Phillies’ Suarez tops players for Saturday, Sept. 25; Burnes, Ray rise in player rankings top 10

Phillies pitcher Ranger Suarez is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

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Phillies pitcher Ranger Suarez is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Saturday, two players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 after both earn Player of the Game honors: Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes rises to fourth place and Blue Jays pitcher Robbie Ray rises to fifth. Plus, Nick Castellanos of the Reds extends his 2021 Box-Toppers points lead among National League batters after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Player of the Day—Suarez pitched a complete-game, four-hit shutout, striking out seven and walking none, in the 3-0 win over the Pirates.

Suarez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 8.0 for the season, 76th among all players and 36th among NL pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Eli Morgan struck out six over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 6-0 win over the White Sox.

Indians pitcher Eli Morgan is Saturday’s Box-Toppers AL Player of the Day.

National League Batter of the Day—Harrison Bader of the Cardinals homered, doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 8-5 win over the Cubs.

Harrison Bader of the Cardinals is Saturday’s Box-Toppers NL Batter of the Day.

American League Batter of the Day—Phil Gosselin of the Angels went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 14-1 win over the Mariners.

Gosselin just edged out teammate Shohei Ohtani to earn Player of the Game. Both Gosselin and Ohtani (3B 2-3 3R 3BI) had Box-Toppers game scores of +5.0, but Gosselin had the tiebreaking edge because he had more runs batted in (four vs. three).

Had Ohtani won Player of the Game honors, he also would have won AL Batter of the Day honors, giving him an additional 1.5 Box-Toppers points for 17.6 for the season, rising to sixth place overall. Not only that, but winning Player of the Game honors as a batter, Ohtani would have again qualified to be ranked among batters in 2021 Box-Toppers points and would have gone from entirely unranked to leading all AL batters, ahead of current leader Jose Ramirez of the Indians (12.0 points).

But Ohtani currently still ranks only as a pitcher because the overwhelming majority of his Player of the Game honors have come at that position. To be ranked at a position a player must earn more than 25 percent of their Player of the Game honors at that position. Currently, Ohtani has won three of his 12 Player of the Game honors as a designated hitter, just 25 percent, not enough to be ranked with batters. The other nine Player of the Game honors have come as a starting pitcher.

Phil Gosselin of the Angels is Saturday’s Box-Toppers AL Batter of the Day.

Burnes—Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes rises from sixth to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Burnes (7IP 5H R BB 9K W in the 2-1 win over the Mets) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 18.1 for the season. He ranks third among NL pitchers, behind Max Scherzer of the Dodgers (25.1) and Zack Wheeler of the Phillies (21.1).

Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Mets.

Ray—Blue Jays pitcher Robbie Ray rises from ninth to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Ray (6IP 3H R 4BB 6K W in the 6-1 win over the Twins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 17.7 for the season. He maintains his second-place rank among AL pitchers, behind Gerrit Cole of the Yankees (22.4).

Blue Jays pitcher Robbie Ray is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Twins.

Castellanos—Nick Castellanos of the Reds extends his lead among NL batters in 2021 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Castellanos (HR 2-3 2R 3BI in the 7-6 win over the Nationals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.5 for the season. He ranks 29th among all players and extends his lead over second-place NL batter Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres (10.2 points).

Nick Castellanos of the Reds is Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Nationals.

Also notable—Athletics pitcher Sean Manaea now has 15.7 Box-Toppers points for the season after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Manaea (7IP 3H R BB 8K ND in the 2-1 win over the Astros) now ranks 11th among all players and fourth among AL pitchers.

One other notable thing—Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers now has 158.4 career Box-Toppers points—19th-most since 1995—after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Cabrera (2B 3-4 R 4BI in the 5-1 win over the Royals) now trails 18th-ranked player John Smoltz (160.9) on Box-Toppers’ “all-time” career points list (tracking began in 1995). He ranks eighth among active players in career points, fourth among all batters since 1995 and second among active batters, behind Albert Pujols of the Dodgers (204.8).

Cabrera now has 5.0 Box-Toppers points in 2021, 32nd among AL batters.

Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Royals.

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 Saturday, Sept. 25.

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 21.1
4 Burnes, Corbin 4029 pi sp mil nl 18.1
5 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp tor al 17.7
6 Marquez, German 3788 pi sp col nl 17.4
7 Urias, Julio 3652 pi sp lad nl 17.4
8 Woodruff, Brandon 3868 pi sp mil nl 17.1
9 deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp nym nl 16.7
10 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp ana al 16.1
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About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations

Scoring—Suarez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Morgan earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Bader and Gosselin each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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).

9/25 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +12.0 PHI 3, PIT 0 Ranger Suárez, (W 7‑5) 9.0 4 0 0 0 7
AL +10.0 CLE 6, CHW 0 Eli Morgan, (W 4‑7) 6.0 1 0 0 1 6
+9.0 `OAK 2, HOU 1 Sean Manaea 7.0 3 1 1 1 8
+8.0 MIL 2, NYM 1 Corbin Burnes, (W 11‑4) 7.0 5 1 1 1 9
+7.0 ARI 7, LAD 2 Zac Gallen, (W 3‑10) 6.0 3 1 1 2 8
BAT +5.0 STL 8, CHC 5 Harrison Bader, CF 4 3 4 2
BAT +5.0 LAA 14, SEA 1 Phil Gosselin, LF 3 2 2 4
+5.0 NYY 5, BOS 3 Luis Severino, (W 1‑0) 2.0 0 0 0 1 4
+4.0 ATL 10, SD 8 Jorge Soler, RF 5 2 3 4
+4.0 SF 7, COL 2 Brandon Belt, 1B 5 2 3 4
+4.0 DET 5, KC 1 Miguel Cabrera, DH 4 1 3 4
+4.0 CIN 7, WSH 6 Nick Castellanos, RF 3 2 2 3
+3.0 TOR 6, MIN 1 Robbie Ray, (W 13‑6) 6.0 3 1 1 4 6
+2.0 TB 7, MIA 3 Mike Zunino, C 4 2 2 2
+2.0 BAL 3, TEX 2 Kelvin Gutierrez, 3B 3 1 2 2
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 +/-
Burnes, Corbin 4029 pi sp mil nl 18.1 25.8 28.8 28.8 +10.4
Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp tor al 17.7 18.7 57.8 61.8 +16.7
Manaea, Sean 3637 pi sp oak al 15.7 17.7 44.2 44.2 +13.7
Castellanos, Nicholas 3349 rf cin nl 11.5 12.5 34.0 42.2 +10.5
Suarez, Ranger 4228 pi mr sp phi nl 8.0 8.0 9.0 9.0 +8.0
Belt, Brandon 2943 1b sf nl 7.0 10.7 28.2 41.7 +3.3
Soler, Jorge 3403 rf dh atl nl 6.0 6.0 20.2 24.4 +6.0
Morgan, Eli 4497 pi sp cle al 5.4 5.4 5.4 5.4 +5.4
Cabrera, Miguel 1776 1b det al 5.0 7.5 25.5 158.4 +2.5
Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 4.0 10.0 15.7 15.7 ‑2.0
Gosselin, Philip 3398 1b lf ana al 3.5 6.2 8.2 10.2 +0.8
Bader, Harrison 4071 cf stl nl 3.0 4.0 6.0 6.0 +2.0
Zunino, Mike 3390 ca tb al 3.0 3.0 10.5 14.0 +3.0
Gutierrez, Kelvin 4541 3b bal al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Severino, Luis 3567 pi mr sp nyy al 1.0 1.0 43.8 46.8 +1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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