Jeurys Familia tops players in NLDS Game 5 as Mets eliminate Dodgers, Thursday, Oct. 15

Jeurys Familia pitched two scoreless innings, picking up the save, as the New York Mets eliminated the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday in Game 5 of the National League Division Series.

National League Division Series Game 5: Mets 3, Dodgers 2

Familia, Box-Toppers Player of the Game, allowed no hits and struck out two, earning a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0, highest among all Mets players, as the Mets beat the Dodgers in the best-of-five game series, 3-2.

During the regular season, Familia had 8.0 Box-Toppers points, ranked 88th among all players, 28th among NL pitchers and second among NL closing pitchers, behind Aroldis Chapman of the Reds. (Chapman also had 8.0 Box-Toppers points this season, but ranked higher because he had more Box-Toppers points than Familia in 2014—seven vs. zero.)

Both starting pitchers in the game were ranked in the top 10 of Box-Toppers player rankings, but neither earned Player of the Game:

• Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom, 22.4 Box-Toppers points, third among all players, third among NL pitchers. deGrom (6IP 6H 2R 7K W) had a Box-Toppers game score of 0.
• Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke, 20.7 Box-Toppers points, seventh among all players, fifth among NL pitchers. Greinke (6.2 IP 6H 3R 9K L) had a Box-Toppers game score of +2.2.

The Dodgers ranked slightly higher than the Mets in regular season Box-Toppers team rankings. The Dodgers ranked sixth among all teams, with 122.5 Box-Toppers points. But the Mets were only 0.5 points behind, with 122.0, ranking seventh among all teams.

With the Mets win, the team with the higher-ranked starting pitcher has won 15 of 21 postseason games this year—deGrom of the Mets (22.4) ranked ahead of Greinke of the Dodgers (20.7).

The Mets will now face the Chicago Cubs in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series beginning Saturday in New York.

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

10/15	Score	Team	Players	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
POG	4.0	Mets	Jeurys Familia (S,2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		2.0	0	0	0	0	2

Royals' Moustakas tops players for Thursday, Sept. 24; Kershaw's chances to pass Arrieta for Box-Toppers lead diminish

Mike Moustakas of the Royals is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Thursday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw did not earn Player of the Game honors in his start, greatly reducing the chances that he will take the Box-Toppers point lead this season and further solidifying Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta’s chances that he will end the season as leader.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 24.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	25.1
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	22.7
3	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	21.1
4	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	20.4
5	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	20.4
6	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	19.7
7	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	19.4
8	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	pit nl	18.0
9	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	17.1
10	Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	sf nl	17.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Moustakas homered, doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 10-4 win over the Mariners.

National League Player of the Day—Stephen Piscotty of the Cardinals homered and went 3-for-4, driving in four runs, in the 7-3 win over the Brewers.

American League and National League Batters of the Day—There are no separate AL and NL Batters of the Day for Thursday because both the overall Player of the Day and the NL Player of the Day were batters—Mike Moustakas and Stephen Piscotty.

Notable—Mets closing pitcher Jeurys Familia has the highest Box-Toppers point total of any of the 12 who earned Player of the Game honors Thursday. Familia (1IP 0H 0R K Sv in the 6-4 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.0 for the season. He ranks 81st among all players, 27th among NL pitchers and second among NL closers, behind Aroldis Champman of the Reds (8.0 points).

Kershaw, Arrieta and the Box-Toppers points lead—While Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers won his game, he did not earn Player of the Game honors. Kershaw (5IP 6H 3R 9K W in the 6-3 win over the Diamondbacks) had a Box-Toppers game score of +1. Player of the Game was Chris Heisey (1-3 R 4BI) with a Box-Toppers game score of +3.

Kershaw’s chances to repeat as Box-Toppers points leaders and his chances to repeat as leader among NL pitchers for the fifth straight season now seem to be greatly diminished. With 10 days left in the season, Kershaw probably will not make more than one more start and he already trails overall Box-Toppers points leader, Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta (25.1), by 2.4 points. If Kershaw makes one more start, the most he can earn is 2.0 points, giving him 24.7, short of Arrieta’s total.

But if Kershaw does make two more starts—or even two more appearances this season—he may have a chance, but would have to earn at least Player of the Game honors in both games. However, if Arrieta earns overall Player of the Day honors in his start Sunday, he would probably wrap up Box-Toppers Player of the Year honors, barring any miracle by another player.

The only other player who has a realistic chance of catching or passing Arrieta is Blue Jays pitcher David Price. Price has 21.1 Box-Toppers points, third place among all players and trails Arrieta by 4.0 Box-Toppers points. Price likely has two starts remaining, the first of which is Saturday. Price would have to earn overall Player of the Day honors in both starts, earning 2.0 Box-Toppers points each time, to give him 25.1 Box-Toppers points, the same total Arrieta currently has. Price would win the tiebreaker over Arrieta because he had more Box-Toppers points in 2014—19.1 vs. 14.7. But again, if Arrieta even earns Player of the Game honors in a start, Price would have no realistic shot of catching him.

Rankings—Two other pitchers in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings started Thursday, but neither earned Player of the Game honors:

• Chris Sale of the White Sox (7IP 7H 3R 8K L in the 3-2 loss to the Yankees) had a Box-Toppers game score of +1. Player of the Game was Carlos Beltran of the Yankees (2-4 R 3BI, Box-Toppers game score +2). Sale is ranked ninth in Box-Toppers player rankings, fourth among AL pitchers, with 17.1 points.
• Madison Bumgarner of the Giants (7IP 3H 3R 9K ND in the 5-4 loss to the Padres) had a Box-Toppers game score of +4. Player of the Game was Derek Norris of the Padres (3-4 R 3BI, Box-Toppers game score of +3). (Bumgarner had a higher Box-Toppers game score than Norris, but Norris earned Player of the Game because he had the highest score on the Padres—the team that won the game.) Bumgarner is ranked 10th in Box-Toppers player rankings, sixth among NL pitchers, with 17.0 points.

Scoring—Moustakas earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Piscotty earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player 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

9/24	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	6.0	Royals	Mike Moustakas, 3B	3	3	3	3	2	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	Rays	Erasmo Ramirez (W,11-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	2	2	0	6
NL	4.0	Cardinals	Stephen Piscotty, 1B-LF	4	1	3	4	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.1	`Marlins	Chris Narveson	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	2
	3.0	Padres	Derek Norris, C	4	1	3	3	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Dodgers	Chris Heisey, CF-RF	3	1	1	4	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Pirates	Mark Melancon (S,50)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	2.0	Rangers	Delino DeShields, CF	5	2	3	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Yankees	Carlos Beltran, RF	4	1	2	3	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Orioles	Matt Wieters, C	4	2	2	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Indians	Carlos Santana, DH	3	1	1	3	2	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Mets	Jeurys Familia (S,42)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	1
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Box-Toppers takes early crack at picking All-Star teams

Is it too early to be voting on All-Stars for the midsummer classic?

Yes.

That said, voting is open at mlb.com and fans have already started to vote even though there is not enough evidence yet to reveal who the season's all-stars really are.​

Since it is not stopping fans, we won't let it stop us at Box-Toppers, either. We will take a look at who is leading in Box-Toppers points by position and in each league. We'll also choose pitchers, even though voters don't get to pick those.

And because the season is only a little more than a month old and there hasn't yet been enough baseball played to clearly determine top players, we'll look at our all-star teams in two different ways. We'll look at Box-Toppers point leaders so far through the young 2013 season. And we'll look at who is leading in Box-Toppers points for the combined 2012 and 2013 seasons.​

The lists for both teams are below.​

	2013 SEASON				2012-13 SEASONS
AL	PLAYER	TEAM	BTP		PLAYER	TEAM	BTP
First base	Moss, Brandon 2520	oak al	3		Napoli, Mike 2161	bos al	10.7
Second base	Kendrick, Howie 2191	ana al	2.5		Cano, Robinson 2092	nyy al	6
Shortstop	Lowrie, Jed 2437	oak al	2.5		Hardy, J.J. 2071	bal al	8.2
Third base	Cabrera, Miguel 1776	det al	5.7		Cabrera, Miguel 1776	det al	17.4
Catcher	Wieters, Matt 2643	bal al	3		Mauer, Joe 1869	min al	10.5
Outfield 1	Raburn, Ryan 2340	cle al	3.5		Davis, Chris 2478	bal al	14
Outfield 2	Davis, Chris 2478	bal al	2		Hamilton, Josh 2332	ana al	11.5
Outfield 3	Willingham, Josh 2205	min al	2		Trout, Mike 2949	ana al	11
Designated hitter	Hafner, Travis 1650	nyy al	3.5		Butler, Billy 2330	kc al	11.2
Starting pitcher 1	Buchholz, Clay 2363	bos al	7.1		Verlander, Justin 2112	det al	27.8
Starting pitcher 2	Moore, Matt 2975	tb al	6.7		Darvish, Yu 3003	tex al	22.8
Starting pitcher 3	Darvish, Yu 3003	tex al	6		Hernandez, Felix 2064	sea al	22.4
Starting pitcher 4	Masterson, Justin 2462	cle al	4.7		Dickey, R.A. 1734	tor al	22.1
Middle reliever	Chen, Bruce 1170	kc al	2		Chen, Bruce 1170	kc al	8
Closing pitcher	Perkins, Glen 2506	min al	3		Rodney, Fernando 1803	tb al	8
NL
First base	Carpenter, Matt 2987	stl nl	2.5		LaRoche, Adam 1910	dc nl	9
Second base	Ellis, Mark 1614	lad nl	2.5		Phillips, Brandon 1691	cin nl	11
Shortstop	Tulowitzki, Troy 2308	col nl	1		Tulowitzki, Troy 2308	col nl	6
Third base	Frazier, Todd 2929	cin nl	2.5		Freese, David 2710	stl nl	10.7
Catcher	Posey, Buster 2745	sf nl	2		Posey, Buster 2745	sf nl	7.5
Outfield 1	Harper, Bryce 3011	dc nl	4.9		Braun, Ryan J. 2300	mil nl	15
Outfield 2	Gonzalez, Carlos 2460	col nl	4		Gonzalez, Carlos 2460	col nl	13.2
Outfield 3	Bruce, Jay 2453	cin nl	3		Holliday, Matt 1836	stl nl	11.7
Starting pitcher 1	Lynn, Lance 2992	stl nl	5.7		Kershaw, Clayton 2494	lad nl	25.8
Starting pitcher 2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	lad nl	5		Lynn, Lance 2992	stl nl	23.4
Starting pitcher 3	Harvey, Matt 3075	nym nl	5		Gonzalez, Gio 2626	dc nl	21.7
Starting pitcher 4	Maholm, Paul 2078	atl nl	4.7		Bumgarner, Madison 2753	sf nl	21.4
Middle reliever	Casilla, Santiago 2301	sf nl	2		Casilla, Santiago 2301	sf nl	6
Closing pitcher	Chapman, Aroldis 2826	cin nl	2		Chapman, Aroldis 2826	cin nl	16
AL top player	Buchholz, Clay 2363	bos al	7.1		Verlander, Justin 2112	det al	27.8
AL top batter	Cabrera, Miguel 1776	det al	5.7		Cabrera, Miguel 1776	det al	17.4
NL top player	Lynn, Lance 2992	stl nl	5.7		Kershaw, Clayton 2494	lad nl	25.8
NL top batter	Harper, Bryce 3011	dc nl	4.9		Braun, Ryan J. 2300	mil nl	15

BTP: Box-Toppers points

What are those numbers after players' names?