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Both National League Division Series begin Tuesday.
The Los Angeles Dodgers face the San Diego Padres in one best-of-five game series and the Atlanta Braves face the Philadelphia Phillies in the other. The top two NL seeds, the Dodgers (first) and the Braves (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played over the weekend.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Andrew Heaney is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fifth place in season player rankings.
Heaney struck out 11 over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and three walks, in the 9-1 win over the Reds.
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Box-Toppers picks the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 2022 World Series, beating the predicted American League champion Chicago White Sox.
Box-Toppers projects the Dodgers will have the most wins among all teams—111—and will be the only team with more than 100 wins this season.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2022 preseason rankings. They also ended 2021 as Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team.
Meanwhile, the New York Mets made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Oakland Athletics saw the biggest decline.
Read MorePadres pitcher Joe Musgrove, pitching a no-hitter, is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Musgrove struck out 10 in a complete-game shutout, allowing no walks, in the 3-0 win over the Rangers. Musgrove faced 28 batters, one over the minimum, allowing only one baserunner on a hit by pitch.
Read MoreAngels pitcher Andrew Heaney is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s spring training games.
Heaney struck out eight over five scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 3-2 win over the Brewers. Heaney did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Brewers tied the game after he exited.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to second place in season player rankings.
Kershaw struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 5-1 win over the Diamondbacks.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Corbin Barnes is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Eloy Jimenez of the White Sox rises to lead American League batters in 2020 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors.
Plus, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer Friday becomes the eighth player (since 1995, when tracking began) to reach 200 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreAngels pitcher Andrew Heaney is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Nelson Cruz of the Twins regains the lead in 2019 Box-Toppers points among American League batters after earning AL Batter of the Day honors.
Read MoreAngels pitcher Andrew Heaney is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Heaney struck out 12 over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 1-0 win over the White Sox.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, regaining top spot in season player rankings and rising to 10th place in career points on Box-Toppers “all-time” points list.
Also Tuesday, three others earning Player of the Game honors are among the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings—Mariners pitcher James Paxton, Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin and Indians pitcher Corey Kluber.
Read MoreAngels pitcher Andrew Heaney is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Heaney struck out 10 over eight innigs, allowing one run, four hits and one walk, in the 2-1 win over the Astros.
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Blue Jays pitcher Marco Estrada is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Estrada pitched 8 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out 10, in the 1-0, 12-inning win over the Rays. Estrada picked up a no decision and did not earn the win because he left the game in scoreless tie. Estrada had a perfect game before allowing a hit in the eighth inning.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 13.4 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 13.0 |
| 3 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 12.0 |
| 4 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 12.0 |
| 5 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | det al | 11.1 |
| 6 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 10.4 |
| 7 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 9.7 |
| 8 | Martinez, Carlos 3371 | pi sp | stl nl | 9.7 |
| 9 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 9.7 |
| 10 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 9.4 |
National League Player of the Day—Brewers pitcher Jimmy Nelson allowed one run on two hits over eight innings, striking out five, in the 4-1 win over the Mets.
American League Batter of the Day—Brett Lawrie of the Athletics hit a grand slam and went 3-for-5 in the 8-2 win over the Rangers.
National League Batter of the Day—Yasmany Tomas of the Diamondbacks doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in a run, in the 8-7 win over the Rockies.
Notable—Giants pitcher Ryan Vogelsong has the highest Box-Toppers player ranking of any of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Vogelsong has 7.0 Box-Toppers points and ranks 21st among all players, 13th among NL pitchers. Vogelsong (6IP 5H 0R 4K W in the 6-0 win over the Padres) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game.
Rankings—Two pitchers ranked among Box-Toppers top 10 players this season started Wednesday but both failed to earn Player of the Game honors as their teams both lost:
Streak—Omar Infante of the Royals has now earned at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point for 12 straight seasons.
Infante was Player of the Game in Wednesday’s 8-2 win over the Mariners (2B 3-4 R 3BI) and earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, his first of the season.
Infante earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2004 with the Tigers. His best year was 2012 when he had 4.5 Box-Toppers points with the Tigers and ranked third among AL second basemen. Infante had 4.0 Box-Toppers points in 2014 with the Royals.
Infante has 29.5 career Box-Toppers points, which ranks fifth among active AL second basemen.
Return—Dodgers pitcher J.P. Howell earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the first time in more than five years Wednesday. Howell (1.1IP H 0R K W in the 5-2 win over the Cubs) last earned Player of the Game honors on Aug. 5, 2009, when he was with the Rays.
Debut—Angels pitcher Andrew Heaney made his Box-Toppers debut Wednesday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Heaney (6IP 4H R 5K ND in the 2-1, 13-inning win over the Astros) made his Major League debut June 19, 2014, and was playing in his eighth career game. He is the 3,515th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Estrada earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Nelson earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Lawrie and Tomas each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 6/24 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 16.2 | `Blue Jays | Marco Estrada | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | |
| NL | 8.0 | Brewers | Jimmy Nelson (W, 4-8) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | |
| 5.0 | Indians | Carlos Carrasco (W, 9-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 5.0 | Twins | Phil Hughes (W, 6-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 5.0 | `Nationals | Jordan Zimmermann | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | Cardinals | Jaime Garcia (W, 3-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | `Angels | Andrew Heaney | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Athletics | Brett Lawrie 3B | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Royals | Omar Infante 2B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Red Sox | Clay Buchholz (W, 5-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 3.0 | Giants | Ryan Vogelsong (W, 6-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 3.0 | Reds | J.J. Hoover (S, 1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.2 | Yankees | Ivan Nova (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Dbacks | Yasmany Tomas RF | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1.1 | Dodgers | J.P. Howell (W, 3-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 1 | 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. | ||||||||||||||||
The Los Angeles Dodgers, one of the most active shoppers for players at this week’s winter meetings, picked up 10 players with a combined 21.0 Box-Toppers points in 2014 and dealt seven players with a total of 18.0 Box-Toppers points.
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.