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Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow and Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in Thursday’s two National League Division Series games.
The Los Angeles Dodgers eliminate Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team, the Philadelphia Phillies, in one of the series. The Chicago Cubs meanwhile force a deciding Game 5 Saturday with the Milwaukee Brewers, with a win to tie that series.
Read MoreJavier Báez of the Tigers tops players in Wednesday’s four League Division Series playoff games.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Blue Jays advance to the American League Championship Series, eliminating the New York Yankees in four games in the AL Division Series.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani tops players in Saturday’s four League Division Series opening games.
Other Player of the Game winners in Saturday’s League Division Series games: Jackson Chourio of the Brewers, Tigers pitcher Will Vest and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays.
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Source: MLB.com
The Philadelphia Phillies are Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team while National League top-seed Milwaukee Brewers rank fifth among NL playoff teams in Box-Toppers points.
A Box-Toppers look at both National League Division Series, which begin Saturday.
Read MoreWhite Sox pitcher Shane Smith is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day on the last day of the regular season.
Other Player of the Game winners Sunday include Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, Braves pitcher Chris Sale, Alejandro Kirk of the Blue Jays, Marlins pitcher Edward Cabrera and Jackson Merrill of the Padres.
Read MoreRockies pitcher Kyle Freeland is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Other Player of the Game winners Friday include Braves pitcher Chris Sale, Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman, Rangers pitcher Merrill Kelly, Colson Montgomery of the White Sox, Ian Happ of the Cubs, Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez and Brewers pitcher Quinn Priester.
Read MoreGuardians pitcher Gavin Williams is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Other Player of the Game winners Saturday include Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez, Connor Norby of the Marlins and Josh Jung of the Rangers.
Read MoreTigers pitcher Tarik Skubal is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, moving within 1.0 Box-Toppers point of overall leader, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, who has led player rankings since mid-May.
Skubal also bolsters his overall second-place ranking and extends his lead among American League pitchers.
Read MorePadres pitcher Dylan Cease is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto rises to fifth place in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Other Player of the Game winners Sunday include Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez, Spencer Horwitz of the Pirates, Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito and Tyler Tolbert of the Royals.
Player of the Day
Cease struck out nine over five scoreless innings, allowing one run and one walk, in the 7-3 win over the Cardinals.
Cease earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.7 for the season, 44th among all players and 17th among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day
Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito struck out four over eight innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 6-1 win over the Astros.
Giolito earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 8.4 for the season, 37th among all players and 18th among AL pitchers.
National League Batter of the Day
Spencer Horwitz of the Pirates hit two home runs, including a three-run homer, in the 9-5 win over the Rockies. Horwitz also doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in six runs.
American League Batter of the Day
Tyler Tolbert of the Royals went 1-for-1, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 7-4, 10-inning win over the Blue Jays.
This was Tolbert’s Box-Toppers debut, his first career Player of the Game honor. Tolbert made his Major League debut March 31 and was playing in his 33rd career game.
Rankings
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto rises from sixth to fifth place in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Yamamoto (5.2IP 5H 0R 0BB 6K W in the 3-0 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.0 for the season. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.
Notable
Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez becomes the 17th player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Sánchez (8IP 5H 0R BB 6K W in the 2-0 win over the Tigers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season, 17th among all players and eighth among NL pitchers.
This is Sánchez’s second season and second straight season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. In 2024, he earned 11.4 points with the Phillies, 20th among NL pitchers.
Also notable
Alek Thomas of the Diamondbacks earns Box-Toppers points for the second straight day Sunday.
Thomas (3-4 R BI in the 6-4 win over the Athletics) was also Player of the Game Saturday in the 7-2 win over the Athletics (HR 2-3 2R BI). He earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point each day and now has 4.5 for the season, 28th among NL batters.
Scoring
Cease earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.
Giolito earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day.
Horwitz and Tolbert each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day.
All of Sunday’s other Player of the Game winners (listed in the chart) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
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.
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Read MorePhillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Other Player of the Game winners Tuesday include Mariners pitcher Logan Gilbert, Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom, Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd, Spencer Horwitz of the Pirates and Ty France of the Twins.
Read MorePhillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Other Player of the Game winners Thursday include Rangers pitcher Kumar Rocker, Randy Arozarena of the Mariners and Pavin Smith of the Diamondbacks.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2025 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the New York Yankees lead American League teams, the Toronto Blue Jays made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points and the Atlanta Braves had the biggest decline.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team going into 2025 but with player injuries factored in, the New York Mets hold the overall edge.
The current 2025 roster of last year’s World Series champion Dodgers accumulated 118.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024, most of any team. However, with several players injured and expected to miss time in 2025, their injury-adjusted Box-Toppers point total drops to 106.7, fifth among all teams.
Read MoreIn 2024, teams with the most Box-Toppers points earned by pitchers generally ranked higher in overall Box-Toppers team rankings.
For example, the Philadephia Phillies led all teams with 124.9 Box-Toppers points. Pitchers earned 78.0 of those points, fifth-most among all teams. Box-Toppers’ seven top-ranked teams were all among the top 10 in points earned by pitchers.
However, the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers were a notable anomaly. While the team finished eighth overall in Box-Toppers points (113.7), they finished 11th in points earned by pitchers (66.2) and third in points earned by batters (47.5).
Read MoreFernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres and Nick Castellanos of the Phillies are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in Sunday’s two National League Division Series playoff games.
Both NL Division Series are now even heading into Monday’s travel day before resuming Tuesday.
Read MoreGuardians pitcher Tanner Bibee tops players in Saturday’s four league division series playoff games.
Other Player of the Game winners in Saturday’s league division series games:
Luke Weaver of the Yankees.
Reed Garrett of the Mets.
Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers.
Source: MLB.com
Both National League Division Series begin Saturday.
The San Diego Padres face the Los Angeles Dodgers in one best-of-five game series and the New York Mets face the Philadelphia Phillies in the other. The top two NL seeds, the Dodgers (first) and the Phillies (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played this week.
Read MoreMariners pitcher George Kirby is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to 10th place in season player rankings.
Also Sunday, Aaron Judge of the Yankees increases his 2024 Box-Toppers points lead among American League batters after earning Player of the Game honors. In addition, National League Most Valuable Player favorite Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers earns Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors, but only ranks 14th among NL batters in 2024 Box-Toppers points.
Read MoreGuardians pitcher Joey Cantillo is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, pitching a perfect game into the seventh inning and winning his first career Player of the Game honor.
Cantillo struck out 10 over seven innings, allowing one run, two hits and no walks, in the 5-3 win over the White Sox.
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The Philadelphia Phillies have the most players among the top 100 in Box-Toppers’ 2024 player rankings at the All-Star break.
Meanwhile, the Baltimore Orioles have the most players in the top 100 among American League teams.
Read MoreBox-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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.