Mariners pitcher Marco Gonzalez is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, two players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after each earns Player of the Game honors—Athletics pitcher Chris Bassitt rises to seventh place and Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani rises to eighth.
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 Thursday, Aug. 12.| 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 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 13.7 |
| 8 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 13.4 |
| 9 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 |
| 10 | Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi sp | mil nl | 12.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Player of the Day—Gonzales pitched a complete game, striking out nine, allowing one run, two hits and one walk, in the 3-1 win over the Rangers.
Gonzales earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season, and ranks 307th among all players, 92nd among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Luis Urias of the Brewers hit two home runs—including a three-run shot—and three doubles in the 17-4 win over the Cubs. Urias went 5-for-6, scoring five times and driving in five runs.
Urias had a Box-Toppers game score Thursday of +9.0, third-highest for a batter earning Player of the Game honors so far in 2021. Two batters earning Player of the Game honors in 2021 have had +10.0 game scores:
Ozzie Albies of the Braves on June 30 (2HR 5-6 4R 7BI in the 20-2 win over the Mets).
Adam Duvall, then of the Marlins on April 13 (2HR 2B 4-5 4R 7BI in the 14-8 win over the Braves).
While Urias’ +9.0 game score is the third-highest ranking for a batter earning Player of the Game honors in 2021, it ranks 183rd among all Player of the Game winners for the season. There are 180 pitchers who’ve earned Player of the Game honors with game scores of +9.1 or better this season.
American League Batter of the Day—Tim Anderson of the White Sox hit a walk-off, two-run homer into the Iowa corn, in the 9-8 win over the Yankees, in the inaugural game played at the Field of Dreams movie site.
Anderson also doubled and went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in five runs.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Luis Urias.
Rankings—Athletics pitcher Chris Bassitt rises from eighth to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Bassitt (6IP 3H 0R 2BB 6K W in the 17-0 win over the Indians) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.7 for the season, second among AL pitchers, trailing only Gerrit Cole of the Yankees (16.4).
Ohtani—Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani rises to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday, extending his Box-Toppers points lead among AL batters.
Ohtani (6IP 3H 2R 3BB 6K W in the 6-3 win over the Blue Jays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.4 for the season. He ranks third among AL pitchers, behind Cole (16.4) and Bassitt (13.7).
But Ohtani also ranks first among AL batters, extending his lead over second-place J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (9.7), even though he achieved this Player of the Game honor as a pitcher and even though an overwhelming majority of his Box-Toppers points come as a pitcher. This was Ohtani’s 10th Player of the Game honor this season and his seventh as a starting pitcher—the other three have come as a designated hitter. Since more than 25 percent of his Player of the Game honors have come as a designated hitter, he still qualifies to be ranked among batters. Even so, only 4.0 of his Box-Toppers points come as a batter, a total that would rank him 26th among AL batters. Conversely, he’s earned 9.4 of his points as a pitcher. Taken alone, they would rank ninth among AL pitchers.
Notable—Mets pitcher Marcus Stroman becomes the 20th player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Stroman (5.1IP 3H R 2BB 8K W in the 4-1, seven-inning win over the Nationals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season, 20th among all players and 14th among NL pitchers.
This is Stroman’s second season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. He did it in 2014 with the Blue Jays when he had 13.7 Box-Toppers points, 12th among AL pitchers.
Debut—Lars Nootbaar of the Cardinals made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Nootbar (HR 1-1 R 2BI in the 7-6 win over the Pirates) made his Major League debut June 22 and was playing in his 17th career game.
Scoring—Gonzales earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Urias earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Anderson earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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).| 8/12 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +13.0 | SEA 3, TEX 1 | Marco Gonzales, (W 4‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 9.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |
| NL | +9.0 | MIL 17, CHC 4 | Luis Urías, 3B | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +9.0 | SF 7, COL 0 | Logan Webb, (W 6‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | ||
| +7.0 | OAK 17, CLE 0 | Chris Bassitt, (W 12‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||
| +6.1 | NYM 4, WSH 1 (F/7) | Marcus Stroman, (W 8‑11) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| +5.0 | CIN 12, ATL 3 | Jesse Winker, LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.1 | ARI 12, SD 3 | Caleb Smith, (W 4‑8) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| +4.0 | TB 8, BOS 1 | Collin McHugh, (W 4‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +3.0 | NYM 5, WSH 4 (F/7) | Jonathan Villar, SS | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | STL 7, PIT 6 | Lars Nootbaar, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| BAT | +2.0 | CHW 9, NYY 8 | Tim Anderson, SS | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +2.0 | PHI 2, LAD 1 | Bryce Harper, RF | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | LAA 6, TOR 3 | Shohei Ohtani, (W 7‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | ||
| +1.0 | DET 6, BAL 4 | Renato Núñez, 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 13.7 | 20.1 | 28.8 | 32.8 | +7.3 |
| Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 13.4 | 13.4 | 27.9 | 27.9 | +13.4 |
| Stroman, Marcus 3327 | pi sp | nym nl | 10.0 | 10.0 | 32.4 | 48.8 | +10.0 |
| Winker, Jesse 3988 | lf | cin nl | 7.5 | 9.5 | 16.0 | 16.0 | +5.5 |
| Webb, Logan 4258 | pi sp | sf nl | 7.0 | 8.0 | 9.7 | 9.7 | +6.0 |
| Urias, Luis 4218 | 3b | mil nl | 4.7 | 5.7 | 8.2 | 8.2 | +3.7 |
| Anderson, Tim 3659 | ss | chi al | 3.5 | 8.0 | 22.0 | 22.0 | ‑1.0 |
| Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | phi nl | 3.5 | 5.0 | 30.5 | 54.9 | +2.0 |
| Smith, Caleb 3952 | pi mr sp | ari nl | 3.0 | 4.0 | 16.4 | 16.4 | +2.0 |
| McHugh, Collin 3316 | pi mr cp sp | tb al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 25.4 | 46.9 | +3.0 |
| Gonzales, Marco 3408 | pi sp | sea al | 2.0 | 7.7 | 28.5 | 31.5 | ‑3.7 |
| Nunez, Renato 4094 | 1b dh | det al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | +0.0 |
| Villar, Jonathan 3233 | ss 2b | nym nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 14.0 | 16.0 | +1.0 |
| Nootbaar, Lars 4507 | ph | stl nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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