Mariners pitcher Hunter Strickland is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Strickland struck out one in one inning of relief, allowing no hits, runs or walks and earning the save, in the 5-4, 12-inning win over the Athletics.

It was the second and final game of the season opening series in Japan and the only regular season game played Thursday.

Strickland earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season. He earned 3.0 points in 2018 with the Giants.

Thursday was also the final regular season game for outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, 45, who announced his retirement after playing his final two games in his native country.

Suzuki did not earn a lot of Box-Toppers points during his career, but managed to earn them fairly consistently and over a long period of time. He had 53.7 career Box-Toppers points, which ranks just eighth among active AL outfielders. His best season was 2007 with the Mariners, when he had 8.0 Box-Toppers points, which ranked ninth among AL outfielders.

However, Suzuki did earn at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point in 16 consecutive seasons (from 2001 to 2016), which is the 15th-longest such streak in Box-Toppers tracking history, which began in 1995. His last point was earned May 16, 2016, as a member of the Marlins.

Box-Toppers tends to favor batters who hit for power, racking up a lot of home runs and runs batted in. Suzuki racked up a lot of hits, but most were singles.

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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Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG)

3/21

BTG

Game

Player

AB

R

H

BI

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

MLB

2.0

SEA 5, OAK 4 (F/12)

Hunter Strickland (S, 2)

-

1.0

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.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

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 (’19). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’18-19), the period 2013-2018 (’14-19) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2019 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2018 total (+/-).