Marlins pitcher Pablo Lopez is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
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 Saturday, May 22.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 10.7 |
| 2 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 8.7 |
| 3 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 7.7 |
| 4 | Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.4 |
| 5 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.4 |
| 6 | Rogers, Trevor 4311 | pi sp | fla nl | 7.0 |
| 7 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.7 |
| 8 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 6.4 |
| 9 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 6.4 |
| 10 | Martinez, J.D. 2922 | dh | bos al | 6.2 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Also Saturday, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole extends his lead in season Box-Toppers player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors, becoming the first player to reach 10 Box-Toppers points in 2021.
Player of the Day—Lopez struck out eight over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 3-1 win over the Mets. Lopez did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Marlins did not maintain the lead after he exited.
Lopez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.7 for the season, 27th among all players and 17th among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and three walks, in the 7-0 win over the White Sox.
Cole earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 10.7 for the season, extending his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings, ahead of second-place player, Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow (8.7).
This is the fourth season Cole has reached 10 Box-Toppers points in a season. The others:
2015—19.0 with the Pirates, ninth among all players, sixth among NL pitchers.
2018—18.0 with the Astros, eighth overall, sixth among AL pitchers.
2019—32.2 with the Astros, first overall.
Cole now has 111.2 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 60th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his 1.7 points Saturday, Cole passes three players on the “all-time” list—Jeff Kent (110.2), Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom (110.4) and Tom Glavine (110.6). (It should be noted that if Glavine’s entire career from 1987 were tracked, projections put his career total at 170.) Cole now trails 59th-ranked player Kevin Brown (112.8). Passing deGrom, Cole now ranks 15th among active, signed players in career points, sixth among active AL pitchers.
National League Batter of the Day—Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals hit a three-run homer and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 12-9 win over the Orioles.
Zimmerman had earned Box-Toppers points in 14 straight seasons from 2006 to 2019 before voluntarily sitting out 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This was his first Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor of 2021 and first since 2019. He now has 68.7 career Box-Toppers points, fifth among active NL batters.
American League Batter of the Day—Andrew Benintendi of the Royals went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 7-5 win over the Tigers.
Debut—Rays pitcher Andrew Kittredge made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Kittredge (1IP H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 3-1 win over the Blue Jays) made his Major League debut July 18, 2017, and was playing in his 109th career game.
Scoring—Lopez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cole earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Zimmerman and Beintendi each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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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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).| 5/22 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +10.0 | `MIA 3, NYM 1 | Pablo López | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| AL | +7.0 | NYY 7, CHW 0 | Gerrit Cole, (W 6‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | |
| +5.2 | OAK 6, LAA 2 | Chris Bassitt, (W 4‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| +5.0 | `SD 6, SEA 4 | Dinelson Lamet | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| +4.1 | STL 2, CHC 1 | Genesis Cabrera, (W 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | +4.0 | WSH 12, BAL 9 | Ryan Zimmerman, 1B | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | `MIL 4, CIN 3 | Devin Williams, (Hld 7) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +3.1 | CLE 5, MIN 3 (F/10) | James Karinchak, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.0 | ATL 6, PIT 1 | Ozzie Albies, 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | KC 7, DET 5 | Andrew Benintendi, LF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | LAD 6, SF 3 | Walker Buehler, (W 3‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| +2.1 | `COL 7, ARI 6 | Carlos Estévez, (Hld 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| +2.0 | TEX 8, HOU 4 | Isiah Kiner‑Falefa, SS | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | `TB 3, TOR 1 | Andrew Kittredge, (W 5‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +1.0 | BOS 4, PHI 3 | Xander Bogaerts, SS | 3 | 1 | 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 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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 10.7 | 18.1 | 81.8 | 111.2 | +3.3 |
| Bogaerts, Xander 3383 | ss | bos al | 5.5 | 6.5 | 26.7 | 32.2 | +4.5 |
| Lopez, Pablo 4028 | pi sp | fla nl | 4.7 | 10.7 | 18.4 | 18.4 | ‑1.3 |
| Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 4.0 | 10.4 | 19.1 | 23.1 | ‑2.4 |
| Buehler, Walker 3943 | pi sp | lad nl | 4.0 | 9.7 | 41.2 | 41.2 | ‑1.7 |
| Karinchak, James 4392 | pi cp | cle al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +2.0 |
| Benintendi, Andrew 3815 | lf | kc al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 17.2 | 17.2 | +1.5 |
| Zimmerman, Ryan 2180 | 1b | dc nl | 1.5 | 1.5 | 13.9 | 68.7 | +1.5 |
| Lamet, Dinelson 3808 | pi mr sp | sd nl | 1.0 | 10.0 | 20.4 | 20.4 | ‑8.0 |
| Albies, Ozzie 3953 | 2b | atl nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 10.5 | 10.5 | +0.0 |
| Kiner‑Falefa, Isiah 4130 | ss 3b ca | tex al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +0.0 |
| Cabrera, Genesis 4348 | pi mr cp | stl nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +0.0 |
| Williams, Devin 4319 | pi mr | mil nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +0.0 |
| Estevez, Carlos 3641 | pi mr cp | col nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | +1.0 |
| Kittredge, Andrew 4417 | pi mr | tb al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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