Rays’ Eflin tops players for Friday, July 21; Mariners’ Miller rises to 9th in player rankings

Rays pitcher Zach Eflin is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

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▪️ Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners.
▪️ Box-Toppers points of the day’s top players.
▪️ Top 10 players in 2023 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at upcoming pitching matchups.
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Rays pitcher Zach Eflin is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Friday, Mariners pitcher Bryce Miller rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day

Eflin struck out eight over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 3-0 win over the Orioles.

Eflin earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.0 for the season, 44th among all players and 22nd among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day

Cubs pitcher Justin Steele struck out nine over 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs, six hits and one walk, in the 4-3 win over the Cardinals.

Steele earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 8.1 for the season, 19th among all players and ninth among NL pitchers.

National League Player of the Day is Cubs pitcher Justin Steele.

American League Batter of the Day

Kyle Tucker of the Astros hit three home runs and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 6-4 win over the Athletics.

Tucker earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.0 for the season, fourth among AL batters.

American League Batter of the Day is Kyle Tucker of the Astros.

National League Batter of the Day

Matt McLain of the Reds hit a grand slam and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 9-6 win over the Diamondbacks.

National League Batter of the Day is Matt McLain of the Reds.

Rankings

Mariners pitcher Bryce Miller rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Miller (5.1IP 3H R 2BB 6K ND in the 3-2 win over the Blue Jays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.4 for the season. He ranks fourth among AL pitchers.

Miller becomes the 11th player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points. Miller is a rookie, it is his first season earning points and so it is also his first with 10 or more points.

Mariners pitcher Bryce Miller is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s win over the Blue Jays.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2023. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Friday, July 21.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 dh pi sp ana al 13.9
2 Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 12.7
3 Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 12.4
4 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 12.0
5 Burnes, Corbin 4029 pi sp mil nl 11.7
6 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 11.1
7 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 10.7
8 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp nym nl 10.4
9 Miller, Bryce 4797 pi sp sea al 10.4
10 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 10.1
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Scoring

  • Eflin earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.

  • Steele earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day.

  • Tucker and McLain 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) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

About Box-Toppers

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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.

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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).

7/21 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +12.0 TB 3, BAL 0 Zach Eflin (W, 11‑5) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 2 0 0 1 8
BAT +6.0 HOU 6, OAK 4 Kyle Tucker RF 4 3 3 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
NL +4.1 CHC 4, STL 3 Justin Steele (W, 10‑3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.1 6 2 2 1 9
+4.1 `SEA 3, TOR 2 Bryce Miller ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.1 3 1 1 2 6
BAT +4.0 CIN 9, ARI 6 Matt McLain SS 4 2 2 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+4.0 MIN 9, CHW 4 Byron Buxton DH 4 2 2 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+4.0 LAD 11, TEX 5 Freddie Freeman 1B 4 3 2 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+4.0 SD 5, DET 4 Juan Soto LF 3 2 2 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+4.0 COL 6, MIA 1 Peter Lambert (W, 2‑1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.0 3 0 0 1 3
+3.2 WSH 5, SF 3 Jake Irvin (W, 3‑5) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.2 5 3 3 1 9
+3.2 CLE 6, PHI 5 Trevor Stephan (W, 5‑4) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.2 0 0 0 0 2
+3.0 NYY 5, KC 4 Billy McKinney CF 2 1 1 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 ATL 6, MIL 4 Austin Riley 3B 4 2 2 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 LAA 8, PIT 5 Taylor Ward LF 3 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.
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 2023 (’23). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’22-23), the period 2018-2023 (’18-23) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2023 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2022 total (+/-).
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career +/‑
Miller, Bryce 4797 pi sp sea al 10.4 10.4 10.4 10.4 +10.4
Steele, Justin 4415 pi sp chi nl 8.1 13.1 16.1 16.1 +3.1
Tucker, Kyle 4277 rf hou al 7.0 11.5 23.7 23.7 +2.5
Eflin, Zach 3679 pi sp tb al 7.0 10.7 33.5 38.5 +3.3
Soto, Juan 3994 lf sd nl 5.0 7.5 29.0 29.0 +2.5
Freeman, Freddie 2887 1b lad nl 3.5 12.0 37.7 79.4 -5.0
Ward, Taylor 4345 lf rf ana al 3.0 8.9 13.9 13.9 -2.9
McLain, Matt 4847 2b ss cin nl 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 +2.5
Lambert, Peter 4155 pi mr sp col nl 2.0 2.0 4.0 4.0 +2.0
Irvin, Jake 4805 pi sp dc nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Riley, Austin 4144 3b atl nl 1.0 9.0 25.0 25.0 -7.0
Buxton, Byron 3604 dh cf min al 1.0 6.5 10.5 21.7 -4.5
Stephan, Trevor 4446 pi mr cp cle al 1.0 4.0 7.7 7.7 -2.0
McKinney, Billy 4049 cf nyy al 1.0 1.0 4.5 4.5 +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 2023 (’23), over a two-year period (’22-23), over a six-year period (’18-23) and their career point total.
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Game Starter ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career
KC Singer, Brady 4337 2.0 13.7 20.7 20.7
NYY Cole, Gerrit 3232 7.0 22.4 102.4 145.3
COL Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
MIA Cueto, Johnny 2400 0.0 6.4 16.4 118.2
STL Mikolas, Miles 3034 5.7 17.8 32.5 35.2
CHC Fulmer, Michael 3640 1.0 1.0 4.0 22.4
LAD Miller, Bobby 4820 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
TEX Dunning, Dane 4317 1.0 5.4 10.4 10.4
ARI Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
CIN Williamson, Brandon 4813 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7
BAL Rodriguez, Grayson 4790 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
TB McClanahan, Shane 4399 9.7 26.1 30.8 30.8
TOR Gausman, Kevin 3191 12.0 24.7 46.1 81.4
SEA Gilbert, Logan 4439 8.7 22.8 29.8 29.8
SD Wolf, Jackson* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
DET Manning, Matt 4550 1.7 4.7 5.7 5.7
SF Webb, Logan 4258 7.0 16.7 34.9 34.9
WSH Gray, Josiah 4503 4.7 9.4 10.4 10.4
NYM Scherzer, Max 2588 10.4 20.4 90.0 246.7
BOS Paxton, James 3280 4.0 4.0 35.1 59.9
PHI Wheeler, Zack 3204 8.0 22.4 64.2 76.9
CLE Bibee, Tanner 4792 4.7 4.7 4.7 4.7
ATL Winans, Allan* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
MIL Houser, Adrian 4162 1.7 3.4 14.4 14.4
CHW Cease, Dylan 4231 7.0 27.4 43.8 43.8
MIN Gray, Sonny 3259 5.7 17.8 52.0 93.2
HOU Javier, Cristian 4290 5.0 20.7 28.7 28.7
OAK Blackburn, Paul 3869 2.0 6.0 8.0 9.0
PIT Borucki, Ryan 4034 0.0 1.0 7.0 7.0
LAA Detmers, Reid 4513 5.7 12.7 13.7 13.7
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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