Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler rises to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors. Plus, Shohei Ohtani of the Angels rises to lead American League batters in 2021 Box-Toppers points after earning AL Batter of the Day honors.
Player of the Day—Manoah struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 11-1 win over the Rays.
Manoah earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season, 168th among all players and 61st among AL pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler struck out nine over 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks, in the 4-3, 10-inning win over the Padres. Wheeler did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Padres tied the game after he exited.
Wheeler earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 14.1 for the season, rising from fifth to second in Box-Toppers season player rankings, trailing only Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom (14.7).
National League Batter of the Day—Thairo Estrada of the Giants hit a grand slam, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 11-4 win over the Diamondbacks.
This was Estrada’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Estrada made his Major League debut April 21, 2019, and was playing in his 66th career game.
American League Batter of the Day—Shohei Ohtani of the Angels hit two home runs and went 2-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 8-7 win over the Orioles.
Ohtani earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 8.4 for the season, 18th among all players and rising to first place among AL batters, passing previous leader J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (8.2).
Ohtani only qualified as a batter in 2021’s Box-Toppers season player rankings Friday, earning his second Player of the Game honor of the season as a batter. He’s earned Player of the Game honors six times this season, four as a starting pitcher. To be listed at a certain position, Box-Toppers requires players to have at least 25 percent of their Player of the Game honors at that position. Ohtani now qualifies to be listed as a designated hitter since one-third of his Player of the Game honors this season have now occurred at that position.
However, he is also listed as a pitcher, since two-thirds of his Player of the Game honors have occurred there. His 8.4 points ranks seventh among AL pitchers.
We combined all Box-Toppers points for all his positions, even though he’s earned 3.0 for batting and 5.4 for pitching. But to complicate matters further, on April 26, he won AL Player of the Game as a pitcher, but earned the honor for his batting performance that game. So that gives him 4.7 points as a batter and 3.7 as a pitcher.
Notable—White Sox pitcher Lance Lynn becomes the 88th player in Box-Toppers tracking history (since 1995) to reach 100 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Lynn (6IP 4H R 5BB 9K W in the 8-2 win over the Tigers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers points, giving him 100.4 career points, 85th among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He passes four players on the “all-time” career points list—Jim Edmonds (99.8), Larry Walker (100.1), Mets pitcher Carlos Carrasco (100.1) and Jeff Bagwell (100.4). Lynn now trails 84th-ranked player Paul Konerko (100.7). Lynn ranks 20th among active players in career points, seventh among active AL pitchers.
Lynn has 8.7 Box-Toppers points in 2021, 14th among all players and fourth among AL 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 Friday, July 2.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 14.7 |
| 2 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 14.1 |
| 3 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 13.4 |
| 4 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 13.4 |
| 5 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 |
| 6 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 11.4 |
| 7 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 10.4 |
| 8 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 10.0 |
| 9 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 9.7 |
| 10 | Civale, Aaron 4173 | pi sp | cle al | 9.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Scoring—Manoah earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Wheeler earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Estrada and Ohtani each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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).| 7/2 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +13.0 | TOR 11, TB 1 | Alek Manoah, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | |
| NL | +12.2 | `PHI 4, SD 3 (F/10) | Zack Wheeler | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | |
| +9.0 | `BOS 3, OAK 2 (F/10) | Eduardo Rodriguez | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||
| +7.2 | ATL 1, MIA 0 | Drew Smyly, (W 6‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | ||
| +5.0 | `CIN 2, CHC 1 | Sonny Gray | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| BAT | +4.0 | SF 11, ARI 4 | Thairo Estrada, 2B | 5 | 1 | 3 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| BAT | +4.0 | LAA 8, BAL 7 | Shohei Ohtani, DH | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | CHW 8, DET 2 | Lance Lynn, (W 8‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 9 | ||
| +3.2 | MIL 7, PIT 2 | Adrian Houser, (W 5‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| +3.0 | STL 9, COL 3 (F/10) | Yadier Molina, C | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | SEA 5, TEX 4 (F/10) | Jake Fraley, LF‑CF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | LAD 10, WSH 5 | Justin Turner, 3B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | KC 7, MIN 4 | Salvador Perez, C | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | HOU 6, CLE 3 | Chas McCormick, RF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 14.1 | 15.1 | 35.8 | 47.5 | +13.1 |
| Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | chi al | 8.7 | 17.8 | 44.5 | 100.4 | ‑0.4 |
| Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 8.4 | 8.4 | 22.9 | 22.9 | +8.4 |
| Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | cin nl | 4.4 | 9.1 | 41.6 | 73.4 | ‑0.3 |
| Houser, Adrian 4162 | pi sp | mil nl | 4.0 | 5.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | +3.0 |
| Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 | pi sp | bos al | 4.0 | 4.0 | 42.2 | 48.2 | +4.0 |
| Smyly, Drew 3009 | pi sp | atl nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 15.4 | 43.5 | +4.0 |
| Fraley, Jake 4430 | dh lf cf | sea al | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | +3.5 |
| Manoah, Alek 4424 | pi sp | tor al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +3.0 |
| Turner, Justin 2865 | 3b | lad nl | 2.7 | 3.7 | 15.2 | 24.7 | +1.7 |
| Molina, Yadier 1967 | ca | stl nl | 2.0 | 4.0 | 20.0 | 50.7 | +0.0 |
| Perez, Salvador 2972 | ca dh | kc al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 16.5 | 34.2 | +2.0 |
| McCormick, Chas 4444 | rf | hou al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +2.0 |
| Estrada, Thairo 4460 | 2b | sf nl | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | +1.5 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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