Blue Jays’ Stripling tops players for Wednesday, Aug. 17; Dodgers’ Gonsolin tops NL players

Blue Jays pitcher Ross Stripling is Wednesday’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.

Blue Jays pitcher Ross Stripling is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Stripling struck out seven over 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 6-1 win over the Orioles. Stripling did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.

Stripling was pitching a perfect game through six innings before giving up a hit in the seventh.

Stripling earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 8.0 for the season, 48th among all players and 20th among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Dodgers pitcher Tony Gonsolin struck out eight over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 2-1 win over the Brewers.

Gonsolin earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 11.4 for the season, 15th among all players and ninth among NL pitchers.

Gonsolin becomes the 27th player this season to reach 10.0 Box-Toppers points. It is his first season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points. His previous best seasons were 2020 and 2021, both with the Dodgers, when he had 4.7 points each season. In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, he ranked 17th among NL pitchers and in 2021, he ranked 66th among NL pitchers.

Dodgers pitcher Tony Gonsolin is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers NL Player of the Day.

American League Batter of the Day—Sean Murphy of the Athletics hit two home runs, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 7-2 win over the Rangers.

Sean Murphy of the Athletics is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers AL Batter of the Day.

National League Batter of the Day—Starling Marte of the Mets hit two home runs and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 9-7 win over the Braves.

Marte has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons with his first Player of the Game honor of the 2022 season. He earned his first Player of the Game honor in 2012 with the Pirates and has 26.0 career Box-Toppers points, 18th among active NL outfielders. His best season was 2015 with the Pirates, when he had 5.0 Box-Toppers points, 16th among NL outfielders. In 2021, he had 2.5 Box-Toppers points with the Marlins and Athletics.

Starling Marte of the Mets is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers NL Batter of the Day.

Notable—Jose Ramirez of the Guardians extends his 2022 Box-Toppers points lead among AL batters after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Ramirez (2B 1-4 2R 2BI in the 8-4 win over the Tigers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.7 for the season. He ranks 17th among all players and extends his lead over second-place AL batter Yordan Alvarez of the Astros (8.7 points).

Ramirez becomes the 28th player and second batter this season to reach 10.0 Box-Toppers points. (The other batter is Pete Alonso of the Mets, whose 12.2 points is 11th overall and first among NL batters.)

This is Ramirez’s third season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points. His best season was 2021, also with Cleveland, when he had 13.0 points, 21st overall and first among AL batters. Ramirez also had 10.0 points with Cleveland in 2017, fifth among AL batters.

Jose Ramirez of the Guardians is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s win over the Tigers.

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 Wednesday, Aug. 17.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 19.0
2 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp ana al 18.0
3 Alcantara, Sandy 4061 pi sp fla nl 17.1
4 Cease, Dylan 4231 pi sp chi al 16.7
5 Urias, Julio 3652 pi sp lad nl 15.4
6 McClanahan, Shane 4399 pi sp tb al 14.4
7 Rodon, Carlos 3494 pi sp sf nl 13.7
8 Musgrove, Joe 3705 pi sp sd nl 13.4
9 Fried, Max 4011 pi sp atl nl 13.0
10 Woodruff, Brandon 3868 pi sp mil nl 12.4
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Scoring—Stripling earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gonsolin earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Murphy and Marte 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).
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8/17 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +12.1 `TOR 6, BAL 1 Ross Stripling 6.1 1 0 0 0 7
NL +12.0 LAD 2, MIL 1 Tony Gonsolin, (W 15‑1) 7.0 2 0 0 1 8
+8.0 `CIN 1, PHI 0 Nick Lodolo 7.0 5 0 0 2 8
+5.2 STL 5, COL 1 Jordan Montgomery, (W 3‑0) 5.2 6 1 1 0 8
+4.2 SD 10, MIA 3 Adrian Morejon, (W 2‑0) 1.2 0 0 0 0 3
BAT +4.0 OAK 7, TEX 2 Sean Murphy, C 5 3 3 3
+4.0 BOS 8, PIT 3 Alex Verdugo, RF 3 3 3 1
+3.0 SEA 11, LAA 7 Cal Raleigh, C 4 2 2 3
+3.0 HOU 3, CHW 2 Ryan Pressly, (S 24) 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
BAT +2.0 NYM 9, ATL 7 Starling Marte, RF 5 2 3 2
+2.0 NYY 8, TB 7 (F/10) Josh Donaldson, DH 4 1 1 4
+2.0 ARI 3, SF 2 Jake McCarthy, PH‑RF 1 0 1 2
+1.1 `CHC 3, WSH 2 Drew Smyly 5.1 4 2 2 0 4
+1.0 MIN 4, KC 0 Jose Miranda, 1B 4 1 2 2
+1.0 CLE 8, DET 4 Jose Ramírez, 3B 4 2 1 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.
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 +/‑
Gonsolin, Tony 4211 pi sp lad nl 11.4 16.1 23.8 23.8 +6.7
Ramirez, Jose 3436 3b cle al 10.7 23.7 44.7 49.7 -2.3
Stripling, Ross 3629 pi sp tor al 8.0 14.7 29.4 34.1 +1.3
Smyly, Drew 3009 pi sp chi nl 6.7 14.7 18.7 54.2 -1.3
Montgomery, Jordan 3814 pi sp stl nl 6.4 16.1 23.1 23.1 -3.3
Verdugo, Alex 4129 lf rf bos al 5.5 9.0 12.5 12.5 +2.0
Pressly, Ryan 3186 pi cp hou al 5.0 8.0 13.0 18.0 +2.0
Lodolo, Nick 4586 pi sp cin nl 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 +5.0
Raleigh, Cal 4481 ca sea al 4.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 +3.0
Donaldson, Josh 3144 3b dh nyy al 3.5 5.0 24.5 64.1 +2.0
Murphy, Sean 4246 ca oak al 2.5 5.0 8.0 8.0 0.0
Morejon, Adrian 4298 pi mr sp sd nl 2.0 2.0 4.0 4.0 +2.0
McCarthy, Jake 4621 rf ph ari nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Miranda, Jose 4653 1b min al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Marte, Starling 3122 rf nym nl 1.5 4.0 14.0 26.0 -1.0
Mantiply, Joe 4585 pi cp ari nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Thursday’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
COL Senzatela, Antonio 3760 0.0 2.0 13.0 13.0
STL Wainwright, Adam 2150 9.0 21.0 39.3 151.3
OAK Logue, Zach 4602 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
TEX Dunning, Dane 4317 3.4 5.4 8.4 8.4
HOU Garcia, Luis 4423 6.7 16.7 16.7 16.7
CHW Giolito, Lucas 3900 4.0 15.4 43.1 43.1
LAD Heaney, Andrew 3515 5.0 10.0 29.1 33.1
MIL Burnes, Corbin 4029 11.4 29.5 40.2 40.2
CHC Sampson, Adrian 4147 1.0 2.0 5.0 5.0
BAL Watkins, Spenser 4479 3.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
ARI Gallen, Zac 4171 10.7 14.7 26.4 26.4
SF Webb, Logan 4258 6.7 22.2 24.9 24.9
BOS Winckowski, Josh* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
PIT Brubaker, JT 4382 1.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
TOR Berrios, Jose 3791 7.0 16.4 56.9 56.9
NYY Montas, Frankie 3803 3.0 15.4 33.8 33.8
KC Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
TB Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
NYM deGrom, Jacob 3343 3.7 20.4 80.7 125.8
ATL Fried, Max 4011 13.0 24.8 41.5 41.5
WSH Sanchez, Anibal 2187 0.0 0.0 17.4 82.7
SD Darvish, Yu 3003 10.1 23.2 61.7 117.3
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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