As Brewers celebrate 1st World Series win, a Box-Toppers look back at 2026 postseason

The Milwaukee Brewers win the 2026 World Series in the last of 40 postseason games.

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▪️ Players of the Game all postseason games
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The Milwaukee Brewers won the 2026 World Series after the season’s 12 playoff-qualifying teams played a total of 40 postseason games over 30 days from Sept. 29 to Oct. 28.

Here are the Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in each of the 2026 World Series games:

Here is a recap of Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in each of the 40 postseason games for 2026.

Most Postseason Player of the Game Wins

Brewers relief pitcher Aaron Ashby won Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors three times during the 2026 postseason—the most of any player. He did it Oct. 7 in National League Division Series Game 4, Oct. 12 in NL Championship Series Game 2 and Oct. 24 in World Series Game 2.

Five other players won Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors twice during the 2026 postseason:

Twenty-seven other players each won postseason Player of the Game honors once each.

Highest Box-Toppers Game Scores

Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen recorded the highest Box-Toppers game scores during the 2026 postseason—a +15.0 game score in the Oct. 3 American League Division Series Game 1 (8IP H 0R 2BB 10K W).

The next four highest postseason games scores:

  • +14.2: Gavin Williams (Guardians), Oct. 10 in ALDS Game 5 (5.2IP H 0R 2BB 12K W).

  • +13.1: Cam Schlittler (Yankees), Sept. 29 in AL Wild Card Series Game 1 (6.1IP 2H 0R BB 10K W).

  • +11.0: Michael King (Padres), Sept. 29 in National League Wild Card Series Game 1 (7IP H 0R 3BB 8K W).

  • +10.0: Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Dodgers), Oct. 6 in NL Division Series Game 3 (7IP 4H R BB 10K W).

Highest Box-Toppers Game Scores, Batters

Six batters posted +3.0 Box-Toppers game scores, tying for the highest mark among batters who won 2026 postseason Player of the Game honors. They are ranked here in tiebreaking order:

Lowest Box-Toppers Game Scores to Win Postseason Player of the Game Honors

Four players each won Player of the Game honors with +1.0 game scores, the lowest among all 2026 postseason Player of the Game winners. Three of them were members of the champion Milwaukee Brewers and the other was from the AL champion Tampa Bay Rays:

  • Jacob Misiorowski (Brewers), Oct. 23 in World Series Game 1 (5IP 4H R BB 3K W).

  • Ben Williamson (Rays), Oct. 27 in World Series Game 4 (1-1 0R BI).

  • Sal Frelick (Brewers), Oct. 4 in NLDS Game 2 (1-2 R BI).

  • Brice Turang (Brewers), Oct. 11 in NLCS Game 1 (HR 1-2 R BI).

Top 10 Players Winning Postseason Honors

Four of the top 10 players in 2026 Box-Toppers points won Player of the Game honors during the postseason:

  • Jacob Misiorowski (Brewers): Led all players with 26.1 Box-Toppers points; won Player of the Game honors twice, both in the World Series: Oct. 23 in Game 1 and Oct. 28 in Game 5.

  • Cam Schlittler (Yankees): Ranked third overall and first among AL pitchers (21.7 points); won Sept. 29 in Wild Card Series Game 1.

  • Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Dodgers): Ranked eighth overall and fifth among NL pitchers (17.4 points); won Oct. 6 in NLDS Game 3.

  • Gavin Williams (Guardians): Ranked ninth overall and fourth among AL pitchers (17.4 points); won Player of the Game honors twice: Oct. 10 in ALDS Game 5 and Oct. 15 in ALCS Game 3.

Pitchers Dominated Postseason Player of the Game Honors

Source: MLB.com

Pitchers won Player of the Game honors in 30 of 40 postseason games (75 percent), a higher share than their 60.3 percent dominance during the 2026 regular season.

In the 2026 regular season, batters had the seventh-lowest share of Box-Toppers points won (39.7) since tracking began in 1995. It is the seventh season that batters’ share has been below 40 percent and all have happened in 2014 or later.

While batters have struggled to reach parity with pitchers in recent seasons, it wasn’t always this way: From 1995 to 2009, batters generally won half or more of all Box-Toppers points each season. But their share of points dropped precipitously after 2009.

Still, the postseason month of 40 games is a small sample size compared to the regular season’s 2,430 games, in which about 92 to 97 games are played each week.

2026 postseason Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners

Here are the Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in each of the postseason games in 2026, listed chronologically from the first Wild Card series games on Sept. 29 to the final World Series game on Oct. 28. Each day's Player of the Game winners are listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG).

Wild Card series
Date BTG Game Player of the Game AB R H BI   IP H R ER BB K
9/29 +13.1 NYY 9, BOS 0 Cam Schlittler (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   6.1 2 0 0 1 10
9/29 +11.0 SD 8, CHC 0 Michael King (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   7.0 1 0 0 3 8
9/29 +4.1 `ATL 5, PHI 3 Chris Sale ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   6.1 4 3 3 1 9
9/29 +3.1 `CHW 6, HOU 3 Grant Taylor ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   2.1 2 1 0 1 5
9/30 +6.0 NYY 9, BOS 2 Max Fried (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   6.0 3 1 1 1 6
9/30 +3.0 CHW 7, HOU 3 Chase Meidroth 2B 3 1 2 3   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
9/30 +3.0 SD 4, CHC 1 Gavin Sheets PH‑DH 1 1 1 2   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
9/30 +2.0 PHI 4, ATL 3 (F/10) Andrew Painter (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   3.0 3 0 0 1 3
10/1 +3.1 `ATL 6, PHI 2 Ray Kerr ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   3.1 1 0 0 1 2
League Division Series
Date BTG Game Player of the Game AB R H BI   IP H R ER BB K
10/3 +15.0 TB 1, NYY 0 Drew Rasmussen (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   8.0 1 0 0 2 10
10/3 +8.0 CHW 3, CLE 0 Grant Taylor (S, 1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   4.0 2 0 0 0 6
10/3 +7.0 LAD 5, ATL 3 Tarik Skubal (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   6.0 2 1 1 2 7
10/3 +2.1 MIL 3, SD 2 Trevor Megill (S, 1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   1.1 1 0 0 0 2
10/4 +3.2 `ATL 3, LAD 2 Didier Fuentes (H, 1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   3.2 1 1 1 0 3
10/4 +1.0 MIL 4, SD 3 Sal Frelick RF 2 1 1 1   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
10/5 +7.1 CHW 4, CLE 3 Sean Burke (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   5.1 1 1 1 1 6
10/5 +4.0 `TB 5, NYY 2 Ian Seymour (H, 1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   3.0 1 1 1 0 4
10/6 +10.0 LAD 3, ATL 1 Yoshinobu Yamamoto (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   7.0 4 1 1 1 10
10/6 +2.0 SD 4, MIL 3 Jake Cronenworth 2B 2 1 2 1   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
10/7 +5.2 CLE 9, CHW 3 Foster Griffin (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   2.2 2 1 1 0 7
10/7 +4.0 MIL 3, SD 1 Aaron Ashby (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   3.0 0 0 0 2 3
10/7 +3.0 `LAD 4, ATL 1 Tanner Scott (H, 2) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   1.0 0 0 0 0 2
10/7 +2.1 TB 4, NYY 3 Ian Seymour (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   1.1 1 0 0 0 2
10/8 +3.0 CLE 9, CHW 5 Patrick Bailey PH‑C 3 2 2 2   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
10/10 +14.2 CLE 2, CHW 0 Gavin Williams (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   5.2 1 0 0 2 12
League Championship Series
Date BTG Game Player of the Game AB R H BI   IP H R ER BB K
10/11 +1.0 MIL 2, LAD 1 Brice Turang 2B 2 1 1 1   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
10/12 +3.2 MIL 7, LAD 4 Aaron Ashby (S, 1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   1.2 0 0 0 0 2
10/12 +3.0 CLE 7, TB 3 Chase DeLauter RF 4 3 3 1   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
10/13 +6.0 TB 3, CLE 1 Freddy Peralta (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   6.0 4 0 0 2 6
10/14 +4.0 `MIL 6, LAD 2 Robert Gasser ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   5.0 3 0 0 1 3
10/15 +7.0 CLE 3, TB 2 Gavin Williams (W, 2‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   5.0 2 2 2 1 9
10/15 +4.0 MIL 6, LAD 4 JoJo Romero (W, 2‑1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   2.0 1 0 0 0 3
10/17 +3.0 TB 7, CLE 3 Jonathan Aranda 1B 4 2 3 2   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
10/18 +6.0 TB 3, CLE 1 Drew Rasmussen (W, 2‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   7.0 4 1 1 1 6
10/19 +3.0 TB 7, CLE 3 Junior Caminero 3B 3 2 2 2   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
World Series
Date BTG Game Player of the Game AB R H BI   IP H R ER BB K
10/23 +1.0 MIL 3, TB 2 Jacob Misiorowski (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   5.0 4 1 1 1 3
10/24 +3.2 MIL 5, TB 4 Aaron Ashby (S, 3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   1.2 1 0 0 0 3
10/26 +7.0 MIL 10, TB 1 Robert Gasser (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   6.0 1 0 0 1 3
10/27 +1.0 TB 4, MIL 3 (F/12) Ben Williamson PH 1 0 1 1   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
10/28 +4.2 MIL 4, TB 1 Jacob Misiorowski (W, 2‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   5.2 2 0 0 1 2
` Pitcher had a no‑decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.
No Box-Toppers points are awarded in postseason games.
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Box-Toppers 2026 Postseason Day-By-Day

Here is a look back at posts covering the Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners on each day of the postseason:

Wild Card series

League Division series

League Championship series

World Series

About Box-Toppers

Box-Toppers tracks who contributes most to their team’s victory. Using standard box score statistics, we identify the Player of the Game for every MLB contest. In the regular season, winners earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point, with bonus points awarded to the top overall and league-specific players of the day. (No Box-Toppers points are awarded in postseason games.) More on how Box-Toppers works.

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