Padres’ Snell tops players for Wednesday, Sept. 21; Guardians’ McKenzie tops AL players

Padres pitcher Blake Snell is Wednesday’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.

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

Snell struck out 13 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 1-0 win over the Cardinals.

Snell gave up no hits until there were two outs in the seventh inning, when he gave up a single to Albert Pujols.

Snell earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 12.1 for the season, 30th among all players and 15th among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Guardians pitcher Triston McKenzie struck out 12 over eight innings, allowing two runs, six hits and no walks, in the 8-2 win over the White Sox.

McKenzie earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 14.7 for the season, 14th among all players and sixth among AL pitchers.

Guardians pitcher Triston McKenzie is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers AL Player of the Day.

American League Batter of the Day—Gleyber Torres of the Yankees hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, in the 14-2 win over the Pirates. Torres went 3-for-4, scoring four times and driving in five runs.

Gleyber Torres of the Yankees is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers AL Batter of the Day.

National League Batter of the Day—Mike Brosseau of the Brewers hit a grand slam and went 1-for-1, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 6-0 win over the Mets.

Mike Brosseau of the Brewers is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers NL Batter of the Day.

Notable—Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler now has 12.7 Box-Toppers points in 2022 after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Wheeler (4IP 2H 0R 0BB 3K ND in the 4-3, 10-inning win over the Blue Jays) ranks 25th among all players in 2022 Box-Toppers points, 13th among NL pitchers.

Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s win over the Blue Jays.

Also notable—Diamondbacks pitcher Madison Bumgarner now has 139.1 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Bumgarner (6IP H R BB 5K W in the 6-1 win over the Dodgers) rises to 32nd place among all players in career points since player tracking began in 1995. With his 1.0 point Wednesday, he passes two players on the “all-time” list—Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole (138.3) and Andy Pettitte (138.5). He now trails 31st-ranked player Jake Peavy (141.8). Bumgarner ranks ninth among active players in career points, fourth among active NL pitchers.

Bumgarner now has 3.7 points for 2022, 75th among NL pitchers.

Diamondbacks pitcher Madison Bumgarner is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s win over the Dodgers.

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 Wednesday, Sept. 21.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 24.0
2 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp ana al 22.7
3 Cease, Dylan 4231 pi sp chi al 20.4
4 Alcantara, Sandy 4061 pi sp fla nl 19.1
5 Rodon, Carlos 3494 pi sp sf nl 18.1
6 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 17.7
7 Urias, Julio 3652 pi sp lad nl 17.4
8 Musgrove, Joe 3705 pi sp sd nl 16.4
9 McClanahan, Shane 4399 pi sp tb al 16.4
10 Woodruff, Brandon 3868 pi sp mil nl 16.1
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Scoring—Snell earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and McKenzie earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Torres and Brosseau each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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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9/21 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +16.0 SD 1, STL 0 Blake Snell, (W 8‑9) 7.0 2 0 0 2 13
AL +11.0 CLE 8, CHW 2 Triston McKenzie, (W 11‑11) 8.0 6 2 2 0 13
+10.0 BAL 8, DET 1 Jordan Lyles, (W 11‑11) 9.0 3 1 1 0 6
+10.0 OAK 2, SEA 1 James Kaprielian, (W 4‑9) 7.0 2 0 0 1 6
+9.1 SF 6, COL 1 Logan Webb, (W 14‑9) 5.1 1 0 0 0 5
BAT +8.0 NYY 14, PIT 2 Gleyber Torres, 2B 4 4 3 5
+7.0 ARI 6, LAD 1 Madison Bumgarner, (W 7‑15) 6.0 1 1 1 1 5
+7.0 CHC 4, MIA 3 Keegan Thompson, (W 10‑5) 3.0 1 0 0 1 6
BAT +5.0 MIL 6, NYM 0 Mike Brosseau, PH‑1B 1 1 1 4
+5.0 TEX 7, LAA 2 Dane Dunning, (W 4‑8) 5.0 3 2 2 1 8
+5.0 `PHI 4, TOR 3 (F/10) Zack Wheeler 4.0 2 0 0 0 3
+4.0 CIN 5, BOS 1 Chase Anderson, (W 2‑3) 5.0 3 1 1 0 4
+3.1 KC 5, MIN 2 Anthony Misiewicz, (W 1‑1) 1.1 1 0 0 0 3
+3.0 HOU 5, TB 2 Lance McCullers Jr., (W 4‑1) 7.0 6 2 2 2 8
+3.0 WSH 3, ATL 2 Kyle Finnegan, (S 11) 1.0 0 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.
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 +/‑
McKenzie, Triston 4303 pi sp cle al 14.7 25.1 29.1 29.1 +4.3
Wheeler, Zack 3204 pi sp phi nl 12.7 33.8 55.5 67.2 -8.4
Snell, Blake 3688 pi sp sd nl 12.1 23.5 69.4 73.4 +0.7
Webb, Logan 4258 pi sp sf nl 8.7 24.2 26.9 26.9 -6.8
Thompson, Keegan 4579 pi sp chi nl 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 +8.0
McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 5.4 14.1 36.9 49.7 -3.3
Dunning, Dane 4317 pi sp tex al 4.4 6.4 9.4 9.4 +2.4
Finnegan, Kyle 4535 pi cp dc nl 4.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 +2.0
Torres, Gleyber 3972 2b nyy al 4.0 4.0 17.5 17.5 +4.0
Bumgarner, Madison 2753 pi sp ari nl 3.7 13.7 33.4 139.1 -6.3
Kaprielian, James 4416 pi sp oak al 3.0 10.4 10.4 10.4 -4.4
Lyles, Jordan 3100 pi sp bal al 2.0 9.0 21.7 29.4 -5.0
Anderson, Chase 3328 pi sp mr cin nl 2.0 3.0 26.8 42.8 +1.0
Brosseau, Mike 4185 1b 2b ph mil nl 1.5 1.5 5.5 5.5 +1.5
Misiewicz, Anthony 4383 pi mr cp kc al 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Thursday’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
LAA Lorenzen, Michael 3479 3.0 3.0 11.5 13.5
TEX Perez, Martin 3213 9.1 10.1 16.8 29.8
MIN Winder, Josh 4588 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
KC Heasley, Jonathan 4655 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
SF Brebbia, John 4080 1.0 1.0 6.0 6.0
COL Urena, Jose 3492 1.0 1.0 19.7 23.4
SEA Kirby, George 4595 10.4 10.4 10.4 10.4
OAK Martinez, Adrian 4599 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
STL Flaherty, Jack 3971 0.0 6.0 40.3 40.3
SD Musgrove, Joe 3705 16.4 32.5 48.5 52.2
CHC Wesneski, Hayden 4731 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7
PIT Keller, Mitch 4230 2.0 6.0 7.0 7.0
MIL Woodruff, Brandon 3868 16.1 33.2 49.9 49.9
CIN Greene, Hunter 4651 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
TOR Berrios, Jose 3791 9.0 18.4 58.9 58.9
TB Chargois, JT 3736 0.0 2.0 2.0 3.0
HOU Verlander, Justin 2112 24.0 24.0 91.3 230.6
BAL Bradish, Kyle 4597 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
ATL Fried, Max 4011 16.0 27.8 44.5 44.5
PHI Suarez, Ranger 4228 4.0 13.0 14.0 14.0
BOS Wacha, Michael 3276 8.4 15.5 30.5 50.2
NYY Taillon, Jameson 3658 8.7 17.7 39.1 44.1
CLE Bieber, Shane 4005 13.7 20.4 56.3 56.3
CHW Cueto, Johnny 2400 6.4 11.4 18.4 118.2
ARI Gallen, Zac 4171 17.7 21.7 33.4 33.4
LAD Urias, Julio 3652 17.4 36.5 44.5 50.2
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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