Pirates’ Keller tops players for Thursday, Sept. 14; Twins’ Maeda tops AL players

Pirates pitcher Mitch Keller is Thursday’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 2023 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at upcoming pitching matchups.
▪️ Subscribe to Box-Toppers Email Newsletter.

Pirates pitcher Mitch Keller is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Keller struck out seven over eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 2-0 win over the Nationals.

Keller earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 13.0 for the season, 15th among all players and sixth among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day

Twins pitcher Kenta Maeda struck out eight over seven innings, allowing two runs, four hits and one walk, in the 10-2 win over the White Sox.

Maeda earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 9.4 for the season, 22nd among AL pitchers.

American League Player of the Day is Twins pitcher Kenta Maeda.

National League Batter of the Day

Tyrone Taylor of the Brewers hit two doubles and went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 4-2 win over the Marlins.

National League Batter of the Day is Tyrone Taylor of the Brewers.

American League Batter of the Day

There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Thursday because no AL batter won Player of the Game honors.

Mets pitcher Kodai Senga is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Thursday’s win over the Diamondbacks.

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 Thursday, Sept. 14.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 20.1
2 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 19.4
3 Peralta, Freddy 3965 pi sp mil nl 17.7
4 Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 17.1
5 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 16.7
6 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 16.1
7 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 15.7
8 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp tex al 15.4
9 Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 pi sp sea al 15.1
10 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp nyy al 14.0
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Back to top

Notable

Mets pitcher Kodai Senga now has 12.7 Box-Toppers points in 2023—17th overall and eighth among NL pitchers—after earning 1.0 point as Player of the Game Thursday (6IP 2H 0R 2BB 10K W in the 11-1 win over the Diamondbacks).

NEW: Inbox notification of each post!

Senga had a +12.0 Box-Toppers game score Thursday, same as Pirates pitcher Mitch Keller. But Keller won overall Player of the Day honors on a tiebreaker because he had more innings pitched (eight vs. six).

Debut

Rangers pitcher Cody Bradford made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Bradford (2.2IP H 0R BB 4K W in the 9-2 win over the Blue Jays) made his Major League debut May 15 and was playing in his 17th career game.

Scoring

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

  • Maeda earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day.

  • Taylor earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day.

  • All of Thursday’s other Player of the Game winners (listed in the chart) 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.

For additional updates, follow Box-Toppers on Twitter.

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).

9/14 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +12.0 PIT 2, WSH 0 Mitch Keller (W, 12‑9) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 8.0 2 0 0 1 7
+12.0 NYM 11, ARI 1 Kodai Senga (W, 11‑7) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 2 0 0 2 10
AL +6.0 MIN 10, CHW 2 Kenta Maeda (W, 5‑7) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 4 2 2 1 8
+6.0 BOS 5, NYY 0 Tanner Houck (W, 5‑9) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 4 0 0 3 7
+5.0 DET 8, CIN 2 Reese Olson (W, 4‑7) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 2 1 1 4 7
+5.0 NYY 8, BOS 5 Tommy Kahnle (S, 2) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 2.0 0 0 0 1 4
+4.2 TEX 9, TOR 2 Cody Bradford (W, 4‑1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 2.2 1 0 0 1 4
+4.0 TB 4, BAL 3 Pete Fairbanks (S, 24) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
BAT +2.0 MIL 4, MIA 2 Tyrone Taylor LF 3 1 2 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 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 (+/-).
Back to top

Player of the Game Pos Team ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career +/‑
Keller, Mitch 4230 pi sp pit nl 13.0 15.0 20.0 20.0 +11.0
Senga, Kodai 4762 pi sp nym nl 12.7 12.7 12.7 12.7 +12.7
Maeda, Kenta 3609 pi sp min al 9.4 9.4 42.9 62.9 +9.4
Olson, Reese 4861 pi sp det al 5.4 5.4 5.4 5.4 +5.4
Taylor, Tyrone 4393 cf rf lf mil nl 3.0 4.5 6.0 6.0 +1.5
Fairbanks, Pete 4273 pi cp tb al 3.0 3.0 6.0 6.0 +3.0
Houck, Tanner 4342 pi sp mr cp bos al 1.0 4.0 12.7 12.7 -2.0
Kahnle, Tommy 4138 pi cp mr nyy al 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 +1.0
Bradford, Cody 4938 pi mr tex al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +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 Friday’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.
Back to top

Game Starter ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career
NYY Cole, Gerrit 3232 14.0 29.4 109.4 152.3
PIT Oviedo, Johan 4442 8.7 11.7 12.7 12.7
ATL Elder, Bryce 4709 8.0 12.7 12.7 12.7
MIA Cueto, Johnny 2400 0.0 6.4 16.4 118.2
TB Eflin, Zach 3679 10.0 13.7 36.5 41.5
BAL Flaherty, Jack 3971 4.0 5.0 45.3 45.3
BOS Bello, Brayan 4727 2.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
TOR Berrios, Jose 3791 9.4 18.4 59.3 68.3
CIN Greene, Hunter 4651 5.7 11.7 11.7 11.7
NYM Peterson, David 4347 1.0 6.0 11.0 11.0
TEX Gray, Jon 3634 6.7 12.7 40.4 52.1
CLE Giolito, Lucas 3900 3.0 7.0 43.1 46.1
MIN Ober, Bailey 4441 6.7 9.7 16.4 16.4
CHW Scholtens, Jesse* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
HOU Javier, Cristian 4290 5.0 20.7 28.7 28.7
KC Greinke, Zack 1871 2.0 6.7 48.3 224.5
WSH Irvin, Jake 4805 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
MIL Miley, Wade 3006 3.0 4.0 26.4 66.5
PHI Nola, Aaron 3569 10.0 26.0 75.2 99.7
STL Thompson, Zack 4773 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
SF Winn, Keaton 4931 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
COL Lambert, Peter 4155 3.0 3.0 5.0 5.0
DET Skubal, Tarik 4414 6.7 17.4 26.1 26.1
LAA Canning, Griffin 4134 6.0 6.0 17.7 17.7
CHC Steele, Justin 4415 11.1 16.1 19.1 19.1
ARI Pfaadt, Brandon 4812 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
SD Lugo, Seth 3729 4.7 6.7 17.7 22.7
OAK Newcomb, Sean 3831 1.0 2.0 17.1 20.1
LAD Miller, Bobby 4820 6.7 6.7 6.7 6.7
SEA Kirby, George 4595 10.7 22.1 22.1 22.1
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