Blue Jays’ Gausman tops players for Tuesday, Aug. 2; Braves’ Strider tops NL players

Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman is Tuesday’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.

Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Gausman struck out 10 over eight scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 3-1 win over the Rays.

Gausman earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 8.7 for the season, 27th among all players and 11th among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Braves pitcher Spencer Strider struck out 13 over 6 2/3 innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 13-1 win over the Phillies.

Strider earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 8.4 for the season, 17th among NL pitchers.

Braves pitcher Spencer Strider is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers NL Player of the Day.

American League Batter of the Day—Jorge Mateo of the Orioles hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, in the 8-2 win over the Rangers. Mateo went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in five runs.

Jorge Mateo of the Orioles is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers AL Batter of the Day.

National League Batter of the Day—Trent Grisham of the Padres homered and went 2-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 13-5 win over the Rockies.

Grisham also hit a walk-off, ninth-inning homer to win the second game of the doubleheader over the Rockies, 3-2, but did not win Player of the Game honors in that game. In the second game, Grisham homered and was 1-for-3, scoring once and driving in one run, with a Box-Toppers game score of 0.0. Player of the Game was middle reliever Adrian Morejon (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K ND) with a game score of +3.0.

Trent Grisham of the Padres is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers NL Batter of the Day.

Notable—Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright is Box-Toppers’ highest-ranking player of the season among the 16 who earned Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Wainwright (7IP 6H 0R 0BB 4K W in the 6-0 win over the Cubs) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.0 for the season, 25th among all players and 13th among NL pitchers.

Wainwright now also has 151.3 career Box-Toppers points, 25th among all players since 1995, when player tracking began. He trails 24th-ranked player Barry Bonds (152.2). (It should be noted that Bonds would have a projected 230 career Box-Toppers points if his entire career from 1986 were tracked.)

Wainwright ranks seventh among active players in career points, third among active NL pitchers, behind Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (254.6) and Max Scherzer of the Mets (232.3).

Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Tuesday’s win over the Cubs.

Also notable—Mookie Betts of the Dodgers rises to second place among NL batters in 2022 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Betts (HR 2B 3-5 R 3BI in the 9-5 win over the Giants) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.0 for the season, 26th among all players and second among NL batters, passing Rowdy Tellez of the Brewers (8.2) and now trailing top-ranked NL batter Pete Alonso of the Mets (12.2).

Mookie Betts of the Dodgers is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Tuesday’s win over the Giants.

Debut—Nationals pitcher Cory Abbott made his Box-Toppers debut Tuesday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Abbott (5IP 2H 0R 2BB 3K ND in the 5-1 win over the Mets) made his Major League debut June 5, 2021, and was playing in his 11th career game.

Nationals pitcher Cory Abbott is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Tuesday’s win over the Mets.

In the same game, Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom made his long-awaited season debut, pitching for the first time since July 7, 2021. Though deGrom had the highest Box-Toppers game score (+6.0) of any player in Tuesday’s game (5IP 3H R 0BB 6K ND), he did not earn Player of the Game honors because the Mets lost. (Player of the Game Abbott had a game score of +4.0.)

deGrom earned 16.7 Box-Toppers points in 2021, ninth among all players and seventh among NL pitchers, despite missing nearly the entire second half of the season. In his last start of the 2021 season July 7, he earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, extending his lead in season player rankings, which he held until Aug. 8, despite making no further appearances.

Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom does not win Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in Tuesday’s loss to the Nationals.

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 Tuesday, Aug. 2.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 17.0
2 Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 17.0
3 Cease, Dylan 4231 pi sp chi al 15.7
4 Alcantara, Sandy 4061 pi sp fla nl 14.4
5 McClanahan, Shane 4399 pi sp tb al 14.4
6 Fried, Max 4011 pi sp atl nl 13.0
7 Rodon, Carlos 3494 pi sp sf nl 12.7
8 Musgrove, Joe 3705 pi sp sd nl 12.4
9 Alonso, Pete 4118 1b nym nl 12.2
10 Urias, Julio 3652 pi sp lad nl 11.7
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Scoring—Gausman earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Strider earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Mateo and Grisham each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’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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8/2 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +16.0 TOR 3, TB 1 Kevin Gausman, (W 8‑8) 8.0 1 0 0 1 10
NL +13.2 ATL 13, PHI 1 Spencer Strider, (W 6‑3) 6.2 3 1 1 1 13
+5.1 CIN 2, MIA 1 Graham Ashcraft, (W 5‑2) 8.1 5 1 0 0 3
BAT +5.0 BAL 8, TEX 2 Jorge Mateo, SS 4 2 2 5
+5.0 CHW 9, KC 2 Eloy Jiménez, DH 3 1 3 4
+5.0 STL 6, CHC 0 Adam Wainwright, (W 8‑8) 7.0 6 0 0 0 4
BAT +4.0 SD 13, COL 5 Trent Grisham, CF 4 3 2 3
+4.0 ARI 6, CLE 3 Ian Kennedy, (S 5) 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
+4.0 `WSH 5, NYM 1 Cory Abbott 5.0 2 0 0 2 3
+3.0 SEA 8, NYY 6 Sam Haggerty, PH‑CF‑RF 2 2 2 1
+3.0 PIT 5, MIL 3 Wil Crowe, (S 3) 1.0 1 0 0 0 3
+3.0 `SD 3, COL 2 Adrian Morejon 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
+2.0 LAD 9, SF 5 Mookie Betts, RF 5 1 3 3
+2.0 BOS 2, HOU 1 Kutter Crawford, (W 3‑3) 6.0 7 1 1 1 6
+2.0 LAA 3, OAK 1 Jose Suarez, (W 3‑4) 5.0 5 1 0 2 5
+1.0 DET 5, MIN 3 Jonathan Schoop, 2B 3 2 1 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 +/‑
Wainwright, Adam 2150 pi sp stl nl 9.0 21.0 39.3 151.3 -3.0
Betts, Mookie 3404 rf lad nl 9.0 12.0 40.1 51.3 +6.0
Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 8.7 22.4 41.2 65.4 -5.0
Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 8.4 8.4 8.4 8.4 +8.4
Suarez, Jose 4425 pi sp ana al 4.0 10.4 10.4 10.4 -2.4
Ashcraft, Graham 4645 pi sp cin nl 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 +4.0
Crawford, Kutter 4660 pi sp mr bos al 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 +4.0
Haggerty, Sam 4672 rf lf cf ph sea al 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 +4.0
Crowe, Wil 4486 pi cp mr sp pit nl 3.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 -2.0
Mateo, Jorge 4669 ss bal al 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 +2.5
Grisham, Trent 4246 cf sd nl 1.5 2.5 9.5 9.5 +0.5
Kennedy, Ian 2723 pi cp ari nl 1.0 9.7 22.7 89.2 -7.7
Schoop, Jonathan 3307 2b 1b det al 1.0 5.0 21.2 30.7 -3.0
Jimenez, Eloy 4107 lf chi al 1.0 4.7 17.7 17.7 -2.7
Morejon, Adrian 4298 pi mr sp sd nl 1.0 1.0 3.0 3.0 +1.0
Abbott, Cory 4701 pi sp dc nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Wednesday’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
TOR Kikuchi, Yusei 4136 4.7 10.7 16.4 16.4
TB Beeks, Jalen 4047 1.0 1.0 6.7 6.7
PHI Wheeler, Zack 3204 9.7 30.8 52.5 64.2
ATL Morton, Charlie 2503 6.7 19.4 62.7 90.4
SEA Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 6.0 15.0 50.8 50.8
NYY Cole, Gerrit 3232 11.4 33.8 98.4 134.3
ARI Henry, Tommy* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
CLE Bieber, Shane 4005 7.7 14.4 50.3 50.3
DET Alexander, Tyler 4196 0.0 3.0 8.0 8.0
MIN Ryan, Joe 4539 8.7 11.4 11.4 11.4
BAL Bradish, Kyle 4597 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
TEX Perez, Martin 3213 8.1 9.1 15.8 28.8
BOS Bello, Brayan* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
HOU Urquidy, Jose 4194 4.0 12.4 17.1 17.1
KC Singer, Brady 4337 5.0 8.0 12.0 12.0
CHW Lynn, Lance 2992 2.0 14.4 50.2 106.1
NYM Bassitt, Chris 3413 6.0 19.7 34.8 38.8
WSH Sanchez, Anibal 2187 0.0 0.0 17.4 82.7
CIN Minor, Mike 2894 0.0 6.4 32.5 59.6
MIA Alcantara, Sandy 4061 14.4 24.1 33.5 33.5
MIL Peralta, Freddy 3965 5.4 18.1 36.8 36.8
PIT Beede, Tyler 4166 0.0 0.0 5.7 5.7
CHC Steele, Justin 4415 2.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
STL Mikolas, Miles 3034 6.7 6.7 21.4 24.1
OAK Kaprielian, James 4416 2.0 9.4 9.4 9.4
LAA Ohtani, Shohei 3933 17.0 33.1 47.6 47.6
COL Kuhl, Chad 3687 4.0 6.7 13.7 15.7
SD Snell, Blake 3688 4.0 15.4 61.3 65.3
LAD Urias, Julio 3652 11.7 30.8 38.8 44.5
SF Cobb, Alex 2916 4.0 11.4 23.8 55.2
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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