Padres’ Snell tops players for Saturday, Sept. 2; Tigers’ Olson tops AL players

Padres pitcher Blake Snell 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 2023 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at upcoming pitching matchups.
▪️ Subscribe to Box-Toppers Email Newsletter.

Padres pitcher Blake Snell is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Snell struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and four walks, in the 6-1 win over the Giants.

Snell earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 10.7 for the season, 24th among all players and 11th among National League pitchers.

Snell becomes the 35th player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points. It is his fifth season with 10 or more points and his third straight:

  • In 2018, he had 27.2 points with the Rays, first among all players.

  • In 2019, he had 10.0 points with the Rays, 19th among American League pitchers.

  • In 2021, he had 11.4 points with the Padres, 21st among NL pitchers.

  • In 2022, he had 13.1 points with the Padres, 14th among NL pitchers.

Snell has now earned 10 or more points in five of the past six seasons, missing only the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, when he had 3.7 points with the Rays, 25th among AL pitchers.

American League Player of the Day is Tigers pitcher Reese Olson.

American League Player of the Day

Tigers pitcher Reese Olson struck out one over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks, in the 10-0 win over the White Sox.

Olson earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 4.4 for the season, 59th among AL pitchers.

National League Batter of the Day is Bryan De La Cruz of the Marlins.

National League Batter of the Day

Bryan De La Cruz of the Marlins hit a three-run homer and went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 11-5 win over the Nationals.

De La Cruz earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season, 22nd among NL batters.

American League Batter of the Day is Donovan Solano of the Twins.

American League Batter of the Day

Donovan Solano of the Twins homered and went 4-for-5, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 9-7, 10-inning win over the Rangers.

Reds pitcher Andrew Abbott is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Cubs.

Notable

Reds pitcher Andrew Abbott has the most 2023 Box-Toppers points among Saturday’s 15 Player of the Game winners.

Abbott (6.1IP 4H R 2BB 5K ND in the 2-1 win over the Cubs) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.0 for the season, 23rd among all players and 10th among NL pitchers.

Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Blue Jays.

Streak

Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2023 Saturday.

Blackmon (2B 3-4 0R 3BI in the 8-7 win over the Blue Jays) earned his first points in 2011 with the Rockies. He earned no points in 2012, so his 11-season streak began in 2013 with the Rockies. He has 37.7 career Box-Toppers points, 22nd among active NL batters. His best season was 2022 with the Rockies when he had 6.5 points, 13th among NL batters.

Gabriel Arias of the Guardians is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Rays.

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 Saturday, Sept. 2.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 19.4
2 Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 19.1
3 Peralta, Freddy 3965 pi sp mil nl 15.7
4 Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 15.4
5 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 15.1
6 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 14.7
7 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp tex al 14.4
8 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 13.7
9 Lopez, Pablo 4028 pi sp min al 13.4
10 Miller, Bryce 4797 pi sp sea al 13.1
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Back to top

Also notable

Gabriel Arias of the Guardians earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Saturday.

Arias (HR 2-5 2R 2BI in the 7-6, 11-inning win over the Rays) was also Player of the Game Friday in the 3-2 win over the Rays (2-3 R BI). That was Arias’s Box-Toppers debut, his first career Player of the Game honor in his 119th career game. Arias now has 2.0 career Box-Toppers points, all earned in the past two days.

NEW: Inbox notification of each post!

Scoring

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

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

  • De La Cruz and Solano 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) 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.a

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).

9/2 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +7.0 SD 6, SF 1 Blake Snell (W, 12‑9) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 3 0 0 4 8
BAT +5.0 MIA 11, WSH 5 Bryan De La Cruz LF 5 3 4 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
AL +4.0 DET 10, CHW 0 Reese Olson (W, 3‑6) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 4 0 0 0 1
+4.0 BOS 9, KC 5 Nick Pivetta (S, 1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 3.0 2 1 1 0 5
+3.1 `CIN 2, CHC 1 Andrew Abbott ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.1 4 1 1 2 5
+3.1 `MIL 7, PHI 5 Colin Rea ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 4.1 3 2 2 0 6
BAT +3.0 MIN 9, TEX 7 (F/10) Donovan Solano 1B‑2B 5 1 4 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 SEA 8, NYM 7 J.P. Crawford SS 4 3 3 1 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 PIT 7, STL 6 Joshua Palacios PH‑RF 1 1 1 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.2 NYY 5, HOU 4 Jhony Brito (W, 6‑6) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 3.2 2 0 0 0 1
+2.0 COL 8, TOR 7 Charlie Blackmon DH 4 0 3 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 BAL 7, ARI 3 Cedric Mullins CF 3 1 1 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 ATL 4, LAD 2 (F/10) Michael Tonkin (W, 6‑2) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
+1.0 CLE 7, TB 6 (F/11) Gabriel Arias SS 5 2 2 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+1.0 OAK 2, LAA 1 Brent Rooker DH 3 1 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.
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 +/‑
Abbott, Andrew 4839 pi sp cin nl 11.0 11.0 11.0 11.0 +11.0
Snell, Blake 3688 pi sp sd nl 10.7 23.8 76.1 85.1 -2.4
Pivetta, Nick 3825 pi mr bos al 7.0 14.7 34.4 42.4 -0.7
Tonkin, Michael 3615 pi mr atl nl 6.0 6.0 6.0 8.0 +6.0
Crawford, J.P. 3937 ss sea al 5.5 7.5 18.0 18.0 +3.5
De La Cruz, Bryan 4500 lf fla nl 5.0 6.5 10.0 10.0 +3.5
Olson, Reese 4861 pi sp det al 4.4 4.4 4.4 4.4 +4.4
Rea, Colin 3582 pi sp mil nl 4.0 4.0 4.0 7.7 +4.0
Brito, Jhony 4761 pi sp mr nyy al 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 +3.0
Solano, Donovan 3096 dh 1b 2b ph min al 2.5 3.5 9.5 13.5 +1.5
Mullins, Cedric 4100 cf bal al 2.0 3.0 8.0 8.0 +1.0
Arias, Gabriel 4920 ss cle al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Palacios, Josh 4888 cf rf ph pit nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Rooker, Brent 4795 lf dh oak al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Blackmon, Charlie 2891 dh rf col nl 1.0 7.5 20.0 37.7 -5.5
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 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
CHC Taillon, Jameson 3658 4.4 15.1 36.5 50.5
CIN Spiers, Carson* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
PHI Suarez, Ranger 4228 3.7 8.7 18.7 18.7
MIL Miley, Wade 3006 3.0 4.0 26.4 66.5
MIA Alcantara, Sandy 4061 7.0 28.1 47.2 47.2
WSH Gray, Josiah 4503 5.7 10.4 11.4 11.4
SEA Kirby, George 4595 10.7 22.1 22.1 22.1
NYM Megill, Tylor 4464 3.0 8.7 14.7 14.7
BOS Sale, Chris 2806 6.7 6.7 39.8 151.3
KC Greinke, Zack 1871 2.0 6.7 48.3 224.5
DET Skubal, Tarik 4414 4.7 15.4 24.1 24.1
CHW Kopech, Michael 4385 8.0 17.0 22.7 22.7
PIT Oviedo, Johan 4442 8.7 11.7 12.7 12.7
STL Thompson, Zack 4773 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
MIN Maeda, Kenta 3609 7.7 7.7 41.2 61.2
TEX Gray, Jon 3634 6.7 12.7 40.4 52.1
TOR Gausman, Kevin 3191 14.7 27.4 48.8 84.1
COL Anderson, Chase 3328 0.0 2.0 16.4 42.8
LAA Anderson, Tyler 3656 1.0 13.7 31.4 36.4
OAK Muller, Kyle 4454 0.0 0.0 2.0 2.0
ATL Morton, Charlie 2503 10.0 20.4 68.7 104.1
LAD Miller, Bobby 4820 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
BAL Flaherty, Jack 3971 4.0 5.0 45.3 45.3
ARI Gallen, Zac 4171 13.7 32.4 48.1 48.1
TB Bradley, Taj 4780 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
CLE Curry, Xzavion 4875 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
SF Cobb, Alex 2916 10.0 16.7 28.1 67.9
SD Lugo, Seth 3729 3.7 5.7 16.7 21.7
NYY King, Michael 4549 7.0 11.7 12.7 12.7
HOU Javier, Cristian 4290 5.0 20.7 28.7 28.7
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