Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer rises to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors. Plus, Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani rises to ninth place in season player rankings, extending his Box-Toppers points lead among American League batters.
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 Wednesday, Aug. 4.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 16.4 |
| 3 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 15.1 |
| 4 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 14.4 |
| 5 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 13.7 |
| 6 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 |
| 7 | Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 12.7 |
| 8 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 12.4 |
| 9 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 12.4 |
| 10 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 11.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Player of the Day—Rodriguez struck out 10 over five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and four walks, in the 4-1 win over the Tigers.
Rodriguez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.0 for the season, 50th among all players and 16th among AL pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer struck out 10 over seven innings, allowing two runs, five hits and one walk, in the 7-5 win over the Astros.
Scherzer earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 12.4 for the season, eighth among all players and fifth among NL pitchers.
This was his first Box-Toppers points earned since being traded last week from the Nationals to the Dodgers.
Scherzer now has 213.6 career Box-Toppers points, fifth-most among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails fourth-ranked player, Astros pitcher Zack Greinke (215.8) by 2.2 points. Scherzer ranks third among active players behind new teammate Clayton Kershaw (246.6) and Greinke. He ranks second among active NL pitchers, behind Kershaw.
National League Batter of the Day—Rowdy Tellez of the Brewers hit a pinch-hit, seventh-inning, go-ahead, three-run homer and went 1-for-1, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 4-2 win over the Pirates.
American League Batter of the Day—Yan Gomes of the Athletics went 1-for-1 and drove in one run, in the 5-4, 10-inning win over the Padres. Gomes was the only AL batter to earn Player of the Game honors in Wednesday’s 15 games.
Rankings—Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Ohtani (6IP 4H R 0BB 6K W in the 2-1 win over the Rangers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.4 for the season. Ohtani rises to fourth place among AL pitchers and extends his lead among AL batters, ahead of second-place J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (9.7).
While Ohtani qualifies as a batter, most of his Player of the Game honors (six of nine, including Wednesday’s) have been earned as a starting pitcher. The other three Player of the Game honors have been earned as a designated hitter.
Ohtani has earned 8.4 of his 12.4 Box-Toppers points this season as a pitcher and 4.0 as a batter. If separated, the 8.4 points would rank ninth among AL pitchers and the 4.0 points would rank 27th among AL batters. However, it should be noted that on April 26, Ohtani earned 1.7 points as a pitcher, but earned them for his performance as a batter during that game.
Notable—Giants pitcher Kevin Gausman becomes the 15th player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Gausman (6IP 5H R 0BB 8K W in the 7-1 win over the Diamondbacks) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.7 for the season, 14th among all players and ninth among NL pitchers.
This is Gausman’s third season with 10 Box-Toppers points. He did it twice with the Orioles previously—2016 (10.8 points, 16th among AL pitchers) and 2017 (11.1 points, 10th among AL pitchers).
Scoring—Rodriguez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Scherzer earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Tellez and Gomes each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’s other Player of the Game winners (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).| 8/4 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +9.0 | BOS 4, DET 1 | Eduardo Rodriguez, (W 8‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | |
| NL | +7.0 | LAD 7, HOU 5 | Max Scherzer, (W 9‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 | |
| +7.0 | SF 7, ARI 1 | Kevin Gausman, (W 10‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | ||
| +7.0 | TOR 8, CLE 6 | Steven Matz, (W 9‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | ||
| +6.1 | `NYY 10, BAL 3 | Jameson Taillon | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | ||
| +6.0 | LAA 2, TEX 1 | Shohei Ohtani, (W 6‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| +5.0 | KC 9, CHW 1 | Carlos Hernández, (W 3‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| BAT | +4.0 | MIL 4, PIT 2 | Rowdy Tellez, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | CIN 6, MIN 5 | Luis Castillo, (W 6‑10) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| +3.0 | ATL 7, STL 4 | Dansby Swanson, SS | 4 | 3 | 4 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | NYM 5, MIA 3 | Trevor May, (S 4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | PHI 9, WSH 5 | Bryce Harper, RF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | CHC 3, COL 2 | Patrick Wisdom, 3B | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | TB 4, SEA 3 | Josh Fleming, (W 9‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | ||
| BAT | +1.0 | OAK 5, SD 4 (F/10) | Yan Gomes, PH‑C | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 12.4 | 16.4 | 107.6 | 213.6 | +8.4 |
| Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 12.4 | 12.4 | 26.9 | 26.9 | +12.4 |
| Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | sf nl | 10.7 | 11.7 | 40.3 | 53.7 | +9.7 |
| Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 | pi sp | bos al | 7.0 | 7.0 | 45.2 | 51.2 | +7.0 |
| Taillon, Jameson 3658 | pi sp | nyy al | 7.0 | 7.0 | 33.4 | 33.4 | +7.0 |
| Fleming, Josh 4316 | pi sp mr | tb al | 6.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | +4.7 |
| Matz, Steven 3516 | pi sp | tor al | 6.7 | 6.7 | 35.5 | 39.0 | +6.7 |
| Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 | pi sp | cin nl | 6.0 | 11.0 | 41.8 | 41.8 | +1.0 |
| Swanson, Dansby 3751 | ss | atl nl | 5.5 | 7.5 | 20.0 | 20.0 | +3.5 |
| Wisdom, Patrick 4042 | 3b | chi nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | +3.0 |
| Hernandez, Carlos 4466 | pi sp mr | kc al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +3.0 |
| Tellez, Rowdy 4078 | 1b ph | mil nl | 2.5 | 5.5 | 10.0 | 10.0 | ‑0.5 |
| Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf dh | phi nl | 2.5 | 4.0 | 29.5 | 53.9 | +1.0 |
| May, Trevor 3417 | pi mr cp | nym nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 7.0 | 11.0 | ‑1.0 |
| Gomes, Yan 3177 | ca ph | oak al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 10.0 | 18.2 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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