Blue Jays’ Gausman tops players for Wednesday, Sept. 20, rising to 3rd in B-T rankings

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

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▪️ 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.
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Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to third place in season player rankings.

Gausman struck out 10 over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and three walks, in the 6-1 win over the Yankees.

Gausman earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 18.7 for the season, rising from  sixth to third in Box-Toppers season player rankings, behind Braves pitcher Spencer Strider (21.1) and Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani (19.4).

Gausman ranks second among American League pitchers behind Ohtani. However, Gausman has the most 2023 Box-Toppers points earned solely as an AL pitcher. Half of Ohtani’s points (9.7) were earned as a pitcher and the other half (9.7) were earned as a designated hitter.

National League Player of the Day is Lane Thomas of the Nationals.

National League Player of the Day

Lane Thomas of the Nationals hit a grand slam and went 1-for-2, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 13-3 win over the White Sox.

Thomas earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 3.7 for the season, 60th among NL batters.

American League Batter of the Day is Brandon Drury of the Angels.

American League Batter of the Day

Brandon Drury of the Angels hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, in the 8-3 win over the Rays. Drury went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in five runs.

Drury earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 5.5 for the season, 24th among AL batters.

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 Lane Thomas.

Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s win over the Braves.

Nola reaches 100 career points

Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola became the 90th player to reach 100 career Box-Toppers points since player tracking began in 1995 after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Nola (6IP 6H 2R 0BB 8K ND in the 6-5, 10-inning win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 100.7 career points, 86th among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. With his 1.0 point, he passes five players on Box-Toppers’ “all-time” career points list—Jim Edmonds (99.8), Larry Walker (100.1), Jeff Bagwell (100.4), Paul Konerko (100.7) and Matt Cain (100.7). (Nola ranks ahead of Konerko and Cain because he has more 2023 points than those retired players.) Nola now trails 85th-ranked player Matt Holliday (100.8).

Nola now ranks 17th among active players in career points, ninth among active NL pitchers.

Nola is the second player to reach 100 career points in 2023 after Braves pitcher Charlie Morton did it Aug. 16. Morton was the first player to reach 100 points in more than two years and now has 104.1 career points, 78th-most since 1995.

Nola now has 11.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 28th among all players and 14th among NL pitchers.

Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s win over the Giants.

Notable

Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly now has 13.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023—15th overall and seventh among NL pitchers—after earning 1.0 point as Player of the Game Wednesday (6.2IP 3R H 3BB 5K W in the 7-1 win over the Giants).

Tyrone Taylor of the Brewers is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s win over the Cardinals.

Also notable

Tyrone Taylor of the Brewers earns Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Wednesday.

Taylor (2HR 2-4 2R 2BI in the 8-2 win over the Cardinals) was also Player of the Game Tuesday in the 7-3 win over the Cardinals (2B 1-3 2R BI). He earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point in each of the two days, giving him 5.0 for the season, 33rd among NL batters.

Dominic Canzone of the Mariners is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s win over the Athletics.

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, Sept. 20.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 21.1
2 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 19.4
3 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 18.7
4 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 17.8
5 Peralta, Freddy 3965 pi sp mil nl 17.7
6 Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 17.1
7 Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 pi sp sea al 16.1
8 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 15.7
9 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp tex al 15.4
10 Wheeler, Zack 3204 pi sp phi nl 14.7
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Debut

Dominic Canzone of the Mariners made his Box-Toppers debut Wednesday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Canzone (HR 2B 2-3 R 4BI in the 6-3 win over the Athletics) made his Major League debut July 8 and was playing in his 53rd career game.

Scoring

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

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

  • Drury 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.

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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).

9/20 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +10.0 TOR 6, NYY 1 Kevin Gausman (W, 12‑9) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 3 0 0 3 10
+9.0 `HOU 2, BAL 1 Cristian Javier ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.0 3 1 1 2 11
+6.1 KC 6, CLE 2 Angel Zerpa (W, 3‑3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.1 3 0 0 0 4
+5.2 TEX 15, BOS 5 Martín Pérez (W, 10‑4) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 4.2 3 0 0 1 5
BAT +5.0 LAA 8, TB 3 Brandon Drury DH 5 2 3 5 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
NL +5.0 WSH 13, CHW 3 Lane Thomas RF 2 2 1 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+5.0 DET 4, LAD 2 Reese Olson (W, 5‑7) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 2 1 1 2 5
+4.0 SEA 6, OAK 3 Dominic Canzone LF 3 1 2 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+4.0 `PHI 6, ATL 5 (F/10) Aaron Nola ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 6 2 2 0 8
+3.2 ARI 7, SF 1 Merrill Kelly (W, 12‑7) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.2 3 1 1 3 5
+3.0 PIT 13, CHC 7 Connor Joe 1B 5 3 3 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 NYM 8, MIA 3 Brandon Nimmo CF 4 3 3 1 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 MIL 8, STL 2 Tyrone Taylor LF 4 2 2 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 MIN 5, CIN 3 Jhoan Duran (W, 3‑6) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 1 2
+1.0 SD 3, COL 2 Luis Campusano PH‑C 1 0 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.
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 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 (+/-).
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career +/‑
Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 18.7 31.4 52.8 88.1 +6.0
Kelly, Merrill 4143 pi sp ari nl 13.0 24.0 39.0 39.0 +2.0
Nola, Aaron 3569 pi sp phi nl 11.0 27.0 76.2 100.7 -5.0
Olson, Reese 4861 pi sp det al 6.4 6.4 6.4 6.4 +6.4
Javier, Cristian 4290 pi sp hou al 6.0 21.7 29.7 29.7 -9.7
Drury, Brandon 3744 2b 1b dh ana al 5.5 10.0 13.0 19.0 +1.0
Taylor, Tyrone 4393 lf mil nl 5.0 6.5 8.0 8.0 +3.5
Perez, Martin 3213 pi sp mr tex al 4.7 13.8 17.5 34.5 -4.4
Campusano, Luis 4770 ca sd nl 4.7 4.7 4.7 4.7 +4.7
Thomas, Lane 4623 rf dc nl 3.7 4.7 4.7 4.7 +2.7
Nimmo, Brandon 3895 cf nym nl 3.0 5.0 10.7 13.9 +1.0
Duran, Jhoan 4622 pi cp mr min al 3.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 +2.0
Joe, Connor 4516 rf 1b pit nl 2.5 2.5 5.0 5.0 +2.5
Zerpa, Angel 4939 pi mr kc al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Canzone, Dominic 4945 lf sea al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
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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.
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Game Starter ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career
LAA Canning, Griffin 4134 6.0 6.0 17.7 17.7
TB Eflin, Zach 3679 11.0 14.7 37.5 42.5
MIL Miley, Wade 3006 3.0 4.0 26.4 66.5
STL Mikolas, Miles 3034 5.7 17.8 32.5 35.2
ATL Fried, Max 4011 8.0 24.0 52.5 52.5
WSH Irvin, Jake 4805 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
TOR Berrios, Jose 3791 10.4 19.4 60.3 69.3
NYY Cole, Gerrit 3232 14.0 29.4 109.4 152.3
BAL Rodriguez, Grayson 4790 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0
CLE Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
NYM Peterson, David 4347 1.0 6.0 11.0 11.0
PHI Suarez, Ranger 4228 3.7 8.7 18.7 18.7
PIT Oviedo, Johan 4442 8.7 11.7 12.7 12.7
CHC Hendricks, Kyle 3386 5.0 9.7 41.8 73.6
DET Skubal, Tarik 4414 7.7 18.4 27.1 27.1
OAK Medina, Luis 4876 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
SF Harrison, Kyle 4914 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
LAD Sheehan, Emmet 4886 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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