Astros pitcher Brandon Bielak is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Bielak struck out four over the game’s final 4 2/3 innings, allowing no runs, no hits and no walks, in the 9-2 win over the Athletics.
Bielak earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season, and now ranks fourth in Box-Toppers early season player rankings.
National League Player of the Day—Phillies pitcher Zach Eflin struck out eight over seven innings, allowing one run, four hits and one walk, in the 2-1 win over the Braves. Eflin did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was tied when he exited.
Eflin earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, his first points of the season, and ranks seventh in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
American League Batter of the Day—Jared Walsh of the Angels hit two home runs, including a three-run, walk-off shot, and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 7-4 win over the White Sox.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Sunday because no NL batters earned Player of the Game honors.
Streak—Cubs closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel has now earned Box-Toppers points in 12 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2021 Sunday.
Kimbrel (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv in the 4-3 win over the Pirates) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2010 with the Braves and now has 77.4 career points, first among active NL closing pitchers ahead of Joakim Soria of the Diamondbacks (52.7). Kimbrel ranks seventh among all closers in career points since 1995 (although two closers on the list served primarily as starters most of their careers and are only listed as closers because they have performed the role recently—fourth-place Francisco Liriano with 106.2 career points and sixth-place Ian Kennedy of the Rangers with 79.5 career points).
Kimbrel’s best season was 2012 with the Braves when he had 15.0 Box-Toppers points, first among NL closing pitchers and tied for the fourth-highest single-season Box-Toppers point total for a closing pitcher since 1998. Kimbrel earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point in each of his last two seasons with the Cubs (2019 and 2020).
Notable—Blue Jays closing pitcher Julian Merryweather is the first player to earn Player of the Game honors for a second time in the 2021 season.
Merryweather (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv in the 3-1 win over the Yankees) was also Player of the Game in the Blue Jays win over the Yankees on opening day, April 1. Merryweather now has 2.0 Box-Toppers points in 2021, fifth in season player rankings.
Debut—Diamondbacks pitcher Taylor Widener made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Widener (6IP 3H 0R 3BB 5K W in the 3-1 win over the Padres) made his Major League debut July 25, 2020, and was playing in his 13th career game.
Scoring—Bielak earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Eflin earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Walsh earns 1.5 points for being AL 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)| 4/4 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +8.2 | HOU 9, OAK 2 | Brandon Bielak, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| NL | +8.0 | `PHI 2, ATL 1 | Zach Eflin | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |
| +7.0 | LAD 4, COL 2 | Julio Urías, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| +6.0 | CIN 12, STL 1 | Jeff Hoffman, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| +5.0 | ARI 3, SD 1 | Taylor Widener, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | ||
| +4.2 | TEX 7, KC 3 | Jordan Lyles, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | ||
| BAT | +4.0 | LAA 7, CHW 4 | Jared Walsh, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | BAL 11, BOS 3 | Cedric Mullins, CF | 5 | 3 | 5 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | MIN 8, MIL 2 | Michael Pineda, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| +3.0 | TOR 3, NYY 1 | Julian Merryweather, (S 2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.0 | CHC 4, PIT 3 | Craig Kimbrel, (S 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | CLE 9, DET 3 | Aaron Civale, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
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 (’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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bielak, Brandon 4297 | pi cp sp | hou al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +1.0 |
| Merryweather, Julian 4366 | pi cp | tor al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +2.0 |
| Eflin, Zach 3679 | pi sp | phi nl | 1.7 | 4.4 | 25.8 | 25.8 | ‑1.0 |
| Walsh, Jared 4332 | 1b | ana al | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | +0.5 |
| Civale, Aaron 4173 | pi sp | cle al | 1.0 | 3.7 | 6.7 | 6.7 | ‑1.7 |
| Pineda, Michael 2841 | pi sp | min al | 1.0 | 2.7 | 17.7 | 45.8 | ‑0.7 |
| Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp mr cp | lad nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 14.7 | 14.7 | +0.0 |
| Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp mr | chi nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 26.7 | 77.4 | +0.0 |
| Hoffman, Jeff 3806 | pi sp mr | cin nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 5.7 | 5.7 | +0.0 |
| Lyles, Jordan 3100 | pi sp | tex al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 14.7 | 21.4 | +1.0 |
| Mullins, Cedric 4100 | cf | bal al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | +1.0 |
| Widener, Taylor 4369 | pi sp | ari nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
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