Braves pitcher Ian Anderson is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler maintains his third-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Anderson struck out eight over seven innings, allowing one run, two hits and one walk, in the 9-2 win over the Diamondbacks.
Anderson earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.0 for the season, 87th among all players and 37th among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Mariners pitcher Chris Flexen struck out eight over seven innings, allowing one run three hits and two walks, in the 4-1 win over the Athletics.
Flexen earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 11.7 for the season, 27th among all players and 10th among AL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day—Kyle Schwarber of the Red Sox hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, and doubled in the 12-5 win over the Mets. Schwarber went 3-for-4, scoring four times and driving in four runs.
National League Batter of the Day—Paul Goldschmidt of the Cardinals homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring four times and driving in two runs, in the 10-2 win over the Brewers.
Goldschmidt earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 8.0 for the season, 75th among all players and eighth among NL batters.
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 Wednesday, Sept. 22.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 25.1 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 22.4 |
| 3 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 21.1 |
| 4 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 17.4 |
| 5 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 17.4 |
| 6 | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi sp | mil nl | 17.1 |
| 7 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 17.1 |
| 8 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 9 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | tor al | 16.7 |
| 10 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp | ana al | 16.1 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Rankings—Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler maintains third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Wheeler (6IP 4H R 2BB 9K ND in the 4-3 win over the Orioles) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 21.1 for the season. He ranks behind Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer (25.1 Box-Toppers points) and Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole (22.4). He ranks second among NL pitchers, 4.0 points behind Scherzer.
Wheeler has perhaps two starts remaining this season. Even if he wins Player of the Day honors in both (worth 2.0 points each) he would not pass Scherzer in Box-Toppers season player rankings. While he would have the same point total (25.1), Scherzer would rank higher on a tie-breaker, having more 2020 points—4.0 vs. 1.0. This doesn’t mean that Wheeler couldn’t also earn more Box-Toppers points by pitching a tiebreaker game, pitching on short rest, pitching in relief or pinch hitting, but all of those possibilities seem unlikely.
In other words, Scherzer’s chances of winning the honor as Box-Toppers’ top NL pitcher for 2021 were solidified Wednesday.
Scoring—Anderson earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Flexen earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Schwarber and Goldschmidt each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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).| 9/22 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +10.0 | ATL 9, ARI 2 | Ian Anderson, (W 8‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |
| AL | +8.0 | SEA 4, OAK 1 | Chris Flexen, (W 13‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| +8.0 | MIN 5, CHC 4 | Joe Ryan, (W 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 | ||
| BAT | +7.0 | BOS 12, NYM 5 | Kyle Schwarber, 1B | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +7.0 | `PHI 4, BAL 3 | Zack Wheeler | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | ||
| BAT | +5.0 | STL 10, MIL 2 | Paul Goldschmidt, 1B | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.0 | WSH 7, MIA 5 | Juan Soto, RF | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | HOU 9, LAA 5 (F/12) | Yordan Alvarez, LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | SF 8, SD 6 | Buster Posey, C | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | NYY 7, TEX 3 | Gary Sánchez, C | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | TB 7, TOR 1 | JT Chargois, (W 6‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | COL 10, LAD 5 | C.J. Cron, 1B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 21.1 | 22.1 | 42.8 | 54.5 | +20.1 |
| Flexen, Chris 4368 | pi sp | sea al | 11.7 | 11.7 | 11.7 | 11.7 | +11.7 |
| Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 | 1b | stl nl | 8.0 | 8.0 | 34.9 | 70.3 | +8.0 |
| Anderson, Ian 4312 | pi sp | atl nl | 7.0 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 9.7 | +4.3 |
| Alvarez, Yordan 4209 | dh lf | hou al | 7.0 | 8.0 | 10.5 | 10.5 | +6.0 |
| Cron, C.J. 3338 | 1b | col nl | 6.5 | 6.5 | 18.2 | 25.2 | +6.5 |
| Posey, Buster 2745 | ca | sf nl | 6.5 | 6.5 | 26.0 | 55.5 | +6.5 |
| Soto, Juan 3994 | rf | dc nl | 6.0 | 8.0 | 21.5 | 21.5 | +4.0 |
| Schwarber, Kyle 3536 | lf | bos al | 4.5 | 6.0 | 19.5 | 24.5 | +3.0 |
| Ryan, Joe 4539 | pi sp | min al | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | +2.7 |
| Sanchez, Gary 3701 | ca | nyy al | 2.0 | 3.5 | 21.0 | 21.0 | +0.5 |
| Chargois, JT 3736 | pi mr cp | tb al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +2.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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