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Randy Arozarena of the Rays is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s World Series Game 4.
The Tampa Bay Rays won in a wild, walk-off win, 8-7, in which Arozarena scored the winning run. The Rays tie the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-2 in the best-of-seven game series.
Read MoreThe Los Angeles Dodgers, Box-Toppers’ dominant team during much of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, hold the edge over the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series.
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The New York Yankees are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2020 preseason rankings, rising from fifth place at the end of the 2019 season.
The 2019 World Series-champion Washington Nationals, ranked second at the end of 2019, maintain second place in the 2020 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Blue Jays made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Houston Astros—2019’s top-ranked team and American League champion—had the biggest decline.
Read MoreKirby Yates of the Padres and Liam Hendriks of the Athletics are winners of this year’s reliever of the year awards as voted on by the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA).
Read MoreMets pitcher Steven Matz is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole regains the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings, passing teammate Justin Verlander, after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreMariners pitcher James Paxton is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fifth place in season player rankings.
Paxton struck out eight over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 2-0 win over the Astros.
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Royals pitcher Will Smith is Monday's Player of the Day. Smith pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings in middle relief, striking out eight and giving up only one hit in the 3-1 win over the Mariners.
Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels is National League Player of the Day. Hamels struck out eight and gave up only one run and two hits over seven innings in the 3-2 win over the Nationals. Hamels exited the game with the score tied 1-1, so was not eligible for the win.
Andre Ethier of the Dodgers is NL Batter of the Day. Ethier homered, drove in three runs and went 3-for-4 in the 10-8 win over the Rockies.
Chris Colabello of the Twins is American League Batter of the Day. Colabello hit two home runs including a ninth-inning, go-ahead grand slam in the 10-6 win over the Astros.
Notables: Marlins pitcher Henderson Alvarez earned Player of the Game honors in the 4-3 win over the Cubs, but he won for his performance at the plate rather than the mound. Alvarez went 2-for-2 and hit a three-run homer.
Also, Freddie Freeman of the Braves rises to 32nd place in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Monday. Freeman (three-run HR, 5RBI in 13-5 win vs. Mets) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.5 for the season.
Smith receives 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day. Hamels receives 1.7 for NL Player of the Day. Ethier and Colabello each receive 1.5 for being top Batter of the Day in their league.
All of Monday's other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) receive 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 902 | Score | Team | BATTERS | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | - | - | PITCHERS | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | 11.1 | Royals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Will Smith (W, 2-1) | 4.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||
| NL | 11.0 | `Phillies | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Cole Hamels | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 9.1 | Blue Jays | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Esmil Rogers (W, 4-7) | 6.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |||
| 8.0 | Orioles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Bud Norris (W, 10-10) | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |||
| BAT | 5.0 | Dodgers | Andre Ethier CF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Twins | Chris Colabello 1B | 5 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 4.0 | Angels | Erick Aybar SS | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 4.0 | Marlins | Henderson Alvarez P | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 4.0 | Padres | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ian Kennedy (W, 6-9) | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | |||
| 3.0 | Braves | Freddie Freeman 1B | 5 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 3.0 | Tigers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Doug Fister (W, 12-7) | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | |||
| 2.0 | Pirates | Jose Tabata LF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2.0 | Reds | Zack Cozart SS | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1.2 | Yankees | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | David Huff (W, 2-0) | 5.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |||
| 1.1 | `Athletics | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Brett Anderson (H, 1) | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
` Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.
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.