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The Tampa Bay Rays visit the Oakland Athletics in the American League one-game Wild Card playoff game Wednesday.
Starting pitchers are:
Rays—Charlie Morton, 18.8 Box-Toppers points in 2019, fifth among all players and third among American League pitchers. Morton is also the top Rays player in 2019’s Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Athletics—Sean Manaea, 3.7 Box-Toppers points in 2019, 265th among all players and 66th among AL pitchers.
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Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole is Box-Toppers Player of the Year for 2019, earning the fourth-most Box-Toppers points in a single season since tracking began in 1995.
Meanwhile, Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals leads among National League pitchers, Nelson Cruz of the Twins leads among AL batters and Marcell Ozuna of the Cardinals leads among NL batters.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Walker Buehler is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to seventh place in season player rankings.
Buehler struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks, in the 7-3 win over the Orioles.
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Astros pitcher Justin Verlander maintains the lead in Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report for the 14th straight week.
However, teammate Gerrit Cole has caught up to Verlander this week in total Box-Toppers points for the season (20.8). But Verlander still ranks ahead on a tiebreaker because he has more 2018 Box-Toppers points—24.1 vs. 18.0.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Gerrit Cole is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, becoming the second player this season to reach 20 Box-Toppers points.
Cole struck out 12 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 6-3 win over the Tigers.
Read MoreRays pitcher Ryan Yarbrough is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Gleyber Torres of the Yankees rises to first place among American League batters in Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreBraves pitcher Mike Soroka is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Soroka struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing six hits and one walk, in the 4-1 win over the Padres.
Read MorePhillies pitcher Aaron Nola is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Brewers pitcher Josh Hader maintains his second-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings—increasing his lead among National League pitchers—after earning Player of the Game honors. Exactly halfway through the season, Hader already has the fifth-most Box-Toppers points (14.7) by any closing pitcher in a full single season, since closer tracking began in 1998.
Read MoreBlake Snell of the Rays, who led all pitchers in wins in 2018 with 21, also led all players in Box-Toppers points during the season with 27.2.
Six of the overall top 11 players in Box-Toppers points in 2018 are also among the top 11 pitchers in wins for the season. Plus, all 11 pitchers leading in wins are among the overall top 40 players in Box-Toppers points for the season.
Read MoreBox-Toppers top-ranked rookies, Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves and Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, were voted 2018 Rookies of the Year Monday.
The honors for the 2018 season were awarded Monday by the Baseball Writers Association of America. The Internet Baseball Writers Association of America also named both as top rookies for 2018 on Monday.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Gerrit Cole is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to second place in season player rankings.
Also Friday, Albert Pujols of the Angels reached the 3,000-hit club and Walker Buehler and three other Dodgers pitchers combined to no-hit the Padres.
Read MoreBox-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.