Box-Toppers Toppers Box
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.
▪️ Subscribe to Box-Toppers Email Newsletter.
Astros pitcher Cristian Javier tops players in Tuesday’s two American League Division Series playoff games.
Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi was Box-Toppers Player of the Game in the other ALDS game.
AL Division Series Game 3: Astros 9, Twins 1
Astros pitcher Cristian Javier struck out nine over five scoreless innings, allowing one hit and five walks.
The Astros lead the best-of-five game series, 2-1.
Javier earned 7.0 points, 102nd overall, 45th among AL pitchers.
Lopez had a game-best Box-Toppers game score of +8.0. Astros top batter, first baseman Jose Abreu, had a +4.0 Box-Toppers game score (2HR 2-5 2R 5BI) Twins starting pitcher Sonny Gray had a -8.0 Box-Toppers game score (4IP 8H 5R 4ER BB 6K L).
AL Division Series Game 3: Rangers 7, Orioles 1
Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi struck out seven over seven innings, allowing one run, five hits and no walks.
The Rangers win the best-of-five game series 3-0, eliminating the Orioles.
Eovaldi earned 9.7 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 56th overall, 30th among AL pitchers. He is the first player to win Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors twice this postseason. He was also Player of the Game in the AL Wild Card series Game 2 win over the Rays.
Eovaldi had a Box-Toppers game score of +7.0 to top Rangers players. Rangers top batter was right fielder Adolis Garcia with a +2.0 Box-Toppers game score (HR 2-4 R 3BI). Orioles starting pitcher Dean Kremer had a -18.8 Box-Toppers game score in the loss (1.2IP 7H 6R BB 0K L).
The loss eliminates the Orioles after only three postseason games, all losses. The Orioles had the best winning percentage among AL teams (.623), second overall behind the Atlanta Braves (.642). But the Orioles rank fifth overall in Box-Toppers team rankings with its players accumulating 119.5 Box-Toppers points in 2023.
The Rangers, despite being a Wild Card team, actually led all teams with 128.1 Box-Toppers points in 2023. The Rangers have now won two postseason series over teams with better won-loss record (the Tampa Bay Rays and the Orioles), but teams they both outranked in Box-Toppers points. True, the Rangers built their Box-Toppers points total lead on the strength of their August trade deadline deals, acquiring Max Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery, but fared badly in the immediate aftermath, winning only six games over a 22-game stretch in August and September. And despite nearly falling out of playoff contention, they maintained their Box-Toppers team rankings lead over the final two months of the season. They did this despite losing some of their best pitchers to injury over the season, including Scherzer and earlier in the year, Jacob deGrom.
But despite these shortcomings, it is the Rangers who have swept the Division Series and will advance to the AL Championship Series, facing the winner of the Minnesota Twins and Houston Astros.
All of Tuesday’s Player of the Game winners are listed in the chart.
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).| BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +8.0 | HOU 9, MIN 1 | Cristian Javier (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | |
| +7.0 | TEX 7, BAL 1 | Nathan Eovaldi (W, 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
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 2023 (’23). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’22-23), the period 2018-2023 (’18-23) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2023 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2022 total (+/-).Back to top
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’23 | ’22‑23 | ’18‑23 | Career | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eovaldi, Nathan 2928 | pi sp | tex al | 9.7 | 15.7 | 43.5 | 69.3 | +3.7 |
| Javier, Cristian 4290 | pi sp | hou al | 7.0 | 22.7 | 30.7 | 30.7 | -8.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default view.
Back to top
Wednesday’s pitching matchups (for more, see matchups chart):
AL Division Series Game 4, Astros lead Twins, 2-1
Astros—Jose Urquidy, 2.0 points, 422nd overall, 108th among AL pitchers.
Twins—Joe Ryan, 8.7 points, 62nd overall and 33rd among AL pitchers.
More details—Previews of AL Division Series.
NL Division Series Game 3, Braves at Phillies, series tied, 1-1
Braves—Bryce Elder, 8.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 75th overall and 25th among NL pitchers.
Phillies—Aaron Nola, 12.0 points, 27th overall, 12th among NL pitchers. Nola was Box-Toppers Player of the Game in their Game 2 win over the Marlins.
More details—Previews of NL Division Series.
NL Division Series Game 3, Diamondbacks lead Dodgers, 2-0
Dodgers—Lance Lynn, 4.7 points, 188th overall, 59th among NL pitchers.
Diamondbacks—Brandon Pfaadt, 3.7 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 282nd among all players, 88th among NL pitchers.
More details—Previews of NL Division 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 Box-Toppers 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.
For additional updates, follow Box-Toppers on Twitter.
Related
Box-Toppers 2023 player rankings leaders
Box-Toppers 2023 final team rankings
Previews of all four Wild Card series
A Box-Toppers look at Wednesday’s Division Series 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 2023 (’23), over a two-year period (’22-23), over a six-year period (’18-23) and their career point total.Back to top
| Game | Starter | ’23 | ’22‑23 | ’18‑23 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOU | Urquidy, Jose 4194 | 2.0 | 10.0 | 23.1 | 23.1 |
| MIN | Ryan, Joe 4539 | 8.7 | 23.4 | 26.1 | 26.1 |
| ATL | Elder, Bryce 4709 | 8.0 | 12.7 | 12.7 | 12.7 |
| PHI | Nola, Aaron 3569 | 12.0 | 28.0 | 77.2 | 101.7 |
| LAD | Lynn, Lance 2992 | 4.7 | 14.4 | 53.9 | 118.5 |
| ARI | Pfaadt, Brandon 4812 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default, game-by-game view.
Back to top