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Lane Thomas of the Guardians is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s American League Division Series Game 5.
The Cleveland Guardians win the series in five games, 3-2, advancing to the AL Championship Series and eliminating the Detroit Tigers.
AL Division Series Game 5: Guardians 7, Tigers 3
Thomas hit a go-ahead, fifth-inning grand slam and went 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in five runs.
Thomas earned 5.5 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 161st among all players and 18th among AL batters.
Thomas had a Box-Toppers game score Saturday of +4.0. While Guardians starting pitcher Matthew Boyd had a higher game score (+5.0), he did not qualify to win Player of the Game because he did not pitch at least three innings nor did he earn the win or save (2IP H 0R BB 5K ND). Guardians closing pitcher Emmanuel Clase also had a +4.0 game score (2IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv), but in cases of game score ties, batters rank higher than pitchers, giving Thomas the edge to earn Player of the Game.
Guardians reliever Tim Herrin, who earned the win, had a -1.9 game score (1.1IP H R BB R W). Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal had a -5.0 game score in the loss (6IP 6H 5R BB 6K L).
The Guardians and the Tigers were the lowest two teams in Box-Toppers rankings to qualify for the postseason. The Tigers rank 22nd among the 30 teams with their players accumulating 84.9 Box-Toppers points in 2024, while the Guardians rank 13th overall with 106.3 points.
The Tigers qualified for the postseason as the sixth-seeded AL Wild Card and advanced to the ALDS by beating the third-seeded Houston Astros in the Wild Card round in a 2-0 sweep.
The Guardians, despite their low Box-Toppers ranking, had the second-highest winning percentage among AL teams (.571), securing them the second seed among AL teams and giving them a first-round bye.
The Guardians now advance to the American League Championship Series beginning Monday against the New York Yankees.
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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Box‑Toppers Player of the Game winners
Here is the top player from each of the day’s games listed from highest to lowest Box‑Toppers game score (BTG).| 10/12 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +4.0 | CLE 7, DET 3 | Lane Thomas CF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
` Pitcher had a no‑decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.
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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 2024 (’24). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’23-24), the period 2019-2024 (’19-24) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2024 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2023 total (+/-).Back to top
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’24 | ’23‑24 | ’19‑24 | Career | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas, Lane 4623 | rf cf | cle al | 5.5 | 9.2 | 10.2 | 10.2 | +1.8 |
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