Brewers pitcher Adrian Houser is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. He also rises to lead National League pitchers in season player rankings.
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 8.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 7.0 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 7.0 |
| 3 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.4 |
| 4 | Martinez, J.D. 2922 | dh | bos al | 6.2 |
| 5 | Means, John 4115 | pi sp | bal al | 6.0 |
| 6 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 5.7 |
| 7 | Rogers, Trevor 4311 | pi sp | fla nl | 5.0 |
| 8 | Rodon, Carlos 3494 | pi sp | chi al | 5.0 |
| 9 | Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | cle al | 4.7 |
| 10 | Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 4.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Player of the Day—Houser struck out 10 over six innings, allowing two runs, five hits and no walks, in the 6-2 win over the Marlins.
Houser earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season and is 92nd in season player rankings, 36th among NL pitchers.
Houser had a Box-Toppers game score of +7.0, same as two other Saturday Player of the Game winners—Kershaw and Giants pitcher Kevin Gausman. But Houser had the edge over Kershaw (5IP 2H 0R BB 5K W in the 14-11 win over the Angels) because he had more innings pitched (six vs. five). And he held the edge over Gausman (6IP 3H R BB 7K W in the 7-1 win over the Padres) because he had more strikeouts (10 vs. seven).
American League Player of the Day—White Sox pitcher Lance Lynn struck out six over five scoreless innings, allowing one hit and four walks, in the 9-1 win over the Royals.
National League Batter of the Day—Paul Goldschmidt of the Cardinals homered and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 9-8 win over the Rockies.
American League Batter of the Day—Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox homered and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 11-6 win over the Orioles.
Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises from sixth to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Kershaw (5IP 2H 0R BB 5K W in the 14-11 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.4 for the season. He rises to lead NL pitchers in season player rankings, passing previous leader Yu Darvish of the Padres (5.7). Kershaw now trails only Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow (7.0) and Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole (7.0) in overall season player rankings.
Kershaw also now has 241.6 career Box-Toppers points, third-most since 1995 when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails second-place player Pedro Martinez (244.8) by 3.2 points. (If Martinez’ entire career were tracked from 1992, rough projections put his career Box-Toppers total at about 270.) Kershaw leads active players in career Box-Toppers points ahead of second-place player, Astros pitcher Zack Greinke (211.8).
Notable—Yankees pitcher Lucas Luetge earned his first Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor in more than seven years Saturday.
Luetge (2IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K ND in the 4-3, 11-inning win over the Nationals) last earned Player of the Game honors Sept. 4, 2013, when he was with the Mariners. It was his only other career Player of the Game honor and he now has 2.0 career Box-Toppers points.
Luetge earned his first career Box-Toppers point in his 89th Major League game in 2013. His second career point Saturday came in his 124th career game. Luetge did not play in the Major Leagues from 2016 to 2020.
While Luetge had the high Box-Toppers game score among Yankees players Saturday (+4.0), the game’s highest game score (+16.1) was recorded by Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (7.1IP 2H R BB 14K ND). Scherzer was poised to earn Player of the Game honors (and overall Player of the Day) if the Nationals won, but since the Nationals lost, he receives no Box-Toppers points.
Scoring—Houser earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lynn earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Goldschmidt and Bogaerts 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).| 5/8 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +7.0 | MIL 6, MIA 2 | Adrian Houser, (W 3‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 10 | |
| +7.0 | SF 7, SD 1 | Kevin Gausman, (W 3‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| +7.0 | LAD 14, LAA 11 | Clayton Kershaw, (W 5‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| AL | +6.0 | CHW 9, KC 1 | Lance Lynn, (W 3‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | |
| BAT | +4.0 | STL 9, COL 8 | Paul Goldschmidt, 1B | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | `NYY 4, WSH 3 (F/11) | Lucas Luetge | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.2 | DET 7, MIN 3 | Michael Fulmer, (W 2‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | BOS 11, BAL 6 | Xander Bogaerts, SS | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | TEX 9, SEA 8 | Joey Gallo, RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | TOR 8, HOU 4 | Cavan Biggio, 3B | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | ATL 8, PHI 7 (F/12) | Pablo Sandoval, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | CLE 9, CIN 2 | Aaron Civale, (W 5‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| +2.1 | NYM 4, ARI 2 | Joey Lucchesi, (W 1‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| +2.0 | OAK 6, TB 3 | Seth Brown, RF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | CHC 3, PIT 2 | Willson Contreras, C | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.4 | 14.1 | 82.3 | 241.6 | ‑1.3 |
| Civale, Aaron 4173 | pi sp | cle al | 4.7 | 7.4 | 10.4 | 10.4 | +2.0 |
| Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | chi al | 3.7 | 12.8 | 39.5 | 95.4 | ‑5.4 |
| Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 | 1b | stl nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 29.4 | 64.8 | +2.5 |
| Contreras, Willson 3776 | ca | chi nl | 2.0 | 4.0 | 16.5 | 16.5 | +0.0 |
| Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | sf nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 31.6 | 45.0 | +1.0 |
| Sandoval, Pablo 2524 | dh 1b 3b ph | atl nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 11.7 | 42.2 | +1.0 |
| Houser, Adrian 4162 | pi sp cp | mil nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | +1.0 |
| Bogaerts, Xander 3383 | ss | bos al | 1.5 | 2.5 | 22.7 | 28.2 | +0.5 |
| Biggio, Cavan 4183 | 3b 2b rf | tor al | 1.0 | 4.5 | 10.7 | 10.7 | ‑2.5 |
| Lucchesi, Joey 3936 | pi mr sp | nym nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 16.4 | 16.4 | +1.0 |
| Gallo, Joey 3485 | rf | tex al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 18.5 | 20.0 | +1.0 |
| Brown, Seth 4239 | rf ph | oak al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | +1.0 |
| Fulmer, Michael 3640 | pi mr sp | det al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 20.4 | 20.4 | +1.0 |
| Luetge, Lucas 3274 | pi mr | nyy al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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