Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to sixth place 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 Tuesday, Aug. 10.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 17.1 |
| 2 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 3 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 16.4 |
| 4 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 15.4 |
| 5 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 14.4 |
| 6 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.4 |
| 7 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 |
| 8 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 12.7 |
| 9 | Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi sp | mil nl | 12.7 |
| 10 | Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 12.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Also Tuesday, Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Scherzer struck out six over 3 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 5-0 win over the Phillies.
Scherzer did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because he did not pitch the required five innings to earn the win and exited with the game in a scoreless tie. Scherzer was removed after a rain delay. However, Scherzer did pitch the required three innings to automatically qualify to be considered for Player of the Game and had the highest Box-Toppers game score among all qualifying Dodgers players.
Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 14.4 for the season, rising from ninth to sixth in season player rankings, fifth among National League pitchers.
Scherzer also now has 215.6 career Box-Toppers points, fifth among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He pulls to within 0.2 points of the fourth-place player, Astros pitcher Zack Greinke (215.8), who has 6.7 Box-Toppers points this season. Scherzer ranks third among active players in career points, behind teammate Clayton Kershaw (246.6) and Greinke. He ranks second among active NL pitchers in career points behind Kershaw.
American League Player of the Day—Royals middle relief pitcher Josh Staumont struck out three over 1 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing no hits and no walks, in the 8-4 win over the Yankees.
Staumont was one of seven middle relief pitchers to earn Player of the Game honors Tuesday in an unusual day in which 14 of the 16 Player of the Game winners were pitchers and only five were starting pitchers who pitched for five or more innings.
Recently, since baseball announced rules changes in early June to restrict pitchers from using excessive sticky substances on baseballs, pitchers’ dominance in earning Player of the Game honors has slipped slightly. But Tuesday was a rebound back to pitchers winning nearly all of the day’s Player of the Game honors. While pitchers did win nearly all the top player honors, none of the day’s Box-Toppers game scores for top players were particularly high with only three at +5.0 or above.
National League Batter of the Day—Buster Posey of the Giants homered and went 2-for-2, scoring three times and driving in one run, in the 8-7 win over the Diamondbacks.
Posey was the only NL batter to earn Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
American League Batter of the Day—Jason Martin of the Rangers homered and went 1-for-4, scoring twice and driving in one run, in the 5-4, 10-inning win over the Mariners.
Martin is one of five players this season—all batters—to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors with a Box-Toppers game score of 0.0, the lowest score to earn Player of the Game honors. He is the only one of the five to also earn league Batter of the Day honors. Martin was the only AL batter to earn Player of the Game honors Tuesday and only one of two batters in either league to earn Player of the Game honors (along with Buster Posey of the Giants).
Rankings—Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Peralta (5.1IP 5H 2R 2BB 8K W in the 4-2, seven-inning win over the Cubs) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.7 for the season, sixth among NL pitchers.
Peralta’s rise pushes Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (12.4 Box-Toppers points) out of the top 10 to 11th place overall. Ohtani had been the only player who qualified as a batter to be in the overall top 10 (three of his nine Player of the Game honors have come as a designated hitter, the other six as a starting pitcher). Ohtani rose into the top 10 on Aug. 4.
Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Staumont earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Posey and Martin each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’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).| 8/10 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +6.1 | `LAD 5, PHI 0 | Max Scherzer | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| +6.0 | STL 4, PIT 1 | J.A. Happ, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| +5.0 | ATL 3, CIN 2 | Drew Smyly, (W 8‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||
| AL | +4.1 | KC 8, NYY 4 | Josh Staumont, (W 2‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| +4.1 | `OAK 4, CLE 3 (F/10) | Burch Smith | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | +4.0 | SF 8, ARI 7 | Buster Posey, C | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | MIN 4, CHW 3 | Griffin Jax, (W 3‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 10 | ||
| +4.0 | TB 8, BOS 4 | Andrew Kittredge, (W 8‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| +4.0 | `MIL 6, CHC 3 (F/7) | Hunter Strickland | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +3.2 | DET 9, BAL 4 | Kyle Funkhouser, (W 6‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.0 | HOU 5, COL 0 | Jake Odorizzi, (W 5‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | ||
| +3.0 | TOR 4, LAA 0 (F/7) | Trevor Richards, (W 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| +3.0 | LAA 6, TOR 3 (F/7) | Raisel Iglesias, (S 25) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.0 | `SD 6, MIA 5 | Miguel Diaz | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.1 | MIL 4, CHC 2 (F/7) | Freddy Peralta, (W 9‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | ||
| BAT | +0.0 | TEX 5, SEA 4 (F/10) | Jason Martin, LF | 4 | 2 | 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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.4 | 18.4 | 109.6 | 215.6 | +10.4 |
| Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi sp | mil nl | 12.7 | 14.7 | 31.4 | 31.4 | +10.7 |
| Posey, Buster 2745 | ca | sf nl | 5.5 | 5.5 | 25.0 | 54.5 | +5.5 |
| Smyly, Drew 3009 | pi sp | atl nl | 5.0 | 5.0 | 16.4 | 44.5 | +5.0 |
| Odorizzi, Jake 3291 | pi sp mr | hou al | 4.0 | 4.0 | 40.9 | 60.6 | +4.0 |
| Iglesias, Raisel 3467 | pi cp | ana al | 4.0 | 4.0 | 23.0 | 25.7 | +4.0 |
| Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | stl nl | 3.7 | 7.7 | 52.5 | 89.0 | ‑0.3 |
| Diaz, Miguel 4016 | pi mr sp | sd nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | +3.0 |
| Kittredge, Andrew 4417 | pi mr | tb al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +3.0 |
| Staumont, Josh 4354 | pi cp mr | kc al | 2.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | +1.7 |
| Jax, Griffin 4478 | pi sp | min al | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | +2.7 |
| Martin, Jason 4438 | lf ph | tex al | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | +2.5 |
| Smith, Burch 3281 | pi mr cp sp | oak al | 2.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 7.0 | +0.0 |
| Richards, Trevor 3945 | pi cp mr sp | tor al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 12.7 | 12.7 | +2.0 |
| Funkhouser, Kyle 4468 | pi mr | det al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +2.0 |
| Strickland, Hunter 3546 | pi mr cp | mil nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 8.0 | 9.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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