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.
NL Division Series, Game 1: Phillies at Braves
The Braves lead all NL teams in Box-Toppers team rankings (second overall), while the Phillies rank fourth among NL teams, ninth overall.
Braves players accumulated 125.4 Box-Toppers points in 2023, picking up 6.0 in the final 10 days of the season. They led NL teams for Box-Toppers’ final nine weekly team ranking reports, but never held the overall lead in 2023, finishing the season in second place behind the Texas Rangers (128.1 points).
The Phillies had 112.2 Box-Toppers points in 2023, finishing the final 10 days of the season with 5.3 points and defeating the Miami Marlins in the NL Wild Card Series to advance to face the Braves.
The Braves are the top AL seed in the postseason while the Phillies are the fourth seed.
The pitching matchup Saturday
Phillies—Ranger Suarez, 3.7 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 275th overall, 83rd among NL pitchers.
Braves—Spencer Strider, 21.1 Box-Toppers points in 2023, first overall, first among NL pitchers.
A look at all four of Saturday’s Division Series pitching matchups
Key Phillies players
The Phillies used their top two players in the Wild Card Series:
Starting pitcher Zack Wheeler, 14.7 Box-Toppers points, 11th among all players, fifth among NL pitchers and first among Phillies players, who was Box-Toppers Player of the Game in their Game 1 win over the Marlins.
Starting pitcher Aaron Nola, 12.0 points, 27th overall, 12th among NL pitchers, who was Box-Toppers Player of the Game in their Game 2 win over the Marlins.
Other key Phillies pitchers include:
Michael Lorenzen, 8.7 points, 64th overall, 22nd among NL pitchers.
Taijuan Walker, 7.7 points, 79th overall, 27th among NL pitchers.
Matt Strahm, 5.0 points, 178th overall, 56th among NL pitchers.
Key Phillies batters include:
Outfielder Nick Castellanos, 7.0 points, 110th overall, 15th among NL batters, first among Phillies batters.
Infielder Alec Bohm, 6.4 points, 126th overall, 19th among NL batters.
Outfielder/designated hitter Kyle Schwarber, 5.5 points, 157th overall, 27th among NL batters.
Shortstop Trea Turner, 5.0 points, 182nd overall, 39th among NL batters.
Other key Phillies include closer Craig Kimbrel (4.0 points), designated hitter/first baseman Bryce Harper (3.0 points) and catcher J.T. Realmuto (2.5 points).
Key Braves players
Game 1 starter Spencer Strider led all players in 2023 Box-Toppers points with 21.1. Braves’ top batter, right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr., led NL batters near the end of the season, but finished second in the category (and 41st overall) with 10.7 points, behind Pete Alonso of the Mets (12.0).
Other key Braves pitchers include:
Starter Charlie Morton, 10.0 Box-Toppers points, 49th overall, 19th among NL pitchers.
Starter Max Fried, 9.0 points, 58th overall, 21st among NL pitchers.
Starter Bryce Elder, 8.0 points, 75th overall, 25th among NL pitchers.
Reliever Michael Tonkin, 6.0 points, 141st overall, 42nd among NL pitchers.
Other key Braves batters include:
Designated hitter Marcell Ozuna, 7.5 points, 90th overall, 12th among NL batters.
Left fielder Eddie Rosario, 6.2 points, 129th overall, 20th among NL batters.
Center fielder Michael Harris II, 5.5 points, 158th overall, 25th among NL batters.
Other key Braves players include first baseman Matt Olson (4.2 points), catcher Sean Murphy (4.0 points) shortstop Orlando Arcia (4.0 points), catcher Travis d'Arnaud (3.5 points), third baseman Austin Riley (3.0 points) and second baseman Ozzie Albies (2.0 points).
The Box-Toppers point totals of all players on the teams’ active rosters at season’s end are here. Players who did not earn Box-Toppers points in 2023 are not listed. Players who earned points in 2023 are listed even if they are not on the roster for the upcoming postseason series due to injury or for other reasons.
Phillies vs. Braves
Here are players for both teams in the NL Divisional Series beginning Saturday. Players are listed for both teams ranked by Box-Toppers points earned in 2023. 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. Players not listed earned no Box-Toppers points in 2023.| Philadelphia Phillies | Atlanta Braves | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos | BTP | Player | Pos | BTP | |
| Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | 14.7 | Strider, Spencer 4626 | pi sp | 21.1 | |
| Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | 12.0 | Acuna, Ronald Jr. 3947 | rf | 10.7 | |
| Lorenzen, Michael 3479 | pi sp | 8.7 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | 10.0 | |
| Walker, Taijuan 3453 | pi sp | 7.7 | Fried, Max 4011 | pi sp | 9.0 | |
| Castellanos, Nick 3349 | rf | 7.0 | Elder, Bryce 4709 | pi sp | 8.0 | |
| Bohm, Alec 4309 | 3b 1b dh | 6.4 | Ozuna, Marcell 3190 | dh | 7.5 | |
| Schwarber, Kyle 3536 | dh lf | 5.5 | Rosario, Eddie 3542 | lf | 6.2 | |
| Strahm, Matt 3724 | pi sp | 5.0 | Tonkin, Michael 3615 | pi mr | 6.0 | |
| Turner, Trea 3730 | ss | 5.0 | Harris, Michael 4682 | cf | 5.5 | |
| Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | 4.0 | Olson, Matt 3836 | 1b | 4.2 | |
| Sanchez, Cristopher 4850 | pi sp | 4.0 | Murphy, Sean 4246 | ca | 4.0 | |
| Suarez, Ranger 4228 | pi sp | 3.7 | Arcia, Orlando 3717 | ss | 4.0 | |
| Harper, Bryce 3011 | dh 1b | 3.0 | d’Arnaud, Travis 3384 | ca dh | 3.5 | |
| Stott, Bryson 4607 | 2b | 3.0 | Riley, Austin 4144 | 3b | 3.0 | |
| Hoffman, Jeff 3806 | pi mr cp | 3.0 | McHugh, Collin 3316 | pi mr | 3.0 | |
| Rojas, Johan 4873 | cf | 3.0 | Iglesias, Raisel 3467 | pi cp | 3.0 | |
| Realmuto, J.T. 3491 | ca | 2.5 | Minter, A.J. 3946 | pi cp | 3.0 | |
| Dominguez, Seranthony 3968 | pi cp mr | 2.0 | Albies, Ozzie 3953 | 2b | 2.0 | |
| Marsh, Brandon 4670 | lf cf ph | 2.0 | Winans, Allan 4900 | pi sp | 2.0 | |
| Sosa, Edmundo 4495 | 3b ss ph | 2.0 | Shuster, Jared 4816 | pi sp | 1.7 | |
| Marte, Yunior 4854 | pi cp | 2.0 | Hand, Brad 2907 | pi mr cp | 1.0 | |
| Soto, Gregory 4371 | pi cp | 1.0 | Allard, Kolby 4232 | pi sp mr | 1.0 | |
| Castro Rodolfo 4475 | ss 3b dh | 1.0 | Lopez, Nicky 4224 | ss 2b | 1.0 | |
| Nelson, Nick 4279 | pi mr | 1.0 | Anderson, Nick 4145 | pi mr cp | 1.0 | |
| Alvarado, Jose 3797 | pi cp | 1.0 | Yates, Kirby 3628 | pi mr cp | 1.0 | |
| Brogdon, Connor 4465 | pi mr | 1.0 | Chirinos, Yonny 4039 | pi sp | 1.0 | |
| Pache, Cristian 4872 | cf ph | 1.0 | Smith-Shawver, AJ 4951 | pi sp | 1.0 | |
| Vines, Darius 4919 | pi sp | 1.0 | ||||
| Totals | 112.2 | Totals | 125.4 | |||
NL Division Series, Game 1: Diamondbacks at Dodgers
The Dodgers rank third in Box-Toppers team rankings, second among AL teams (123.8 Box-Toppers points), while the Diamondbacks rank 14th, seventh among NL teams and lowest among all 12 postseason qualifiers (102.1 points).
The Diamondbacks swept the best-of-three-game NL Wild Card series against the Milwaukee Brewers to advance to the NL Division Series.
The Dodgers are the second-seeded NL team in the playoffs while the Diamondbacks are the sixth seed.
The pitching matchup Saturday
Diamondbacks—Merrill Kelly, 13.0 points, 18th overall, seventh among NL pitchers.
Dodgers—Clayton Kershaw, 11.1 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 33rd among all players, 14th among NL pitchers.
A look at all four of Saturday’s Division Series pitching matchups
Key Diamondbacks players
Other notable Diamondbacks pitchers include:
Starter Zac Gallen, 16.7 points, eighth overall, fourth among NL pitchers.
Starter Ryne Nelson, 6.7 points, 117th overall, 39th among NL pitchers.
Reliever Kevin Ginkel, 6.0 points, 143rd overall, 44th among NL pitchers.
Starter Brandon Pfaadt, 3.7 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 282nd among all players, 88th among NL pitchers.
Diamondbacks key batters include:
First baseman Christian Walker, 6.0 points, 133rd overall, 21st among NL batters.
Second baseman Ketel Marte, 4.5 points, 210th overall, 45th among NL batters.
Other key Diamondbacks players include closer Paul Sewald (5.0 points), outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (4.0 points), outfielder Corbin Carroll (3.0 points) and third baseman Evan Longoria (2.7 points).
Carroll was Box-Toppers Player of the Game in the Wild Card Game 1 win over the Brewers. Sewald was Box-Toppers Player of the Game in the Wild Card Game 2 win over the Brewers.
Key Dodgers players
Five of the top 17 NL batters in 2023 Box-Toppers points are @Dodgers:
— Box-Toppers (@BoxToppers) October 7, 2023
3—Freddie Freeman 10.0 B-T points
7—James Outman 8.7
8—Mookie Betts 8.5
13—Jason Heyward 7.5
17—J.D. Martinez 6.7#NLDS previews—https://t.co/NxQK35jr7r
One of the Dodgers most key players in 2023, starting pitcher Julio Urías, will not participate in the postseason because he was placed on a administrative leave under baseball’s domestic violence policy after being arrested on felony charges of domestic violence in early September.
Urias earned 11.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 36th among all players, 16th among NL pitchers and second among all Dodgers players, just 0.1 points behind Kershaw, who passed him for the Dodger lead Sept. 23.
Urias was even better in both 2021 and 2022. He earned 19.1 points in 2021, fourth overall and third among NL pitchers. In 2022, he earned 19.4 points, seventh overall and fourth among NL pitchers.
Despite being placed on leave, Urias’s 11.0 Box-Toppers points still count toward the Dodgers’ overall 123.8 point total, the same as any injured player’s points would still count toward the team total.
Other notable Dodgers pitchers include:
Starter Bobby Miller, 8.7 points, 70th overall, 24th among NL pitchers.
Reliever Ryan Pepiot, 5.0 points, 175th overall, 55th among NL pitchers.
Starter Tony Gonsolin, 4.7 points, 187th overall, 58th among NL pitchers.
Starter Lance Lynn, 4.7 points, 188th overall, 59th among NL pitchers.
Starter Emmet Sheehan, 4.7 points, 200th overall, 63rd among NL pitchers.
On a team historically known for its strong pitching, this season Dodgers batters were more often the team mainstay. Among the top 17 NL batters in 2023 Box-Toppers points, five of them are Dodgers:
First baseman Freddie Freeman, 10.0 points, 50th overall, third among NL batters.
Center fielder James Outman, 8.7 points, 67th overall, seventh among NL batters.
Right fielder/second baseman Mookie Betts, 8.5 points, 72nd overall, eighth among NL batters.
Outfielder Jason Heyward, 7.5 points, 92nd overall, 13th among NL batters.
Designated hitter J.D. Martinez, 6.7 points, 116th overall, 17th among NL batters.
Other notable Dodgers include third baseman Max Muncy (5.0 points), shortstop Amed Rosario (4.0 points) and infielder Chris Taylor (4.0 points).
The Box-Toppers point totals of all players on the teams’ active rosters at season’s end are here. Players who did not earn Box-Toppers points in 2023 are not listed. Players who earned points in 2023 are listed even if they are not on the roster for the upcoming postseason series due to injury or for other reasons.
Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers
Here are players for both teams in the NL Divisional Series beginning Saturday. Players are listed for both teams ranked by Box-Toppers points earned in 2023. 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. Players not listed earned no Box-Toppers points in 2023.| Arizona Diamondbacks | Los Angeles Dodgers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos | BTP | Player | Pos | BTP | |
| Gallen, Zac 4171 | pi sp | 16.7 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | 11.1 | |
| Kelly, Merrill 4143 | pi sp | 13.0 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | 11.0 | |
| Nelson, Ryne 4728 | pi sp | 6.7 | Freeman, Freddie 2887 | 1b | 10.0 | |
| Walker, Christian 3958 | 1b | 6.0 | Outman, James 4699 | cf | 8.7 | |
| Ginkel, Kevin 4830 | pi mr cp | 6.0 | Miller, Bobby 4820 | pi sp | 8.7 | |
| Sewald, Paul 3940 | pi cp | 5.0 | Betts, Mookie 3404 | rf 2b | 8.5 | |
| Marte, Ketel 3630 | 2b | 4.5 | Heyward, Jason 2695 | rf cf | 7.5 | |
| Gurriel, Lourdes Jr. 4148 | lf | 4.0 | Martinez, J.D. 2922 | dh | 6.7 | |
| Henry, Tommy 4829 | pi sp | 3.7 | Muncy, Max 3969 | 3b | 5.0 | |
| McGough, Scott 4857 | pi cp | 3.7 | Pepiot, Ryan 4714 | pi mr sp | 5.0 | |
| Pfaadt, Brandon 4812 | pi sp | 3.7 | Gonsolin, Tony 4211 | pi sp | 4.7 | |
| Perdomo, Geraldo 4601 | ss 3b | 3.5 | Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | 4.7 | |
| Carroll, Corbin 4818 | rf lf | 3.0 | Sheehan, Emmet 4886 | pi sp | 4.7 | |
| Longoria, Evan 2423 | 3b dh | 2.7 | Rosario, Amed 3879 | ss | 4.0 | |
| Jameson, Drey 4742 | pi sp mr | 2.7 | Taylor, Chris 3684 | 3b ss lf | 4.0 | |
| Fletcher, Dominic 4810 | cf rf | 2.7 | May, Dustin 4214 | pi sp | 3.0 | |
| Pham, Thomas 3596 | dh lf rf | 2.5 | Peralta, David 3370 | dh lf | 3.0 | |
| Smith, Pavin 4427 | dh rf 1b | 2.0 | Yarbrough, Ryan 3962 | pi sp mr | 3.0 | |
| Moreno, Gabriel 4781 | ca | 2.0 | Hernandez, Enrique 3541 | ss cf 2b | 1.5 | |
| Peterson, Jace 3469 | 2b 3b | 1.5 | Smith, Will 4175 | ca dh | 1.0 | |
| Lewis, Kyle 4301 | cf ph | 1.5 | Rojas, Miguel 3642 | ss | 1.0 | |
| Strzelecki, Peter 4733 | pi mr | 1.0 | Graterol, Brusdar 4249 | pi sp mr | 1.0 | |
| Ruiz, Jose 4185 | pi mr cp | 1.0 | Ferguson, Caleb 4006 | pi mr | 1.0 | |
| Castro, Miguel 3893 | pi cp | 1.0 | Almonte, Yency 4333 | pi mr | 1.0 | |
| Cecconi, Slade 4913 | pi sp | 1.0 | Barnes, Austin 3856 | ca | 1.0 | |
| Zavala, Seby 4867 | ca | 1.0 | Grove, Michael 4774 | pi sp | 1.0 | |
| Phillips, Evan 4930 | pi cp | 1.0 | ||||
| Stone, Gavin 4942 | pi cp | 1.0 | ||||
| Totals | 102.1 | Totals | 123.8 | |||
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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Related
Box-Toppers 2023 player rankings leaders
Box-Toppers 2023 final team rankings
A Box-Toppers look at Saturday’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEX | Heaney, Andrew 3515 | 11.4 | 19.4 | 42.5 | 47.5 |
| BAL | Bradish, Kyle 4597 | 14.0 | 20.0 | 20.0 | 20.0 |
| MIN | Ober, Bailey 4441 | 8.7 | 11.7 | 18.4 | 18.4 |
| HOU | Verlander, Justin 2112 | 12.4 | 38.4 | 91.0 | 245.0 |
| PHI | Suarez, Ranger 4228 | 3.7 | 8.7 | 18.7 | 18.7 |
| ATL | Strider, Spencer 4626 | 21.1 | 34.5 | 34.5 | 34.5 |
| ARI | Kelly, Merrill 4143 | 13.0 | 24.0 | 39.0 | 39.0 |
| LAD | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | 11.1 | 21.8 | 63.6 | 270.4 |
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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