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Box-Toppers picks the Cleveland Indians to beat the Washington Nationals in the 2018 World Series.
Box-Toppers projects the Indians to defeat the Red Sox in the AL Championship Series and the Nationals to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player over the past six seasons while Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player over the past two seasons.
Kershaw leads all players in Box-Toppers points over 2012-2017 with 147.2, ahead of Scherzer, in second place with 128.9.
Read MoreChris Sale tops Box-Toppers list of the top 100 players in 2017. Indians, Nationals and Astros each have seven players on the list, most of any team.
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Washington Nationals have led Box-Toppers team rankings seven of the past nine weeks. Astros lead AL teams for fifth straight week.
Read MoreNationals lead all teams in Box-Toppers points for 3rd week. Yankees remain atop AL teams. Reds and Astros are the hottest teams of the week.
Read MoreWashington Nationals rise to lead Box-Toppers team rankings and were the week's hottest team. Red Sox top AL teams. Reds drop from 1st to 6th.
Read MoreReds top first weekly Box-Toppers team rankings of the season. Tigers top AL teams. Mets were the hottest team of the past week.
Read MoreBox-Toppers projects Nationals to edge Dodgers in NL, Red Sox to beat Indians in the AL. World champion Cubs remain strong but return trip to World Series is not projected.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player over both the past two seasons and the past six seasons. Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer ranks second on both lists.
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With trade deadline acquisitions, Dodgers are hottest team of the week. Other teams strengthened by trades include Mets, Blue Jays, Rangers, Giants, Twins, Orioles.
Read MoreBlue Jays projected to win it all after beating Indians in ALCS. Cubs picked to win NLCS over the Dodgers.
Read MoreCubs, Blue Jays top preseason rankings. 2015 champ Royals fall to 11th. Red Sox, Dbacks make big offseason gains in Box-Toppers points, signing marquee pitchers.
Read MoreWho are each franchise's top 4 players in career Box-Toppers points since 1995?
Read MoreBox-Toppers' high players by team does not include AL MVP Donaldson, who ranked 3rd among Blue Jays batters.
Read MoreCubs lead year-end All-Star teams with 3 players, including overall leader, Jake Arrieta. Six players return from 2014 All-Star teams.
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Johnny Cueto pitched a complete-game two-hitter to lead the Royals to a Game 2 World Series win over the Mets Wednesday, picking up Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors.
Cueto allowed one run, struck out four and walked three in the 7-1 win, giving the Kansas City Royals a 2-0 lead over the New York Mets in the best-of-seven series.
Cueto had a Box-Toppers game score of +6.0, the highest of all Royals players Wednesday. During the regular season, Cueto had 12.8 Box-Toppers points, 25th among all players and 13th among AL pitchers. However, Cueto earned nearly all of his points while pitching with the Cincinnati Reds before he was traded in late July to the Royals. He had 10.8 points with the Reds and 2.0 with the Royals, earning Player of the Day honors on Aug. 10.
This was the second time Cueto earned Player of the Game honors this postseason. He was also Player of the Game in the American League Division Series Game 5 against the Astros on Oct. 14.
Alex Gordon (2B 1-2 2R BI) had the highest Box-Toppers game score among Royals batters of +2.0.
Mets starting pitcher Jacob deGrom ranked third in Box-Toppers points during the regular season (22.4), but had the lowest Box-Toppers game score of any player in Game 2. deGrom (5IP 6H 4R 3BB 2K) had a Box-Toppers game score of −10.0.
Only three Mets players had Box-Toppers game scores of 0.0 or more in Wednesday’s Game 2 as most pitchers gave up multiple hits or runs and most batters were shut down by Cueto and did not earn hits, runs or RBIs. The top three Mets were:
Thursday is a travel day. The World Series resumes with Game 3 Friday 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.
Here are the Box-Toppers game score of all Royals who played in World Series Game 2 listed from highest-to-lowest Box-Toppers game score. Johnny Cueto is Player of the Game (POG).
| 10/28 | Score | Team | Players | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| POG | 6.0 | Royals | Johnny Cueto (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| 2.0 | Royals | Alex Gordon, LF | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Royals | Eric Hosmer, 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Royals | Mike Moustakas, 3B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Royals | Paulo Orlando, RF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.0 | Royals | Alcides Escobar, SS | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| -1.0 | Royals | Alex Rios, RF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| -2.0 | Royals | Salvador Perez, C | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| -3.0 | Royals | Kendrys Morales, DH | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| -4.0 | Royals | Lorenzo Cain, CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| -5.0 | Royals | Ben Zobrist, 2B | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Coming Friday in New York:
The pitching match-up Friday:
Royals—Yordano Ventura, 11.7 Box-Toppers points, 30th among all players, 15th among AL pitchers.
Mets—Noah Syndergaard, 10.4 Box-Toppers points, 41st among all players, 16th among NL pitchers.
Box-Toppers season-end player rankings report
Box-Toppers point totals of all Royals players active at season's end
Box-Toppers point totals of all Mets players active at season's end
Cubs lead Mets in Box-Toppers team rankings. Cubs have more All-Stars—3 to 1. Cubs have Box-Toppers Player of the Year Jake Arrieta. But position-by-position, Mets may have an edge.
Read MoreAstros remain active buyers and stay atop team rankings. Dodgers pass Cardinals in NL. Blue Jays, picking up Price & Tulo, gain most points in past week.
Read MoreKansas City rises from third to first in rankings. Cardinals fall to second, but still lead NL. San Francisco Giants were the week's hot team.
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The Los Angeles Angels finish the season atop Box-Toppers team rankings—but they had the fewest Box-Toppers points of any American League team in the past 10 days.
| 928 | Teams | BTP | BTP /wk |
Last wk rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | *Angels | 124.2 | 3.0 | 1 |
| 2 | *Dodgers | 123.2 | 8.0 | 2 |
| 3 | *Athletics | 117.6 | 5.7 | 3 |
| 4 | *Nationals | 115.5 | 11.5 | 8 |
| 5 | *Cardinals | 114.8 | 5.7 | 5 |
| 6 | *Orioles | 113.4 | 4.0 | 4 |
| 7 | *Tigers | 112.9 | 6.0 | 6 |
| 8 | *Giants | 110.8 | 4.5 | 7 |
| 9 | Blue Jays | 106.5 | 8.5 | 9 |
| 10 | *Royals | 101.1 | 6.5 | 11 |
| 11 | *Pirates | 99.9 | 6.7 | 16 |
| 12 | Mariners | 99.9 | 5.0 | 10 |
| 13 | Indians | 99.6 | 7.7 | 15 |
| 14 | Yankees | 96.4 | 8.9 | 17 |
| 15 | Marlins | 95.6 | 3.5 | 13 |
| 16 | Brewers | 94.7 | 4.7 | 14 |
| 17 | Braves | 92.1 | 3.0 | 16 |
| 18 | Reds | 90.5 | 6.5 | 19 |
| 19 | Mets | 89.9 | 6.0 | 21 |
| 21 | Rays | 88.2 | 3.7 | 18 |
| 20 | Padres | 88.0 | 7.5 | 22 |
| 22 | White Sox | 86.6 | 4.0 | 20 |
| 24 | Phillies | 82.0 | 3.0 | 24 |
| 23 | Twins | 81.3 | 6.0 | 25 |
| 25 | Astros | 79.9 | 3.7 | 23 |
| 26 | Rockies | 78.6 | 4.5 | 26 |
| 27 | Cubs | 75.2 | 6.0 | 27 |
| 28 | Rangers | 73.7 | 7.7 | 29 |
| 29 | Dbacks | 70.7 | 2.0 | 28 |
| 30 | Red Sox | 68.7 | 6.5 | 30 |
The Los Angeles Dodgers meanwhile remained atop National League teams in Box-Toppers rankings—a spot they’ve held since July 3— and moved to within one point of the Angels.
Angels players have accumulated 124.2 Box-Toppers points (only 3.0 since the last ranking report on Sept. 18) and the Dodgers have 123.2. (The Dodgers picked up 8.0 points since Sept. 18, second-best among NL teams.)
The Angels are led by pitcher Garrett Richards, who has 15.7 Box-Toppers points and is out for the season with a torn knee tendon. Richards ranks 13th among all players and seventh among AL pitchers. Pitcher Matt Shoemaker has the most Box-Toppers points among active Angels players, with 11.7. He ranks 22nd among AL pitchers. Their top batter, Mike Trout, has 8.5 Box-Toppers points and ranks seventh among AL batters.
The Angels also have baseball’s best winning percentage (.605).
The Dodgers are led by overall Box-Toppers points leader, pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who has 31.5 points. Pitcher Zack Greinke has the second-most Box-Toppers points among Dodgers players—16.5, ranking sixth among NL pitchers. Their top batter, Adrian Gonzalez, has 7.2 Box-Toppers points and ranks 10th among NL batters.
The Dodgers have the second-best winning percentage in the NL (.580), behind the Washington Nationals (.593). The Nationals had the hottest past 10 days of any team, picking up 11.5 Box-Toppers points, giving them 115.5 for the season and moving from eighth to fourth place overall, second among NL teams.
All 10 teams bound for the playoffs finished in the top 11 spots in Box-Toppers team rankings. The only non-playoff team to finish in the top 10 is the Toronto Blue Jays, who finish ninth with 106.5 points, ahead of two playoff-bound teams—the Kansas City Royals and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Oakland Athletics, who led Box-Toppers team rankings much of the season, were the last team to secure a playoff berth Sunday. They finish in third place overall with 117.6 Box-Toppers points, second among AL teams. They nearly lost their wild card spot to the Seattle Mariners, who with 99.9 Box-Toppers points, finished 12th among all teams.
Last year’s World Series champions, the Boston Red Sox, finish the 2014 season at the bottom of Box-Toppers team rankings, in 30th place with 68.7 points.
How did Box-Toppers preseason picks fare during the 2014 season? Only five of the 10 teams picked to make the playoff actually earned postseason berths (The good: Tigers, Orioles, Nationals, Cardinals and Dodgers. The bad: Red Sox, Rangers, Rays, Reds and Braves. The missed: Royals, Angels, Athletics, Pirates and Giants.) Four of six division winners were predicted correctly (Tigers, Nationals, Cardinals and Dodgers). But our preseason World Series pick of Dodgers over Tigers is still a possibility.
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.
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.