Cubs pitcher Justin Steele is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day
Steele struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 9-0 win over the Pirates.
Steele earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season, 341st among all players and 89th among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Niko Goodrum of the Tigers hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, in the 10-7 win over the Twins. Goodrum went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs.
National League Batter of the Day—Dylan Carlson of the Cardinals hit two home runs and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 4-3 win over the Brewers.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Niko Goodrum.
Notable—Aaron Judge of the Yankees has the most 2021 Box-Toppers points among the 12 who earned Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Judge (2HR 2-3 2R 2BI in the 6-2 win over the Blue Jays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.0 for the season, 57th among all players and third among AL batters, behind Jose Ramirez of the Indians (12.0) and J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (10.7).
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2021. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Thursday, Sept. 30.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 25.1 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 22.4 |
| 3 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 21.1 |
| 4 | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi sp | mil nl | 18.1 |
| 5 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | tor al | 17.7 |
| 6 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 17.4 |
| 7 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 17.4 |
| 8 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 17.1 |
| 9 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 10 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp | ana al | 16.1 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Team and player rankings—Box-Toppers weekly team and player rankings reports are normally posted on Fridays. But since it is so close to the end of the season (with final regular season games this weekend), there will be no weekly reports posted today, Friday, Oct 1. Instead the weekly team and player reports will be posted after the conclusion of the regular season final games.
However, going into the final three days of the season, here’s a look at how a few things stand:
Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer is almost certainly going to be 2021 Box-Toppers Player of the Year. He leads all players with 25.1 Box-Toppers points, 2.7 points ahead of Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole (22.4) and 4.0 points ahead of the nearest second-place NL pitcher, Zack Wheeler of the Phillies (21.1).
Cole will finish the season in first place among AL pitchers with 22.4 points. Second-place AL pitcher Robbie Ray of the Blue Jays is 4.7 points back with 17.7. Since the most points a player can earn in a day is 2.0, Ray would need at least three appearances (with three games currently remaining) to catch Cole. And Ray made what could be his final start of the season Friday in a loss, earning no Box-Toppers points.
Currently, only four batters have 10 or more Box-Toppers points, which would be the lowest total in a 162-game season since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. The previous low was five in 2014 and 2018. (There were none in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.) By contrast, 42 pitchers currently have 10 or more Box-Toppers points this season.
The top AL batter will likely be either Jose Ramirez of the Indians (12.0 points) or J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (10.7). Theoretically, a player could earn 6.0 points in the final three days of the season by earning Player of the Day honors each day, meaning the top 17 batters (including 17th-ranked Marcus Semien of the Blue Jays with 6.2 points) are in contention. But that’s unlikely.
It should be noted that Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, currently with 16.1 Box-Toppers points, could take the lead among AL batters. Ohtani is currently unranked among AL batters because he’s earned the overwhelming majority of his Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors as a pitcher (nine of 12, the other three coming as a designated hitter). But if Ohtani earns one more Player of the Game honors as a designated hitter, he would again qualify to rank among AL batters and would go from completely unranked to taking a dominating lead in the category.
The top NL batter will likely be either Nick Castellanos of the Reds (11.5 points) or Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres (10.2). Theoretically, a player could earn 6.0 points in the final three days of the season by earning Player of the Day honors each day, meaning the top 28 batters (including 28th-ranked Bryce Harper of the Phillies with 5.5 points) are in contention. But again that’s unlikely.
A look at last week’s Box-Toppers season players rankings report.
Scoring—Steele earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Goodrum earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Carlson earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Player of the Game winners (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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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).| 9/30 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +9.0 | CHC 9, PIT 0 | Justin Steele, (W 4‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| AL | +5.0 | DET 10, MIN 7 | Niko Goodrum, SS | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| BAT | +4.0 | STL 4, MIL 3 | Dylan Carlson, CF‑RF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | TEX 7, LAA 6 | Spencer Patton, (W 2‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +3.0 | LAD 8, SD 3 | Corey Seager, SS | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | SF 5, ARI 4 | Austin Slater, CF | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | NYY 6, TOR 2 | Aaron Judge, RF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | ATL 5, PHI 3 | Will Smith, (S 37) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | NYM 12, MIA 3 | Pete Alonso, 1B | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | BAL 6, BOS 2 | Ryan Mountcastle, 1B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | HOU 3, TB 2 | Carlos Correa, SS | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | CLE 6, KC 1 | Bradley Zimmer, RF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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 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 for the current season (’21). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’20-21), the period 2016-2021 (’16-21) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2021 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2020 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’21 | ’20‑21 | ’16‑21 | Career | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf | nyy al | 9.0 | 13.0 | 30.2 | 30.2 | +5.0 |
| Correa, Carlos 3506 | ss | hou al | 7.0 | 8.5 | 27.7 | 34.9 | +5.5 |
| Smith, Will 3073 | pi cp | atl nl | 6.0 | 6.0 | 16.7 | 24.7 | +6.0 |
| Alonso, Pete 4118 | 1b | nym nl | 3.0 | 4.5 | 11.5 | 11.5 | +1.5 |
| Carlson, Dylan 4359 | rf cf | stl nl | 3.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | +1.5 |
| Mountcastle, Ryan 4325 | 1b | bal al | 3.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | +1.5 |
| Steele, Justin 4415 | pi mr | chi nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +3.0 |
| Slater, Austin 3818 | cf dh ph | sf nl | 2.5 | 4.5 | 9.0 | 9.0 | +0.5 |
| Seager, Corey 3587 | ss | lad nl | 2.0 | 5.5 | 18.5 | 20.0 | ‑1.5 |
| Zimmer, Bradley 3858 | cf rf | cle al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | +2.0 |
| Patton, Spencer 3416 | pi mr | tex al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 5.0 | +2.0 |
| Goodrum, Niko 3932 | ss | det al | 1.7 | 3.7 | 11.4 | 11.4 | ‑0.3 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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