Yankees-Royals matchup features the top two AL teams in 2024 Box-Toppers rankings
Both American League Division Series begin Saturday.
The Detroit Tigers face the Cleveland Guardians in one best-of-five game series and the Kansas City Royals face the New York Yankees in the other. The top two AL seeds, the Yankees (first) and the Guardians (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played this week.
AL Division Series: Royals at Yankees
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This series features the top two AL teams in Box-Toppers rankings. Yankees players accumulated 120.9 Box-Toppers points in 2024, most among AL teams and fourth among all teams, behind three National League teams. The Royals have 115.1 Box-Toppers points, second among AL teams and sixth among all teams.
The Yankees also had the best winning percentage among AL teams (.580) and finished first in the AL East. However, the Royals—despite their high Box-Toppers team ranking—were tied with the fifth-best winning percentage among AL teams (.531) and finished second in the AL Central, 6.5 games behind the Cleveland Guardians. They are the fifth-seeded AL playoff team.
While the Yankees had a bye from the Wild Card round, the Royals defeated the fourth-seeded AL playoff team in one AL Wild Card series, the Baltimore Orioles, in a two-game sweep to advance to the ALDS.
The Yankees led AL teams in Box-Toppers rankings at 12 of the 25 weekly reports this season, including leading the final three reports and leading six of the past nine going back to Aug. 1.
The pitching matchup Saturday
Royals—Michael Wacha, 10.4 points, 51st overall, 25th among AL pitchers.
Yankees—Gerrit Cole, 9.7 points, 61st overall, 28th among AL pitchers.
A look at all four of Saturday’s Division Series pitching matchups
Key Royals players
The four players who lead the Royals in 2024 Box-Toppers points are starting pitchers, each with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points:
Seth Lugo, 14.1 points, 13th overall, seventh among AL pitchers and first among Royals players.
Cole Ragans, 12.0 points, 32nd overall, 16th among AL pitchers.
Michael Wacha, 10.4 points, 51st overall, 25th among AL pitchers. Wacha is the Game 1 starter.
Brady Singer, 10.0 points, 56th overall, 27th among AL pitchers.
Other key Royals players include:
Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who leads Royals batters with 8.9 Box-Toppers points, fifth among AL batters.
Starting pitcher Alec Marsh, 6.0 points, 50th among AL pitchers.
Starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen, 5.0 points, 57th among AL pitchers.
Second baseman Adam Frazier, 4.0 points, 40th among AL batters. However, Frazier started just eight games in September.
Salvador Perez, 3.5 points, 45th among AL batters. Though Perez played more than half his games this season at catcher, the three times he earned Player of the Game honors in 2024, he was playing first base or serving as designated hitter.
Outfielder MJ Melendez, 3.5 points, 46th among AL batters.
Outfielder/designated hitter Tommy Pham, 3.5 points, 48th among AL batters. (Pham earned 2.5 of his points playing for the Cardinals earlier this season.)
First baseman/designated hitter Vinnie Pasquantino, 3.5 points, 51st among AL batters.
Designated hitter Nelson Velazquez ranks second among Royals players in 2024 Box-Toppers points with 4.0, but only played in the Major Leagues during the first half of the season, earning all of his points then. He has played for the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate in Omaha the rest of the season.
Chris Stratton leads Royals relief pitchers with 3.0 Box-Toppers points, but earned all his points by May 20, has not pitched since mid-September and was not on the Royals Wild Card Series roster. Lucas Erceg saved both of the Royals’ Wild Card series wins. He earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point earlier this season when he was with the Athletics.
Key Yankees players
The Yankees have five players with more than 10 Box-Toppers points in 2024, including two batters. However, one of those five is on the injured list—pitcher Nestor Cortes. In addition, the team’s Box-Toppers point leader in 2024—pitcher Luis Gil—got off to a hot start, but struggled in the second half of the season:
Gil leads all Yankees with 17.4 Box-Toppers points, sixth overall and second among AL pitchers, but only earned 4.0 of those points after June 4. Gil is still expected to pitch, but has been tentatively slated for a Game 3 start.
Cortes ranks second among all Yankees with 15.4 points, 12th overall and sixth among AL pitchers. He finished strong, earning 8.7 of his points from Aug. 13 on, but went on the 15-day injured list with a left elbow flexor strain and seems unlikely to be added to the series roster.
Of the six batters with 10 or more Box-Toppers points in 2024, the Yankees have two of them, more than any other team.
Designated hitter/outfielder Aaron Judge leads all batters in 2024 with 13.0 Box-Toppers points, which is 21st among all players.
Right fielder Juan Soto has 11.0 Box-Toppers points, second among AL batters.
Other key Yankees players include:
Pitcher Carlos Rodon, 12.7 points, 26th among all players, 13th among AL pitchers, the scheduled Game 2 starter, who was slightly more reliable and more healthy in the second half than Gil.
Pitcher Gerrit Cole, 9.7 points, 61st overall, 28th among AL pitchers. Despite having the fourth-highest Box-Toppers point total among Yankees pitchers, Cole is considered the team ace and is starting Game 1. In the previous five full seasons (excluding 2020), Cole averaged 21.0 points each season and was consistently among AL pitching leaders in points. His total was halved this year after missing much of the first half of the season with an elbow injury. He earned 6.7 of his points since Aug. 16.
After the top six players, there is a considerable dropoff in Yankees’ Box-Toppers point totals:
Pitcher Clarke Schmidt, 4.0 points, 72nd among AL pitchers.
Pitcher Luke Weaver, 4.0 points, 75th among AL pitchers, 11th among AL closers, who is the Yankees top relief pitcher, earning 3.0 of his points in September.
Other notable Yankees include starter Marcus Stroman (3.0 points), closer Clay Holmes (3.0), designated hitter/outfielder Giancarlo Stanton (3.0), outfielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. (2.5), outfielder Trent Grisham (2.5) and catcher Austin Wells (2.5).
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 2024 are not listed. Players who earned points in 2024 are listed even if they are not on the roster for the upcoming postseason series due to injury or for other reasons.
Royals vs. Yankees
Here are players for both teams in the AL Divisional Series beginning Saturday. Players are listed for both teams ranked by Box-Toppers points earned in 2024. 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 2024.| Kansas City Royals | New York Yankees | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos | BTP | Player | Pos | BTP | |
| Lugo, Seth 3729 | pi sp | 14.1 | Gil, Luis 4498 | pi sp | 17.4 | |
| Ragans, Cole 4889 | pi sp | 12.0 | Cortes, Nestor 4160 | pi sp | 15.4 | |
| Wacha, Michael 3276 | pi sp | 10.4 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | dh cf | 13.0 | |
| Singer, Brady 4337 | pi sp | 10.0 | Rodon, Carlos 3494 | pi sp | 12.7 | |
| Witt, Bobby Jr. 4592 | ss | 8.9 | Soto, Juan 3994 | rf | 11.0 | |
| Marsh, Alec 4961 | pi sp | 6.0 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | 9.7 | |
| Lorenzen, Michael 3479 | pi sp | 5.0 | Schmidt, Clarke 4581 | pi sp | 4.0 | |
| Velazquez, Nelson 4694 | dh ph | 4.0 | Weaver, Luke 3719 | pi cp | 4.0 | |
| Frazier, Adam 3771 | 2b rf 3b ph | 4.0 | Stroman, Marcus 3327 | pi sp | 3.0 | |
| Perez, Salvador 2972 | 1b dh | 3.5 | Holmes, Clay 4022 | pi cp | 3.0 | |
| Melendez, MJ 4615 | lf ph | 3.5 | Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 | dh rf | 3.0 | |
| Pham, Thomas 3596 | dh lf rf ph | 3.5 | Cabrera, Oswaldo 4747 | 3b | 3.0 | |
| Pasquantino, Vinnie 4766 | 1b dh | 3.5 | Chisholm, Jazz Jr. 4364 | cf | 2.5 | |
| Stratton, Chris 3883 | pi mr cp | 3.0 | Grisham, Trent 4246 | cf | 2.5 | |
| Isbel, Kyle 4548 | cf | 2.5 | Wells, Austin 5098 | ca | 2.5 | |
| Renfroe, Hunter 3749 | rf | 2.0 | Leiter, Mark Jr. 3834 | pi mr cp | 2.0 | |
| McArthur, James 4941 | pi cp mr | 2.0 | LeMahieu, DJ 3091 | 1b 2b | 1.7 | |
| Fermin, Freddy 4862 | dh ca | 2.0 | Rizzo, Anthony 3063 | 1b | 1.5 | |
| Schreiber, John 4598 | pi mr cp | 2.0 | Torres, Gleyber 3972 | 2b | 1.5 | |
| Massey, Michael 4749 | 2b | 2.0 | Rice, Ben 5055 | 1b | 1.5 | |
| Long, Sam 4526 | pi mr cp | 2.0 | Berti, Jon 4132 | 3b ss | 1.0 | |
| Harvey, Hunter 4698 | pi mr cp | 1.7 | Hamilton, Ian 4917 | pi mr cp | 1.0 | |
| Blanco, Dairon 4877 | lf | 1.5 | Verdugo, Alex 4129 | rf | 1.0 | |
| DeJong, Paul 3827 | ss | 1.0 | Trevino, Jose 4241 | ca | 1.0 | |
| Smith, Will 3073 | pi mr cp | 1.0 | Burdi, Nick 4113 | pi mr | 1.0 | |
| Erceg, Lucas 4826 | pi mr | 1.0 | Hill, Tim 4237 | pi mr | 1.0 | |
| Loftin, Nick 4936 | 2b 1b | 1.0 | ||||
| Lynch, Daniel 4488 | pi mr sp | 1.0 | ||||
| Lamet, Dinelson 3808 | pi cp mr sp | 1.0 | ||||
| Totals | 115.1 | Totals | 120.9 | |||
AL Division Series: Tigers at Guardians
These are the lowest two teams in Box-Toppers rankings to qualify for the postseason. The Tigers rank 22nd among the 30 teams with their players accumulating 84.9 Box-Toppers points in 2024, while the Guardians rank 13th overall with 106.3 points.
Four AL teams that did not qualify for the postseason rank ahead of the Tigers in Box-Toppers rankings: the 11th-place Mariners, the 14th-place Red Sox, the 18th-place Twins and the 20th-place Rangers. (The Guardians also finished behind the Mariners in Box-Toppers rankings.)
Yet, the Tigers qualified for the postseason as the sixth-seeded AL Wild Card and advanced to the ALDS by beating the third-seeded Houston Astros in the Wild Card round in a 2-0 sweep.
The Guardians, despite their low Box-Toppers ranking, had the second-highest winning percentage among AL teams (.571), securing them the second seed among AL teams and giving them a first-round bye.
The pitching matchup Saturday
Tigers—Tyler Holton, 2.0 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 436th overall and 107th among AL pitchers.
Guardians—Tanner Bibee, 14.0 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 14th among all players, eighth among AL pitchers.
A look at all four of Saturday’s Division Series pitching matchups
Key Tigers players
Starting pitcher Tarik Skubal has 21.1 Box-Toppers points in 2024, second among all players and first among AL pitchers.
As far as key, high-performing players in terms of Box-Toppers points, Skubal is pretty much it for the Tigers. Skubal has nearly four times as many Box-Toppers points in 2024 as the next-highest ranked Tigers player:
Starting pitcher Kenta Maeda, 5.4 points, 55th among AL pitchers. Maeda did not pitch in the Wild Card series and was used as a reliever from mid-July through most of September.
Outfielder/designated hitter Riley Greene, 5.2 points, 19th among AL batters, is the Tigers’ top batter.
Closing pitcher Jason Foley, 5.0 points, 63rd among AL pitchers, sixth among AL closers, is the team’s top-ranked reliever.
Reliever Brant Hurter, 5.0 points, 64th among AL pitchers, third among AL middle relievers.
Second baseman Keith Colt, 5.0 points, 24th among AL batters.
Starting pitcher Keider Montero, 4.7 points, 67th among AL pitchers.
Designated hitter Kerry Carpenter, 4.0 points, 39th among AL batters. (Carpenter also plays outfield.)
Other notable Tigers include third baseman Matt Vierling (3.5 points), pitcher Reese Olson (3.0 points), second baseman Andy Ibanez (2.5 points) and first baseman Spencer Torkelson (1.0 point).
Key Guardians players
Starting pitcher Tanner Bibee leads all Guardians with 14.0 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 14th among all players and eighth among AL pitchers. He is the Game 1 starter.
Third baseman Jose Ramirez leads all Guardians batters with 9.9 points, third among AL batters.
Other notable Guardians include:
First baseman Josh Naylor, 9.0 points, fourth among AL batters.
Outfielder Lane Thomas, 5.5 points, 18th among AL batters.
Starting pitcher Ben Lively, 5.0 points, 60th among AL pitchers.
Outfielder Jhonkensy Noel, 5.0 points, 25th among AL batters.
Closing pitcher Emmanuel Clase, 4.0 points, 70th among AL pitchers, eighth among AL closers.
Second baseman Andres Gimenez, 4.0 points, 36th among AL batters.
Starting pitcher Triston McKenzie, 4.0 points, 71st among AL pitchers.
Other notable Guardians players include outfielder Steven Kwan (3.5) and catcher Bo Naylor (3.0).
Two notable pitchers are among Guardians players who earned points this season—Shane Bieber (2.0) and Carlos Carrasco (1.7)—but won’t likely pitch in the postseason. Bieber underwent elbow surgery and is likely out until next summer. Carrasco, 37, struggled, was injured and was sent to the minors late in the season.
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 2024 are not listed. Players who earned points in 2024 are listed even if they are not on the roster for the upcoming postseason series due to injury or for other reasons.
Tigers vs. Guardians
Here are players for both teams in the AL Divisional Series beginning Saturday. Players are listed for both teams ranked by Box-Toppers points earned in 2024. 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 2024.| Detroit Tigers | Cleveland Guardians | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos | BTP | Player | Pos | BTP | |
| Skubal, Tarik 4414 | pi sp | 21.1 | Bibee, Tanner 4792 | pi sp | 14.0 | |
| Maeda, Kenta 3609 | pi sp mr | 5.4 | Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | 9.9 | |
| Greene, Riley 4675 | cf dh lf | 5.2 | Naylor, Josh 4154 | 1b | 9.0 | |
| Foley, Jason 4906 | pi cp | 5.0 | Thomas, Lane 4623 | rf cf | 5.5 | |
| Hurter, Brant 5099 | pi mr | 5.0 | Lively, Ben 3903 | pi sp | 5.0 | |
| Keith, Colt 5015 | 2b | 5.0 | Noel, Jhonkensy 5061 | rf | 5.0 | |
| Montero, Keider 5057 | pi sp | 4.7 | Clase, Emmanuel 4225 | pi cp | 4.0 | |
| Carpenter, Kerry 4711 | dh | 4.0 | Gimenez, Andres 4288 | 2b | 4.0 | |
| Vierling, Matt 4652 | 3b cf ph | 3.5 | McKenzie, Triston 4303 | pi sp | 4.0 | |
| Perez, Wenceel 4991 | rf dh ph | 3.5 | Williams, Gavin 4865 | pi sp | 3.7 | |
| Olson, Reese 4861 | pi sp | 3.0 | Kwan, Steven 4573 | lf | 3.5 | |
| Ibanez, Andy 4496 | 2b ph | 2.5 | Allen, Logan T. 4789 | pi sp | 3.0 | |
| Holton, Tyler 4775 | pi sp mr | 2.0 | Naylor, Bo 4885 | ca dh ph | 3.0 | |
| Brieske, Beau 4680 | pi sp | 2.0 | Gaddis, Hunter 4764 | pi mr | 3.0 | |
| McKinstry, Zach 5086 | dh ph | 2.0 | Fry, David 4848 | dh ca ph | 3.0 | |
| Meadows, Parker 5102 | cf | 1.5 | Boyd, Matthew 3550 | pi sp | 3.0 | |
| Sweeney, Trey 5105 | ss | 1.5 | Cantillo, Joey 5106 | pi sp | 3.0 | |
| Faedo, Alex 4612 | pi sp | 1.0 | Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | 2.0 | |
| Torkelson, Spencer 4637 | 1b | 1.0 | Arias, Gabriel 4920 | ss 1b rf | 2.0 | |
| Vest, Will 4608 | pi mr | 1.0 | Freeman, Tyler 5028 | cf | 2.0 | |
| Rogers, Jake 4435 | ca | 1.0 | Herrin, Tim 4978 | pi mr | 2.0 | |
| Dingler, Dillon 5081 | ca | 1.0 | Smith, Cade 5066 | pi mr | 2.0 | |
| Guenther, Sean 5119 | pi mr | 1.0 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | 1.7 | |
| Malloy, Justy‑Henry 5031 | dh | 1.0 | Manzardo, Kyle 5114 | dh | 1.5 | |
| Sammons, Bryan 5083 | pi mr | 1.0 | Rocchio, Brayan 5100 | ss | 1.5 | |
| Cobb, Alex 2916 | pi sp | 1.0 | ||||
| Sandlin, Nick 4440 | pi mr | 1.0 | ||||
| Avila, Pedro 4105 | pi cp sp | 1.0 | ||||
| Hentges, Sam 4406 | pi mr sp | 1.0 | ||||
| Brennan, Will 4794 | rf | 1.0 | ||||
| Morgan, Eli 4497 | pi mr sp | 1.0 | ||||
| Totals | 84.9 | Totals | 106.3 | |||
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.)
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Box-Toppers 2024 player rankings leaders
Box-Toppers 2024 final team rankings
A Box-Toppers look at Saturday’s League Division Series 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 2024 (’24), this year and last year (’23-24), over a six-year period (’19-24) and their career point total.Back to top
| Game | Starter | ’24 | ’23‑24 | ’19‑24 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DET | Holton, Tyler 4775 | 2.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| CLE | Bibee, Tanner 4792 | 14.0 | 22.7 | 22.7 | 22.7 |
| NYM | Senga, Kodai 4762 | 1.0 | 13.7 | 13.7 | 13.7 |
| PHI | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | 21.4 | 36.1 | 81.6 | 105.0 |
| KC | Wacha, Michael 3276 | 10.4 | 21.4 | 40.9 | 71.6 |
| NYY | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | 9.7 | 26.7 | 104.1 | 165.0 |
| SD | Cease, Dylan 4231 | 21.1 | 31.1 | 67.9 | 67.9 |
| LAD | Yamamoto, Yoshinobu 4964 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 6.4 |
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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