White Sox’ Burke, Rays’ Seymour top players in Monday’s AL Division Series games

White Sox pitcher Sean Burke leads Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in Monday’s American League Division Series games.

Box-Toppers Toppers Box

Today’s key Box-Toppers numbers. Click links to jump to charts elsewhere on this page.
▪️ Players of the Game
▪️ B-T points of the day’s top players
▪️ Upcoming pitching matchups
▪️ Subscribe to newsletter
▪️ Support Box-Toppers

White Sox pitcher Sean Burke leads Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in Monday’s American League Division Series games.

Burke won top player honors pitching in middle relief in the Game 2 win over the Guardians. Rays pitcher Ian Seymour won Player of the Game honors in the other AL Division Series Game 2, also pitching middle relief in the win over the Yankees.

AL Division Series Game 2: White Sox 4, Guardians 3

(White Sox lead best-of-five series, 2-0)

Sean Burke didn’t start Game 2, but his middle-relief effort carried a starter’s workload as the White Sox rallied past the Guardians.

Burke struck out six over 5.1 innings, allowing one run, one hit, and one walk, to earn the win for the White Sox. Burke pitched from the third to the eighth inning.

Burke 2026 Regular Season

Burke made 32 appearances in 2026 (27 starts, five relief outings). He earned 13.1 Box-Toppers points (22nd overall, 10th among AL pitchers), leading all White Sox players.

Game Scores

  • Burke posted a game-high +7.1 Box-Toppers game score.

  • White Sox starter Anthony Kay had a -4.9 game score (0.1IP H 2R ER BB 0K ND).

  • White Sox top batter Braden Montgomery recorded a 0.0 game score (2B 1-4 R 2BI).

  • Guardians starter Gavin Williams posted a +5.0 game score in the loss (5IP 4H 2R 3BB 11K ND).

Ian Seymour pitched three innings of middle relief to lead the Rays over the Yankees.

AL Division Series Game 2: Rays 5, Yankees 2

(Rays lead best-of-five series, 2-0)

Ian Seymour pitched three innings of middle relief—striking out four and allowing one run, one hit and no walks—to lead the Rays over the Yankees.

Seymour pitched the sixth through the ninth innings, surrendering only an eighth-inning solo home run to Ben Rice. Seymour picked up a no-decision; reliever Cam Booser earned the win by recording one out in the fifth to preserve Tampa Bay's lead.

Seymour 2026 Regular Season

Seymour made 47 appearances in 2026 (16 starts, 24 middle-relief outings). Thirteen of his final 17 appearances after July 1 were starts. He earned 8.7 Box-Toppers points (65th overall, 28th among AL pitchers).

Game Scores

  • Seymour posted a game-high +4.0 Box-Toppers game score.

  • Rays starter Freddy Peralta had a +1.2 game score (4.2IP 3H R BB 3K ND).

  • Cam Booser, the Rays reliever who earned the win, had a -0.9 game score (0.1IP 0H 0R BB 0K W).

  • Rays top batter Junior Caminero had a -1.0 game score (2B 2-4 R 0BI).

  • Yankees starting pitcher Cam Schlittler had a game-low -6.9 game score in the loss (4.1IP 6H 4R 2ER BB 2K L). Schlittler’s 21.7 Box-Toppers points in 2026 rank third overall and first among AL pitchers.

  • Ben Rice of the Yankees had a +3.0 game score, best among all batters in the game (2HR 2-3 2R 2BI).

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).
10/5 BTG Game Player AB R H BI   IP H R ER BB K
  7.1 CHW 4, CLE 3 Sean Burke (W, 1‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   5.1 1 1 1 1 6
  4.0 `TB 5, NYY 2 Ian Seymour (H, 1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   3.0 1 1 1 0 4
No Box-Toppers points are awarded in postseason games.
` Pitcher had a no‑decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

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 2026 (’26). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’25-26), the period 2021-2026 (’21-26) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2026 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2025 total (+/-).
Player of the Game Pos Team ’26 ’25‑26 ’21‑26 Career +/‑
Burke, Sean 5124 pi sp chi al 13.1 16.8 17.8 17.8 +9.4
Seymour, Ian 5265 pi sp tb al 8.7 12.4 12.4 12.4 +5.0
What are those numbers after players' names?
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.

Tuesday’s pitching matchups (for more, see matchups chart below):

NLDS Game 3, Dodgers at Braves, 1-1

Both teams send their 2026 Box-Toppers points leaders to the mound:

Dodgers—Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 17.4 Box-Toppers points in 2026 (8th overall, 5th among NL pitchers).

Braves—Chris Sale, 15.4 Box-Toppers points in 2026 (16th overall, 10th among NL pitchers).

He was Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Sept. 29’s NL Wild Card Game 1 win over the Phillies and also pitched 1.1 innings of relief in that series’ Game 3 clincher on Thursday.

More details—Previews of NL Division Series

ALDS Game 3, Brewers lead Padres, 2-0

Brewers—Dustin May (8.7 Box-Toppers points in 2026 (63rd overall, 28th among NL pitchers).

Padres—Nick Pivetta, 4.7 Box-Toppers points in 2026 (194th overall, 60th among NL pitchers).

More details—Previews of NL Division Series

A Box-Toppers look at Tuesday’s 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 2026 ('26), this year and last year ('25-26), over six years ('21-26), and their career point total.
Game Starter ’26 ’25‑26 ’21‑26 Career
LAD Yamamoto, Yoshinobu 4964 17.4 35.1 41.5 41.5
ATL Sale, Chris 2806 15.4 26.8 56.6 199.2
MIL May, Dustin 4214 8.7 14.4 22.1 26.1
SD Pivetta, Nick 3825 4.7 22.4 53.8 76.5
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn any career 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.

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.

Help us stay accurate! Spot a mistake? Contact Box-Toppers here so we can fix it.

Follow us: Bluesky | X | Facebook | Substack (newsletter)

Related