Guardians’ Bieber tops players in Friday’s opening Wild Card round playoff games

Guardians pitcher is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s win over the Rays.

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Today’s key Box-Toppers numbers. Click links to jump to charts elsewhere on this page.
▪️ Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners.
▪️ Box-Toppers points of the day’s top players.
▪️ A B-T look at today’s pitching matchups.

Guardians pitcher Shane Bieber tops players in Friday’s four Wild Card playoff games:

Other Player of the Game winners in Friday’s Wild Card series games:

AL Wild Card Game 1: Guardians 2, Rays 1

Guardians pitcher Shane Bieber struck out eight over 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk.

The Guardians now lead the best-of-three series, 1-0.

Bieber earned 13.7 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 26th among all players and 13th among AL pitchers.

Bieber had a Box-Toppers game score Friday of +9.2. Guardians top batter Friday was third baseman Jose Ramirez (HR 2-4 R 2BI). Rays starting pitcher Shane McClanahan had a game score of +1.0 (7IP 7H 2R 0BB 5K L).

Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s win over the Cardinals.

NL Wild Card Game 1: Phillies 6, Cardinals 3

Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler struck out four over 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk. Wheeler did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.

The Phillies now lead the best-of-three series, 1-0.

Wheeler earned 14.4 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 22nd among all players and 11th among NL pitchers.

Wheeler had a Box-Toppers game score Friday of +7.1. Phillies top batter Friday was pinch runner Edmundo Sosa with a +1.0 game score (0-0 R 0BI). Cardinals starting pitcher Jose Quintana had a game score of +5.1 (5.1IP 2H 0R BB 3K ND).

Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s win over the Blue Jays.

AL Wild Card Game 1: Mariners 4, Blue Jays 0

Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo struck out four over 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing six hits and no walks.

The Mariners now lead the best-of-three series, 1-0.

Castillo earned 10.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 54th among all players and 25th among AL pitchers.

Castillo had a Box-Toppers game score Friday of +6.1. Mariners top batter Friday was third baseman Eugenio Suarez with a +1.0 game score (2B 2-4 R 2BI). Blue Jays starting pitcher Alek Manoah had a game score of -3.8 (5.2IP 4H 4R BB 4K L).

Jurickson Profar of the Padres is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s win over the Mets.

NL Wild Card Game 1: Padres 7, Mets 1

Jurickson Profar of the Padres hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs.

The Padres now lead the best-of-three series, 1-0.

Profar earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points in 2022 (on June 22), 126th among NL batters.

Profar had a Box-Toppers game score Friday of +4.0. Padres starting pitcher Yu Darvish had a +3.0 game score (7IP 6H R 0BB 4K W). Mets starting pitcher Max Scherzer had a -12.8 game score (4.2IP 7H 7R 0BB 4K L).


All of Friday’s Player of the Game winners are listed in the chart below.

Box‑Toppers Player of the Game winners

Here is the top player from each of the day’s games listed from highest to lowest Box‑Toppers game score (BTG).
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BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
+9.2 CLE 2, TB 1 Shane Bieber, (W 1‑0) 7.2 3 1 1 1 8
+7.1 `PHI 6, STL 3 Zack Wheeler 6.1 2 0 0 1 4
+6.1 SEA 4, TOR 0 Luis Castillo, (W 1‑0) 7.1 6 0 0 0 5
+4.0 SD 7, NYM 1 Jurickson Profar, LF 3 2 2 3
` Pitcher had a no‑decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.
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Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s Player of the Game winners

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Player of the Game winners. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total in 2022 (’22). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’21-22), the period 2017-2022 (’17-22) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2022 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2021 total (+/-).
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’22 ’21‑22 ’17‑22 Career +/‑
Wheeler, Zack 3204 pi sp phi nl 14.4 35.5 57.2 68.9 -6.7
Bieber, Shane 4005 pi sp cle al 13.7 20.4 56.3 56.3 +7.0
Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 pi sp sea al 10.0 19.0 54.8 54.8 +1.0
Profar, Jurickson 3665 lf 2b sd nl 1.5 2.5 12.2 13.2 +0.5
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About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
NOTE: These are player point totals as of the end of the 2022 regular season. No Box-Toppers points are awarded in postseason games.
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Saturday’s pitching matchups (for more, see matchups chart below):

AL Wild Card Game 2, Guardians lead Rays, 1-0

Rays—Tyler Glasnow, 0.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 791st among all players, 211th among AL pitchers.

Guardians—Triston McKenzie, 15.7 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 15th overall and sixth among AL pitchers.

Glasnow spent most of the season recovering from 2021 Tommy John surgery, coming back late in the season, and has no Box-Toppers points for 2022. However, prior to going on the injured list in June 2021, Glasnow led all players with 12.7 Box-Toppers points and despite being unable to play the remainder of the season, still finished eighth among AL pitchers.

More details—Previews of all four Wild Card series.

AL Wild Card Game 2, Mariners lead Blue Jays, 1-0

Mariners—Robbie Ray, 14.4 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 23rd overall, 11th among AL pitchers.

Blue Jays—Kevin Gausman, 12.7 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 31st overall, 15th among AL pitchers.

More details—Previews of all four Wild Card series.

NL Wild Card Game 2, Padres lead Mets, 1-0

Padres—Blake Snell, 13.1 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 29th overall, 14th among NL pitchers.

Mets—Jacob deGrom, 9.4 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 59th overall, 28th among NL pitchers.

More details—Previews of all four Wild Card series.

NL Wild Card Game 2, Phillies lead Cardinals, 1-0

Phillies—Aaron Nola, 16.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 13th overall, ninth among NL pitchers.

Cardinals—Miles Mikolas, 12.1 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 34th overall, 16th among NL pitchers.

More details—Previews of all four Wild Card series.

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. (No points are awarded in postseason games.)

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.

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A Box-Toppers look at Saturday’s Wild Card round pitching matchups

A Box-Toppers look at the upcoming day’s probable pitching matchups. Teams are paired below with visiting teams on top and home teams on the bottom. Each team’s starting pitcher is shown with their Box-Toppers point total from 2022 (’22), over a two-year period (’21-22), over a six-year period (’17-22) and their career point total.
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Game Starter ’22 ’21‑22 ’17‑22 Career
TB Glasnow, Tyler 3948 0.0 12.7 36.4 36.4
CLE McKenzie, Triston 4303 15.7 26.1 30.1 30.1
SEA Ray, Robbie 3502 14.4 32.1 65.5 76.2
TOR Gausman, Kevin 3191 12.7 26.4 45.2 69.4
SD Snell, Blake 3688 13.1 24.5 70.4 74.4
NYM deGrom, Jacob 3343 9.4 26.1 86.4 131.5
PHI Nola, Aaron 3569 16.0 26.7 81.0 89.7
STL Mikolas, Miles 3034 12.1 12.1 26.8 29.5
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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