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The New York Yankees regain the lead in Box-Toppers team rankings this week, passing last week’s leader, the Detroit Tigers.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs maintain their lead among National League teams and the Los Angeles Angels are the week’s hottest team.
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The New York Yankees hold dominating Box-Toppers points advantages over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2024 World Series.
Looking at the Box-Toppers numbers alone, the Yankees can’t lose. But the Dodgers this postseason through mojo and moxie (and Mookie), have won two postseason series despite being severely depleted at starting pitching, the same handicap they face in the World Series.
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Source: MLB.com
Both National League Division Series begin Saturday.
The Philadelphia Phillies face the Atlanta Braves in one best-of-five game series and the Arizona Diamondbacks face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the other. The top two NL seeds, the Braves (first) and the Dodgers (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played this week.
Read MoreBraves pitcher Michael Tonkin is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Tonkin struck out six over 3 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit, one walk and earning the save, in the 8-3 win over the Rockies.
Read MoreBlue Jays pitcher Jose Berrios is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Berrios struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 7-0 win over the White Sox.
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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 MoreChris Taylor of the Dodgers is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Thursday’s NLCS Game 5 win over the Braves.
Chris Taylor of the Dodgers is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Thursday’s National League Championship Series Game 5.
Taylor hit three home runs and went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in six runs, in the 11-2 win over the Braves. The Dodgers trail the Braves in the best-of-seven game series, 3-2.
Taylor had a Box-Toppers game score Thursday of +8.0, best among Dodgers players. In the 2021 regular season, there were only eight instances of batters earning Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors with a higher game score, led by the +11.0 achieved by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. of the Blue Jays on Sept. 12 (2HR 2-3 5R 7BI).
Dodgers starting pitcher Joe Kelly had a Box-Toppers game score of -5.8 (0.2IP 2H 2R 0BB 0K ND). AJ Pollock of the Dodgers had a Box-Toppers game score of +5.0 (2HR 3-5 3R 4BI).
Braves starting pitcher Max Fried had a game score of -12.8 (4.2IP 8H 5R 2BB 3K L). Freddie Freeman of the Braves had a game score of 0.0 (HR 1-4 R 2BI).
Taylor earned 4.7 Box-Toppers points in the 2021 regular season, 203rd among all players and 34th among NL batters.
The series resumes with Game 6 in Atlanta on Saturday.
| BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +8.0 | LAD 11, ATL 2 | Chris Taylor, 3B | 5 | 3 | 4 | 6 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
Coming Friday:
The pitching matchup:
Red Sox—Nathan Eovaldi, 14.1 Box-Toppers points, 16th among all players, sixth among AL pitchers.
This is Eovaldi’s fifth appearance of the 2021 postseason. He was Player of the Game Oct. 5 in the AL Wild Card Game win over the Yankees. He also started Oct. 10 in the AL Division Series Game 3 win over the Rays, started Oct. 16 in the AL Championship Series win over the Astros and served as closer Oct. 19 in the ALCS loss to the Astros.
Astros—Luis Garcia, 10.0 Box-Toppers points, 49th among all players, 18th among AL pitchers.
This is Garcia’s third appearance of the 2021 postseason. He started Oct. 10 in the AL Division Series Game 3 loss to the White Sox and Oct. 16 in the AL Championship Series loss to the Red Sox.
Box-Toppers preview of the ALCS from Oct. 14
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.
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Even though the Los Angeles Dodgers are Box-Toppers’ most dominant team in 2021, the Atlanta Braves should be a competitive match for them in the upcoming National League Championship Series.
The Dodgers are far and away Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team in 2021, with its players accumulating 146.7 Box-Toppers points during the regular season. The Braves ranked fifth overall with 122.4 points.
Read MoreBoth National League Division Series begin Friday.
The NL East champion Atlanta Braves face the NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers in one best-of-five game series and the NL Wild Card champion Los Angeles Dodgers take on the San Francisco Giants, champions of the NL West in the other series.
Read MoreDodgers closing pitcher Kenley Jansen is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s National League Wild Card Game.
Jansen struck out three in the ninth inning, allowing one hit, no runs and no walks, in the 3-1 win over the Cardinals.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Luis Garcia is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Garcia struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 9-3 win over the Indians.
Read MoreIndians pitcher Shane Bieber tops Box-Toppers list of the top 100 players of 2020.
Bieber had 11.4 Box-Toppers points during the pandemic-shortened regular season. And because it was such a short season—reduced from 162 games to 60—it is the lowest total to lead all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, beating the previous low set by Royals pitcher Zack Greinke, who led all players with 21.5 points in 2009.
Read MoreRandy 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 Los Angeles Dodgers maintain their lead in Box-Toppers weekly team rankings for the fifth week.
Meanwhile, the Chicago White Sox maintain their lead among American League teams and the Cincinnati Reds are the week’s hottest team in the penultimate (and also next-to-last) weekly team rankings report of the pandemic-truncated 2020 season. The final team rankings report will be posted after the completion of regular season games Sunday, Sept. 27.
Read MoreCubs pitcher Alec Mills is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, pitching a no-hitter.
Also Sunday, Rangers pitcher Lance Lynn rises to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreCubs pitcher Tyler Chatwood is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to second place in season player rankings.
Chatwood struck out 11 over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 4-3 win over the Pirates.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Scherzer struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks, in the 2-0 win over the Phillies.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in World Series Game 1 Tuesday.
The Los Angeles Dodgers win 3-1 to take a 1-0 lead over the Houston Astros in the best-of-seven game series.
Read MoreIndians pitcher Corey Kluber is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth place in season player rankings.
Kluber pitched a complete game three-hitter, allowing one run, one walk and striking out
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.