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

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.

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As Dodgers celebrate championship, a Box-Toppers look back at 2024 postseason

The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2024 World Series after the season’s 12 playoff-qualifying teams played a total of 43 postseason games over 30 days in October.

Here is a recap look at Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in each of the 43 postseason games for 2024.

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Reliever Treinen tops players as Dodgers win World Series over Yankees in 5 games

Relief pitcher Blake Treinen is Box-Toppers Player of the Game Wednesday as the Dodgers defeat the Yankees to win the 2024 World Series in five games.

The Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the New York Yankees 7-6 to win the best-of-seven game series, 4-1.

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Dodgers’ Freeman hits walk-off grand slam to top players in World Series Game 1

Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers, who hit a walk-off, 10th-inning grand slam, is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s World Series Game 1.

The Los Angeles Dodgers win 6-3 in 10 innings to take a 1-0 lead over the New York Yankees in the best-of-seven-game series.

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Edman tops players Sunday as Dodgers win NL Championship Series in sixth game

Tommy Edman of the Dodgers is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Sunday’s National League Championship Series Game 6.

The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Mets in the series four games to two and advance to the World Series. Edman homered, doubled and went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs.

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NLCS preview: Braves match up well despite Dodgers’ Box-Toppers dominance in 2021

Even though the Los Angeles Dodgers are Box-Toppers’ most dominant team in 2021, the Atlanta Braves should be a competitive match for them in the upcoming National League Championship Series.

The Dodgers are far and away Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team in 2021, with its players accumulating 146.7 Box-Toppers points during the regular season. The Braves ranked fifth overall with 122.4 points.

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Kenley Jansen tops players as Dodgers beat Cardinals in NL Wild Card Game

Dodgers closing pitcher Kenley Jansen is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s National League Wild Card Game.

Jansen struck out three in the ninth inning, allowing one hit, no runs and no walks, in the 3-1 win over the Cardinals.

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Reliever Dustin May tops players in Sunday's World Series Game 5, as Dodgers take a 3-2 series lead

Dodgers pitcher Dustin May is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Sunday’s World Series Game 5.

The Los Angeles Dodgers win 4-2 to take a 3-2 lead over the Tampa Bay Rays in the best-of-seven game series.

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Astros’ Valdez, Dodgers’ Seager top players in Friday's league championship series games

Astros pitcher Framber Valdez and Corey Seager of the Dodgers are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in Friday’s two league championship series games.

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Box-Toppers’ NL Division Series previews: Marlins vs. Braves, Padres vs. Dodgers

Both National League Division Series begin Tuesday.

The Miami Marlins face the Atlanta Braves in one best-of-five game series and the San Diego Padres take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the other series.

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Hader, Diaz win Reliever of the Awards from internet baseball writers group

Josh Hader of the Brewers and Edwin Diaz of the Mariners are winners of this year’s reliever of the year awards as voted on by the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA).

Hader wins the 2018 IBWAA Hoyt Wilhelm National League Relief Pitcher of the Year Award and Diaz is selected as the 2018 IBWAA Rollie Fingers American League Relief Pitcher of the Year. The awards were announced Sunday.

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A detailed look at Box-Toppers points leaders for 2018: Top players by position in each league

Here is a detailed look at Box-Toppers point leaders for 2018.

The chart accompanying this post shows points leaders for the season by several different categories and classifications.

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Why Box-Toppers is voting pitchers Scherzer, Snell as league MVPs over batters

No batters are deserving of the Most Valuable Player Award this year.

Collectively, batters are faring worse, with their statistics trending downward in recent years. This year has been an even lower point.

Box-Toppers is voting pitcher Max Scherzer as NL MVP and Blake Snell as AL MVP.

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Dodgers’ Walker Buehler tops players for Friday, Sept. 14; Braves’ Acuna rises to lead NL batter rankings

Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Meanwhile, Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves rises to lead National League batters in 2018 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

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Royals’ Jakob Junis tops players for Monday, Sept. 3; Nationals’ Scherzer extends player rankings lead

Royals pitcher Jakob Junis is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Monday, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer extends his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

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Two relievers are Box-Toppers top players in Sunday's two Division Series games

Two relief pitchers were Box-Toppers’ top players in two League Division Series playoff games Sunday:

  • Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna was Player of the Game in the 7-6, 10-inning win over the Rangers, as his team swept Texas in the series. 
  • And Nationals middle reliever Blake Treinen was Player of the Game in the 5-2 win over the Dodgers to even that series at one game apiece.

ALDS Game 3, Blue Jays 7, Rangers 6 (10 innings)

Osuna pitched two scoreless innings, allowing no hits, no walks, striking out two and earning the win. The Blue Jays win the best-of-five game series, 3-0 and advance to the American League Championship Series beginning Friday against the winner of the Red Sox-Indians series.

Osuna was also Player of the Game in the Blue Jays’ Game 2 win agains the Rangers on Friday. He is the first player this postseason to earn Player of the Game honors more than once.

During the regular season, Osuna had 3.0 Box-Toppers points (all in April) and ranked 319th among all players, 87th among AL pitchers and 15th among AL closers.

Osuna had a Box-Toppers game score Sunday of +4.0. Blue Jays’ top batter in the game was Edwin Encarnacion, who had a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 (HR 2-3 R 3BI).

NLDS Game 2: Nationals 5, Dodgers 2

Nationals middle reliever Blake Treinen pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing no hits, no walks, striking out two and earning the win.

Treinen had no Box-Toppers points during the regular season. He has 1.0 for his career, earned June 10, 2015.

Treinen had a Box-Toppers game score Sunday of +3.1. Nationals’ top batter in the game, Daniel Murphy, had a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 (3-3 R 2BI).

The best-of-five game series is now tied 1-1 and resumes Monday in Los Angeles.

 

ALDS Game 3 between the Red Sox and Indians was rained out Sunday and rescheduled for Monday. More details below.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

BTG Game Player of Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
4.0 TOR 7, TEX 6 (10) Roberto Osuna (W,1-0) - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 0 2
3.1 WSH 5, LAD 2 Blake Treinen (W,1-0; H,1) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 2
BTG: Box-Toppers game score

Coming Monday: League Division playoff games resume:

NL Division Series Game 3, Nationals at Dodgers, series tied, 1-1

The pitching matchup Monday:

Nationals—Gio Gonzalez, 6.0 Box-Toppers points, 158th among all players, 45th among NL pitchers.

Dodgers—Kenta Maeada, 10.0 Box-Toppers points, 54th among all players, 21st among NL pitchers.

See the season Box-Toppers point totals of all Dodgers and Nationals players who earned Player of the Game honors in 2016.

AL Division Series Game 3, Indians lead Red Sox, 2-0

The pitching matchup Monday:

Indians—Josh Tomlin, 5.0 Box-Toppers points, 202nd among all players, 63rd among AL pitchers.

Red Sox—Clay Buchholz, 5.0 Box-Toppers points, 200th among all players, 62nd among AL pitchers.

See the season Box-Toppers point totals of all Red Sox and Indians players who earned Player of the Game honors in 2016.

NL Division Series Game 3, Cubs lead Giants, 2-0

The pitching matchup Monday:

Cubs—Jake Arrieta, 15.7 Box-Toppers points, ninth among all players, sixth among NL pitchers.

Giants—Madison Bumgarner, 13.0 Box-Toppers points, 19th among all players, 12th among NL pitchers.

See the season Box-Toppers point totals of all Cubs and Giants players who earned Player of the Game honors in 2016.

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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Twins' Kyle Gibson tops players in Wednesday, March 16's spring training games

Twins pitcher Kyle Gibson is Box-Toppers spring training Player of the Day for Thursday.

Gibson pitched 3 1/3 innings, allowing one run on two hits and striking out seven, in the 9-4 win over the Red Sox. Gibson had 8.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015, 33rd among AL pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Nationals pitcher Blake Treinen pitched two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out four, in the 4-2 win over the Marlins. Treinen had 1.0 Box-Toppers point in 2015.

American League Batter of the Day—Gregorio Petit of the Angels homered and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 6-3 win over the Indians. Petit had 1.0 Box-Toppers point in 2015 with the Yankees.

National League Batter of the Day—Paul Goldschmidt of the Diamondbacks went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 10-6 win over the Reds. Goldschmidt had 10.2 Box-Toppers points in 2015, fourth among NL batters.

Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in spring training games, but if it were the regular season, Gibson would earn 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Treinen would earn 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Petit and Goldschmidt would earn 1.5 points for being top batter in their league for the day. All of Wednesday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) would earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

Note—Twelve spring training games were scheduled for Thursday—11 are listed below. One game is not include because it ended in a tie (Cardinals vs. Astros).

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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

3/16 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 5.1 Twins Kyle Gibson (W, 1-0) - - - - - - 3.1 2 1 1 1 7
5.0 Royals Chris Young (W, 1-0) - - - - - - 4.0 2 0 0 2 5
BAT 4.0 Angels Gregorio Petit SS 3 2 2 3 0 0 - - - - - -
4.0 Orioles Christian Walker 1B 1 1 1 3 0 0 - - - - - -
4.0 Tigers Jordan Zimmermann (W, 1-0) - - - - - - 3.0 2 0 0 0 3
NL 4.0 Nationals Blake Treinen (W, 1-0) - - - - - - 2.0 1 0 0 1 4
BAT 3.0 Dbacks Paul Goldschmidt 1B 4 2 3 2 0 0 - - - - - -
3.0 Mariners Leonys Martín CF 3 1 2 3 1 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Dodgers Shawn Zarraga C 2 1 2 1 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Brewers Ryan Braun LF 1 1 1 1 1 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Yankees Nathan Eovaldi (W, 1-0) - - - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 2 2