Mariners pitcher Justin Dunn is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
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 Sunday, Aug. 23.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | cle al | 7.7 |
| 2 | Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cin nl | 6.0 |
| 3 | Bundy, Dylan 3655 | pi sp | ana al | 6.0 |
| 4 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | chi nl | 5.7 |
| 5 | Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | tex al | 4.7 |
| 6 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | cin nl | 4.7 |
| 7 | Fried, Max 4011 | pi sp | atl nl | 4.7 |
| 8 | Voit, Luke 4053 | 1b | nyy al | 4.5 |
| 9 | Giolito, Lucas 3900 | pi sp | chi al | 4.0 |
| 10 | Montas, Frankie 3803 | pi sp | oak al | 4.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Also Sunday, Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Dunn struck out six over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 4-1 win over the Rangers.
Dunn earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season and ranks 79th among all players, 25th among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Giants pitcher Trevor Cahill struck out eight over 5 1/3 innings, allowing one run, one hit and two walks, in the 6-1 win over the Diamondbacks. Cahill did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was tied, 1-1, when he exited.
Cahill has now earned Box-Toppers points in 12 straight seasons with his first Player of the Game honor of 2020. He earned his first points in 2009 with the Athletics and has 58.3 career points, 36th among active NL pitchers. His best season was 2010 with the Athletics when he had 10.4 points, 14th among AL pitchers.
In 2019, he had 1.0 Box-Toppers point with the Angels, one of two seasons in which he had only 1.0 Box-Toppers point. The other was 2015 with the Braves and Cubs.
National League Batter of the Day—Trea Turner of the Nationals tripled and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 9-3 win over the Marlins.
American League Batter of the Day—Jose Martinez of the Rays went 1-for-1, scoring once and driving in one run, in the 5-4 win over the Blue Jays.
Rankings—Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish rises from sixth to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Darvish (7IP 6H R BB 10K W in the 2-1 win over the White Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.7 for the season. He ranks second among NL pitchers, behind Trevor Bauer of the Reds (6.0 Box-Toppers points).
Debut—Four players made their Box-Toppers debut Sunday, each with their first career Player of the Game honor:
Orioles pitcher Thomas Eshelman (4.1IP 0H 0R BB 2K W in the 5-4 win over the Red Sox) made his Major League debut July 1, 2019, and was playing in his 16th career game.
Padres pitcher Luis Patino (2.1IP H 0R 0BB 2K ND in the 5-3 win over the Astros) made his Major League debut Aug. 5 and was playing in his sixth career game.
Alec Bohm of the Phillies (HR 3-3 2R BI in the 5-4 win over the Braves) made his Major League debut Aug. 13 and was playing in his 10th career game.
Franklin Barreto of the Athletics (pinch-hit winning run in 5-4, 10-inning win over the Angels) made his Major League debut June 24, 2017, and was playing in his 94th career game.
Scoring—Dunn earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cahill earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Turner and Martinez each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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)| 8/23 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +10.0 | SEA 4, TEX 1 | Justin Dunn, (W 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| NL | +8.1 | `SF 6, ARI 1 | Trevor Cahill | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| +8.0 | CHC 2, CHW 1 | Yu Darvish, (W 5‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | ||
| +5.2 | DET 7, CLE 4 | Daniel Norris, (W 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| +5.1 | BAL 5, BOS 4 | Tom Eshelman, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| BAT | +5.0 | WSH 9, MIA 3 | Trea Turner, SS | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | LAD 11, COL 3 | Mookie Betts, RF | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.1 | `SD 5, HOU 3 | Luis Patiño | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.0 | PHI 5, ATL 4 | Alec Bohm, 3B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | PIT 5, MIL 4 | Gregory Polanco, DH | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | MIN 5, KC 4 | Tyler Clippard, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | STL 6, CIN 2 | Yadier Molina, C | 5 | 1 | 4 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| BAT | +2.0 | TB 5, TOR 4 | Jose Martínez, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +1.0 | OAK 5, LAA 4 (F/10) | Franklin Barreto, PR | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | chi nl | 5.7 | 16.1 | 44.9 | 90.1 | ‑4.7 |
| Betts, Mookie 3404 | rf | lad nl | 2.5 | 11.2 | 37.3 | 39.3 | ‑6.2 |
| Molina, Yadier 1967 | ca | stl nl | 2.0 | 5.0 | 19.0 | 48.7 | ‑1.0 |
| Dunn, Justin 4267 | pi sp | sea al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +1.0 |
| Cahill, Trevor 2658 | pi sp | sf nl | 1.7 | 2.7 | 22.1 | 58.3 | +0.7 |
| Martinez, Jose 3830 | rf lf 1b ph | tb al | 1.5 | 4.5 | 14.5 | 14.5 | ‑1.5 |
| Turner, Trea 3730 | ss | dc nl | 1.5 | 4.5 | 12.7 | 12.7 | ‑1.5 |
| Norris, Daniel 3548 | pi mr sp | det al | 1.0 | 5.0 | 14.0 | 14.0 | ‑3.0 |
| Polanco, Gregory 3361 | dh rf | pit nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 23.0 | 27.0 | ‑1.0 |
| Clippard, Tyler 2291 | pi mr cp | min al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 7.0 | 33.4 | +0.0 |
| Barreto, Franklin 4310 | pr | oak al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
| Bohm, Alec 4309 | 3b | phi nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
| Eshelman, Tom 4307 | pi mr | bal al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
| Patino, Luis 4308 | pi mr | sd nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations