Bryce Harper of the Phillies is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Harper hit a three-run homer and doubled twice in the 17-8 win over the Cubs. Harper went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs.
Harper earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.5 for the season, 140th among all players and 21st among National League batters.
This is the eighth time this season that a batter has won overall Player of the Day honors. In the season’s other 165 days, pitchers have won overall Player of the Day honors.
American League Player of the Day—Angels pitcher Alex Cobb struck out five over five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 9-3 win over the White Sox.
Cobb earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 7.4 for the season, 76th among all players and 29th among AL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day—Josh Harrison of the Athletics doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 7-2 win over the Royals.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall Player of the Day is batter Bryce Harper.
Notable—Reds pitcher Tyler Mahle becomes the 42nd player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Mahle (6IP 5H 0R BB 4K W in the 1-0 win over the Pirates) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.7 for the season, 27th among all players and 19th among NL pitchers.
This is Mahle’s first season with 10 Box-Toppers points. His previous best season was 2018 with the Reds, when he had 6.0 Box-Toppers points, 60th 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 Thursday, Sept. 16.| 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
Scoring—Harper earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cobb earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Harrison earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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).| 9/16 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +6.0 | PHI 17, CHC 8 | Bryce Harper, RF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| AL | +6.0 | LAA 9, CHW 3 | Alex Cobb, (W 8‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | |
| +4.0 | CIN 1, PIT 0 | Tyler Mahle, (W 12‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| +4.0 | BAL 3, NYY 2 (F/10) | Cole Sulser, (W 5‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | OAK 7, KC 2 | Josh Harrison, 3B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | HOU 12, TEX 1 | Carlos Correa, SS | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | SD 7, SF 4 | Wil Myers, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | TB 5, DET 2 | Manuel Margot, RF | 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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mahle, Tyler 3929 | pi sp | cin nl | 10.7 | 12.7 | 22.7 | 22.7 | +8.7 |
| Cobb, Alex 2916 | pi sp | ana al | 7.4 | 8.4 | 19.8 | 51.2 | +6.4 |
| Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | phi nl | 5.5 | 7.0 | 32.5 | 56.9 | +4.0 |
| Myers, Wil 3228 | rf | sd nl | 5.0 | 7.5 | 22.2 | 30.7 | +2.5 |
| Correa, Carlos 3506 | ss | hou al | 5.0 | 6.5 | 25.7 | 32.9 | +3.5 |
| Harrison, Josh 2947 | 2b | oak al | 3.5 | 3.5 | 10.0 | 16.0 | +3.5 |
| Margot, Manuel 3861 | rf | tb al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 10.5 | 10.5 | +1.0 |
| Sulser, Cole 4270 | pi cp | bal al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +0.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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