Rangers’ Dunning tops players for Wednesday, Aug. 2; Braves’ Acuna tops NL players

Rangers pitcher Dane Dunning is Wednesday’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 2023 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at upcoming pitching matchups.
▪️ Subscribe to Box-Toppers Email Newsletter.

Rangers pitcher Dane Dunning is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Dunning struck out 11 over 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 11-1 win over the White Sox.

Dunning earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season, 220th among all players and 62nd among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day

Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves hit a three-run homer, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring four times and driving in three runs, in the 12-5 win over the Angels.

Acuna earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 7.7 for the season, 42nd among all players and second among NL batters, behind Nolan Gorman of the Cardinals (9.0).

National League Player of the Day is Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves.

American League Batter of the Day

Chas McCormick of the Astros hit two home runs and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 3-2 win over the Guardians.

American League Batter of the Day is Chas McCormick of the Astros.

National League Batter of the Day

There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Wednesday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Ronald Acuna Jr.

Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s win over the Rays.

Notable

Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole now has 147.3 career Box-Toppers points—29th-most among all players since 1995—after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Cole (7IP 4H 2R 2BB 8K W in the 7-2 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, passing Jim Thome (146.7) on the “all-time” career points list and now trails 28th-ranked Javier Vazquez (148.3). Cole ranks ninth among active players in career points, fifth among active AL pitchers.

Cole also has the most 2023 Box-Toppers points among Wednesday’s 15 Player of the Game winners. His 9.0 Box-Toppers points for 2023 is 19th among all players and 11th among AL pitchers.

Royals pitcher Cole Ragans is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s win over the Mets.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2023. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Wednesday, Aug. 2.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 dh pi sp ana al 17.4
2 Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 14.4
3 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 13.1
4 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 13.0
5 Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 12.4
6 Burnes, Corbin 4029 pi sp mil nl 11.7
7 Bautista, Felix 4668 pi cp bal al 11.0
8 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 10.7
9 Garrett, Braxton 4341 pi sp fla nl 10.7
10 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp tex al 10.4
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Back to top

Debut

Royals pitcher Cole Ragans made his Box-Toppers debut Wednesday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Ragans (6IP 7H 0R BB 8K W in the 4-0 win over the Mets) made his Major League debut Aug. 4, 2022, and was playing in his 28th career game.

NEW: Inbox notification of each post!

Scoring

  • Dunning earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.

  • Acuna earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day.

  • McCormick earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day.

  • All of Wednesday’s other Player of the Game winners (listed in the chart) 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

For additional updates, follow Box-Toppers on Twitter.

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).

8/2 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +12.2 TEX 11, CHW 1 Dane Dunning (W, 9‑4) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.2 3 1 1 1 11
NL +6.0 ATL 12, LAA 5 Ronald Acuña Jr. RF 4 4 3 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+6.0 KC 4, NYM 0 Cole Ragans (W, 3‑3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 7 0 0 1 8
+5.0 NYY 7, TB 2 Gerrit Cole (W, 10‑2) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 4 2 2 2 8
+5.0 `SD 11, COL 1 Nick Martinez ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 3.0 1 0 0 0 3
+4.2 CHC 16, CIN 6 Michael Fulmer (W, 2‑5) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.2 0 0 0 0 3
BAT +4.0 HOU 3, CLE 2 Chas McCormick CF 3 2 2 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 MIA 9, PHI 8 (F/12) Josh Bell 1B 5 2 4 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 STL 7, MIN 3 Dakota Hudson (W, 2‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 2 3 3 3 7
+3.0 SF 4, ARI 2 Logan Webb (W, 9‑9) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 4 2 2 1 5
+3.0 SEA 6, BOS 3 Matt Brash (W, 7‑3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
+2.0 DET 6, PIT 3 Zack Short PH‑3B 3 0 2 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 LAD 10, OAK 1 Mookie Betts RF 3 2 2 1 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 TOR 4, BAL 1 Erik Swanson (S, 3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 1 0 0 0 2
+2.0 `WSH 3, MIL 2 MacKenzie Gore ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 3 2 2 2 5
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.
Back to top

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 2023 (’23). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’22-23), the period 2018-2023 (’18-23) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2023 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2022 total (+/-).
Back to top

Player of the Game Pos Team ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career +/‑
Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp nyy al 9.0 24.4 104.4 147.3 -6.4
Webb, Logan 4258 pi sp sf nl 8.0 17.7 35.9 35.9 -1.7
Acuna, Ronald Jr. 3947 rf atl nl 7.7 11.2 26.6 26.6 +4.2
Gore, MacKenzie 4582 pi sp dc nl 6.0 10.7 10.7 10.7 +1.3
Martinez, Nick 3430 pi sp mr cp sd nl 4.7 9.7 9.7 16.4 -0.3
Betts, Mookie 3404 2b rf lad nl 4.5 16.2 41.3 58.5 -7.2
McCormick, Chas 4444 cf rf lf hou al 4.5 5.5 7.5 7.5 +3.5
Dunning, Dane 4317 pi sp tex al 3.0 7.4 12.4 12.4 -1.4
Short, Zack 4453 3b 2b ph det al 3.0 3.0 5.0 5.0 +3.0
Bell, Josh E. 3682 1b fla nl 2.0 6.5 19.7 25.2 -2.5
Fulmer, Michael 3640 pi mr sp chi nl 2.0 2.0 5.0 23.4 +2.0
Swanson, Erik 4131 pi mr cp sp tor al 2.0 2.0 4.7 4.7 +2.0
Brash, Matt 4786 pi mr sea al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Hudson, Dakota 4035 pi sp stl nl 1.0 5.0 17.4 17.4 -3.0
Ragans, Cole 4889 pi sp kc al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default view.
Back to top

A Box-Toppers look at Thursday’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 2023 (’23), over a two-year period (’22-23), over a six-year period (’18-23) and their career point total.
Back to top

Game Starter ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career
PHI Lorenzen, Michael 3479 5.7 9.7 14.2 20.2
MIA Cueto, Johnny 2400 0.0 6.4 16.4 118.2
CHW Toussaint, Touki 4110 1.0 3.0 7.7 7.7
TEX Scherzer, Max 2588 10.4 20.4 90.0 246.7
NYM Carrasco, Carlos 2885 1.7 11.4 43.2 111.5
KC Singer, Brady 4337 2.0 13.7 20.7 20.7
BAL Flaherty, Jack 3971 3.0 4.0 44.3 44.3
TOR Gausman, Kevin 3191 13.0 25.7 47.1 82.4
ARI Pfaadt, Brandon 4812 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
SF Alexander, Scott* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
HOU Javier, Cristian 4290 5.0 20.7 28.7 28.7
NYY Schmidt, Clarke 4581 1.0 5.4 5.4 5.4
PIT Keller, Mitch 4230 8.0 10.0 15.0 15.0
MIL Houser, Adrian 4162 1.7 3.4 14.4 14.4
MIN Gray, Sonny 3259 5.7 17.8 52.0 93.2
STL Liberatore, Matthew 4662 1.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
CIN Weaver, Luke 3719 0.0 0.0 16 25.7
CHC Taillon, Jameson 3658 2.7 13.4 34.8 48.8
SEA Woo, Bryan 4842 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
LAA Ohtani, Shohei 3933 17.4 42.1 72.7 72.7
OAK Sears, JP 4627 3.0 8.0 8.0 8.0
LAD Urias, Julio 3652 6.0 25.4 51.5 58.2
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default, game-by-game view.
Back to top