Dodgers’ Snell, Mariners’ Polanco top players in Monday’s LCS postseason games

Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Monday’s National League Championship Series Game 1.

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Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell and Jorge Polanco of the Mariners are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in Monday’s league championship series games.

Snell becomes the first player to win Player of the Game honors three times this postseason and Polanco becomes the third player—and first batter—to win Player of the Game honors at least twice this postseason.

NL Championship Series Game 1: Dodgers 2, Brewers 1

Snell struck out 10 over eight scoreless innings, allowing one run and no walks.

The Dodgers lead the best-of-seven game National League Championship Series, 1-0.

Snell faced the minimum of 24 batters over eight innings, allowing only one hit—a third-inning single to Caleb Durbin, who he subsequently picked off at first base.

After Snell’s exit, the Dodgers clung to the lead with ninth-inning relievers giving up the only run to the Brewers and loading the bases before getting out of the jam.

Blake Snell’s #Dodgers +17.0 Box-Toppers game score in #NLCS Game 1 would have been 6th-highest of 2025: +20.0—Tarik Skubal #Tigers 5/25 +19.0—Sonny Gray #Cardinals 6/27 +18.0—Zack Wheeler #Phillies 7/6 +18.0—Skubal 6/29 +17.0—Tanner Bibee #Guardians 9/12 www.box-toppers.com/blog/2025/10...

— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Oct 14, 2025 at 7:23 AM

Snell recorded a +17.0 Box-Toppers game score, which would have been the sixth-highest game score for a Player of the Game winner during the 2025 regular season. (Highest was +20.0 by Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal on May 25 in the 5-0 win over the Guardians (CG 2H 0R 0BB 13K W).

Snell also wins Player of the Game honors for a third time this postseason, most of any player. He’s earned Player of the Game honors in both his previous 2025 postseason starts: In the NL Wild Card Game 1 win over the Reds on Sept. 30 and in the NL Division Series Game 2 win over the Phillies on Oct. 6.

Snell earned 7.0 Box-Toppers points in 2025, 98th among all players and 36th among NL pitchers. That was his fewest points in a regular-length season since 2017 with the Rays when he had 5.0 Box-Toppers points. Snell missed four months from April to August with shoulder inflammation.

Prior to 2025, Snell had 10 or more points in each of the six regular-length seasons since then (excluding the 2020 pandemic year), including leading all players in 2018 with 27.2 points with the Rays. He had 15.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024 with the Giants, fifth among NL pitchers.

Two relievers came on in the ninth inning to try to protect the Dodgers 2-0 lead, nearly blowing the game. Roki Sasaki recorded a -4.8 Box-Toppers game score (0.2IP H R 2BB 0K ND), giving up two walks, a double and a sacrifice fly, which scored the Brewers’ only run. Blake Treinen was called in to put out the fire, but gave up a walk to load the bases before striking out Brice Turang the close the game. He had a +0.1 game score (0.1IP 0H 0R BB K Sv).

With very little offense in the game, the highest Box-Toppers game score by a Dodgers batter was below zero, -1.0, by Freddie Freeman (HR 2-5 R BI).

Aaron Ashby served as the Brewers’ opening pitcher, recording a +1.0 game score (1IP 0H 0R BB K ND). Quinn Priester relieved him, pitching the bulk of the game and recording a -1.0 game score (4IP 3H 0R 3BB K ND). Chad Patrick picked up the loss for the Brewers with a -4.9 game score (0.1IP 2H R BB 0K L). And Abner Uribe closed the game for the Brewers with a -5.0 game score (1IP H R 3BB 0K ND).

Jorge Polanco of the Mariners is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Monday’s American League Championship Series Game 2.

AL Championship Series Game 2: Seattle 10, Blue Jays 3

Jorge Polanco of the Mariners hit a three-run home run and went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three runs, winning his second Player of the Game honor of the 2025 postseason.

The Mariners take a 2-0 lead the best-of-seven game American League Championship Series.

Polanco earned 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2025, 342nd among all players and 71st among AL batters. He earned his 3.0 points by winning AL Batter of the Day honors twice, which are worth 1.5 points each.

He’s now earned as many Player of the Game honors this postseason (two) as he did during the regular season. He also did it Oct. 5 in the AL Division Series Game 2 win over the Tigers. He’s the third player with at least two Player of the Game honors this postseason, joining Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell (who won his third Monday) and Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski.

Polanco records a +2.0 Box-Toppers game score Monday. Mariners reliever Eduard Bazardo, who earned the win, also had a +2.0 game score (2IP H 0R 0BB K W), but in cases of game score ties, batters hold the tiebreaking edge, making Polanco Player of the Game.

Mariners starting pitcher Logan Gilbert had a -6.0 Box-Toppers game score (3IP 5H 3R 2ER BB 2K ND). Blue Jays starting pitcher Trey Yesavage recorded a game-low -9.0 game score in the loss (4IP 4H 5R 3BB 4K L).

All of Monday’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).
10/13 BTG Game Player of the Game AB R H BI   IP H R ER BB K
  +17.0 LAD 2, MIL 1 Blake Snell (W, 3‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   8.0 1 0 0 0 10
  +2.0 SEA 10, TOR 3 Jorge Polanco 2B 5 2 2 3   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
No Box-Toppers points are awarded in postseason games.
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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 2025 (’25). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’24-’25), the period 2020-2025 (’20-25) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2025 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2024 total (+/-).
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’25 ’24‑25 ’20‑25 Career +/‑
Snell, Blake 3688 pi sp lad nl 7.0 22.7 65.6 111.8 -8.7
Polanco, Jorge 3739 dh 2b sea al 3.0 4.0 13.7 22.7 +2.0
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About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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Tuesday’s pitching matchup (for more, see matchups chart below):

NL Championship Series Game 2, Dodgers at Brewers

Dodgers—Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 17.7 Box-Toppers points in 2025, seventh among all players and fourth among NL pitchers.

Yamamoto was Player of the Game Oct. 1 in the NL Wild Card Game 2 win over the Reds. He also started in the NLDS Game 3 loss against the Phillies Oct. 8.

Brewers—Freddy Peralta, 14.7 Box-Toppers points in 2025, 12th overall and eighth among NL pitchers.

Peralta has made two appearances this postseason but did not earn Player of the Game honors in either the NLDS Game 1 win over the Cubs on Oct. 4 or the NLDS Game 4 loss to the Cubs on Oct. 9.

More details—Previews of NL Championship Series.

A Box-Toppers look at Tuesday’s League Championship 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 2025 (’25), this year and last year (’24-25), over a six-year period (’20-25) and their career point total.
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Game Starter ’25 ’24‑25 ’20‑25 Career
LAD Yamamoto, Yoshinobu 4964 17.7 24.1 24.1 24.1
MIL Peralta, Freddy 3965 14.7 28.1 67.9 84.6
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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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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