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Closing pitcher Josh Sborz is Box-Toppers Player of the Game Wednesday as the Rangers defeat the Diamondbacks to win the 2023 World Series in five games.
The Texas Rangers defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 to win the best-of-seven game series, 4-1.
Sborz struck out four over 2 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing one run and no walks.
Sborz earned 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 348th among all players, 93rd among American League pitchers and 12th among AL middle relievers. It is his first Player of the Game honor of the 2023 postseason.
Sborz had a Box-Toppers game score Tuesday of +5.1, best among all Rangers players. Rangers starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi had a +2.0 Box-Toppers game score (6IP 4H 0R 5BB 5K W) and was in line to earn his fourth Player of the Game honor of the postseason until Sborz came in and held the Diamondbacks scoreless for multiple innings to close the game.
Rangers top batter Wednesday is second baseman Marcus Semien with a 0.0 Box-Toppers game score (HR 2-5 R 2BI).
Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen had the highest Box-Toppers game score of any player in the game (+6.1) in the loss (6.1IP 3H R BB 6K L) and was pitching a no-hitter until giving up three straight hits to open the seventh inning. It was Gallen’s seventh straight start, including the regular season and postseason, in which he did not earn Player of the Game honors. During the regular season, Gallen’s longest streak of starts without earning Player of the Game honors was five from July 15 to Aug. 6. Gallen’s last Player of the Game honor was Sept. 24, but he did not win Player of the Game in his final regular season start Sept. 29 nor in any of his six postseason starts, Oct. 4, Oct. 9, Oct. 16, Oct. 21, Oct. 27 and Wednesday. Gallen finished the regular season with 16.7 Box-Toppers points, eighth overall and fourth among NL pitchers.
Diamondbacks closing pitcher Paul Sewald had the game’s lowest Box-Toppers game score of -10.0 (1IP 5H 4R 0BB 2K ND).
No Diamondbacks batter had a positive game score Wednesday. Third baseman Evan Longoria had the highest-ranking game score of -2.0 (2B 1-3 0R 0BI).
Rangers shortstop Corey Seager was named World Series Most Valuable Player. He did not win Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in any of the Rangers’ four wins, but had the highest collective Box-Toppers game score of any Rangers batter to appear in all four wins of +1.0. Here’s a look at his game scores in the four Rangers wins:
Game 1—HR 1-4 3R 2BI, +2.0 game score.
Game 3—HR 1-4 R 2BI, 0.0 game score.
Game 4—HR 2B 2-5 R 2BI, 0.0 game score.
Game 5—2-4 R 0BI, -1.0 game score.
Seager went 0-for-4 with one strikeout in the Game 2 loss Saturday.
Five games is a small sample size to pick an MVP, but it may be that closer Jose Leclerc was the Rangers player most key to the team winning the series. LeClerc made three appearances:
Game 1—He was Box-Toppers Player of the Game (2IP 0R 0R 0BB 2K W) with a +4.0 Box-Toppers game score.
Game 3—He had a +3.0 Box-Toppers game score (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv), just behind Player of the Game Jon Gray (3IP H 0R 0BB 3K W), +5.0 game score.
Game 4—He had a -0.9 Box-Toppers game score (0.1IP H 0R 0BB 0K ND), putting out the fire of a Diamondbacks two-run, ninth-inning rally to secure the Rangers’ 11-7 win.
It was a little unusual to not see Leclerc close out Game 5 with reliever Sborz allowed to pitch multiple innings to finish the game. Had Leclerc even gotten the final one or two outs, he likely would have strengthened his case as MVP of the series.
Rangers vindicate their ‘undeserved’ top ranking
The Texas Rangers were Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team from August to the end of the season. They finished the season with 128.1 Box-Toppers points, ahead of the second-place Atlanta Braves (125.4), the second-place AL team, the Tampa Bay Rays (123.6, fourth overall) and way ahead of the Diamondbacks, who ranked 14th overall with 102.1 points, seventh among NL teams and lowest-ranked among all 12 postseason teams.
But the Rangers top ranking never felt quite right or seemed truly deserved and seemed to be more unmerited as Rangers continually stumbled to a regular season finish. With each weekly team rankings post, I was surprised (and kind of chagrined) the Box-Toppers calculations kept them in first place and would practically apologize that my math kept this unworthy team in first place.
But here they are: Box-Toppers’ top-ranked regular season team wins the World Series.
Five teams had better regular season winning percentages (.556) than the Rangers and two other teams also had the same 90-72 record, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Houston Astros.
The Rangers built their Box-Toppers top ranking from players they acquired at the August trade deadline. The Rangers notably picked up pitchers Max Scherzer from the Mets and Jordan Montgomery from the Cardinals. They were Box-Toppers’ top two players to change teams at the trade deadline, representing an addition at the time of 17.1 points to the Rangers.
The Rangers led Box-Toppers team rankings for the final nine weekly reports from Aug. 3 until the end of the season. While they built their huge lead on the strength of trade deadline deals, they didn’t perform particularly well after acquiring the players, winning only six over 22 games for a stretch in August and September. They still maintained the Box-Toppers lead despite nearly falling out of playoff contention before rebounding at the end of the season.
The Rangers finished the season in second place in the AL West on a tiebreaker with the Houston Astros—both teams had identical records but the Astros won the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Rangers were the AL fifth-seed Wild Card team. Despite their high Box-Toppers ranking, Box-Toppers pegged them as underdogs to the Astros in the AL Championship Series, in part, due to injuries going into the series and in part, due to the fact that their team ranking was largely phantom and seemingly undeserved.
But for the World Series, Box-Toppers had the Rangers as prohibitive favorites over the Diamondbacks.
Game-by-game Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners
Here is a game-by-game look at Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in the 2023 World Series
Game 1—Rangers closing pitcher Jose Leclerc (2IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W) with +4.0 game score.
Game 2—Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly (7IP 3H R 0BB 9K W) with +11.0 game score.
Game 3—Rangers reliever Jon Gray (3IP H 0R 0BB 3K W) with +5.0 game score.
Game 4—Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien (HR 3B 2-5 2R 5BI) with +4.0 game score.
Game 5—Rangers closing pitcher Josh Sborz (2.1IP H 0R 0BB 5K Sv) with +5.1 game score.
A look at Box-Toppers game scores of all Rangers players in World Series Game 5 (chart).
Top Rangers in World Series Game 5: Rangers 5, Diamondbacks 0
Here are the Box-Toppers game scores (BTG) of all Rangers players who appeared in World Series Game 5, listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score. Player of the Game (POG) is Josh Sborz.| 11/1 | BTG | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| POG | +5.1 | Josh Sborz (S, 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| +2.0 | Nathan Eovaldi (W, 5‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | ||
| +0.2 | Aroldis Chapman (H, 6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 0.0 | Marcus Semien 2B | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| ‑1.0 | Corey Seager SS | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| ‑1.0 | Jonah Heim C | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| ‑1.0 | Nathaniel Lowe 1B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| ‑2.0 | Mitch Garver DH | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| ‑2.0 | Josh Jung 3B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| ‑3.0 | Travis Jankowski RF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| ‑4.0 | Evan Carter LF | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| ‑4.0 | Leody Taveras CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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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 2023 (’23). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’22-23), the period 2018-2023 (’18-23) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2023 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2022 total (+/-).Back to top
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’23 | ’22‑23 | ’18‑23 | Career | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sborz, Josh 4397 | pi mr | tex al | 3.0 | 4.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | +2.0 |
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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. (No Box-Toppers points are awarded in postseason games.)
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