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The Los Angeles Dodgers rise to a commanding lead in Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report on the strength of the players they acquired prior to Friday’s trade deadline.
Meanwhile, the Chicago White Sox fall from first to second in team rankings but maintain their lead among American League 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
Jackie Bradley Jr. of the Red Sox is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Bradley hit two homers and went 4-for-4, driving in four runs, in the 11-4 win over the Blue Jays.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 21.1 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.7 |
| 3 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 19.4 |
| 4 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 19.4 |
| 5 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | tor al | 19.1 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 18.0 |
| 7 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 17.4 |
| 8 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 17.1 |
| 9 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 17.0 |
| 10 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.0 |
Bradley earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 8.5 for the season. He ranks sixth among AL batters and 52nd among all players.
National League Player of the Day—Mets pitcher Hansel Robles pitched two scoreless innings of middle relief, allowing no hits and striking out four, in the 8-5 win over the Nationals. Robles earned a no decision in the game, as he held the Mets’ lead in the seventh and eighth innings.
This was Robles’ Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Robles made his Major League debut April 24 and was playing in his 48th career game. He is the 3,580th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Batter of the Day—Scott Van Slyke of the Dodgers hit a two-run double and went 4-for-5, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 7-5 win over the Angels.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Monday because the overall Player of the Day was AL batter Jackie Bradley Jr.
Notable—Rockies pitcher Justin Miller earned his first Box-Toppers point in more than six years, earning Player of the Game honors Monday. Miller (1.1IP 0H 0R 4K ND in the 6-4 win over the Padres) last earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors July 11, 2009 with the Giants. Before that, it was nearly five years between Box-Toppers points for Miller—he was Player of the Game Sept. 8, 2004, with the Blue Jays. Miller first earned Box-Toppers points in 2002 with the Blue Jays and has 6.0 career points.
Debut—Brewers pitcher Zach Davies also made his Box-Toppers debut Monday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Davies (7IP 4H R 4K W in the 9-1 win over the Marlins) made his Major League debut Sept. 2 and was playing in his second career game. He is the 3,581st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Bradley earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Robles earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Van Slyke earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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
| 9/7 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 6.0 | Red Sox | Jackie Bradley Jr., RF | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| NL | 6.0 | `Mets | Hansel Robles (MR) (H,9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 5.1 | `Rockies | Justin Miller (MR) (H,3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 5.0 | Brewers | Zach Davies (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 5.0 | Dbacks | Patrick Corbin (W,5-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 4.1 | Reds | Anthony DeSclafani (W,8-10) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Dodgers | Scott Van Slyke, 1B | 5 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | Twins | Eduardo Escobar, SS | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Indians | Ryan Raburn, RF | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Braves | Williams Perez (W,5-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 3.0 | Tigers | Rajai Davis, LF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Cubs | Dexter Fowler, CF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Yankees | Greg Bird, 1B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.1 | Rangers | Yovani Gallardo (W,12-9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 2.0 | Athletics | Coco Crisp, PH-LF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `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.