Astros pitcher Zack Greinke is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Greinke struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks, in the 4-1 win over the Angels.
Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 8.7 for the season, 38th among all players and 11th among American League pitchers.
Greinke also now has 217.8 career Box-Toppers points, fourth among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails third-ranked player Pedro Martinez (244.8). He ranks second among active players in career points behind Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (246.6) and first among active AL players.
Greinke now leads fifth-place player, Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer (215.6), by 2.2 Box-Toppers points. Scherzer had edged to within 0.2 points of Greinke after winning Player of the Day honors Aug. 10.
National League Player of the Day—Reds pitcher Tyler Mahle struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 6-1 win over the Phillies.
Mahle earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 9.7 for the season, 23rd among all players and 16th among NL pitchers.
National League Batter of the Day—Bryan De La Cruz of the Marlins hit a grand slam and went 3-for-5, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 14-10 win over the Cubs.
American League Batter of the Day—Yohel Pozo of the Rangers hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 8-6 win over the Athletics.
This was Pozo’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. It was also his Major League debut.
Notable—Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias has the most 2021 Box-Toppers points among the 13 who earned Player of the Game honors Friday.
Urias (5IP 2H 0R 2BB 5K ND in the 6-5, 10-inning win over the Mets) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.4 for the season, 12th among all players and seventh among NL pitchers.
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 Friday, Aug. 13.| 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
Scoring—Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Mahle earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. De La Cruz and Pozo each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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).| 8/13 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +12.0 | HOU 4, LAA 1 | Zack Greinke, (W 11‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| NL | +11.0 | CIN 6, PHI 1 | Tyler Mahle, (W 10‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| +9.0 | STL 6, KC 0 | Jack Flaherty, (W 9‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| +7.2 | CLE 7, DET 4 | Zach Plesac, (W 7‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 9 | ||
| +7.0 | BOS 8, BAL 1 | Nick Pivetta, (W 9‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| +6.0 | `LAD 6, NYM 5 (F/10) | Julio Urías | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | MIA 14, CHC 10 | Bryan De La Cruz, RF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| BAT | +2.0 | TEX 8, OAK 6 | Yohel Pozo, DH | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +2.0 | SF 5, COL 4 | Wilmer Flores, 3B‑1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | ARI 3, SD 2 | Daulton Varsho, LF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | ATL 4, WSH 2 | Will Smith, (S 24) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| +1.0 | TB 10, MIN 4 | Kevin Kiermaier, CF | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | SEA 3, TOR 2 | Tom Murphy, C | 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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 12.4 | 13.4 | 26.1 | 26.1 | +11.4 |
| Mahle, Tyler 3929 | pi sp | cin nl | 9.7 | 11.7 | 21.7 | 21.7 | +7.7 |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | hou al | 8.7 | 10.7 | 71.4 | 217.8 | +6.7 |
| Flaherty, Jack 3971 | pi sp | stl nl | 6.0 | 10.7 | 40.3 | 40.3 | +1.3 |
| Pivetta, Nick 3825 | pi sp | bos al | 5.0 | 6.0 | 27.7 | 27.7 | +4.0 |
| Smith, Will 3073 | pi cp | atl nl | 5.0 | 5.0 | 15.7 | 23.7 | +5.0 |
| Plesac, Zach 4168 | pi sp | cle al | 3.7 | 8.1 | 13.8 | 13.8 | ‑0.7 |
| Flores, Wilmer 3345 | 3b 1b | sf nl | 3.5 | 5.0 | 15.5 | 20.5 | +2.0 |
| De La Cruz, Bryan 4500 | rf | fla nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | +2.5 |
| Varsho, Daulton 4398 | rf lf | ari nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +2.0 |
| Pozo, Yohel 4508 | dh | tex al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | +1.5 |
| Kiermaier, Kevin 3373 | cf | tb al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 10.0 | 13.5 | +0.0 |
| Murphy, Tom 4030 | ca | sea al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.7 | 3.7 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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