Padres’ Darvish tops players for Friday, Sept. 2; Blue Jays’ Manoah tops AL players

Padres pitcher Yu Darvish is Friday’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.

Padres pitcher Yu Darvish is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Darvish struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 7-1 win over the Dodgers.

Darvish earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 12.1 for the season, 16th among all players and ninth among National League pitchers.

Darvish also now has 119.3 career Box-Toppers points, 48th among all players since tracking began in 1995. With his 2.0 points Friday, he passes four players on the “all-time” list—Barry Zito (117.4), White Sox pitcher Johnny Cueto (118.2), Carlos Delgado (118.7) and Cliff Lee (119.1). He trails 47th-ranked player Gary Sheffield (124.1). Darvish ranks 15th among active players in career points, eighth among active NL pitchers.

Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah is Friday’s Box-Toppers AL Player of the Day.

American League Player of the Day—Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah struck out six over 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing five hits and one walk, in the 4-0 win over the Pirates.

Manoah earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 9.4 for the season, 36th among all players and 16th among AL pitchers.

Travis d’Arnaud of the Braves is Friday’s Box-Toppers NL Batter of the Day.

National League Batter of the Day—Travis d'Arnaud of the Braves hit two home runs and went 2-for-3, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 8-1 win over the Marlins.

d’Arnaud earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 4.5 for the season, 29th among NL batters.

Cal Raleigh of the Mariners is Friday’s Box-Toppers AL Batter of the Day.

American League Batter of the Day—Cal Raleigh of the Mariners hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, in the 6-1 win over the Guardians. Raleigh went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs.

Raleigh earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 5.5 for the season, 19th among AL batters.

Spencer Steer of the Reds is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s win over the Rockies.

Debut—Spencer Steer of the Reds made his Box-Toppers debut Friday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Steer (HR 2B 2-2 2R BI in the 3-2 win over the Rockies) was also making his Major League debut.

Astros pitcher Rafael Montero is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s win over the Angels.

Notable—Astros pitcher Rafael Montero earned his first Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor in more than five years Friday.

Montero (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv in the 4-2 win over the Angels) last earned Player of the Game honors Aug. 30, 2017, when he was with the Mets. Montero earned 2.0 points in 2017 and had earned 1.0 point in 2014. He missed 2018 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. But from 2019 to 2022, he pitched in 140 games without earning a point. (From 2014 to 2017, he pitched in 58 games, earning 3.0 points.) Montero now has 4.0 career Box-Toppers points from 2014 to 2022.

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 Friday, Sept. 2.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 22.0
2 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 20.0
3 Alcantara, Sandy 4061 pi sp fla nl 18.1
4 Cease, Dylan 4231 pi sp chi al 16.7
5 Urias, Julio 3652 pi sp lad nl 16.4
6 Musgrove, Joe 3705 pi sp sd nl 15.4
7 Rodon, Carlos 3494 pi sp sf nl 15.4
8 McClanahan, Shane 4399 pi sp tb al 15.4
9 Fried, Max 4011 pi sp atl nl 15.0
10 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 14.7
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Scoring—Darvish earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Manoah earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. d’Arnaud and Raleigh each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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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9/2 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +12.0 SD 7, LAD 1 Yu Darvish, (W 12‑7) 7.0 2 0 0 2 9
+10.0 SF 13, PHI 1 Alex Cobb, (W 5‑6) 7.0 3 0 0 1 7
AL +7.1 TOR 4, PIT 0 Alek Manoah, (W 13‑7) 7.1 5 0 0 1 6
+5.2 TB 9, NYY 0 Jeffrey Springs, (W 7‑4) 5.2 4 0 0 3 7
BAT +5.0 ATL 8, MIA 1 Travis d'Arnaud, C 3 3 2 3
BAT +4.0 SEA 6, CLE 1 Cal Raleigh, C 4 2 2 4
+3.0 BOS 9, TEX 1 Kiké Hernández, CF 3 2 2 2
+3.0 CIN 3, COL 2 Spencer Steer, 3B 2 2 2 1
+3.0 NYM 7, WSH 3 Eduardo Escobar, 3B 2 1 1 3
+3.0 DET 5, KC 4 Gregory Soto, (S 24) 1.0 1 0 0 0 3
+3.0 HOU 4, LAA 2 Rafael Montero, (S 11) 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
+3.0 `CHW 4, MIN 3 Davis Martin 5.0 3 0 0 1 2
+2.0 STL 8, CHC 0 Tommy Edman, SS‑2B 4 1 2 3
+2.0 ARI 2, MIL 1 Emmanuel Rivera, DH 3 1 3 1
+2.0 `BAL 5, OAK 2 Dean Kremer 6.0 5 2 2 1 6
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.
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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 +/‑
Darvish, Yu 3003 pi sp sd nl 12.1 25.2 63.7 119.3 -1.0
Manoah, Alek 4424 pi sp tor al 9.4 20.1 20.1 20.1 -1.3
Springs, Jeffrey 4372 pi sp tb al 8.7 11.7 11.7 11.7 +5.7
Kremer, Dean 4330 pi sp bal al 5.7 7.7 9.4 9.4 +3.7
Raleigh, Cal 4481 ca sea al 5.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 +4.5
Cobb, Alex 2916 pi sp sf nl 5.0 12.4 24.8 56.2 -2.4
d’Arnaud, Travis 3384 ca atl nl 4.5 4.5 15.9 23.4 +4.5
Soto, Gregory 4371 pi cp det al 4.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 +2.0
Rivera, Emmanuel 4526 3b ari nl 3.5 5.0 5.0 5.0 +2.0
Edman, Tommy 4255 2b 3b ss pr stl nl 3.0 6.5 7.5 7.5 -0.5
Martin, Davis 4657 pi mr sp chi al 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 +3.0
Escobar, Eduardo 3135 3b nym nl 2.5 9.0 26.2 37.9 -4.0
Hernandez, Enrique (Kike) 3541 cf 2b ss bos al 1.0 4.5 14.0 16.0 -2.5
Montero, Rafael 3410 pi cp sp hou al 1.0 1.0 3.0 4.0 +1.0
Steer, Spencer 4726 3b cin nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Saturday’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 Syndergaard, Noah 3472 2.0 2.0 24.4 51.5
SF Junis, Jakob 3857 4.0 4.0 15.0 15.0
TEX Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
BOS Bello, Brayan* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
KC Heasley, Jonathan 4655 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
DET Pineda, Michael 2841 1.0 8.0 18.7 52.8
NYY Schmidt, Clarke 4581 4.4 4.4 4.4 4.4
TB Kluber, Corey 3200 10.0 15.0 58.7 124.1
TOR Richards, Trevor 3945 0.0 3.0 13.7 13.7
PIT Contreras, Roansy 4574 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
COL Marquez, German 3788 3.7 21.1 51.2 51.2
CIN Lodolo, Nick 4586 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
OAK Oller, Adam 4719 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
BAL Voth, Austin 4082 1.0 1.0 5.7 5.7
WSH Corbin, Patrick 3027 3.0 9.7 51.8 84.3
NYM Scherzer, Max 2588 8.0 33.1 102.6 234.3
CHC Smyly, Drew 3009 6.7 14.7 18.7 54.2
STL Wainwright, Adam 2150 10.0 22.0 40.3 152.3
MIN Mahle, Tyler 3929 6.0 17.7 29.7 29.7
CHW Cease, Dylan 4231 16.7 31.1 33.1 33.1
SEA Ray, Robbie 3502 13.4 31.1 64.5 75.2
CLE Curry, Xzavion* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
MIA Cabrera, Edward 4641 4.7 4.7 4.7 4.7
ATL Odorizzi, Jake 3291 7.4 11.4 41.9 68.0
MIL Burnes, Corbin 4029 11.4 29.5 40.2 40.2
ARI Bumgarner, Madison 2753 2.7 12.7 32.4 138.1
HOU Garcia, Luis 4423 6.7 16.7 16.7 16.7
LAA Ohtani, Shohei 3933 20.0 36.1 50.6 50.6
SD Manaea, Sean 3637 5.0 20.7 42.5 49.2
LAD Urias, Julio 3652 16.4 35.5 43.5 49.2
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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