Both American League Division Series begin Tuesday.
The Houston Astros face the Seattle Mariners in one best-of-five game series and the New York Yankees face the Cleveland Guardians in the other. The top two AL seeds, the Astros (first) and the Yankees (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played over the weekend.
AL Division Series, Game 1: Mariners at Astros
The Astros rank second in Box-Toppers team rankings, first among AL teams (131.4 Box-Toppers points), while the Mariners rank seventh (114.9 points).
The Astros led AL teams in Box-Toppers rankings for six of the past eight weeks and for the past four consecutive weeks after passing the New York Yankees, who held a dominant lead among all teams from mid-May to early August. The Astros rank second among all teams to the Los Angeles Dodgers (133.1), though the gap between them shrunk from 6.7 points on Aug. 25 to just 1.7 points to close the season.
The Astros finished the season as one of baseball’s hottest teams, picking up 6.0 Box-Toppers points in the final week.
The Mariners also finished the season strong, picking up 5.5 points in the final week of the season. They were the fifth-seeded AL Wild Card team, yet swept the fourth-seed AL Wild Card Blue Jays in two games in Toronto. Though the Mariners were the lower seed, they ranked ahead of the Blue Jays in Box-Toppers points (114.9, seventh among all teams vs. 113.4, ninth among all teams).
The Mariners Box-Toppers point total in team rankings (114.7) varies slightly from the chart below which shows the Box-Toppers total of all Mariners players (113.9) because the team made roster moves after the close of the season but prior to the start of postseason games.
The pitching matchup Tuesday:
Mariners—Logan Gilbert, 14.1 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 25th among all players, 12th among AL pitchers.
Astros—Justin Verlander, 26.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022, first among all players, first among AL pitchers.
A look at all four of Tuesday’s Division Series pitching matchups
Other notable Mariners pitchers include:
Robbie Ray, 14.4 points, 23rd overall, 11th among AL pitchers.
George Kirby, 11.4 points, 41st overall, 19th among AL pitchers.
Luis Castillo, 10.0 points, 54th among all players and 25th among AL pitchers. Castillo was Player of the Game in the AL Wild Card series Game 1 win over the Blue Jays.
Mariners top batters include:
Third baseman Eugenio Suarez, 8.0 points, 82nd overall, sixth among AL batters.
Catcher Cal Raleigh, 7.5 points, 89th overall, seventh among AL batters. Raleigh was Player of the Game in the AL Wild Card series Game 2 win over the Blue Jays.
Center fielder Julio Rodriguez, 7.5 points, 90th overall, eighth among AL batters.
Other notable Astros pitchers include:
Framber Valdez, 16.0 points, 14th overall, fifth among AL pitchers.
Cristian Javier, 15.7 points, 16th overall, seventh among AL pitchers.
Luis Garcia, 9.7 points, 57th overall, 27th among AL pitchers.
Astros top batters include:
Designated hitter Yordan Alvarez, 8.7 points, 70th overall, third among AL batters.
Third baseman Alex Bregman, 8.7 points, 71st overall, fourth among AL batters.
Right fielder Kyle Tucker, 4.5 points, 205th overall, 34th among AL batters.
The Box-Toppers point totals of all players on the teams’ active rosters at season’s end are below. Players who did not earn Box-Toppers points in 2022 are not listed. Players who earned points in 2022 are listed even if they are not on the roster for the upcoming postseason series due to injury or for other reasons.
Mariners vs. Astros
Here are players for both teams in the AL Divisional Series beginning Tuesday. Players are listed for both teams ranked by Box-Toppers points earned in 2022. All players listed were on active Major or Minor League rosters at the end of the season—not necessarily all of them will be included on postseason rosters. Players not listed earned no Box-Toppers points in 2022.| Seattle Mariners | Houston Astros | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos | BTP | Player | Pos | BTP | |
| Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | 14.4 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | 26.0 | |
| Gilbert, Logan 4439 | pi sp | 14.1 | Valdez, Framber 4048 | pi sp | 16.0 | |
| Kirby, George 4595 | pi sp | 11.4 | Javier, Cristian 4290 | pi sp | 15.7 | |
| Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 | pi sp | 10.0 | Garcia, Luis 4423 | pi sp | 9.7 | |
| Suarez, Eugenio 3355 | 3b | 8.0 | Alvarez, Yordan 4209 | dh | 8.7 | |
| Raleigh, Cal 4481 | ca ph | 7.5 | Bregman, Alex 3721 | 3b | 8.7 | |
| Rodriguez, Julio 4590 | cf | 7.5 | Urquidy, Jose 4194 | pi sp | 8.0 | |
| France, Ty 4243 | 1b | 7.0 | Pressly, Ryan 3186 | pi cp | 6.0 | |
| Santana, Carlos 2757 | 1b | 4.5 | McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | 5.4 | |
| Haggerty, Sam 4672 | rf lf cf ph | 4.0 | Tucker, Kyle 4277 | rf | 4.5 | |
| Gonzales, Marco 3408 | pi sp | 3.0 | Altuve, Jose 3007 | 2b | 4.0 | |
| Sewald, Paul 3940 | pi mr cp | 3.0 | Maldonado, Martin 3082 | ca | 2.7 | |
| Casali, Curt 3524 | ca | 2.5 | Mancini, Trey 3766 | dh | 2.5 | |
| Flexen, Chris 4368 | pi sp | 2.0 | Diaz, Aledmys 3612 | 3b lf | 2.5 | |
| Crawford, J.P. 3937 | ss | 2.0 | Brantley, Michael 2785 | lf dh | 2.0 | |
| Toro, Abraham 4447 | rf 2b 3b ph | 2.0 | Smith, Will 3073 | pi cp | 1.0 | |
| Castillo, Diego 3995 | pi cp mr | 2.0 | Neris, Hector 3553 | pi mr cp | 1.0 | |
| Munoz, Andres 4222 | pi mr cp | 2.0 | McCormick, Chas 4444 | rf | 1.0 | |
| Haniger, Mitch 3772 | rf | 1.5 | Dubon, Mauricio 4243 | ss | 1.0 | |
| Moore, Dylan 4289 | ss 2b lf ph | 1.5 | Montero, Rafael 3410 | pi cp sp | 1.0 | |
| Winker, Jesse 3988 | lf | 1.0 | Abreu, Bryan 4663 | pi mr | 1.0 | |
| Kelenic, Jarred 4408 | lf cf | 1.0 | Brown, Hunter 4729 | pi sp | 1.0 | |
| Borucki, Ryan 4034 | pi cp mr | 1.0 | Martinez, Seth 4678 | pi mr | 1.0 | |
| Frazier, Adam 3771 | 2b | 1.0 | Matijevic, J.J. 4693 | ph | 1.0 | |
| Festa, Matt 4692 | pi cp | 1.0 | ||||
| Totals | 113.9 | Totals | 131.4 | |||
AL Division Series, Game 1: Guardians at Yankees
The Yankees rank fourth in Box-Toppers team rankings, second among AL teams (125.9 Box-Toppers points), while the Guardians rank 12th (105.5 points).
The Yankees led AL teams in Box-Toppers rankings for 12 straight weeks from mid-May to mid-August, before being overtaken by the Astros for top AL team in six of the final eight weeks of the season. The Yankees even led all teams for eight straight weeks from early June to early August, building the biggest lead of any team this season over a second-placed team (+13.7) on June 30, when they had 72.1 points and the then-second-place Milwaukee Brewers had 58.4. (The Brewers finished 10th overall with 107.7 points and did not qualify for postseason play.)
The Guardians seemed a team likely to finish in the middle of the AL Central most of the season, falling outside of playoff contention. But they finished the regular season winning 24 of their final 29 games from Sept. 5 to Oct. 5. Despite the winning streak, they didn’t greatly improve their Box-Toppers team ranking—on Sept. 1, they ranked 14th, fell to 16th on Sept. 8 and finished in 12th. In fact, they ended up finishing just behind another AL Central team in Box-Toppers rankings—the Minnesota Twins, 11th with 105.6 points—despite finishing 14 games ahead of the Twins in the division.
The Guardians won the best-of-three-game AL Wild Card series against the Tampa Bay Rays to advance to the AL Division Series.
The pitching matchup Tuesday:
Guardians—Cal Quantrill, 6.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 125th overall, 47th among AL pitchers.
Yankees—Gerrit Cole, 15.4 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 17th among all players, eighth among AL pitchers.
A look at all four of Tuesday’s Division Series pitching matchups
Other notable Guardians pitchers include:
Triston McKenzie, 15.7 points, 15th overall, sixth among AL pitchers. McKenzie was Player of the Game in the AL Wild Card series Game 2 win over the Blue Jays.
Shane Bieber, 13.7 points, 26th overall, 13th among AL pitchers. Bieber was Player of the Game in the AL Wild Card series Game 1 win over the Blue Jays.
Guardians notable batters include:
Third baseman Jose Ramirez, 11.7 points, 36th overall, second among AL batters.
Shortstop Amed Rosario, 6.0 points, 130th overall, 18th among AL batters.
Left fielder Steven Kwan, 5.0 points, 191st overall, 32nd among AL batters.
Other notable Yankees pitchers include:
Nestor Cortes, 15.4 points, 19th overall, ninth among AL pitchers.
Jameson Taillon, 10.7 points, 48th overall, 22nd among AL pitchers.
Luis Severino, 6.7 points, 109th overall, 42nd among AL pitchers.
Notable Yankees batters include:
Outfielder Aaron Judge, 13.2 points, 28th overall, first among AL batters.
Designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton, 5.5 points, 149th overall, 20th among AL batters.
Third baseman Josh Donaldson, 5.0 points, 178th overall, 30th among AL batters.
The Box-Toppers point totals of all players on the teams’ active rosters at season’s end are below. Players who did not earn Box-Toppers points in 2022 are not listed. Players who earned points in 2022 are listed even if they are not on the roster for the upcoming postseason series due to injury or for other reasons.
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.
Related
Box-Toppers 2022 player rankings leaders
Box-Toppers 2022 final team rankings
Box-Toppers’ NL Division Series preview: Padres vs. Dodgers, Phillies vs. Braves
Guardians vs. Yankees
Here are players for both teams in the AL Divisional Series beginning Tuesday. Players are listed for both teams ranked by Box-Toppers points earned in 2022. All players listed were on active Major or Minor League rosters at the end of the season—not necessarily all of them will be included on postseason rosters. Players not listed earned no Box-Toppers points in 2022.| Cleveland Guardians | New York Yankees | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos | BTP | Player | Pos | BTP | |
| McKenzie, Triston 4303 | pi sp | 15.7 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | 15.4 | |
| Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | 13.7 | Cortes, Nestor 4160 | pi sp | 15.4 | |
| Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | 11.7 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | cf rf | 13.2 | |
| Quantrill, Cal 4195 | pi sp | 6.0 | Taillon, Jameson 3658 | pi sp | 10.7 | |
| Rosario, Amed 3879 | ss | 6.0 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | 6.7 | |
| Plesac, Zach 4168 | pi sp | 5.7 | Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 | dh | 5.5 | |
| Civale, Aaron 4173 | pi sp | 5.0 | Donaldson, Josh 3144 | 3b | 5.0 | |
| Kwan, Steven 4573 | lf | 5.0 | Montas, Frankie 3803 | pi sp | 4.7 | |
| Naylor, Josh 4154 | 1b | 3.5 | King, Michael 4549 | pi mr cp | 4.7 | |
| Gonzalez, Oscar 4734 | rf | 3.5 | Carpenter, Matt 2987 | 3b 1b rf | 4.5 | |
| Stephan, Trevor 4446 | pi mr cp | 3.0 | Schmidt, Clarke 4581 | pi mr sp cp | 4.4 | |
| Gose, Anthony 3623 | pi mr cp cf | 3.0 | Rizzo, Anthony 3063 | 1b | 4.0 | |
| McCarty, Kirk 4696 | pi mr | 2.7 | Holmes, Clay 4022 | pi cp | 4.0 | |
| Hedges, Austin 3790 | ca | 2.5 | Torres, Gleyber 3972 | 2b | 4.0 | |
| Jones, Nolan 4686 | rf | 2.5 | Luetge, Lucas 3274 | pi mr cp | 3.7 | |
| Morgan, Eli 4497 | pi mr sp | 2.0 | Trevino, Jose 4241 | ca | 2.5 | |
| Clase, Emmaniuel 4225 | pi cp | 2.0 | Hicks, Aaron 3170 | lf cf | 2.5 | |
| Hentges, Sam 4406 | pi sp | 2.0 | Chapman, Aroldis 2826 | pi mr cp | 2.0 | |
| Gimenez, Andres 4288 | 2b | 2.0 | Higashioka, Kyle 4505 | ca | 2.0 | |
| Pilkington, Konnor 4642 | pi sp | 2.0 | Abreu, Albert 4583 | pi mr cp | 2.0 | |
| Shaw, Bryan 2995 | pi mr cp | 1.0 | Weissert, Greg 4724 | pi mr cp | 2.0 | |
| Miller, Owen 4558 | 1b 2b | 1.0 | Green, Chad 3675 | pi cp mr | 1.0 | |
| Sandlin, Nick 4440 | pi mr | 1.0 | German, Domingo 3957 | pi sp | 1.0 | |
| De Los Santos, Enyel 4737 | pi mr | 1.0 | Benintendi, Andrew 3815 | lf | 1.0 | |
| Morris, Cody 4745 | pi sp | 1.0 | Bader, Harrison 4071 | cf | 1.0 | |
| Palacios, Richie 4654 | ph | 1.0 | Trivino, Lou 3939 | pi cp | 1.0 | |
| Shreve, Chasen 3482 | pi mr | 1.0 | ||||
| Cabrera, Oswaldo 4747 | lf | 1.0 | ||||
| Totals | 105.5 | Totals | 125.9 | |||
A Box-Toppers look at Tuesday’s Division Series round 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 2022 (’22), over a two-year period (’21-22), over a six-year period (’17-22) and their career point total.Back to top
| Game | Starter | ’22 | ’21‑22 | ’17‑22 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PHI | Suarez, Ranger 4228 | 5.0 | 14.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| ATL | Fried, Max 4011 | 16.0 | 27.8 | 44.5 | 44.5 |
| SEA | Gilbert, Logan 4493 | 14.1 | 21.1 | 21.1 | 21.1 |
| HOU | Verlander, Justin 2112 | 26.0 | 26.0 | 93.3 | 232.6 |
| CLE | Quantrill, Cal 4195 | 6.0 | 11.7 | 15.7 | 15.7 |
| NYY | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | 15.4 | 37.8 | 102.4 | 138.3 |
| SD | Clevinger, Mike 3707 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 50.9 | 53.9 |
| LAD | Urias, Julio 3625 | 19.4 | 38.5 | 46.5 | 52.2 |
What are those numbers after players' names?
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