Blue Jays pitcher Robbie Ray is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to ninth place in season player rankings.
Ray struck out 13 over seven innings, allowing one run, four hits and no walks, in the 6-3 win over the Rays.
Ray earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 16.7 for the season, ninth among all players and second among American League pitchers, behind Gerrit Cole of the Yankees (22.4).
National League Player of the Day—Jesus Sanchez of the Marlins hit two home runs and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 8-6 win over the Nationals.
This was Sanchez’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Sanchez made his Major League debut Aug. 21, 2020, and was playing in his 61st career game.
American League Batter of the Day—Elvis Andrus of the Athletics doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 12-10 win over the Royals.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Wednesday because the NL Player of the Day is batter Jesus Sanchez.
Notable—Jose Ramirez of the Indians becomes the 41st player and fourth batter to reach 10 Box-Toppers points in 2021 after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Ramirez (2B 3-4 2R 2BI in the 12-3 win over the Twins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.5 for the season, 31st among all players and second among AL batters behind J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (10.7).
This is Ramirez’s second season with 10 Box-Toppers points. He had 10.0 points in 2017 with the Indians, fifth among AL batters.
With just four batters with 10 Box-Toppers points, 2021 could see the fewest number of batters reach that milestone in a full season. The fewest number of batters to reach 10 Box-Toppers points in a full season is five, done in both 2014 and 2018. (Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.) There were no batters with 10 points in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and there were nine in 2019.
There were 28 batters with 10 Box-Toppers points in a season three times—1997, 1999 and 2000—tied for the most in any season. Point totals for batters fell gradually in the decade of the 2000s and then fell precipitously in 2010 and after. There have been only three seasons since 2010 that there have been 10 or more batters reaching 10 Box-Toppers points in a season—2011 (12), 2015 (10) and 2016 (10).
Debut—In addition to Sanchez, Tigers pitcher Matt Manning also made his Box-Toppers debut Wednesday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
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, Sept. 15.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 23.1 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 22.4 |
| 3 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 19.1 |
| 4 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 17.4 |
| 5 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 17.4 |
| 6 | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi sp | mil nl | 17.1 |
| 7 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 17.1 |
| 8 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 9 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | tor al | 16.7 |
| 10 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp | ana al | 16.1 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Manning (6IP 2H R 3BB 6K W in the 4-1 win over the Brewers) made his Major League debut June 17 and was playing in his 15th career game.
Scoring—Ray earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Sanchez earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Andrus earns 1.5 points for being AL 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).| 9/15 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +14.0 | TOR 6, TB 3 | Robbie Ray, (W 12‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 13 | |
| +10.1 | `NYY 4, BAL 3 | Nestor Cortes | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 11 | ||
| +7.0 | HOU 7, TEX 2 | Jose Urquidy, (W 7‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| +5.0 | DET 4, MIL 1 | Matt Manning, (W 4‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | ||
| NL | +4.0 | MIA 8, WSH 6 | Jesus Sánchez, RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | LAA 3, CHW 2 | Mike Mayers, (W 5‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +4.0 | LAD 5, ARI 3 | Kenley Jansen, (S 33) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +3.1 | BOS 9, SEA 4 (F/10) | Adam Ottavino, (W 7‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | OAK 12, KC 10 | Elvis Andrus, SS | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | STL 11, NYM 4 | Paul Goldschmidt, 1B | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | CLE 12, MIN 3 | Jose Ramírez, 3B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | PIT 5, CIN 4 | Chris Stratton, (W 6‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.0 | COL 3, ATL 2 (F/10) | Robert Stephenson, (S 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.0 | `PHI 6, CHC 5 | Ranger Suárez | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| +2.0 | SD 9, SF 6 | Adam Frazier, 2B | 5 | 1 | 4 | 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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | tor al | 16.7 | 17.7 | 56.8 | 60.8 | +15.7 |
| Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 10.5 | 14.0 | 33.0 | 36.5 | +7.0 |
| Urquidy, Jose 4194 | pi sp | hou al | 7.4 | 9.4 | 12.1 | 12.1 | +5.4 |
| Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 | 1b | stl nl | 6.5 | 6.5 | 33.4 | 68.8 | +6.5 |
| Suarez, Ranger 4228 | pi mr sp | phi nl | 6.0 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | +6.0 |
| Jansen, Kenley 2871 | pi cp | lad nl | 5.0 | 6.0 | 26.0 | 56.4 | +4.0 |
| Cortes, Nestor Jr. 4160 | pi sp | nyy al | 5.0 | 5.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | +5.0 |
| Ottavino, Adam 3054 | pi mr | bos al | 4.0 | 4.0 | 13.0 | 17.0 | +4.0 |
| Stratton, Chris 3883 | pi cp | pit nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 16.1 | 16.1 | +4.0 |
| Mayers, Mike 3983 | pi cp mr | ana al | 2.0 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | ‑1.0 |
| Sanchez, Jesus 4551 | rf | fla nl | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | +1.7 |
| Andrus, Elvis 2582 | ss | oak al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 23.7 | 34.2 | +1.5 |
| Frazier, Adam 3771 | 2b | sd nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | +1.0 |
| Stephenson, Robert 3617 | pi cp mr sp | col nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 6.7 | 6.7 | +1.0 |
| Manning, Matt 4550 | pi sp | det al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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