Dodgers’ Urias tops players for Friday, June 24; Astros’ Verlander rises to 3rd

Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías is Friday’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.
▪️ Longest active streaks of seasons earning B-T points.

Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Friday, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander rises to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Urias struck out nine over six innings, allowing one run, three hits and two walks, in the 4-1 win over the Braves.

Urias earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.0 for the season, 19th among all players and eighth among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Orioles pitcher Joey Krehbiel struck out three over 2 1/3 scoreless innings of middle relief, allowing no hits and no walks, in the 4-1 win over the White Sox.

Krehbiel earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 3.7 for the season, second among AL middle relief pitchers, behind Michael King of the Yankees (4.7).

Orioles pitcher Joey Krehbiel is Friday’s Box-Toppers AL Player of the Day.

American League Batter of the Day—Alejandro Kirk of the Blue Jays homered and went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 9-4 win over the Brewers.

Alejandro Kirk of the Blue Jays is Friday’s Box-Toppers AL Batter of the Day.

National League Batter of the Day—Francisco Lindor of the Mets homered, doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 5-3 win over the Marlins.

Francisco Lindor of the Mets is Friday’s Box-Toppers NL Batter of the Day.

Rankings—Astros pitcher Justin Verlander rises from sixth to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Verlander (7IP 4H R BB 3K W in the 3-1 win over the Yankees) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.0 for the season. He ranks second among AL pitchers, behind Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (13.0). (It should be noted that Ohtani has earned 8.0 of his points as a pitcher and 5.0 as a batter.)

Verlander now also has 217.6 career Box-Toppers points, sixth among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails fifth-ranked player, Royals pitcher Zack Greinke (218.8), who also earned Player of the Game honors Friday. Verlander ranks fourth among active players in career points, second among active AL pitchers, behind Greinke.

Astros pitcher Justin Verlander is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s win over the Yankees.

Active season streaks

Here are the 11 players who have active streaks of earning Box-Toppers points for 14 or more consecutive seasons. Players are listed by the length of their streak and with their current team status. Also shown is the duration of their streak and their career Box-Toppers point (BTP) total.
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Streak Player Pos Team Duration BTP*
22 Albert Pujols 1b Cardinals 2001‑2022 205.8
20 Miguel Cabrera dh 1b Tigers 2003‑2022 159.4
17 Nelson Cruz dh Nationals 2006‑2022 87.4
16 Zack Greinke pi sp Royals 2007‑2022 218.8
16 Kurt Suzuki ca Angels 2007‑2022 47.5
15 Clayton Kershaw pi sp Dodgers 2008‑2022 251.6
15 Johnny Cueto pi sp White Sox 2008‑2022 114.5
15 Asdrubal Cabrera 3b 1b Reds 2007‑2021 63.7
15 Evan Longoria 3b Giants 2008‑2022 57.5
14 Max Scherzer pi sp Mets 2009‑2022 228.3
14 Andrew McCutchen dh lf Brewers 2009‑2022 77.4
BTP*: Career Box-Toppers points
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Streak—Royals pitcher Zack Greinke has now earned Box-Toppers points in 16 straight seasons—tied for the fourth-longest active streak—after earning his first Player of the Game honor of the season.

Greinke (6IP 3H R 0BB 4K W in the 3-1 win over the Athletics) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2004 with the Royals. However, he earned no points in 2006, so his 16-season streak began in 2007 with the Royals.

He has 218.8 career Box-Toppers points, fifth among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails fourth-ranked player, Mets pitcher Max Scherzer (228.3) on the “all-time” list and ranks third among active players in career points behind Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (251.6) and Scherzer. Greinke leads active AL pitchers in career points, just 1.2 points ahead of Astros pitcher Justin Verlander (218.8), who also earned Player of the Game honors Friday.

Greinke’s best season was 2009 with the Royals when he had 21.5 Box-Toppers points, first among all players. He’s had three seasons with 20 or more Box-Toppers points, including 2009, 2015 with the Dodgers (20.7) and 2017 with the Diamondbacks (20.1). Greinke had 8.7 points with the Astros in 2021, 26th among AL pitchers.

Greinke is one of 11 players with a currently active streak of earning Box-Toppers points in 14 or more consecutive seasons. He is now one of 29 players since 1995 to have a streak of 16 or more consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points.

This was Greinke’s first Box-Toppers point since returning this season to the Royals, the team he was with from 2004 to 2010. His last Box-Toppers point with the Royals came when he won Player of the Game honors Sept. 30, 2010.

Royals pitcher Zack Greinke is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s win over the Athletics.

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 Friday, June 24.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 13.0
2 Musgrove, Joe 3705 pi sp sd nl 11.4
3 Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 11.0
4 McClanahan, Shane 4399 pi sp tb al 10.7
5 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp nyy al 10.4
6 Cease, Dylan 4231 pi sp chi al 10.0
7 Alcantara, Sandy 4061 pi sp fla nl 9.7
8 Alonso, Pete 4118 1b nym nl 9.2
9 Fried, Max 4011 pi sp atl nl 9.0
10 Rodon, Carlos 3494 pi sp sf nl 8.7
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Scoring—Urias earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Krehbiel earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Kirk and Lindor 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.

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).
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6/24 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +8.0 LAD 4, ATL 1 Julio Urías, (W 5‑6) 6.0 3 1 1 2 9
+7.1 CHC 3, STL 0 Kyle Hendricks, (W 3‑6) 7.1 5 0 0 1 6
+6.0 CIN 4, SF 2 Graham Ashcraft, (W 4‑1) 8.0 6 2 2 0 8
AL +5.1 BAL 4, CHW 1 Joey Krehbiel, (W 3‑3) 2.1 0 0 0 0 3
+5.0 KC 3, OAK 1 Zack Greinke, (W 1‑4) 6.0 3 1 1 0 4
BAT +4.0 TOR 9, MIL 4 Alejandro Kirk, C 4 2 4 2
+4.0 `TB 4, PIT 3 (F/10) Brooks Raley 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
+3.2 `SEA 4, LAA 3 Andres Muñoz, (Hld 5) 1.2 0 0 0 1 3
+3.0 BOS 6, CLE 3 Christian Arroyo, SS 4 1 3 3
BAT +3.0 NYM 5, MIA 3 Francisco Lindor, SS 4 1 2 4
+3.0 HOU 3, NYY 1 Justin Verlander, (W 9‑3) 7.0 4 1 1 1 3
+3.0 SD 1, PHI 0 Nabil Crismatt, (W 4‑0) 2.0 0 0 0 0 1
+2.0 DET 5, ARI 1 Javier Báez, SS 4 1 1 4
+1.2 COL 1, MIN 0 German Márquez, (W 4‑5) 7.2 3 0 0 5 2
+1.0 WSH 2, TEX 1 Josh Bell, 1B 4 1 3 1
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.
N/A—Not applicable. No Player of the Game was chosen because the game ended in a tie.
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.
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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 (+/-).
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’22 ’21‑22 ’17‑22 Career +/‑
Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 11.0 11.0 78.3 217.6 +11.0
Urias, Julio 3652 pi sp lad nl 7.0 26.1 34.1 39.8 -12.1
Hendricks, Kyle 3386 pi sp chi nl 4.7 8.7 40.5 68.6 +0.7
Bell, Josh E. 3682 1b dc nl 4.5 5.5 21.7 23.2 +3.5
Crismatt, Nabil 4449 pi mr sd nl 4.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 +3.0
Krehbiel, Joey 4562 pi mr cp bal al 3.7 4.7 4.7 4.7 +2.7
Lindor, Francisco 3586 ss nym nl 3.5 10.5 24.6 32.6 -3.5
Kirk, Alejandro 4353 dh ca tor al 3.0 5.0 6.5 6.5 +1.0
Ashcraft, Graham 4645 pi sp cin nl 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 +3.0
Marquez, German 3788 pi sp col nl 2.0 19.4 49.5 49.5 -15.4
Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp kc al 1.0 9.7 62.7 218.8 -7.7
Arroyo, Christian 4433 ss 2b bos al 1.0 3.5 3.5 3.5 -1.5
Baez, Javier 3395 ss 2b det al 1.0 3.0 23.7 28.2 -1.0
Raley, Brooks 4336 pi mr cp tb al 1.0 3.0 4.0 4.0 -1.0
Munoz, Andres 4222 pi mr sea al 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 +1.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Saturday’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.
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Game Starter ’22 ’21-22 ’17-22 Career
HOU Javier, Cristian 4290 3.7 9.7 11.7 11.7
NYY Cole, Gerrit 3232 10.4 32.8 97.4 133.3
PIT Brubaker, JT 4382 1.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
TB Kluber, Corey 3200 7.0 12.0 55.7 121.1
BAL Watkins, Spenser 4479 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
CHW Lynn, Lance 2992 0.0 12.4 48.2 104.1
CHC Sampson, Adrian 4147 0.0 1.0 4.0 4.0
STL Mikolas, Miles 3034 3.0 3.0 17.7 20.4
WSH Gray, Josiah 4503 3.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
TEX Bush, Matt 3673 0.0 0.0 1.0 3.0
NYM Bassitt, Chris 3413 5.0 18.7 33.8 37.8
MIA Rogers, Trevor 4311 2.0 11.0 12.0 12.0
OAK Koenig, Jared* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
KC Keller, Brad 4008 3.7 6.7 21.7 21.7
TOR Kikuchi, Yusei 4136 2.0 8.0 13.7 13.7
MIL Burnes, Corbin 4029 8.4 26.5 37.2 37.2
BOS Winckowski, Josh* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
CLE Bieber, Shane 4005 4.7 11.4 47.3 47.3
CIN Minor, Mike 2894 0.0 6.4 32.5 59.6
SF Webb, Logan 4258 3.0 18.5 21.2 21.2
COL Senzatela, Antonio 3760 0.0 2.0 13.0 13.0
MIN Archer, Chris 3194 0.0 0.0 13.7 62.8
LAD White, Mitch 4519 0.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
ATL Fried, Max 4011 9.0 20.8 37.5 37.5
SEA Gilbert, Logan 4439 7.7 14.7 14.7 14.7
LAA Sandoval, Patrick 4357 4.0 6.0 7.0 7.0
DET Faedo, Alex 4612 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
ARI Davies, Zach 3581 1.0 7.0 20.7 29.7
PHI Eflin, Zach 3679 3.7 7.4 27.5 31.5
SD Snell, Blake 3688 0.0 11.4 57.3 61.3
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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