Astros pitcher Luis Garcia is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Garcia struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks, in the 4-0 win over the Twins.
Garcia earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 8.0 for the season, 42nd among all players and 13th among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Yu Darvish struck out 12 over seven innings, allowing two runs, four hits and no walks, in the 6-2 win over the Diamondbacks. Darvish did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was tied when he exited.
Darvish earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 12.1 for the season, 11th among all players and sixth among NL pitchers.
Darvish now has 106.2 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 71st place among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. With his 1.7 points Saturday, he passes four players on the “all-time” list—Giants pitcher Scott Kazmir (105.1), Aramis Ramirez (105.8), Frank Thomas (106.2) and Francisco Liriano (106.2). Darvish trails 70th-ranked player James Shields (106.4). Passing Kazmir, Darvish ranks 19th among active players in career points, 11th among active NL pitchers.
National League Batter of the Day—Jesse Winker of the Reds hit a three-run homer, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in six runs, in the 11-3 win over the Pirates.
Winker earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.5 for the season, sixth among NL batters.
American League Batter of the Day—Matt Olson of the Athletics doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 12-3 win over the Rangers.
Olson earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 7.0 for the season, fourth among AL 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 Saturday, Aug. 7.| 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 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 15.4 |
| 4 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 15.1 |
| 5 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 14.4 |
| 6 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 |
| 7 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 12.7 |
| 8 | Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 12.7 |
| 9 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 12.4 |
| 10 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 12.4 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Notable—Cardinals middle relief pitcher Luis Garcia earns his first Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor in nearly eight years Saturday.
Garcia (2IP 0H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 5-2 win over the Royals) last earned Player of the Game honors Sept. 28, 2013, with the Phillies. It is his only other career Player of the Game honor. He now has 2.0 career Box-Toppers points since 2013.
Garcia earned his first Player of the Game honor in 2013 in his 24th career game. He earned his second Saturday in his 334th career game.
He is also the second player named Luis Garcia to earn Player of the Game honors Saturday. Astros pitcher Luis Heibardo Garcia was overall Player of the Day. Luis Amado Garcia was signed by the Cardinals in July.
Debut—Three players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, each with their first career Player of the Game honor:
Nationals pitcher Josiah Gray (5IP 4H 2R ER 2BB 10K ND in the 3-2 win over the Braves) made his Major League debut July 20 and was playing in his fourth career game.
Dodgers pitcher Alex Vesia (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 3K ND in the 5-3 win over the Angels) made his Major League debut July 25, 2020, and was playing in his 25th career game.
Kyle Higashioka of the Yankees (2B 1-2 R BI in the 5-4 win over the Mariners) made his Major League debut April 10, 2017, and was playing in his 115th career game.
Scoring—Luis Heibardo Garcia earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Darvish earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Winker and Olson 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 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).| 8/7 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +12.0 | HOU 4, MIN 0 | Luis Garcia, (W 8‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| +12.0 | CHW 4, CHC 0 | Carlos Rodón, (W 9‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 11 | ||
| NL | +11.0 | `SD 6, ARI 2 | Yu Darvish | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 12 | |
| +10.0 | COL 7, MIA 4 | Austin Gomber, (W 9‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | ||
| +7.0 | `TOR 1, BOS 0 (F/7) | Robbie Ray | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| BAT | +6.0 | CIN 11, PIT 3 | Jesse Winker, LF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +6.0 | `WSH 3, ATL 2 | Josiah Gray | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | ||
| +5.1 | DET 2, CLE 1 | Tyler Alexander, (W 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| +5.0 | STL 5, KC 2 | Luis García, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | +4.0 | OAK 12, TEX 3 | Matt Olson, 1B | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | TB 12, BAL 3 | Brandon Lowe, 2B | 5 | 2 | 2 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | `LAD 5, LAA 3 | Alex Vesia | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +3.2 | `PHI 5, NYM 3 | Ranger Suárez | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | ||
| +3.0 | SF 9, MIL 6 (F/11) | Brandon Belt, 1B | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.2 | `BOS 2, TOR 1 (F/8) | Tanner Houck | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| +1.0 | NYY 5, SEA 4 | Kyle Higashioka, PH‑C | 2 | 1 | 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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 12.1 | 21.8 | 61.0 | 106.2 | +2.4 |
| Rodon, Carlos 3494 | pi sp | chi al | 9.7 | 9.7 | 26.7 | 34.8 | +9.7 |
| Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | tor al | 9.0 | 10.0 | 49.1 | 53.1 | +8.0 |
| Gomber, Austin 3985 | pi sp | col nl | 9.0 | 10.0 | 14.7 | 14.7 | +8.0 |
| Garcia, Luis 4423 | pi sp | hou al | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | +8.0 |
| Olson, Matt 3836 | 1b | oak al | 7.0 | 8.0 | 18.7 | 18.7 | +6.0 |
| Winker, Jesse 3988 | lf | cin nl | 6.5 | 8.5 | 15.0 | 15.0 | +4.5 |
| Lowe, Brandon 4108 | 2b | tb al | 6.0 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | +5.0 |
| Belt, Brandon 2943 | 1b | sf nl | 3.5 | 7.2 | 24.7 | 38.2 | ‑0.2 |
| Houck, Tanner 4342 | pi sp | bos al | 3.0 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | +0.3 |
| Alexander, Tyler 4196 | pi mr sp | det al | 2.0 | 4.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | +0.0 |
| Garcia, Luis 3300 | pi mr | nyy al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | +1.0 |
| Gray, Josiah 4503 | pi sp | dc nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
| Higashioka, Kyle 4505 | ca ph | nyy al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
| Vesia, Alex 4504 | pi mr | lad nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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