Orioles pitcher John Means is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Means struck out six over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 2-0 win over the Phillies.
Means earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 9.0 for the season, 54th among all players and 18th among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Joey Votto of the Reds hit two home runs and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 9-5 win over the Pirates.
Votto earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 9.7 for the season, 47th among all players and third among NL batters, behind teammate Nick Castellanos (10.5) and Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres (10.2).
American League Batter of the Day—Marwin Gonzalez of the Astros hit a grand slam and went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 10-0 win over the Angels.
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 Monday, Sept. 20.| 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
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Monday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Joey Votto.
Notable—Tigers pitcher Drew Hutchison earned his first Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor in more than six years Monday.
Hutchison (2IP H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 4-3 win over the White Sox) last earned Player of the Game honors Aug. 16, 2015, when he was with the Blue Jays.
Hutchison had two notable seasons with the Blue Jays earning 14.0 Box-Toppers points in 2014 (10th among AL pitchers) and 9.0 in 2015 (22nd among AL pitchers) but subsequently bounced around among teams and in the minor leagues. He did not play in the Majors in 2017, 2019 or 2020.
His previous Player of the Game honor came in his 67th Major League game. Monday was his 104th game.
Scoring—Means earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Votto earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Gonzalez earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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).| 9/20 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +7.2 | BAL 2, PHI 0 | John Means, (W 6‑7) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| +7.0 | SEA 4, OAK 2 | Tyler Anderson, (W 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| +5.2 | KC 4, CLE 2 (F/7) | Domingo Tapia, (W 3‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| NL | +5.0 | CIN 9, PIT 5 | Joey Votto, 1B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| BAT | +4.0 | HOU 10, LAA 0 | Marwin Gonzalez, 2B | 5 | 2 | 2 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | TB 6, TOR 4 | Yandy Díaz, 3B‑1B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | MIA 8, WSH 7 (F/10) | Jazz Chisholm Jr., SS | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | DET 4, CHW 3 | Drew Hutchison, (W 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +3.0 | KC 7, CLE 2 (F/7) | Hunter Dozier, RF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | STL 5, MIL 2 | Nolan Arenado, 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | NYY 4, TEX 3 | Aroldis Chapman, (S 28) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.0 | ATL 11, ARI 4 | Jacob Webb, (W 5‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votto, Joey 2366 | 1b | cin nl | 9.7 | 9.7 | 27.7 | 81.4 | +9.7 |
| Means, John 4115 | pi sp | bal al | 9.0 | 11.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | +7.0 |
| Arenado, Nolan 3306 | 3b | stl nl | 9.0 | 10.0 | 43.9 | 53.9 | +8.0 |
| Anderson, Tyler 3656 | pi sp | sea al | 7.0 | 9.7 | 22.7 | 22.7 | +4.3 |
| Chapman, Aroldis 2826 | pi cp | nyy al | 4.0 | 5.0 | 21.1 | 60.1 | +3.0 |
| Diaz, Yandy 3896 | 3b 1b | tb al | 4.0 | 4.0 | 7.7 | 7.7 | +4.0 |
| Dozier, Hunter 4114 | 3b | kc al | 3.0 | 4.0 | 8.5 | 8.5 | +2.0 |
| Chisholm, Jazz Jr. 4364 | ss 2b | fla nl | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | +2.0 |
| Tapia, Domingo 4490 | pi mr | kc al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +3.0 |
| Webb, Jacob 4530 | pi mr | atl nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +3.0 |
| Gonzalez, Marwin 3078 | 2b 1b | hou al | 1.5 | 4.0 | 16.7 | 21.2 | ‑1.0 |
| Hutchison, Drew 3038 | pi mr sp | det al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 26.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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