Athletics pitcher Frankie Montas is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Jose Ramirez of the Indians rises to first place among American League batters after earning AL Batter of the Day honors, passing previous leader J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox.
Player of the Day—Montas struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and four walks, in the 3-2, 10-inning win over the Angels. Montas did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Angels tied the game after he exited.
Montas earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 11.4 for the season, 27th among all players and 10th among American League pitchers.
Montas becomes the 45th player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points. It is his first season with 10 or more points. His previous best season was 2019 with the Athletics when he had 9.4 Box-Toppers points, 24th among AL pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Braves pitcher Max Fried struck out five over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 3-0 win over the Giants.
American League Batter of the Day—Jose Ramirez of the Indians homered and went 4-for-4, scoring four times and driving in three runs, in the 11-1 win over the Yankees.
Ramirez earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 12.0 for the season, 24th among all players and first among AL batters, passing J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (10.7).
Ramirez’s 12.0 Box-Toppers points is currently lower than the lowest point total to lead AL batters in a regular-length season (12.1 by Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians in 2017). However, it is higher than the lowest Box-Toppers point total to lead any category (10.7 by Nolan Arenado of the Rockies to lead NL batters in 2016).
National League Batter of the Day—Tyler O’Neill of the Cardinals went 1-for-2, scoring three times and driving in one run, in the 8-7 win over the Padres.
O’Neill earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 8.0 for the season, fifth among NL batters.
Notable—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw now has 13.4 Box-Toppers points for the season, most among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Kershaw (5IP 3H R 0BB 8K W in the 8-5 win over the Reds) ranks 15th in Box-Toppers season player rankings, 10th among NL pitchers.
Kershaw also now has 248.6 career Box-Toppers points, second among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He trails top-ranked Randy Johnson (282.5) by 33.9 points. (It should be noted that Johnson would have an estimated 380 Box-Toppers points if his entire career from 1988 were tracked.) Kershaw leads active players in career points ahead of second-place player, Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer (226.3).
Debut—Lewin Diaz of the Marlins made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Diaz (HR 2-4 2R 2BI in the 6-5, 10-inning win over the Pirates) made his Major League debut Aug. 15, 2020, and was playing in his 41st career game.
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, Sept. 19.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 25.1 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 22.4 |
| 3 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 20.1 |
| 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—Montas earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Fried earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Ramirez and O’Neill each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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).| 9/19 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +9.0 | `OAK 3, LAA 2 (F/10) | Frankie Montas | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | |
| NL | +8.0 | ATL 3, SF 0 | Max Fried, (W 12‑7) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| +8.0 | LAD 8, CIN 5 | Clayton Kershaw, (W 10‑7) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | ||
| BAT | +7.0 | CLE 11, NYY 1 | Jose Ramírez, DH | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +6.2 | WSH 3, COL 0 | Paolo Espino, (W 5‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | ||
| +6.0 | SEA 7, KC 1 | Logan Gilbert, (W 6‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| +4.1 | `TOR 5, MIN 3 | Trevor Richards, (Hld 5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +4.0 | HOU 7, ARI 6 | Carlos Correa, SS | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | DET 2, TB 0 | Wily Peralta, (W 4‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | ||
| +3.0 | BOS 8, BAL 6 | Enrique Hernández, CF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | STL 8, SD 7 | Tyler O'Neill, LF | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +2.0 | MIA 6, PIT 5 (F/10) | Lewin Díaz, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | NYM 3, PHI 2 | Jeff McNeil, LF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | CHW 7, TEX 2 | Jose Abreu, DH | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | CHC 6, MIL 4 | Willson Contreras, PH | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.4 | 21.1 | 89.3 | 248.6 | +5.7 |
| Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 12.0 | 15.5 | 34.5 | 38.0 | +8.5 |
| Montas, Frankie 3803 | pi sp | oak al | 11.4 | 17.4 | 29.8 | 29.8 | +5.4 |
| Fried, Max 4011 | pi sp | atl nl | 9.1 | 14.8 | 25.8 | 25.8 | +3.4 |
| Abreu, Jose 3308 | 1b | chi al | 8.0 | 12.5 | 27.5 | 46.0 | +3.5 |
| O’Neill, Tyler 4074 | lf | stl nl | 8.0 | 10.5 | 14.5 | 14.5 | +5.5 |
| Correa, Carlos 3506 | ss | hou al | 6.0 | 7.5 | 26.7 | 33.9 | +4.5 |
| Gilbert, Logan 4439 | pi sp | sea al | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | +6.0 |
| Peralta, Wily 3123 | pi sp | det al | 5.0 | 5.0 | 10.0 | 28.0 | +5.0 |
| Espino, Paolo 4443 | pi sp | dc nl | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | +5.0 |
| Contreras, Willson 3776 | ca | chi nl | 4.0 | 6.0 | 18.5 | 18.5 | +2.0 |
| Hernandez, Enrique (Kike) 3541 | cf 2b ss | bos al | 3.5 | 5.5 | 14.0 | 15.0 | +1.5 |
| Richards, Trevor 3945 | pi mr cp | tor al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 13.7 | 13.7 | +3.0 |
| McNeil, Jeff 4050 | lf rf 2b | nym nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | +0.0 |
| Diaz, Lewin 4554 | 1b | fla nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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