Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Ohtani struck out five over seven innings, allowing one run, five hits and no walks, in the 6-2 win over the Rockies.
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 Monday, July 26.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 16.4 |
| 3 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 15.1 |
| 4 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 14.4 |
| 5 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 |
| 6 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 12.7 |
| 7 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 11.4 |
| 8 | Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi sp | mil nl | 10.7 |
| 9 | Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 10.7 |
| 10 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 10.4 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Ohtani earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 10.4 for the season, 11th among all players and fourth among American League pitchers.
Interestingly, though he won Player of the Day honors as a pitcher, Ohtani also rises to first place among AL batters, passing previous leader J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox, who has 9.7 Box-Toppers points.
Ohtani has won Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors seven times in 2021, twice as a designated hitter and five times, including Monday, as a pitcher. To qualify to be ranked at a position such as designated hitter, players need to have at least 25 percent of their Player of the Game honors at that position. Ohtani qualifies to be ranked at designated hitter because he’s won 28.6 percent of his Player of the Game honors from that position. Though he’s won only 3.0 Box-Toppers points as a designated hitter and 7.4 as a pitcher, we combine them together as we would for any player who qualifies at two different positions.
If Box-Toppers ranked Ohtani separately as a batter and a pitcher, he would rank 43rd among AL batters and 11th among AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points.
Ohtani becomes the 11th player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points. This is his first season to reach 10 points. His previous best season was 2018 with the Angels, when he had 8.0 Box-Toppers points, 81st overall. Ohtani also qualified that season to be ranked both as a batter and a pitcher. His 8.0 points was 31st among AL pitchers and sixth among AL batters.
National League Player of the Day—Mets closing pitcher Edwin Diaz struck out three over one hitless and scoreless inning, allowing no walks and picking up the save, in the 1-0, seven-inning win over the Braves.
Diaz earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day.
This was the second straight day Diaz earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. He was also Player of the Game Sunday in the 5-4 win over the Blue Jays (1IP 0H 0R BB 3K Sv). Diaz now has 3.7 Box-Toppers points in 2021, 2.7 earned in the past two days.
American League Batter of the Day—Dylan Moore of the Mariners hit a grand slam and went 1-for-2, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 11-8 win over the Astros.
Active season streaks
Here are the 16 players who have active streaks of earning Box-Toppers points for 13 or more consecutive seasons. Players are listed by the length of their streak and with their current team status. Also shown is the duration of their streak and their career Box-Toppers point (BTP) total.| Player | Pos | Team | Duration | BTP* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | Albert Pujols | 1b | Dodgers | 2001‑2020 | 202.8 |
| 19 | Miguel Cabrera | 1b dh | Tigers | 2003‑2021 | 155.9 |
| 16 | Jon Lester | pi sp | Nationals | 2006‑2021 | 178.3 |
| 16 | Edwin Encarnacion | dh | Free agent | 2005‑2020 | 88.2 |
| 16 | Nelson Cruz | dh | Rays | 2006‑2021 | 78.7 |
| 15 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | Astros | 2007‑2021 | 215.8 |
| 15 | Justin Verlander | pi sp | Astros | 2006‑2020 | 206.6 |
| 15 | Asdrubal Cabrera | 3b 1b | Diamondbacks | 2007‑2021 | 63.7 |
| 15 | Kurt Suzuki | ca | Angels | 2007‑2021 | 46.5 |
| 14 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | Dodgers | 2008‑2021 | 246.6 |
| 14 | Johnny Cueto | pi sp | Giants | 2008‑2021 | 110.8 |
| 14 | J.A. Happ | pi sp | Twins | 2008‑2021 | 88.0 |
| 14 | Evan Longoria | 3b | Giants | 2008‑2021 | 56.0 |
| 13 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | Nationals | 2009‑2021 | 210.9 |
| 13 | Andrew McCutchen | lf | Phillies | 2009‑2021 | 73.4 |
| 13 | Derek Holland | pi mr sp | Tigers | 2009‑2021 | 58.8 |
National League Batter of the Day—Andrew McCutchen of the Phillies hit a three-run homer, doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 6-5 win over the Nationals.
McCutchen has now earned Box-Toppers points in 13 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor the season. He earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2009 with the Pirates and has 73.4 career points, fourth among active NL batters. His best season was 2015 with the Pirates when he had 10.5 Box-Toppers points, third among NL batters. In 2019, he had 3.5 points with the Phillies. In 2020, he had 2.0 points with the Phillies.
McCutchen is now one of 16 players who have active streaks of 13 or more consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points (see chart elsewhere on this page Active season streaks).
Scoring—Ohtani earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Diaz earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Moore and McCutchen each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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).| 7/26 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +5.0 | LAA 6, COL 2 | Shohei Ohtani, (W 5‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | |
| BAT | +4.0 | SEA 11, HOU 8 | Dylan Moore, PH‑2B‑LF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | KC 4, CHW 3 | Mike Minor, (W 8‑8) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||
| NL | +4.0 | NYM 1, ATL 0 (F/7) | Edwin Díaz, (S 22) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| +4.0 | `CHC 6, CIN 5 | Rex Brothers | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.0 | BOS 5, TOR 4 | Alex Verdugo, LF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | PHI 6, WSH 5 | Andrew McCutchen, LF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | `MIN 6, DET 5 (F/10) | Michael Pineda | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | ||
| +2.0 | ATL 2, NYM 0 (F/7) | Kyle Muller, (W 2‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 10.4 | 10.4 | 24.9 | 24.9 | +10.4 |
| Minor, Mike 2894 | pi sp | kc al | 6.4 | 9.1 | 32.5 | 59.6 | +3.7 |
| Pineda, Michael 2841 | pi sp | min al | 6.0 | 7.7 | 22.7 | 50.8 | +4.3 |
| Diaz, Edwin 3690 | pi cp | nym nl | 3.7 | 5.7 | 32.7 | 32.7 | +1.7 |
| Verdugo, Alex 4129 | rf lf | bos al | 3.5 | 5.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | +2.0 |
| Moore, Dylan 4289 | 2b lf ph | sea al | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | +2.5 |
| Brothers, Rex 3051 | pi mr cp | chi nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 10.0 | +2.0 |
| Muller, Kyle 4454 | pi sp | atl nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +2.0 |
| McCutchen, Andrew 2637 | lf | phi nl | 1.5 | 3.5 | 26.5 | 73.4 | ‑0.5 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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