Red Sox’ Wacha tops players for Sunday, Aug. 14; Padres’ Snell tops NL players

Red Sox pitcher Michael Wacha is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Box-Toppers Toppers Box

Today’s key Box-Toppers numbers. Click links to jump to charts elsewhere on this page.
▪️ Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners.
▪️ Box-Toppers points of the day’s top players.
▪️ Top 10 players in 2022 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at today’s pitching matchups.

Red Sox pitcher Michael Wacha is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Wacha struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 3-0 win over the Yankees.

Wacha earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.4 for the season, 70th among all players and 28th among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Blake Snell struck out 10 over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 6-0 win over the Nationals.

Snell earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 7.4 for the season, 52nd among all players and 23rd among NL pitchers.

Both Wacha and Snell recorded Box-Toppers game scores of +13.0 Sunday, but Wacha beat Snell for overall Player of the Day honors because he pitched more innings—seven vs. six.

Padres pitcher Blake Snell is Sunday’s Box-Toppers NL Player of the Day.

National League Batter of the Day—Christian Walker of the Diamondbacks hit a three-run homer, two doubles and went 4-for-5, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 7-4 win over the Rockies.

Walker earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 5.5 for the season, 16th among NL batters.

Christian Walker of the Diamondbacks is Sunday’s Box-Toppers NL Batter of the Day.

American League Batter of the Day—Amed Rosario of the Guardians homered and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 7-2 win over the Blue Jays.

Rosario earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season, ninth among AL batters.

Amed Rosario of the Guardians is Sunday’s Box-Toppers AL Batter of the Day.

Notable—Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen earned Player of the Game honors in the win over the Orioles after taking a perfect game into the ninth inning.

Rasmussen (8.1IP H R 0BB 7K W in the 4-1 win over the Orioles) gave up his first and only hit in the ninth inning. Rasmussen earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game and just missed out on earning 2.0 points as overall Player of the Day—his Box-Toppers game score of +12.1 was just short of the +13.0 by Sunday’s Player of the Day, Red Sox pitcher Michael Wacha.

Rasmussen’s 5.0 Box-Toppers points for the season is 40th among AL pitchers.

Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Sunday’s win over the Orioles.

Also notable—Mets pitcher Chris Bassitt has the most 2022 Box-Toppers points among Sunday’s 15 Player of the Game winners.

Bassitt (5IP 4H 0R 2BB 5K W in the 6-0 win over the Phillies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.0 for the season, 32nd among all players and 15th among NL pitchers.

Mets pitcher Chris Bassitt is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Sunday’s win over the Phillies.

One more notable thing—White Sox pitcher Lance Lynn now has 108.1 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Lynn (6IP 5H 2R 0BB 7K W in the 5-3 win over the Tigers) ranks 70th among all players in career points since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. With his 1.0 point Sunday, he passes two players on the “all-time” list—Mets pitcher Carlos Carrasco (107.1) and Lance Berkman (108.1). Lynn now trails 69th-ranked player Kevin Millwood (108.3). Lynn ranks 17th among active players, seventh among active AL pitchers.

His 4.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022 is 53rd among AL pitchers.

White Sox pitcher Lance Lynn is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Sunday’s win over the Tigers.

Debut—Braves pitcher Bryce Elder made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Elder (7IP 3H R 3BB 10K ND in the 3-1 win over the Marlins) made his Major League debut April 12 and was playing in his sixth career game.

Braves pitcher Bryce Elder is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Sunday’s win over the Marlins.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2022. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Sunday, Aug. 14.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 19.0
2 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp ana al 18.0
3 Cease, Dylan 4231 pi sp chi al 16.7
4 Alcantara, Sandy 4061 pi sp fla nl 15.4
5 Urias, Julio 3652 pi sp lad nl 14.4
6 McClanahan, Shane 4399 pi sp tb al 14.4
7 Rodon, Carlos 3494 pi sp sf nl 13.7
8 Musgrove, Joe 3705 pi sp sd nl 13.4
9 Fried, Max 4011 pi sp atl nl 13.0
10 Alonso, Pete 4118 1b nym nl 12.2
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Scoring—Wacha earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Snell earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Walker and Rosario each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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).
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8/14 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +13.0 BOS 3, NYY 0 Michael Wacha, (W 7‑1) 7.0 2 0 0 1 9
NL +13.0 SD 6, WSH 0 Blake Snell, (W 5‑6) 6.0 3 0 0 0 10
+12.1 TB 4, BAL 1 Drew Rasmussen, (W 7‑4) 8.1 1 1 1 0 7
+9.0 KC 4, LAD 0 Brady Singer, (W 6‑4) 6.0 1 0 0 3 7
+9.0 `ATL 3, MIA 1 Bryce Elder 7.0 3 1 1 3 10
+8.0 HOU 6, OAK 3 Cristian Javier, (W 7‑8) 6.0 1 0 0 3 6
+6.0 STL 6, MIL 3 Miles Mikolas, (W 9‑9) 8.0 4 2 2 0 6
+6.0 TEX 5, SEA 3 Josh Sborz, (W 1‑0) 2.0 0 0 0 1 5
+4.2 CIN 8, CHC 5 Alexis Diaz, (S 5) 1.2 1 0 0 0 4
BAT +4.0 ARI 7, COL 4 Christian Walker, 1B 5 1 4 4
BAT +4.0 CLE 7, TOR 2 Amed Rosario, SS 4 3 3 2
+4.0 CHW 5, DET 3 Lance Lynn, (W 3‑5) 6.0 5 2 2 0 7
+4.0 NYM 6, PHI 0 Chris Bassitt, (W 10‑7) 5.0 4 0 0 2 5
+3.0 `SF 8, PIT 7 Alex Wood 6.0 5 3 3 1 9
+3.0 `LAA 4, MIN 2 Jaime Barria, (Hld 1) 2.0 1 0 0 0 2
MLB—Overall Box‑Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box‑Toppers points.
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.
N/A—Not applicable. No Player of the Game was chosen because the game ended in a tie.
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.
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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 in 2022 (’22). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’21-22), the period 2017-2022 (’17-22) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2022 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2021 total (+/-).
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’22 ’21‑22 ’17‑22 Career +/‑
Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp nym nl 9.0 22.7 37.8 41.8 -4.7
Javier, Cristian 4290 pi sp hou al 8.7 14.7 16.7 16.7 +2.7
Mikolas, Miles 3034 pi sp stl nl 7.7 7.7 22.4 25.1 +7.7
Snell, Blake 3688 pi sp sd nl 7.4 18.8 64.7 68.7 -4.0
Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp sf nl 7.0 20.0 40.7 60.1 -6.0
Singer, Brady 4337 pi sp kc al 7.0 10.0 14.0 14.0 +4.0
Wacha, Michael 3276 pi sp bos al 6.4 13.5 28.5 48.2 -0.7
Rosario, Amed 3879 ss cle al 6.0 9.5 15.0 15.0 +2.5
Walker, Christian 3958 1b ari nl 5.5 6.5 13.0 13.0 +4.5
Rasmussen, Drew 4547 pi sp tb al 5.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 +3.0
Lynn, Lance 2992 pi sp chi al 4.0 16.4 52.2 108.1 -8.4
Diaz, Alexis 4613 pi cp mr cin nl 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 +3.0
Barria, Jaime 3964 pi sp mr ana al 2.0 3.0 10.0 10.0 +1.0
Sborz, Josh 4397 pi mr cp tex al 1.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 -1.0
Elder, Bryce 4709 pi sp atl nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Monday’s pitching matchups

A Box-Toppers look at the upcoming day’s probable pitching matchups. Teams are paired below with visiting teams on top and home teams on the bottom. Each team’s starting pitcher is shown with their Box-Toppers point total from 2022 (’22), over a two-year period (’21-22), over a six-year period (’17-22) and their career point total.
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Game Starter ’22 ’21-22 ’17-22 Career
DET Hutchison, Drew 3038 0.0 1.0 1.0 26.0
CLE Civale, Aaron 4173 1.0 12.7 18.4 18.4
DET Garcia, Bryan 4379 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
CLE Curry, Xzavion* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
PHI Syndergaard, Noah 3472 2.0 2.0 24.4 51.5
CIN Minor, Mike 2894 0.0 6.4 32.5 59.6
SD Musgrove, Joe 3705 13.4 29.5 45.5 49.2
MIA Alcantara, Sandy 4061 15.4 25.1 34.5 34.5
CHC Stroman, Marcus 3327 1.7 11.7 27.4 50.5
WSH Gray, Josiah 4503 4.7 5.7 5.7 5.7
TB Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
NYY Cole, Gerrit 3232 11.4 33.8 98.4 134.3
BAL Bradish, Kyle 4597 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
TOR Kikuchi, Yusei 4136 4.7 10.7 16.4 16.4
NYM Carrasco, Carlos 2885 7.0 7.0 60.6 107.1
ATL Strider, Spencer 4626 8.4 8.4 8.4 8.4
KC Bubic, Kris 4413 0.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
MIN Ryan, Joe 4539 9.7 12.4 12.4 12.4
OAK Kaprielian, James 4416 2.0 9.4 9.4 9.4
TEX Otto, Glenn 4584 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
HOU Urquidy, Jose 4194 6.0 14.4 19.1 19.1
CHW Cueto, Johnny 2400 4.4 9.4 16.4 116.2
LAD Urias, Julio 3652 14.4 33.5 41.5 47.2
MIL Peralta, Freddy 3965 6.4 19.1 37.8 37.8
SEA Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 7.0 16.0 51.8 51.8
LAA Ohtani, Shohei 3933 18.0 34.1 48.6 48.6
ARI Bumgarner, Madison 2753 2.7 12.7 32.4 138.1
SF Cobb, Alex 2916 4.0 11.4 23.8 55.2
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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