Cubs' Montero, Indians' Tomlin top players in Saturday's league championship series games

Miguel Montero of the Cubs is Box-Toppers Player of the Game Saturday in the National League Championship Series Game 1 win over the Dodgers.

And Indians pitcher Josh Tomlin is Box-Toppers Player of the Game Saturday in the American League Championship Series Game 2 win over the Blue Jays.

National League Championship Series Game 1: Cubs 8, Dodgers 4

Montero hit an eighth-inning, pinch-hit, grand slam homer to earn Player of the Game honors as the Cubs take a 1-0 lead over the Dodgers in the best-of-seven game series.

Montero had 2.0 Box-Toppers points during the regular season.

He had a Box-Toppers game score Saturday of +5.0, highest among all Cubs players. Starting pitcher Jon Lester (22.1 Box-Toppers points in 2016, ranked fourth) had a Box-Toppers game score of +2.0 (6IP 4H R BB 3K ND).

The series resumes Sunday with Game 2 in Chicago.

American League Championship Series Game 2: Indians 2, Blue Jays 1

Tomlin allowed one run over 5 2/3 innings, allowing three hits, two walks, striking out six and earning the win, as the Indians take a 2-0 lead over the Blue Jays in the best-of-seven game series.

Tomlin had 5.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, 202nd among all players and 63rd among AL pitchers.

Tomlin had a Box-Toppers game score Saturday of +4.2. Middle reliever Andrew Miller had a higher Box-Toppers game score (+7.0) but did not qualify to earn Player of the Game because he did not earn the win or save and did not pitch the requisite three innings to earn the honor. However, he struck out five over two perfect innings. Designated hitter Carlos Santana had the highest Box-Toppers game score (+1.0) among Indians batters (HR 1-2 R BI).

Blue Jays starting pitcher J.A. Happ (14.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked 11th, third among AL pitchers) had a Box-Toppers game score of 0.0 in the loss (5IP 4H 2R BB 4K L).

The series resumes Monday with Game 3 in Toronto.

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.

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
5.0 CHC 8, LAD 4 Miguel Montero, PH 1 1 1 4 - - - - - -
4.2 CLE 2, TOR 1 Josh Tomlin (W,2-0) - - - - 5.2 3 1 1 2 6
BTG: Box-Toppers game score

Coming Sunday:

National League Championship Series Game 2, Cubs lead Dodgers, 1-0

The pitching matchup Sunday:

Dodgers—Clayton Kershaw, 24.4 Box-Toppers points, second among all players, second among NL pitchers.

Cubs—Kyle Hendricks, 13.4 Box-Toppers points, ranked 17th among all players, 10th among NL pitchers.

See Box-Toppers NLCS series preview with player-by-player matchups.

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Pirates' Cole tops players for Sunday, Sept. 6; Astros' Keuchel rises to lead AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points

Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth in player rankings.

Also Sunday, Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel rises to lead American League pitchers in Box-Toppers points, rising to fourth place in overall player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 6.  


 Player Pos Team BTP
1 Arrieta, Jake 2738 pi sp chi nl 21.1
2 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 20.7
3 deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp nym nl 19.4
4 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 19.4
5 Price, David 2593 pi sp tor al 19.1
6 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp lad nl 18.0
7 Hernandez, Felix 2064 pi sp sea al 17.4
8 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp chi al 17.1
9 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp pit nl 17.0
10 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 16.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Cole pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out seven, in the 7-1 win over the Cardinals.

Cole earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 17.0 for the season and rising to ninth in season player rankings. He ranks fifth among NL pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel struck out 12 over eight innings, allowing three runs and five hits, in the 8-5 win over the Twins.

Keuchel earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 19.4 for the season. He rises to first place among AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points, passing previous leader David Price of the Blue Jays (19.1). Keuchel also rises to fourth place among all players in season player rankings.

American League Batter of the Day—Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays homered, doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 10-4 win over the Orioles.

Bautista earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 8.0 for the season, rising to seventh place among AL batters.

National League Batter of the Day—Miguel Montero of the Cubs hit a grand slam and went 2-for-3 in the 6-4 win over the Diamondbacks.

Notable—David Ortiz of the Red Sox now has 136.9 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday. Ortiz (HR 1-1 R 3BI in the 6-2 win over the Phillies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point and maintains his rank of 24th among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers record keeping began). Ortiz trails 23rd-ranked player Andy Pettitte (138.5). Ortiz has 3.5 Box-Toppers points this season.

Debut—Nationals pitcher Felipe Rivero made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Rivero (1.1IP 0H 0R 2K W in the 8-4 win over the Braves) made his Major League debut April 17 and was playing in his 35th career game. He is the 3,579th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Cole earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Keuchel earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Bautista and Montero each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

9/6 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 9.0 Pirates Gerrit Cole (W,16-8) - - - - - - 7.0 2 0 0 3 7
AL 7.0 Astros Dallas Keuchel (W,17-6) - - - - - - 8.0 5 3 3 2 12
6.0 Indians Cody Anderson (W,3-3) - - - - - - 7.0 2 0 0 2 3
BAT 5.0 Blue Jays Jose Bautista, RF 3 3 2 3 1 0 - - - - - -
BAT 4.0 Cubs Miguel Montero, C 3 1 2 4 1 0 - - - - - -
4.0 Red Sox David Ortiz, DH 1 1 1 3 0 0 - - - - - -
3.1 Nationals Felipe Rivero (MR) (W,2-1) - - - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 2
3.0 Reds Brandon Phillips, 2B 4 2 3 2 1 0 - - - - - -
3.0 Giants Santiago Casilla (S,32) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.0 White Sox Adam Eaton, CF 5 3 3 1 0 1 - - - - - -
2.0 Yankees Brian McCann, C 3 1 1 3 1 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Marlins Justin Bour, PH 1 1 1 1 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Angels Hector Santiago (W,8-9) - - - - - - 6.0 1 0 0 6 3
1.1 Mariners Hisashi Iwakuma (W,7-3) - - - - - - 6.1 5 1 1 1 3
0.0 Dodgers Justin Turner, 2B 4 2 2 0 0 1 - - - - - -

Athletics' Scott Kazmir (8IP 0R H 6K) tops players for Thursday, June 11

Athletics pitcher Scott Kazmir is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Kazmir pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out six, in the 7-0 win over the Rangers.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of June 11.  


 Player Pos Team BTP
1 Hernandez, Felix 2064 pi sp sea al 12.4
2 Archer, Chris 3194 pi sp tb al 11.0
3 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp pit nl 11.0
4 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp chi al 10.4
5 deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp nym nl 9.7
6 Martinez, Carlos 3371 pi sp stl nl 9.7
7 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 9.0
8 Heston, Chris 3437 pi sp sf nl 8.7
9 Price, David 2593 pi sp det al 8.1
10 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 7.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

Kazmir is the top-ranked player among the nine who earned Player of the Game honors Thursday. He earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.7 for the season and ranks 23rd among all players, eighth among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Marlins pitcher David Phelps pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out six, in the 6-0 win over the Rockies.

National League Batter of the Day—Miguel Montero of the Cubs hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-3 in the 6-3 win over the Reds.

American League Batter of the Day—Adam Jones of the Orioles homered, doubled and scored twice in the 6-5 win over the Red Sox.

Scoring—Kazmir earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Phelps earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Montero and Jones each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

6/11 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 11.0 Athletics Scott Kazmir (W, 3-4) - - - - - - 8.0 1 0 0 2 6
10.0 Indians Shaun Marcum (W, 3-1) - - - - - - 7.0 2 0 0 0 5
NL 9.0 Marlins David Phelps (W, 3-3) - - - - - - 8.0 4 0 0 1 6
5.0 Angels Garrett Richards (W, 6-4) - - - - - - 7.0 4 2 2 1 7
BAT 3.0 Cubs Miguel Montero C 3 1 2 3 1 1 - - - - - -
3.0 Padres Craig Kimbrel (S, 15) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
BAT 2.0 Orioles Adam Jones CF 3 2 2 1 1 0 - - - - - -
1.0 Brewers Gerardo Parra CF 4 2 2 1 0 0 - - - - - -
1.0 Mets Curtis Granderson RF 4 2 2 1 0 2 - - - - - -

Rays' Archer tops players for Sunday, April 26, rises to 2nd in Box-Toppers player rankings

Rays pitcher Chris Archer is Sunday’s Player of the Day and rises to second place in Box-Toppers player rankings.

Archer pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and struck out seven, in the 5-1 win over the Blue Jays. Archer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season. He trails only Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez (6.0 Box-Toppers points) in player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of April 26.  


 Player Pos Team BTP
1 Hernandez, Felix 2064 pi sp sea al 6.0
2 Archer, Chris 3194 pi sp tb al 5.0
3 Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 rf fla nl 4.5
4 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp pit nl 4.0
5 Kazmir, Scott 1947 pi sp oak al 3.7
6 Harvey, Matt 3075 pi sp nym nl 3.7
7 DeSclafani, Anthony 3441 pi sp cin nl 3.7
8 Hechavarria, Adeiny 3445 ss fla nl 3.5
9 Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp cin nl 3.4
10 Harang, Aaron 1599 pi sp phi nl 3.4
What are those numbers after players' names?

National League Player of the Day—Pirates pitcher Francisco Liriano struck out seven over 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits, in the 8-0 win over the Diamondbacks.

American League Batter of the Day—Delmon Young of the Orioles drove in five and went 3-for-6 with three runs in the 18-7 win over the Red Sox.

National League Batter of the Day—Miguel Montero of the Cubs homered and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 5-2 win over the Reds.

Rankings—Adeiny Hechavarria of the Marlins rose to eighth place in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday (3B 2-4 3BI in the 6-2 win over the Nationals). Hechavarria earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 3.5 for the season.

Scoring—Archer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Liriano earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Young and Montero each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

4/26 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 11.0 Rays Chris Archer (W, 3-2) - - - - - - 7.0 2 0 0 1 7
NL 5.1 Pirates Francisco Liriano (W, 1-1) - - - - - - 6.1 2 0 0 6 7
BAT 5.0 Orioles Delmon Young RF 6 3 3 5 0 0 - - - - - -
4.0 Tigers Miguel Cabrera 1B 4 2 3 3 0 1 - - - - - -
4.0 White Sox David Robertson (W, 2-0) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
3.0 Astros Jake Marisnick CF 4 3 2 2 0 0 - - - - - -
3.0 Padres Brandon Morrow (W, 1-0) - - - - - - 7.0 5 1 1 1 4
3.0 Twins Casey Fien (W, 1-1) - - - - - - 2.0 1 0 0 0 2
BAT 2.0 Cubs Miguel Montero C 4 2 2 2 0 1 - - - - - -
2.0 Phillies Freddy Galvis SS 3 2 3 0 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 White Sox John Danks (W, 1-2) - - - - - - 6.0 5 3 3 1 8
2.0 Yankees Andrew Miller (S, 7) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
1.0 Marlins Adeiny Hechavarria SS 4 0 2 3 0 1 - - - - - -
1.0 Brewers Gerardo Parra RF 4 2 2 1 0 1 - - - - - -
1.0 Rangers Adam Rosales PR, 3B 0 1 0 0 1 0 - - - - - -

Angels' Garrett Richards (8IP 0R 9K) tops players for Wednesday, June 4, Wainwright adds to Box-Toppers points lead

Angels pitcher Garrett Richards is Wednesday’s Player of the Day. Richards pitched eight scoreless innings and struck out nine in the 4-0 win over the Astros.

Miguel Montero of the Diamondbacks is National League Player of the Day. Montero homered, went 3-for-4 and drove in six runs in the 16-8 win over the Rockies.

Oswaldo Arcia of the Twins is American League Batter of the Day. Arcia hit a three-run homer and a go-ahead single in the 6-4 win over the Brewers.

Notable: Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright extended his overall Box-Toppers points lead for the season after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday. Wainwright (8IP 8K ND in the 5-2 win over the Royals) had a no-hitter going through five innings but eventually gave up four hits. He earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.0 for the season. He has led all players in Box-Toppers points since May 25–the current second-place player, Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, has 9.7 Box-Toppers points. (See the updated season top 10 player list on the home page.)

Richards receives 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day. Montero receives 1.7 for NL Player of the Day. Arcia receives 1.5 for being AL Batter of the Day.

All of Wednesday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) receive 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

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. 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

604 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 13.0 Angels Garrett Richards (W, 5-2) - - - - - - 8.0 4 0 0 0 9
8.0 Mariners Hisashi Iwakuma (W, 4-2) - - - - - - 7.0 6 0 0 0 7
NL 6.0 Dbacks Miguel Montero C 4 1 3 6 0 0 - - - - - -
6.0 Indians Carlos Carrasco (W, 1-3) - - - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 0 4
6.0 `Cardinals Adam Wainwright - - - - - - 8.0 4 2 2 2 8
5.1 White Sox John Danks (W, 4-5) - - - - - - 7.1 2 1 1 3 5
5.0 Nationals Stephen Strasburg (W, 5-4) - - - - - - 7.0 7 4 2 0 11
BAT 4.0 Twins Oswaldo Arcia RF 4 2 2 4 0 1 - - - - - -
3.1 Giants Ryan Vogelsong (W, 4-2) - - - - - - 6.1 7 2 2 1 9
3.0 Blue Jays Melky Cabrera LF 5 3 3 2 0 0 - - - - - -
3.0 Padres Ian Kennedy (W, 5-6) - - - - - - 6.0 5 2 2 1 7
2.0 Athletics Yoenis Cespedes LF 5 2 3 2 0 1 - - - - - -
2.0 Cubs Starlin Castro SS 4 0 3 3 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Orioles Nick Markakis RF 3 1 2 2 2 0 - - - - - -
1.0 Marlins Donovan Solano 2B 4 1 1 3 0 2 - - - - - -

` Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.