Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings, passing previous leader Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom.
Also Sunday, Adam Duvall of the Braves rises to lead National League batters in 2021 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Wheeler pitched a complete-game, two-hit shutout, striking out 11 and walking one, in the 3-0 win over the Mets.
Wheeler earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 17.1 for the season, rising from fourth to first place in season player rankings, passing deGrom (16.7), who had led rankings since June 21. deGrom has not pitched since July 7 due to injury and reports indicate the earliest he could return is September, if he is able to return at all this season.
Wheeler also assumes the lead among National League pitchers ahead of deGrom.
American League Player of the Day—Eloy Jimenez of the White Sox hit two home runs, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 9-3 win over the Cubs.
National League Batter of the Day—C.J. Cron of the Rockies hit two home runs—a grand slam and a three-run shot—in the 13-8 win over the Marlins. Cron went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in seven runs.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Sunday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Eloy Jimenez.
Rankings—Adam Duvall of the Braves rises to first place among NL batters in 2021 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Duvall (HR 2-3 R 2BI in the 5-4 win over the Nationals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.0 for the season, passing previous leader Nick Castellanos of the Reds (8.0). Though both Duvall and Castellanos have 8.0 points for the season, Duvall ranks ahead because he has more 2020 Box-Toppers points—4.0 vs. 1.0.
This is the first time Duvall has earned Player of the Game honors since being traded from the Marlins. He ranks 36th in overall Box-Toppers player rankings.
Notable—Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler becomes the 18th player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Buehler (6IP 4H R 4BB 8K W in the 8-2 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.7 for the season, 16th among all players and 10th among NL pitchers.
This is Buehler’s third season with 10 or more points. His best season was 2019 with the Dodgers when he had 16.4, seventh among NL pitchers. In 2018, he had 15.1 points, fifth among NL 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 Sunday, Aug. 8.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 17.1 |
| 2 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 3 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 16.4 |
| 4 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 15.4 |
| 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
Also notable—Brandon Belt of the Giants earns Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Sunday.
Belt (HR 1-1 R 2BI in the 5-4 win over the Brewers) was also Player of the Game Saturday in the 9-6, 11-inning win over the Brewers (2HR 2-5 3R 3BI). Belt has 4.5 Box-Toppers points for the season, 17th among NL batters, including 2.0 points in the past two days.
Debut—Royals pitcher Richard Lovelady made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Lovelady (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv in the 6-5 win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut April 9, 2019 and was playing in his 37th career game.
Scoring—Wheeler earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Jimenez earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Cron earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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).| 8/8 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +17.0 | PHI 3, NYM 0 | Zack Wheeler, (W 10‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 9.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | |
| +15.0 | SD 2, ARI 0 | Blake Snell, (W 6‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 13 | ||
| BAT | +7.0 | COL 13, MIA 8 | C.J. Cron, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +7.0 | CIN 3, PIT 2 | Tyler Mahle, (W 9‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 10 | ||
| AL | +6.0 | CHW 9, CHC 3 | Eloy Jiménez, LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.2 | SEA 2, NYY 0 | Paul Sewald, (W 7‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| +5.0 | TB 9, BAL 6 | Brett Phillips, CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +5.0 | TOR 9, BOS 8 | George Springer, CF | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | MIN 7, HOU 5 | Jorge Polanco, 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | LAD 8, LAA 2 | Walker Buehler, (W 12‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | ||
| +3.0 | SF 5, MIL 4 | Brandon Belt, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | KC 6, STL 5 | Richard Lovelady, (S 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | ATL 5, WSH 4 | Adam Duvall, LF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | `CLE 7, DET 5 | James Karinchak, (Hld 10) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| +1.0 | OAK 6, TEX 3 | Starling Marte, CF | 5 | 1 | 4 | 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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 17.1 | 18.1 | 38.8 | 50.5 | +16.1 |
| Buehler, Walker 3943 | pi sp | lad nl | 10.7 | 16.4 | 47.9 | 47.9 | +5.0 |
| Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | sd nl | 9.4 | 13.1 | 59.3 | 59.3 | +5.7 |
| Duvall, Adam 3573 | rf lf | atl nl | 8.0 | 12.0 | 28.5 | 30.0 | +4.0 |
| Mahle, Tyler 3929 | pi sp | cin nl | 8.0 | 10.0 | 20.0 | 20.0 | +6.0 |
| Karinchak, James 4392 | pi cp mr | cle al | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | +5.0 |
| Belt, Brandon 2943 | 1b | sf nl | 4.5 | 8.2 | 25.7 | 39.2 | +0.8 |
| Cron, C.J. 3338 | 1b | col nl | 4.5 | 4.5 | 16.2 | 23.2 | +4.5 |
| Polanco, Jorge 3739 | 2b | min al | 3.7 | 3.7 | 12.7 | 12.7 | +3.7 |
| Phillips, Brett 3914 | cf rf | tb al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | +3.0 |
| Jimenez, Eloy 4107 | lf | chi al | 2.7 | 8.2 | 15.7 | 15.7 | ‑2.8 |
| Springer, George 3337 | dh cf | tor al | 2.5 | 4.5 | 26.2 | 30.2 | +0.5 |
| Marte, Starling 3122 | cf | oak al | 2.5 | 4.5 | 15.0 | 24.5 | +0.5 |
| Sewald, Paul 3940 | pi mr | sea al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +2.0 |
| Lovelady, Richard 4506 | pi cp | kc al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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