Yankees’ Cortes tops players for Saturday, Oct. 1; Marlins’ Cabrera tops NL players

Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Box-Toppers Toppers Box

Today’s key Box-Toppers numbers. Click links to jump to charts elsewhere on this page.
▪️ Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners.
▪️ Box-Toppers points of the day’s top players.
▪️ Top 10 players in 2022 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at today’s pitching matchups.

Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Cortes struck out 12 over 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 8-0 win over the Orioles.

Cortes earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 15.4 for the season, 17th among all players and eighth among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Marlins pitcher Edward Cabrera struck out five over three scoreless and hitless innings, allowing no walks, in the 4-3 win over the Brewers.

Cabrera started the game but exited with a right ankle strain after three innings. He did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because he did not pitch the required five innings to earn the win.

Cabrera earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 6.4 for the season, 43rd among NL pitchers.

Marlins pitcher Edward Cabrera is Saturday’s Box-Toppers NL Player of the Day.

National League Batter of the Day—Joey Meneses of the Nationals homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring four times and driving in four runs, in the 13-4 win over the Phillies.

Joey Meneses of the Nationals is Saturday’s Box-Toppers NL Batter of the Day.

American League Batter of the Day—Teoscar Hernandez of the Blue Jays homered and hit two doubles, going 4-for-5, scoring four times and driving in two runs, in the 10-0 win over the Red Sox.

Teoscar Hernandez of the Blue Jays is Saturday’s Box-Toppers AL Batter of the Day.

Notable—Astros pitcher Cristian Javier has the most 2022 Box-Toppers points among the 16 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Javier (6IP 2H 0R 2BB 7K W in the 2-1 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 15.7 for the season, 14th among all players and sixth among AL pitchers.

Astros pitcher Cristian Javier is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Rays.

Also notable—Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo becomes the 52nd player this season to reach 10.0 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Castillo (6IP 2H R BB 8K W in the 5-1 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season, 51st among all players and 25th among AL pitchers.

This is Castillo’s second season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points. He also did it in 2019 with the Reds, when he had 14.4 Box-Toppers points, 11th among NL pitchers. In 2021, he had 9.0 points with the Reds, 31st among NL pitchers.

In 2021, there were 49 players to reach 10.0 Box-Toppers points. This is the most players to reach 10.0 points in a season since 2018, when 52 players also reached that mark. The record is 67 in 2001. (Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.)

Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Athletics.

One more notable thing—Tigers pitcher Andrew Chafin earns Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors Saturday for the first time in more than five years.

Chafin (1IP H 0R 0BB 2K Sv in the 3-2 win over the Twins) last earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors Sept. 27, 2017, with the Diamondbacks. He had 1.0 Box-Toppers point that season and now has 4.0 career points since making his debut in 2014.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2022. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Saturday, Oct. 1.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp ana al 24.7
2 Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 24.0
3 Alcantara, Sandy 4061 pi sp fla nl 21.1
4 Cease, Dylan 4231 pi sp chi al 20.4
5 Woodruff, Brandon 3868 pi sp mil nl 19.8
6 Rodon, Carlos 3494 pi sp sf nl 19.8
7 Urias, Julio 3652 pi sp lad nl 19.4
8 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 18.7
9 Darvish, Yu 3003 pi sp sd nl 16.8
10 Musgrove, Joe 3705 pi sp sd nl 16.4
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Back to top

Scoring—Cortes earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cabrera earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Meneses and Hernandez each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

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).
Back to top

10/1 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +16.1 NYY 8, BAL 0 Nestor Cortes, (W 12‑4) 7.1 1 0 0 2 12
+9.0 SEA 5, OAK 1 Luis Castillo, (W 4‑2) 6.0 2 1 1 1 8
+9.0 HOU 2, TB 1 Cristian Javier, (W 11‑9) 6.0 2 0 0 2 7
NL +8.0 `MIA 4, MIL 3 Edward Cabrera 3.0 0 0 0 0 5
BAT +7.0 WSH 13, PHI 4 Joey Meneses, 1B 4 4 3 4
+7.0 LAA 3, TEX 2 Jose Suarez, (W 8‑8) 7.0 2 2 2 0 6
+7.0 KC 7, CLE 1 Kris Bubic, (W 3‑13) 5.0 5 0 0 1 8
+7.0 `CHC 2, CIN 1 Adbert Alzolay 3.0 0 0 0 0 4
BAT +5.0 TOR 10, BOS 0 Teoscar Hernández, RF 5 4 4 2
+4.2 PHI 8, WSH 2 Noah Syndergaard, (W 5‑2) 5.2 2 0 0 2 3
+4.0 SD 5, CHW 2 Mike Clevinger, (W 7‑7) 6.0 3 1 1 0 3
+3.0 STL 13, PIT 3 Corey Dickerson, LF 4 1 2 4
+3.0 ATL 4, NYM 2 Kenley Jansen, (S 39) 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
+2.0 ARI 8, SF 4 Sergio Alcántara, SS‑3B 4 0 2 4
+2.0 LAD 6, COL 4 Freddie Freeman, 1B 3 2 2 1
+2.0 DET 3, MIN 2 Andrew Chafin, (S 2) 1.0 1 0 0 0 2
MLB—Overall Box‑Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box‑Toppers points.
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.
Back to top

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 in 2022 (’22). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’21-22), the period 2017-2022 (’17-22) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2022 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2021 total (+/-).
Back to top

Player of the Game Pos Team ’22 ’21‑22 ’17‑22 Career +/‑
Javier, Cristian 4290 pi sp hou al 15.7 21.7 23.7 23.7 +9.7
Cortes, Nestor 4160 pi sp nyy al 15.4 20.4 22.4 22.4 +10.4
Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 pi sp sea al 10.0 19.0 54.8 54.8 +1.0
Suarez, Jose 4425 pi sp ana al 9.0 15.4 15.4 15.4 +2.6
Freeman, Freddie 2887 1b lad nl 8.5 13.0 37.2 75.9 +4.0
Alcantara, Sergio 4593 3b ss ari nl 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 +6.5
Clevinger, Mike 3707 pi sp sd nl 6.4 6.4 50.9 53.9 +6.4
Cabrera, Edward 4641 pi sp fla nl 6.4 6.4 6.4 6.4 +6.4
Jansen, Kenley 2871 pi cp atl nl 4.0 10.0 25.0 61.4 -2.0
Hernandez, Teoscar 3713 rf tor al 4.0 8.5 19.2 20.7 -0.5
Meneses, Joey 4725 rf 1b dc nl 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 +4.0
Syndergaard, Noah 3472 pi sp phi nl 3.0 3.0 25.4 52.5 +3.0
Alzolay, Adbert 4170 pi mr sp chi nl 2.0 7.0 10.7 10.7 -3.0
Dickerson, Corey 3222 lf rf stl nl 2.0 2.0 14.2 30.7 +2.0
Bubic, Kris 4413 pi sp kc al 1.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 -3.0
Chafin, Andrew 3397 pi cp det al 1.0 1.0 2.0 4.0 +1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default view.
Back to top

A Box-Toppers look at Sunday’s pitching matchups

A Box-Toppers look at the upcoming day’s probable pitching matchups. Teams are paired below with visiting teams on top and home teams on the bottom. Each team’s starting pitcher is shown with their Box-Toppers point total from 2022 (’22), over a two-year period (’21-22), over a six-year period (’17-22) and their career point total.
Back to top

Game Starter ’22 ’21‑22 ’17‑22 Career
MIN Woods, Simon* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
DET Wentz, Joey 4639 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
BAL Bradish, Kyle 4597 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0
NYY Gonzalez, Chi Chi 3490 0.0 1.0 4.0 5.7
PHI Wheeler, Zack 3204 12.7 33.8 55.5 67.2
WSH Corbin, Patrick 3027 4.0 10.7 52.8 85.3
BOS Wacha, Michael 3276 8.4 15.5 30.5 50.2
TOR Gausman, Kevin 3191 12.7 26.4 45.2 69.4
KC Castillo, Max* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
CLE Bieber, Shane 4005 13.7 20.4 56.3 56.3
MIA Lopez, Pablo 4028 9.7 19.1 32.8 32.8
MIL Peralta, Freddy 3965 7.4 20.1 38.8 38.8
TB Kluber, Corey 3200 11.0 16.0 59.7 125.1
HOU Garcia, Luis 4423 8.7 18.7 18.7 18.7
PIT Contreras, Roansy 4574 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
STL Wainwright, Adam 2150 10.0 22.0 40.3 152.3
CIN Anderson, Chase 3328 2.0 3.0 26.8 42.8
CHC Stroman, Marcus 3327 4.7 14.7 30.4 53.5
ARI Davies, Zach 3581 1.0 7.0 20.7 29.7
SF Alexander, Scott* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
TEX Miller, Tyson* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
LAA Davidson, Tucker 4429 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
CHW Lynn, Lance 2992 8.7 21.1 56.9 112.8
SD Snell, Blake 3688 13.1 24.5 70.4 74.4
COL Marquez, German 3788 3.7 21.1 51.2 51.2
LAD Anderson, Tyler 3656 12.7 19.7 33.4 35.4
OAK Kaprielian, James 4416 3.0 10.4 10.4 10.4
SEA Ray, Robbie 3502 14.4 32.1 65.5 76.2
NYM Bassitt, Chris 3413 11.0 24.7 39.8 43.8
ATL Morton, Charlie 2503 10.4 23.1 66.4 94.1
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default, game-by-game view.
Back to top