Astros’ Verlander tops players for Monday, Sept. 25; Giants’ Cobb tops NL players

Astros pitcher Justin Verlander is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

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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.

Astros pitcher Justin Verlander is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Verlander struck out eight over eight innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 5-1 win over the Mariners.

Verlander earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 10.7 for the season, 36th among all players and 17th among American League pitchers.

Verlander becomes the 50th player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points. It is his 13th season with 10 or more points and his second straight. In 2022, he led all players with 26.0 Box-Toppers points. He also led all players in 2012 with the Tigers when he had 24.8 points. His highest single-season point total was 2019 with the Astros, when he had 27.5 points, second among all players and second among AL pitchers, behind then-teammate Gerrit Cole (32.2).

Verlander also now has 243.3 career Box-Toppers points, fifth among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He now trails fourth-ranked player Pedro Martinez (244.8) by just 1.5 points. (It should be noted that if Martinez’s entire career from 1992 were tracked, he is projected to have 270 points.)

Verlander ranks third among active players in career points, behind Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (270.4) and Rangers pitcher Max Scherzer (251.7). Verlander ranks second among active AL pitchers behind Scherzer.

National League Player of the Day is Giants pitcher Logan Webb.

National League Player of the Day

Giants pitcher Logan Webb pitched a complete game, striking out seven and allowing one run, nine hits and no walks, in the 2-1 win over the Padres.

Webb earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 12.2 for the season, 22nd among all players and 11th among NL pitchers.

Blake Snell should not win NL Cy Young Award. But he will.

Why Blake Snell should not be NL Cy Young winner

Blake Snell, touted as the inevitable favorite for the NL Cy Young, started for the Padres and had the highest Box-Toppers game score (+7.0) among all players in the game (6IP 4H 0R 2BB 7K ND). But since the Padres didn’t win, Snell earned no Box-Toppers points. And in fact, his 14.7 Box-Toppers points for 2023 is sixth among NL batters, 6.4 points behind NL pitching leader Spencer Strider of the Braves (21.1).

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 Monday, Sept. 25.

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 Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 18.1
5 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 17.8
6 Peralta, Freddy 3965 pi sp mil nl 17.7
7 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 16.7
8 Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 pi sp sea al 16.1
9 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp tex al 15.4
10 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp nyy al 15.0
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Snell leads NL pitchers in ERA in 2023 (2.25) and is second in strikeouts (234) behind Strider (274). While piling up statistics like these is great, the next question that has to be asked is: To what end were these statistics accumulated? Did they help Snell contribute to his team’s wins?

In Monday’s case, Snell did everything he needed to do to secure a Padres win, but he received little run support and the Padres lost. While you can’t hold Snell’s contributions Monday against him, his outing also shouldn’t be considered another feather in his cap on his way to an award since the Padres lost.

And over the course of the season, there is no doubt that Snell has performed well. Is it his fault the Padres have performed relatively poorly and lost in 15 of his 32 starts? Not always. In fact, in nine of those 15 losses, Snell has had a Box-Toppers game score of 0.0 or better. But on the other hand, players on losing teams do not receive Box-Toppers points. The goal is to win and not look good while losing.

Snell has looked good while losing but that seems to be a poor excuse to give him an award that should be based on helping your team actually win games.

Part of the problem with postseason awards is that voters and writers tend to forget the season extends back to the spring. Most seem to only pay attention to what players do from late July to mid September. Anything before that is forgotten and anything that happens after (like Snell’s start Monday) is discounted or shrugged off or rationalized. (Snell earned 8.0 of his 14.7 Box-Toppers points from July 30 to Sept. 19.)

Snell’s early season is seemingly forgotten. In his first 11 starts, the Padres went 2-9. In six of those starts, he had a negative Box-Toppers game score. He did not win Player of the Game honors in any of those first 11 starts and did not win his first Player of the Game honor until June 5, failing to earn any Box-Toppers points for the first two months (fully one-third) of the season.

Snell has earned 14.7 points in four months since, playing catchup, which is impressive, and puts him sixth among NL pitchers. But if he had earned 14.7 points in his first four months, he would have been second overall in Box-Toppers points and first among NL pitchers on Aug. 1.

In short: Yes, Snell is good. But it’s a full season and he and the Padres haven’t always excelled, getting off to a horrible start. He has racked up impressive stats but they haven’t added up to Padres wins. There are other NL pitchers who have done more to help their teams win more games. Spencer Strider, for example, has won Player of the Game honors in 17 Braves wins, almost double the nine Snell has.

And it’s not like Snell hasn’t excelled in the past. He was Box-Toppers’ 2018 Player of the Year, leading all players with 27.2 Box-Toppers points when he was with the Rays and winning the AL Cy Young Award.

We know what a truly great Blake Snell season looks like and it’s not 2023.

AL & NL Batters of the Day

There are no separate AL and NL Batter of the Day winners Monday because no batters won Player of the Game honors in the four games completed.

Scoring

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

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

  • All of Monday’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).

9/25 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +10.0 HOU 5, SEA 1 Justin Verlander (W, 12‑8) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 8.0 3 1 1 1 8
+6.0 TEX 5, LAA 1 Jon Gray (W, 9‑8) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 5 1 1 0 7
NL +5.0 SF 2, SD 1 Logan Webb (W, 11‑13) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 9.0 9 1 1 0 7
+4.0 `NYY 6, ARI 4 Greg Weissert ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 2.0 1 0 0 0 3
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 +/‑
Webb, Logan 4258 pi sp sf nl 12.4 22.1 40.3 40.3 +2.7
Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 10.7 36.7 89.3 243.3 -15.3
Gray, Jon 3634 pi sp tex al 7.7 13.7 41.4 53.1 +1.7
Weissert, Greg 4724 pi mr cp nyy al 1.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 -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 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
LAD Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
COL Anderson, Chase 3328 1.7 3.7 18.1 44.5
CIN Greene, Hunter 4651 5.7 11.7 11.7 11.7
CLE Giolito, Lucas 3900 5.0 9.0 45.1 48.1
WSH Gray, Josiah 4503 5.7 10.4 11.4 11.4
BAL Bradish, Kyle 4597 13.0 19.0 19.0 19.0
KC Greinke, Zack 1871 2.0 6.7 48.3 224.5
DET Olson, Reese 4861 6.4 6.4 6.4 6.4
PIT Keller, Mitch 4230 13.0 15.0 20.0 20.0
PHI Nola, Aaron 3569 11.0 27.0 76.2 100.7
NYY King, Michael 4549 8.0 12.7 13.7 13.7
TOR Gausman, Kevin 3191 18.7 31.4 52.8 88.1
MIA Garrett, Braxton 4341 12.7 18.4 20.4 20.4
NYM Lucchesi, Joey 3936 2.0 2.0 18.4 18.4
TB Eflin, Zach 3679 12.0 15.7 38.5 43.5
BOS Houck, Tanner 4342 1.0 4.0 12.7 12.7
CHC Steele, Justin 4415 11.1 16.1 19.1 19.1
ATL Elder, Bryce 4709 8.0 12.7 12.7 12.7
ARI Davies, Zach 3581 2.0 3.0 16.0 31.7
CHW Scholtens, Jesse* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
OAK Blackburn, Paul 3869 4.7 8.7 10.7 11.7
MIN Ober, Bailey 4441 6.7 9.7 16.4 16.4
STL Thompson, Zack 4773 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
MIL Houser, Adrian 4162 1.7 3.4 14.4 14.4
LAD Miller, Bobby 4820 6.7 6.7 6.7 6.7
COL Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
TEX Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
LAA Detmers, Reid 4513 6.7 13.7 14.7 14.7
SD Lugo, Seth 3729 4.7 6.7 17.7 22.7
SF Harrison, Kyle 4914 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
HOU Javier, Cristian 4290 6.0 21.7 29.7 29.7
SEA Kirby, George 4595 10.7 22.1 22.1 22.1
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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