Padres pitcher Yu Darvish is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to third place in season player rankings, taking the 2021 Box-Toppers point lead among National League pitchers.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2021. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Monday, May 17.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 9.0 |
| 2 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 8.7 |
| 3 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 7.7 |
| 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.7 |
| 5 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.4 |
| 6 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 6.4 |
| 7 | Martinez, J.D. 2922 | dh | bos al | 6.2 |
| 8 | Means, John 4115 | pi sp | bal al | 6.0 |
| 9 | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | ari nl | 6.0 |
| 10 | Rogers, Trevor 4311 | pi sp | fla nl | 6.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Darvish struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks, in the 7-0 win over the Rockies.
Darvish earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.7 for the season, third-most among all players this season, behind Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole (9.0) and Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow (8.7). Darvish rises to lead NL pitchers, passing previous leader Max Scherzer of the Nationals (6.7).
Darvish also becomes the 87th player since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995 to reach 100 career Box-Toppers points. With his 2.0 points Monday, he now has 101.8 career points, 78th among all players since 1995, when tracking began. He passes nine players on the “all-time” list—Larry Walker (100.1), Mets pitcher Carlos Carrasco (100.1), Jeff Bagwell (100.4), Paul Konerko (100.7), Matt Cain (100.7), Matt Holliday (100.8), Jason Schmidt (101.2), Mark Teixeira (101.3) and Tim Wakefield (101.4). Darvish now trails 77th-ranked player Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2).
Of all players with 100 career Box-Toppers points, 59 are pitchers and 28 are batters. Darvish becomes the 20th active player with 100 points. Of those 20 active players, there are 18 active pitchers and two active batters—Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (153.4) and Albert Pujols (202.8), who only became active again Monday, signing with the Dodgers, after several days of being inactive after being released by the Angels.
Darvish ranks 19th among active players in career points, 11th among active NL pitchers.
Darvish made his Box-Toppers debut in 2012 with the Rangers, earning a career-best 16.8 Box-Toppers points that season, fourth among AL pitchers. He’s earned 10 or more Box-Toppers points in six different seasons. In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, he had 9.7 Box-Toppers points, third among all players and second among NL pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Tigers pitcher Casey Mize struck out seven over 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run, three hits and three walks, in the 4-1 win over the Mariners.
American League Batter of the Day—Danny Mendick of the White Sox hit a grand slam and went 1-for-4, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 16-4 win over the Twins.
This was Mendick’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Mendick made his Major League debut Sept. 3, 2019, and was playing in his 64th career game.
National League Batter of the Day—Jason Heyward of the Cubs homered and went 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 7-3 win over the Nationals.
Scoring—Darvish earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Mize earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Mendick and Heyward each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’s other Players of the Game (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).| 5/17 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +13.0 | SD 7, COL 0 | Yu Darvish, (W 4‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | |
| +9.0 | LAD 3, ARI 1 | Walker Buehler, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | ||
| +8.0 | NYM 3, ATL 1 | Sean Reid‑Foley, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| AL | +6.2 | DET 4, SEA 1 | Casey Mize, (W 3‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | |
| +4.0 | LAA 7, CLE 4 | Tony Watson, (W 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | CHW 16, MIN 4 | Danny Mendick, RF‑3B‑SS | 4 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | TEX 5, NYY 2 | Jordan Lyles, (W 2‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| +3.0 | SF 6, CIN 3 | Logan Webb, (W 3‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| BAT | +2.0 | CHC 7, WSH 3 | Jason Heyward, RF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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.
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 for the current season (’21). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’20-21), the period 2016-2021 (’16-21) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2021 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2020 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’21 | ’20‑21 | ’16‑21 | Career | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 7.7 | 17.4 | 56.6 | 101.8 | ‑2.0 |
| Mize, Casey 4377 | pi sp | det al | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | +3.7 |
| Buehler, Walker 3943 | pi sp | lad nl | 3.0 | 8.7 | 40.2 | 40.2 | ‑2.7 |
| Webb, Logan 4258 | pi sp | sf nl | 3.0 | 4.0 | 5.7 | 5.7 | +2.0 |
| Heyward, Jason 2695 | rf ph | chi nl | 2.5 | 6.2 | 13.7 | 31.2 | ‑1.2 |
| Lyles, Jordan 3100 | pi sp | tex al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 15.7 | 22.4 | +2.0 |
| Mendick, Danny 4412 | rf 3b ss | chi al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | +1.5 |
| Reid‑Foley, Sean 4059 | pi mr sp | nym nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5.4 | 5.4 | +1.0 |
| Watson, Tony 3215 | pi mr cp | ana al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 6.0 | 10.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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