Marlins’ Luzardo tops players for Tuesday, Aug. 22; Luzardo, Gallen rise in top 10 list

Marlins pitcher Jesus Luzardo is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

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▪️ Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners.
▪️ Box-Toppers points of the day’s top players.
▪️ Top 10 players in 2023 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at upcoming pitching matchups.
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Marlins pitcher Jesus Luzardo is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to third in season player rankings.

Also Tuesday, Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2023. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Tuesday, Aug. 22.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 18.4
2 Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 17.4
3 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 15.1
4 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 14.7
5 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 13.7
6 Peralta, Freddy 3965 pi sp mil nl 13.7
7 Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 13.4
8 Lopez, Pablo 4028 pi sp min al 13.4
9 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp tex al 13.4
10 Miller, Bryce 4797 pi sp sea al 13.1
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Player of the Day

Luzardo struck out seven over six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 3-0 win over the Padres.

Luzardo earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 15.1 for the season, rising from eighth to third in season player rankings, behind Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani (18.4) and Braves pitcher Spencer Strider (17.4). Luzardo ranks second among National League pitchers behind Strider.

American League Player of the Day

Astros pitcher Justin Verlander struck out nine over six scoreless innings, allowing five hits and one walk, in the 7-3 win over the Red Sox.

Verlander earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 7.7 for the season, 47th among all players and 24th among AL pitchers.

This is Verlander’s first Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor since returning to the Astros prior to the Aug. 1 trade deadline deal with the Mets. He last earned Player of the Game honors July 19 with the Mets and last earned Player of the Game honors with the Astros in the regular season on Oct. 4, 2022.

Verlander now has 240.3 career Box-Toppers points, fifth among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He trails fourth-ranked player Pedro Martinez (244.8). (It should be noted that Martinez’s career total is only from 1995, when tracking began. If his entire career from 1992 were tracked, Martinez is projected to have 270 points.)

Verlander ranks third among active players in career points, behind Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (269.4) and Rangers pitcher Max Scherzer (249.7). Verlander ranks second among active AL pitchers behind Scherzer.

American League Player of the Day is Astros pitcher Justin Verlander.

American League Batter of the Day

Andy Ibanez of the Tigers hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, in the 8-6 win over the Cubs. Ibanez went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs.

Ibanez earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 4.5 for the season, 25th among AL batters.

American League Batter of the Day is Andy Ibanez of the Tigers.

National League Batter of the Day

Marcell Ozuna of the Braves homered, doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in one run, in the 3-2 win over the Mets.

Ozuna earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.5 for the season, seventh among NL batters.

National League Batter of the Day is Marcell Ozuna of the Braves.

Rankings

Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen rises from 10th to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Gallen (6IP 7H R BB 11K W in the 6-3 win over the Rangers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.7 for the season. He ranks third among NL pitchers, behind Spencer Strider of the Braves (17.4) and Jesus Luzardo of the Marlins (15.1), who was Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

While Gallen has the same 13.7 Box-Toppers point total of Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta, Gallen ranks ahead because he has more 2022 Box-Toppers points—18.7 vs. 7.4.

Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Tuesday’s win over the Rangers.

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Debut

Two players make their Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, each with their first career Player of the Game honor:

  • Osleivis Basabe of the Rays (GS 2-5 2R 4BI in the 12-4 win over the Rockies) made his Major League debut Aug. 13 and was playing in his eighth career game.

  • Mariners pitcher Justin Topa (1.1IP 0H 0R 0BB K W in the 6-3 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut Sept. 1, 2020, and was playing in his 73rd career game.

Scoring

  • Luzardo earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.

  • Verlander earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day.

  • Ibanez and Ozuna each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day.

  • All of Tuesday’s other Player of the Game winners (listed in the chart) 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

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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).

8/22 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +10.0 MIA 3, SD 0 Jesus Luzardo (W, 9‑8) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 2 0 0 1 7
AL +9.0 HOU 7, BOS 3 Justin Verlander (W, 9‑6) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 5 0 0 1 9
+7.0 ARI 6, TEX 3 Zac Gallen (W, 14‑5) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 7 1 1 1 11
BAT +5.0 DET 8, CHC 6 Andy Ibáñez 2B 3 2 2 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+5.0 MIL 7, MIN 3 Bryse Wilson (W, 5‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 2.0 0 0 0 0 3
+4.0 CIN 4, LAA 3 Graham Ashcraft (W, 7‑8) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 5 3 3 2 10
+4.0 CLE 8, LAD 3 Sam Hentges (W, 2‑2) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
+4.0 `TOR 6, BAL 3 (F/10) Erik Swanson ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
+3.0 TB 12, COL 4 Osleivis Basabe SS 5 2 2 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
BAT +3.0 ATL 3, NYM 2 Marcell Ozuna DH 3 2 3 1 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 PIT 6, STL 3 Johan Oviedo (W, 7‑13) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.0 4 1 1 1 5
+3.0 `WSH 2, NYY 1 Hunter Harvey (H, 14) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
+2.1 SEA 6, CHW 3 Justin Topa (W, 3‑3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.1 0 0 0 0 1
+2.0 PHI 4, SF 3 Bryce Harper DH 3 1 2 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 OAK 5, KC 4 Trevor May (S, 13) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
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 2023 (’23). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’22-23), the period 2018-2023 (’18-23) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2023 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2022 total (+/-).
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career +/‑
Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 15.1 19.1 31.2 31.2 +11.1
Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 13.7 32.4 48.1 48.1 -5.0
Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 7.7 33.7 86.3 240.3 -18.3
Oviedo, Johan 4442 pi sp pit nl 7.7 10.7 11.7 11.7 +4.7
Ozuna, Marcell 3190 dh atl nl 6.5 9.0 28.0 55.7 +4.0
Ibanez, Andy 4496 2b det al 4.5 4.5 8.5 8.5 +4.5
Ashcraft, Graham 4645 pi sp cin nl 4.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 0.0
Harvey, Hunter 4698 pi mr cp dc nl 3.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 +2.0
May, Trevor 3417 pi cp oak al 3.0 3.0 10.0 15.0 +3.0
Swanson, Erik 4131 pi mr cp sp tor al 3.0 3.0 5.7 5.7 +3.0
Harper, Bryce 3011 1b dh phi nl 2.0 8.0 30.5 64.9 -4.0
Hentges, Sam 4406 pi mr sp cle al 1.0 3.0 5.7 5.7 -1.0
Wilson, Bryse 4048 pi mr sp mil nl 1.0 3.0 5.0 5.0 -1.0
Basabe, Osleivis 4909 ss tb al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
Topa, Justin 4910 pi mr sea al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Wednesday’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 2023 (’23), over a two-year period (’22-23), over a six-year period (’18-23) and their career point total.
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Game Starter ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career
STL Thompson, Zack 4773 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
PIT Ortiz, Luis 4738 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
CHC Taillon, Jameson 3658 4.4 15.1 36.5 50.5
DET Skubal, Tarik 4414 4.7 15.4 24.1 24.1
MIN Maeda, Kenta 3609 7.7 7.7 41.2 61.2
MIL Burnes, Corbin 4029 11.7 27.1 55.9 55.9
SEA Kirby, George 4595 10.7 22.1 22.1 22.1
CHW Kopech, Michael 4385 7.0 16.0 21.7 21.7
KC Ragans, Cole 4889 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
OAK Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
SF Cobb, Alex 2916 8.0 14.7 26.1 65.9
PHI Lorenzen, Michael 3479 8.7 12.7 17.2 23.2
CIN Abbott, Andrew 4839 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0
LAA Ohtani, Shohei 3933 18.4 43.1 73.7 73.7
MIA Alcantara, Sandy 4061 7.0 28.1 47.2 47.2
SD Lugo, Seth 3729 2.7 4.7 15.7 20.7
COL Gomber, Austin 3985 1.0 4.0 18.7 18.7
TB Civale, Aaron 4173 5.0 10.0 27.4 27.4
TOR Gausman, Kevin 3191 14.7 27.4 48.8 84.1
BAL Flaherty, Jack 3971 4.0 5.0 45.3 45.3
WSH Gore, MacKenzie 4582 7.0 11.7 11.7 11.7
NYY Severino, Luis 3567 3.0 9.7 30.4 56.5
LAD Kershaw, Clayton 2494 10.1 20.8 62.6 269.4
CLE Curry, Xzavion 4875 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
NYM Quintana, Jose 3040 0.0 11.4 32.9 83.1
ATL Morton, Charlie 2503 7.0 17.4 65.7 101.1
BOS Sale, Chris 2806 6.7 6.7 39.8 151.3
HOU Urquidy, Jose 4194 1.0 9.0 22.1 22.1
CIN Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
LAA Detmers, Reid 4513 6.7 13.7 14.7 14.7
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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