Pirates pitcher Wil Crowe is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Jose Ramirez of the Indians extended his lead among American League batters in 2021 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Crowe struck out nine over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 9-2 win over the Reds. Crowe did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Reds tied the game after he exited.
Crowe earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season, 196th among all players and 64th among National League pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day—Rays pitcher Louis Head struck out two over 2 1/3 scoreless innings of middle relief, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 4-3 win over the Yankees.
This was Head’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Head made his Major League debut April 25 and was playing in his 27th career game.
National League Batter of the Day—Trea Turner of the Dodgers hit two home runs, including a grand slam, in the 8-6 win over the Brewers. Turner went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in five runs.
Turner earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 2.5 for the season, 74th among NL batters. It is his first Player of the Game honor since being traded from the Nationals at the July trade deadline.
American League Batter of the Day—Tim Anderson of the White Sox doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in one run, in the 8-1 win over the Tigers.
Anderson earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.5 for the season, 13th among AL batters.
Rankings—Jose Ramirez of the Indians extends his lead among AL batters in 2021 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Ramirez (2-5 R 3BI in the 9-6 win over the Rangers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.0 for the season. He ranks 21st among all players and extends his lead over second-place AL batter J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (10.7).
With Ramirez reaching 13.0 Box-Toppers points, he assures that the record for lowest point total to lead AL batters in a regular-length season will stand. Ramirez was in danger of breaking the dubious record held by Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians, who led AL batters with 12.1 points in 2017, the lowest total to lead AL batters in a regular-length season since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.
There is a fine line between nearly setting a low-point record for batters and having among the highest point totals among batters in recent history. Oddly, at the same time of assuring he does not set a record for low point totals, Ramirez now has the highest single-season Box-Toppers point total for a batter since 2017, when Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs had 15.5 and Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins had 14.2. In the past 10 seasons (since 2012), only five batters have had a higher single-season point total: Rizzo and Stanton in 2017, Jose Abreu of the White Sox in 2014 (15.5), Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers in 2013 (16.9) and Paul Goldschmidt of the Diamondbacks in 2013 (13.7).
There have been 36 instances of a batter earning 16.0 or more Box-Toppers points in a single season since player tracking began in 1995. All of those occurred in 2013 or earlier, with 35 happening in 2009 or earlier. Batters’ share of Box-Toppers points earned plummeted in comparison to pitchers during the 2010s, a trend that continues this season.
Notable—Giants pitcher Anthony DeSclafani now has 12.7 Box-Toppers points in 2021 after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
DeSclafani (5IP 4H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 3-0 win over the Padres) ranks 24th among all players and 15th among NL pitchers.
Alos notable—Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez becomes the 47th player to reach 10 Box-Toppers points in 2021 after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Rodriguez (5IP 5H 0R 3BB 6K W in the 4-2 win over the Nationals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season, 45th among all players and 16th among AL pitchers.
This is Rodriguez’s third season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. He had 13.4 in 2018 with the Red Sox, 16th among AL pitchers and he had 11.4 in 2019 with the Red Sox, 14th among AL pitchers.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2021. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Friday, Oct. 1.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 25.1 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 22.4 |
| 3 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 21.1 |
| 4 | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi sp | mil nl | 18.1 |
| 5 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | tor al | 17.7 |
| 6 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 17.4 |
| 7 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 17.4 |
| 8 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 17.1 |
| 9 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 10 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp | ana al | 16.1 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Debut—In addition to Head, Rockies pitcher Lucas Gilbreath also made his Box-Toppers debut Friday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Gilbreath (1IP H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 9-7 win over the Diamondbacks) made his Major League debut May 1 and was playing in his 46th career game.
Scoring—Crowe earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Head earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Turner and Anderson each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’s other Player of the Game winners (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.
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Box‑Toppers Player of the Game winners
Here is the top player from each of the day’s games listed from highest to lowest Box‑Toppers game score (BTG).| 10/1 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +12.0 | `PIT 9, CIN 2 | Wil Crowe | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | |
| +9.0 | PHI 5, MIA 0 | Ranger Suárez, (W 8‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | ||
| +9.0 | NYM 4, ATL 3 | Tylor Megill, (W 4‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| BAT | +6.0 | LAD 8, MIL 6 | Trea Turner, 2B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.0 | `STL 4, CHC 3 | Dakota Hudson | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| +4.0 | SF 3, SD 0 | Anthony DeSclafani, (W 13‑7) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| AL | +3.1 | TB 4, NYY 3 | Louis Head, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| BAT | +3.0 | CHW 8, DET 1 | Tim Anderson, SS | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | TOR 6, BAL 4 | Danny Jansen, C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | BOS 4, WSH 2 | Eduardo Rodriguez, (W 12‑8) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | ||
| +3.0 | LAA 2, SEA 1 | Jose Suarez, (W 8‑8) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| +3.0 | COL 9, ARI 7 | Lucas Gilbreath, (W 3‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +2.0 | KC 11, MIN 6 | Hunter Dozier, RF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | OAK 8, HOU 6 | Seth Brown, PH‑DH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | CLE 9, TEX 6 | Jose Ramírez, 3B | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box‑Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box‑Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box‑Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box‑Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no‑decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.
Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s Player of the Game winners
Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Player of the Game winners. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’21). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’20-21), the period 2016-2021 (’16-21) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2021 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2020 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’21 | ’20‑21 | ’16‑21 | Career | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 13.0 | 16.5 | 35.5 | 39.0 | +9.5 |
| DeSclafani, Anthony 3441 | pi sp | sf nl | 12.7 | 15.4 | 30.4 | 38.1 | +10.0 |
| Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 | pi sp | bos al | 10.0 | 10.0 | 48.2 | 54.2 | +10.0 |
| Suarez, Ranger 4228 | pi sp mr | phi nl | 9.0 | 9.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | +9.0 |
| Anderson, Tim 3659 | ss | chi al | 6.5 | 11.0 | 25.0 | 25.0 | +2.0 |
| Suarez, Jose 4425 | pi mr sp | ana al | 6.4 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 6.4 | +6.4 |
| Megill, Tylor 4464 | pi sp | nym nl | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | +6.0 |
| Crowe, Wil 4486 | pi sp | pit nl | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | +5.0 |
| Dozier, Hunter 4114 | 3b | kc al | 4.0 | 5.0 | 9.5 | 9.5 | +3.0 |
| Brown, Seth 4239 | rf dh ph | oak al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 6.5 | 6.5 | +3.0 |
| Turner, Trea 3730 | ss 2b | lad nl | 2.5 | 5.5 | 16.7 | 16.7 | ‑0.5 |
| Head, Louis 4565 | pi mr | tb al | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | +1.7 |
| Hudson, Dakota 4035 | pi sp | stl nl | 1.0 | 3.7 | 12.4 | 12.4 | ‑1.7 |
| Jansen, Danny 4163 | ca | tor al | 1.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | ‑1.5 |
| Gilbreath, Lucas 4566 | pi mr | col nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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