Phillies’ Nola tops players for Saturday, June 18; Twins’ Bundy tops AL players

Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Box-Toppers Toppers Box

Today’s key Box-Toppers numbers. Click links to jump to charts elsewhere on this page.
▪️ Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners.
▪️ Box-Toppers points of the day’s top players.
▪️ Top 10 players in 2022 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at today’s pitching matchups.

Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Nola struck out eight over eight scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 2-1, 10-inning win over the Nationals. Nola did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Nationals tied the game after he exited.

Nola earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.0 for the season, 18th among all players and seventh among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Twins pitcher Dylan Bundy struck out seven over eight innings, allowing one run, four hits and no walks, in the 11-1 win over the Diamondbacks.

Bundy earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.7 for the season, 37th among AL pitchers.

Twins pitcher Dylan Bundy is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

American League Batter of the Day—Eric Haase of the Tigers hit a three-run homer, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 14-7 win over the Rangers.

Eric Haase of the Tigers is Saturday’s Box-Toppers AL Batter of the Day.

National League Batter of the Day—Tyler O'Neill of the Cardinals homered and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in one run, in the 11-2 win over the Red Sox.

Tyler O'Neill of the Cardinals is Saturday’s Box-Toppers NL Batter of the Day.

Notable—White Sox pitcher Johnny Cueto now has 114.5 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Cueto (7IP 2H 0R 2BB 5K W in the 7-0 win over the Astros) rises to 57th place in career points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his 1.0 point Saturday, he passes two players on the “all-time” list—Padres pitcher Yu Darvish (114.3) and Ervin Santana (114.4). He trails 56th-ranked player Josh Beckett (114.9). Cueto ranks 15th among active players in career points, sixth among active AL pitchers.

Cueto has 2.7 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 48th among AL pitchers.

White Sox pitcher Johnny Cueto is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Astros.

Debut—Alfonso Rivas of the Cubs made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Rivas (2-3 2R 0BI in the 6-3 win over the Braves) made his Major League debut Aug. 29, 2021, and was playing in his 57th career game.

Alfonso Rivas of the Cubs is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Braves.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2022. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Saturday, June 18.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Musgrove, Joe 3705 pi sp sd nl 11.4
2 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 11.0
3 McClanahan, Shane 4399 pi sp tb al 10.7
4 Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 10.0
5 Alonso, Pete 4118 1b nym nl 9.2
6 Rodon, Carlos 3494 pi sp sf nl 8.7
7 Alcantara, Sandy 4061 pi sp fla nl 8.7
8 Skubal, Tarik 4414 pi sp det al 8.7
9 Wright, Kyle 4349 pi sp atl nl 8.7
10 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp nyy al 8.4
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Scoring—Nola earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Bundy earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Haase and O’Neill 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).
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6/18 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +11.0 `PHI 2, WSH 1 (F/10) Aaron Nola 8.0 4 0 0 1 8
+10.2 NYM 3, MIA 2 Taijuan Walker, (W 5‑2) 6.2 2 1 1 1 9
AL +9.0 MIN 11, ARI 1 Dylan Bundy, (W 4‑3) 8.0 4 1 1 0 7
+9.0 KC 2, OAK 0 Brad Keller, (W 2‑8) 7.0 1 0 0 3 6
+8.0 CHW 7, HOU 0 Johnny Cueto, (W 1‑3) 7.0 2 0 0 2 5
+7.2 NYY 4, TOR 0 Jameson Taillon, (W 8‑1) 5.2 4 0 0 2 8
+7.0 LAD 7, CLE 1 Julio Urías (W 4‑6) 6.0 2 1 0 2 6
+4.1 `LAA 3, SEA 0 Jose Suarez 4.1 4 0 0 3 7
BAT +4.0 DET 14, TEX 7 Eric Haase, C 5 3 3 3
BAT +3.0 STL 11, BOS 2 Tyler O'Neill, LF 4 3 3 1
+3.0 SF 7, PIT 5 Camilo Doval, (S 11) 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
+3.0 LAA 4, SEA 2 (F/10) Raisel Iglesias, (W 2‑4) 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
+2.0 TB 7, BAL 6 Yandy Díaz, 3B 4 3 3 0
+2.0 COL 5, SD 4 Charlie Blackmon, DH 4 2 2 2
+1.0 CHC 6, ATL 3 Alfonso Rivas, 1B 3 2 2 0
0.0 MIL 7, CIN 3 Jace Peterson, 3B 4 0 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.
N/A—Not applicable. No Player of the Game was chosen because the game ended in a tie.
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.
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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 in 2022 (’22). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’21-22), the period 2017-2022 (’17-22) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2022 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2021 total (+/-).
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’22 ’21‑22 ’17‑22 Career +/‑
Nola, Aaron 3569 pi sp phi nl 7.0 17.7 72.0 80.7 -3.7
Taillon, Jameson 3658 pi sp nyy al 5.7 14.7 36.1 41.1 -3.3
Urias, Julio 3652 pi sp lad nl 5.0 24.1 32.1 37.8 -14.1
Keller, Brad 4008 pi sp kc al 3.7 6.7 21.7 21.7 +0.7
Bundy, Dylan 3655 pi sp min al 3.7 5.7 34.5 40.5 +1.7
Walker, Taijuan 3453 pi sp nym nl 3.0 12.4 23.4 44.8 -6.4
Blackmon, Charlie 2891 rf dh ph col nl 3.0 6.5 21.2 33.2 -0.5
Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp chi al 2.7 7.7 14.7 114.5 -2.3
O’Neill, Tyler 4074 lf stl nl 2.5 10.5 17.0 17.0 -5.5
Haase, Eric 4461 ca lf dh ph det al 2.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 -0.5
Peterson, Jace 3469 3b lf mil nl 2.0 2.0 3.0 7.5 +2.0
Doval, Camilo 4658 pi mr cp sf nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Suarez, Jose 4425 pi sp mr ana al 1.0 7.4 7.4 7.4 -5.4
Iglesias, Raisel 3467 pi cp ana al 1.0 7.0 23.0 28.7 -5.0
Diaz, Yandy 3896 3b 1b tb al 1.0 5.0 8.7 8.7 -3.0
Rivas, Alfonso 4664 1b chi nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Sunday’s pitching matchups

A Box-Toppers look at the upcoming day’s probable pitching matchups. Teams are paired below with visiting teams on top and home teams on the bottom. Each team’s starting pitcher is shown with their Box-Toppers point total from 2022 (’22), over a two-year period (’21-22), over a six-year period (’17-22) and their career point total.
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Game Starter ’22 ’21-22 ’17-22 Career
PHI Eflin, Zach 3679 3.7 7.4 27.5 31.5
WSH Tetreault, Jackson* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
SF Cobb, Alex 2916 3.0 10.4 22.8 54.2
PIT Keller, Mitch 4230 0.0 4.0 5.0 5.0
STL Pallante, Andre 4656 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
BOS Pivetta, Nick 3825 5.0 10.0 32.7 32.7
TB Kluber, Corey 3200 7.0 12.0 55.7 121.1
BAL Lyles, Jordan 3100 1.0 8.0 20.7 28.4
NYY Severino, Luis 3567 5.0 6.0 46.8 51.8
TOR Kikuchi, Yusei 4136 2.0 8.0 13.7 13.7
MIA Alcantara, Sandy 4061 8.7 18.4 27.8 27.8
NYM Bassitt, Chris 3413 5.0 18.7 33.8 37.8
MIL Houser, Adrian 4162 1.7 9.7 12.7 12.7
CIN Minor, Mike 2894 0.0 6.4 32.5 59.6
TEX Dunning, Dane 4317 1.7 3.7 6.7 6.7
DET Hutchison, Drew 3038 0.0 1.0 1.0 26.0
ATL Anderson, Ian 4312 1.0 8.0 10.7 10.7
CHC Hendricks, Kyle 3386 3.7 7.7 39.5 67.6
SD Snell, Blake 3688 0.0 11.4 57.3 61.3
COL Senzatela, Antonio 3760 0.0 2.0 13.0 13.0
KC Singer, Brady 4337 3.0 6.0 10.0 10.0
OAK Koenig, Jared* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
LAA Rosenberg, Kenny* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
SEA Gilbert, Logan 4439 7.7 14.7 14.7 14.7
CLE Bieber, Shane 4005 4.7 11.4 47.3 47.3
LAD Heaney, Andrew 3515 3.0 8.0 27.1 31.1
MIN Archer, Chris 3194 0.0 0.0 13.7 62.8
ARI Kelly, Merrill 4143 4.0 7.0 19.0 19.0
CHW Kopech, Michael 4385 6.0 11.7 11.7 11.7
HOU Javier, Cristian 4290 3.7 9.7 11.7 11.7
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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