitcher Zack Greinke from the Diamondbacks, which sent them rocketing to a huge lead they never relinquished. They finished the season with its players accumulating a combined 158.1 Box-Toppers points, ahead of the second-place Nationals’ 132.9 points. The gap between the Astros and Nationals is 25.2 points, which would be about as many points as a team would earn if they went on a two- to three-week winning streak.

The points gap between the two teams is similar to the gap between the Nationals and their opponent in the National League Championship Series, the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals ranked 12th in Box-Toppers team rankings with 105.8 points, 27.1 fewer points than the Nationals. The Nationals swept the Cardinals in four games to win the NL pennant.

The Astros are not only Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team, but had the most wins (107) on their way to winning the American League West title and the AL pennant over the New York Yankees in the six-game ALCS. The Nationals, though they ranked as Box-Toppers’ top-ranked NL team, had the third-most wins of NL teams (93) and finished second in the NL East, four games behind the Atlanta Braves, making the playoffs as the NL’s top Wild Card team.

Both teams also featured three pitchers each among the overall top 15 players. But again, while both teams had the two best starting rotations in baseball, the Astros still had a considerable advantage. The Astros top four starters had far more combined Box-Toppers points than the Nationals—84.6 vs. 59.5, a difference of 25.1 points.

Here are the top four starters for the Astros, their regular season Box-Toppers point total and their overall ranking:

  • Gerrit Cole 32.2 Box-Toppers points, first

  • Justin Verlander 27.5, second

  • Zack Greinke 17.9, seventh

  • Brad Peacock 7.0, 109th

Here are the top four starters for the Nationals, their regular season Box-Toppers point total and their overall ranking:

  • Stephen Strasburg 20.7, third

  • Patrick Corbin 16.4, 12th

  • Max Scherzer 15.4, 15th

  • Anibal Sanchez 7.0, 104th

And despite this stellar starting pitching on both sides, great pitching didn’t figure into the series as much as would be expected. The first three games featured five of the season’s top 15 overall players who were starting pitchers, but none won Player of the Game honors. In fact, the first starting pitcher to earn Player of the Game honors in a World Series game this season was Jose Urquidy of the Astros, who was top player in Game 4. Urquidy had just 2.7 Box-Toppers points during the regular season and made just 11 career regular season appearances.

In fact, the only game in which one of the team’s top four starters won Player of the Game honors in a game he started was Game 5 when Gerrit Cole was top player in the 7-1 win. Corbin was the only other regular starter on the two teams to win Player of the Game honors and he won it in Game 7 in relief.

Here are the players who won Player of the Game honors in each of the seven games:

  • Game 1—Leftfielder Juan Soto, Nationals

  • Game 2—Rightfielder Adam Eaton, Nationals

  • Game 3—Reliever Will Harris, Astros

  • Game 4—Starter Jose Urquidy, Astros

  • Game 5—Starter Gerrit Cole, Astros

  • Game 6—Third baseman Anthony Rendon, Nationals

  • Game 7—Reliever Patrick Corbin, Nationals

Stephen Strasburg was named World Series Most Valuable Player. Box-Toppers had a different Player of the Game winner in each World Series game and Strasburg did not win Player of the Game in his World Series appearances. But it’s hard to argue with Strasburg as World Series MVP, given his two series wins in Game 2 and Game 6 and his three other postseason Player of the Game honors.

Related:

Box-Toppers World Series preview

Box-Toppers NL Championship Series preview

Box-Toppers AL Championship Series preview

Box-Toppers 2019 final team rankings

Box-Toppers 2019 final top 10 player rankings

Top Nationals in World Series Game 7: Nationals 6, Astros 2

Here are the Box-Toppers game scores (BTG) of all Nationals who played in World Series Game 7, listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score. Player of the Game (POG) is Patrick Corbin.

10/30 BTG Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
POG +4.0 Patrick Corbin (W, 2‑3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 3.0 2 0 0 0 3
+3.0 Daniel Hudson ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
+2.0 Howie Kendrick DH 3 1 2 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
0.0 Juan Soto LF 4 1 2 1 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
0.0 Adam Eaton RF 4 1 1 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
‑2.0 Anthony Rendon 3B 5 1 1 1 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
‑2.0 Victor Robles CF 4 1 1 0 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
‑2.0 Asdrubal Cabrera 2B 3 0 1 0 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
‑2.0 Ryan Zimmerman 1B 3 0 1 0 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
‑3.0 Yan Gomes C 4 1 0 0 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
‑4.0 Trea Turner SS 4 0 0 0 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
‑7.0 Max Scherzer ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.0 7 2 2 4 3
BTG—Box-Toppers game score
POG—Player of the Game

Box-Toppers World Series Game 7 live Twitter narrative

Here is the Box-Toppers’ live chronological Twitter narrative of World Series Game 7, from the game previews, through changes in Player of the Game leaders to the final out:

Box-Toppers World Series Game 7 live box score

Here is Box-Toppers’ live box score from World Series Game 7 in which Player of the Game leaders were tracked as they happened throughout the course of the game. See the Twitter narrative above to see how the Player of the Game leaders changed throughout the course of the game. More info on the live box score can be found here.