Dodgers pitcher Tony Gonsolin is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Jason Heyward of the Cubs earns Player of the Game honors for the second straight day, rising to ninth in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2020. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Wednesday, Aug. 12.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bundy, Dylan 3655 | pi sp | ana al | 6.0 |
| 2 | Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | cle al | 4.7 |
| 3 | Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cin nl | 4.0 |
| 4 | Montas, Frankie 3803 | pi sp | oak al | 4.0 |
| 5 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | lf | nyy al | 4.0 |
| 6 | Fried, Max 4011 | pi sp | atl nl | 3.7 |
| 7 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 3.7 |
| 8 | Chatwood, Tyler 2856 | pi sp | chi nl | 3.7 |
| 9 | Heyward, Jason 2695 | rf | chi nl | 3.7 |
| 10 | Kepler, Max 3664 | rf | min al | 3.5 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Player of the Day—Gonsolin struck out eight over 4 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 6-0 win over the Padres. Gonsolin did not earn the win, picking up the no-decision, because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.
Gonsolin earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season, and ranks 43rd in season player rankings, 17th among NL pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Blake Snell struck out six over five scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks, in the 9-5 win over the Red Sox.
National League Batter of the Day—Pete Alonso of the Mets homered, hit two doubles and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 11-6 win over the Nationals.
American League Batter of the Day—Tim Anderson of the White Sox homered, tripled and went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in one run, in the 7-5 win over the Tigers.
Rankings—Jason Heyward of the Cubs rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Wednesday.
Heyward (2B 1-2 R 2BI in the 7-2 win over the Indians) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 3.7 for the season. He extends his lead among NL batters ahead of second-place J.T. Realmuto of the Phillies (2.5 points).
This is the second straight day Heyward earned Player of the Game honors. He was Tuesday’s NL Batter of the Day in the 7-1 win over the Indians (HR 3-4 R 4BI).
Active season streaks
Here are the 13 players who have active streaks of earning Box-Toppers points for 14 or more consecutive seasons. Players are listed by the length of their streak and with their current team status. Also shown is the duration of their streak and their career Box-Toppers point (BTP) total.| Streak | Player | Pos | Team | Duration | BTP* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | Albert Pujols | 1b | Angels | 2001‑2019 | 201.8 |
| 18 | Miguel Cabrera | dh | Tigers | 2003‑2020 | 152.4 |
| 15 | Justin Verlander | pi sp | Astros | 2006‑2020 | 206.6 |
| 15 | Jon Lester | pi sp | Cubs | 2006‑2020 | 175.3 |
| 15 | Felix Hernandez† | pi sp | Braves | 2005‑2019 | 175.1 |
| 15 | Edwin Encarnacion | dh | White Sox | 2005‑2019 | 87.2 |
| 15 | Robinson Cano | 2b | Mets | 2005‑2019 | 85.4 |
| 15 | Nelson Cruz | dh | Twins | 2006‑2020 | 76.2 |
| 14 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | Astros | 2007‑2020 | 208.1 |
| 14 | Cole Hamels | pi sp | Braves | 2006‑2019 | 174.2 |
| 14 | Ryan Zimmerman† | 1b | Nationals | 2006‑2019 | 67.2 |
| 14 | Hunter Pence | lf dh | Giants | 2007‑2020 | 64.2 |
| 14 | Asdrubal Cabrera | 1b 3b | Nationals | 2007‑2020 | 59.7 |
† Opted out 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns.
Streak—Astros pitcher Zack Greinke has now earned Box-Toppers points in 14 straight seasons with his first Player of the Game honor of the season.
Greinke (6.1IP 7H R BB 7K W in the 5-1 win over the Giants) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2004 with the Royals. However, he earned no points in 2006, so his 14-season streak began in 2007 with the Royals.
He has 208.1 career Box-Toppers points, fourth among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails third-ranked player, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (228.5) on the “all-time” list and ranks second among active players in career points behind Kershaw.
Greinke’s best season was 2009 with the Royals when he had 21.5 Box-Toppers points, first among all players. He’s had three seasons with 20 or more Box-Toppers points, including 2009, 2015 with the Dodgers (20.7) and 2017 with the Diamondbacks (20.1). In 2019, he had 17.9 points with the Diamondbacks and Astros, finishing the season seventh overall and fifth among AL pitchers.
Greinke becomes the 13th player with a currently active streak of earning Box-Toppers points in 14 or more consecutive seasons (see chart elsewhere on this page Active season streaks). He also is the third player in three days to extend such a streak to 14 seasons—Hunter Pence of the Giants did it Tuesday and Asdrubal Cabrera of the Nationals did it Monday.
Scoring—Gonsolin earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Snell earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Alonso and Anderson each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’s other Players of the Game (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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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG)| 8/12 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +8.2 | `LAD 6, SD 0 | Tony Gonsolin | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| AL | +7.0 | TB 9, BOS 5 | Blake Snell, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| BAT | +5.0 | NYM 11, WSH 6 | Pete Alonso, 1B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | ARI 13, COL 7 | Starling Marte, CF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | KC 5, CIN 4 | Brad Keller, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | ||
| +4.0 | `BAL 5, PHI 4 | Travis Lakins, (Hld 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +3.1 | HOU 5, SF 1 | Zack Greinke, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | CHW 7, DET 5 | Tim Anderson, SS | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +2.0 | NYY 6, ATL 3 | DJ LeMahieu, 2B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | MIN 12, MIL 2 | Byron Buxton, CF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | TEX 7, SEA 4 | Derek Dietrich, 2B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | OAK 8, LAA 4 | Robbie Grossman, LF | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | CHC 7, CLE 2 | Jason Heyward, RF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | MIA 14, TOR 11 (F/10) | Josh Smith, (S 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
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 (’20). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’19-20), the period 2015-2020 (’15-20) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2020 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2019 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’20 | ’19‑20 | ’15‑20 | Career | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heyward, Jason 2695 | rf | chi nl | 3.7 | 6.2 | 11.2 | 28.7 | +1.2 |
| Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | tb al | 2.7 | 12.7 | 48.9 | 48.9 | ‑7.3 |
| Keller, Brad 4008 | pi sp | kc al | 2.0 | 7.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | ‑3.0 |
| Gonsolin, Tony 4211 | pi sp mr | lad nl | 2.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | ‑1.0 |
| Lakins, Travis 4280 | pi cp mr | bal al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +2.0 |
| Alonso, Pete 4118 | 1b | nym nl | 1.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 | ‑5.5 |
| Anderson, Tim 3659 | ss | chi al | 1.5 | 6.5 | 15.5 | 15.5 | ‑3.5 |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | hou al | 1.0 | 18.9 | 82.4 | 208.1 | ‑16.9 |
| Marte, Starling 3122 | cf | ari nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 16.5 | 21.0 | ‑3.0 |
| Dietrich, Derek 3199 | 2b 1b lf | tex al | 1.0 | 4.7 | 16.7 | 18.7 | ‑2.7 |
| LeMahieu, DJ 3091 | 2b 3b 1b | nyy al | 1.0 | 4.5 | 27.5 | 33.5 | ‑2.5 |
| Buxton, Byron 3604 | cf | min al | 1.0 | 2.5 | 13.7 | 13.7 | ‑0.5 |
| Grossman, Robbie 3267 | lf | oak al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 11.0 | +1.0 |
| Smith, Josh 3674 | pi cp mr | fla nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Box-Toppers
Tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score stats. A method to measure & compare baseball's top players.
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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.