Thursday was an unusual day in an unusual baseball season in an unusual year.
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 Thursday, Aug. 27.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | cle al | 8.7 |
| 2 | Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cin nl | 6.0 |
| 3 | Giolito, Lucas 3900 | pi sp | chi al | 6.0 |
| 4 | Bundy, Dylan 3655 | pi sp | ana al | 6.0 |
| 5 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 5.7 |
| 6 | Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | tex al | 5.7 |
| 7 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | chi nl | 5.7 |
| 8 | Fried, Max 4011 | pi sp | atl nl | 5.7 |
| 9 | Maeda, Kenta 3609 | pi sp | min al | 5.4 |
| 10 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | cin nl | 4.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Only eight games were played and none of them lasted nine innings. All were part of pandemic-shortened, seven-inning doubleheaders and one went into “extra” innings, lasting eight innings.
It was a day in which seven games were postponed as teams protested for social justice in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis.
We will award an honorary Box-Toppers Player of the Day honor to the members of the Miami Marlins and New York Mets, who took the field Thursday, observed 42 seconds of silence and left the field, leaving a Black Lives Matter shirt on home plate.
Their game was one of the seven postponed.
•
In the eight games played, Manny Machado of the Padres is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Machado hit two home runs and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 10-7, seven-inning win over the Mariners.
Machado earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season. He ranks 43rd among all players and sixth among National League batters.
American League Player of the Day—Jose Marmolejos of the Mariners hit a grand slam and doubled, going 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 8-3, seven-inning win over the Padres.
This was Marmolejos’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Marmolejos made his Major League debut July 24 and was playing in his ninth career game.
Batters of the Day—There are no separate AL or NL Batters of the Day for Thursday because the overall Player of the Day winners were batters—Manny Machado in the NL and Jose Marmolejos in the AL.
Notable—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw now has 232.2 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Kershaw (6IP 4H 0R 0BB 4K W in the 7-0, seven-inning win over the Giants) extends his lead in career points among active players, ahead of second-place player, Astros pitcher Zack Greinke (209.1). Kershaw ranks third in career points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began, trailing Randy Johnson (282.5) and Pedro Martinez (244.8).
Kershaw now has 4.7 Box-Toppers points for 2020, 11th among all players and sixth among NL pitchers.
Debut—In addition to Marmolejos, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut Thursday, both with their first career Player of the Game honor:
Dodgers pitcher Victor Gonzalez (2.1IP 0H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 2-0, seven-inning win over the Giants) made his Major League debut July 31 and was playing in his fourth career game.
Pirates pitcher Nik Turley (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K Sv in the 2-0, seven-inning win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut July 11, 2017, and was playing in his 22nd career game.
Scoring—Machado earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Marmolejos earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. All of Thursday’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.
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.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG)| 8/27 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +6.0 | SD 10, SEA 7 (F/7) | Manny Machado, 3B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +6.0 | LAD 7, SF 0 (F/7) | Clayton Kershaw, (W 4‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| +5.1 | LAD 2, SF 0 (F/7) | Victor González, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +5.0 | CIN 6, MIL 1 (F/7) | Jesse Winker, DH | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +5.0 | `CIN 6, MIL 0 (F/7) | Wade Miley | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| AL | +3.0 | SEA 8, SD 3 (F/7) | Jose Marmolejos, 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +2.0 | PIT 2, STL 0 (F/7) | Nik Turley, (S 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| +1.0 | PIT 4, STL 3 (F/8) | Jarrod Dyson, PR‑CF | 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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 4.7 | 17.4 | 98.6 | 232.2 | ‑8.0 |
| Machado, Manny 3087 | 3b ss | sd nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 35.9 | 39.4 | +3.0 |
| Marmolejos, Jose 4314 | 1b | sea al | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | +1.7 |
| Miley, Wade 3006 | pi sp | cin nl | 1.0 | 7.7 | 28.4 | 51.8 | ‑5.7 |
| Dyson, Jarrod 2813 | cf pr | pit nl | 1.0 | 3.5 | 8.0 | 12.5 | ‑1.5 |
| Winker, Jesse 3988 | dh cf lf | cin nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 7.5 | 7.5 | +0.0 |
| Gonzalez, Victor 4313 | pi mr | lad nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
| Turley, Nik 4315 | pi cp | pit nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations