Guardians’ Civale tops players for Monday, Aug. 15; Marlins’ Alcantara rises to 3rd

Guardians pitcher Aaron Civale is Monday’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.

Guardians pitcher Aaron Civale is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Monday, Marlins pitcher Sandy Alcantara rises to third in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors, increasing his lead among NL pitchers. Plus, Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias maintains his fifth-place spot in player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Civale struck out 10 over six innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 4-1 win over the Tigers. Civale did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was tied, 1-1, when he exited.

Civale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season, 217th among all players and 68th among American League pitchers.

Marlins pitcher Sandy Alcantara is Monday’s Box-Toppers NL Player of the Day.

National League Player of the Day—Marlins pitcher Sandy Alcantara struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks, in the 3-0 win over the Padres.

Alcantara earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 17.1 for the season, rising from fourth to third in season player rankings, behind Astros pitcher Justin Verlander (19.0) and Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani (18.0). Alcantara extends his Box-Toppers points among NL pitchers, ahead of second place Julio Urias of the Dodgers (15.4), who also earned Player of the Game honors Monday.

Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves is Monday’s Box-Toppers NL Batter of the Day.

National League Batter of the Day—Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves hit three doubles and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 13-1 win over the Mets.

Kerry Carpenter of the Tigers is Monday’s Box-Toppers AL Batter of the Day.

American League Batter of the Day—Kerry Carpenter of the Tigers homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in one run, in the 7-5 win over the Guardians.

This was Carpenter’s Box-Toppers debut, his first career Player of the Game honor. Carpenter made his Major League debut Aug. 10 and was playing in his fourth career game.

Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Monday’s win over the Brewers.

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 Monday, Aug. 15.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 19.0
2 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp ana al 18.0
3 Alcantara, Sandy 4061 pi sp fla nl 17.1
4 Cease, Dylan 4231 pi sp chi al 16.7
5 Urias, Julio 3652 pi sp lad nl 15.4
6 McClanahan, Shane 4399 pi sp tb al 14.4
7 Rodon, Carlos 3494 pi sp sf nl 13.7
8 Musgrove, Joe 3705 pi sp sd nl 13.4
9 Fried, Max 4011 pi sp atl nl 13.0
10 Alonso, Pete 4118 1b nym nl 12.2
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Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias maintains fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Monday.

Urias (5IP 4H 0R 2BB 6K W in the 4-0 win over the Brewers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 15.4 for the season. He ranks second among NL pitchers, behind Sandy Alcantara of the Marlins (17.1), who was Monday’s Box-Toppers NL Player of the Day.

Debut—In addition to Carpenter, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut Monday, each with their first career Player of the Game honor:

  • Orioles pitcher Bryan Baker (1.1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 7-3 win over the Blue Jays) made his Major League debut Sept. 5, 2021, and was playing in his 48th career game.

  • Joey Bart of the Giants (2B 3-4 R 2BI in the 6-1 win over the Diamondbacks) made his Major League debut Aug. 20, 2020, and was playing in his 99th career game.

Scoring—Civale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Alcantara earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Acuna and Carpenter each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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).
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8/15 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +10.0 `CLE 4, DET 1 Aaron Civale 6.0 3 1 1 1 10
NL +8.0 MIA 3, SD 0 Sandy Alcantara, (W 11‑5) 7.0 4 0 0 2 7
+7.0 TB 4, NYY 0 Ryan Yarbrough, (W 1‑7) 4.0 3 0 0 0 6
+5.0 LAD 4, MIL 0 Julio Urías, (W 13‑6) 5.0 4 0 0 2 6
+4.0 `SEA 6, LAA 2 Luis Castillo 6.0 6 2 2 1 9
+3.1 BAL 7, TOR 3 Bryan Baker, (W 4‑3) 1.1 0 0 0 0 2
BAT +3.0 ATL 13, NYM 1 Ronald Acuña Jr., RF 5 2 3 3
BAT +3.0 DET 7, CLE 5 Kerry Carpenter, LF 4 3 3 1
+3.0 WSH 5, CHC 4 Carl Edwards Jr., (W 4‑3) 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
+2.0 SF 6, ARI 1 Joey Bart, C 4 1 3 2
+2.0 PHI 4, CIN 3 Seranthony Domínguez, (S 9) 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
+1.0 MIN 4, KC 2 Max Kepler, RF 4 1 3 1
+1.0 CHW 4, HOU 2 Adam Engel, PR‑CF 0 1 0 0
0.0 TEX 2, OAK 1 Marcus Semien, 2B 4 1 2 1
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 +/‑
Alcantara, Sandy 4061 pi sp fla nl 17.1 26.8 36.2 36.2 +7.4
Urias, Julio 3652 pi sp lad nl 15.4 34.5 42.5 48.2 -3.7
Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 pi sp sea al 8.0 17.0 52.8 52.8 -1.0
Semien, Marcus 3302 2b tex al 7.0 13.2 28.9 38.4 +0.8
Acuna, Ronald Jr. 3947 rf atl nl 3.5 4.5 18.9 18.9 +2.5
Civale, Aaron 4173 pi sp cle al 3.0 14.7 20.4 20.4 -8.7
Dominguez, Seranthony 3968 pi cp mr phi nl 3.0 3.0 4.0 4.0 +3.0
Kepler, Max 3664 dh rf min al 2.0 2.0 18.7 25.2 +2.0
Engel, Adam 3912 cf pr chi al 2.0 2.0 4.5 4.5 +2.0
Carpenter, Kerry 4711 lf det al 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 +1.5
Yarbrough, Ryan 3962 pi mr sp tb al 1.0 10.7 33.1 33.1 -8.7
Edwards, Carl Jr. 3775 pi mr dc nl 1.0 1.0 6.0 6.0 +1.0
Baker, Bryan 4710 pi mr bal al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
Bart, Joey 4712 ca sf nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Tuesday’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 Gibson, Kyle 3312 6.0 13.7 33.5 50.5
CIN Zeuch, T.J.* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
SD Manaea, Sean 3637 4.0 19.7 41.5 48.2
MIA Cabrera, Edward 4641 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7
BOS Pivetta, Nick 3825 6.7 11.7 34.4 34.4
PIT Keller, Mitch 4230 1.0 5.0 6.0 6.0
CHC Steele, Justin 4415 5.0 8.0 8.0 8.0
WSH Corbin, Patrick 3027 2.0 8.7 50.8 83.3
TB Springs, Jeffrey 4372 5.0 8.0 8.0 8.0
NYY Cortes, Nestor 4160 10.4 15.4 17.4 17.4
BAL Kremer, Dean 4330 3.7 5.7 7.4 7.4
TOR Manoah, Alek 4424 7.7 18.4 18.4 18.4
DET Hill, Garrett 4677 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
CLE Plesac, Zach 4168 4.7 10.1 20.2 20.2
NYM Walker, Taijuan 3453 4.0 13.4 24.4 45.8
ATL Morton, Charlie 2503 6.7 19.4 62.7 90.4
KC Greinke, Zack 1871 4.7 13.4 66.4 222.5
MIN Gray, Sonny 3259 9.4 15.8 52.0 84.8
COL Freeland, Kyle 3763 5.0 12.0 32.4 32.4
STL Quintana, Jose 3040 5.7 6.7 42.2 77.4
OAK Sears, JP 4627 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
TEX Arihara, Kohei 4378 0.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
HOU Verlander, Justin 2112 19.0 19.0 86.3 225.6
CHW Cease, Dylan 4231 16.7 31.1 33.1 33.1
LAD Pepiot, Ryan* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
MIL Woodruff, Brandon 3868 11.4 28.5 45.2 45.2
SEA Ray, Robbie 3502 9.4 27.1 60.5 71.2
LAA Suarez, Jose 4425 6.0 12.4 12.4 12.4
ARI Kelly, Merrill 4143 8.0 11.0 23.0 23.0
SF Junis, Jakob 3857 3.0 3.0 14.0 14.0
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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