Phillies’ Schwarber tops players Wednesday, Aug. 7; Tigers’ Skubal rises to 2nd place

Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

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▪️ Players of the Game
▪️ B-T points of day’s top players
▪️ Top 10 players in 2024
▪️ Wednesday’s sidelights sidebar
▪️ Upcoming pitching matchups
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Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in 2024 Box-Toppers points (BTP) through Wednesday, Aug. 7:
  Player Pos Team BTP
1 Dylan Cease pi sp Padres 17.4
2 Tarik Skubal pi sp Tigers 16.1
3 Zack Wheeler pi sp Phillies 15.7
4 Shota Imanaga pi sp Cubs 15.7
5 Luis Gil pi sp Yankees 15.4
6 Chris Sale pi sp Braves 12.4
7 Tanner Bibee pi sp Guardians 12.0
8 George Kirby pi sp Mariners 11.7
9 Tyler Glasnow pi sp Dodgers 11.7
10 Tanner Houck pi sp Red Sox 11.4
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Also Wednesday, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal rises to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings, extending his lead among American League pitchers, after earning Player of the Game honors. Also, Yankees pitcher Luis Gil maintains fifth place in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day

Schwarber hit three home runs, including a three-run shot, and doubled, in the 9-4 win over the Dodgers. Schwarber went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in seven runs.

Schwarber earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.5 for the season, 100th among all players and 11th among National League batters.

Schwarber recorded a +10.0 Box-Toppers game score Wednesday, best for all batters winning Player of the Game honors in 2024. Previously, Ceddanne Rafaela of the Red Sox had the highest such score, recorded April 27 (HR 2-2B SF 4-4 3R 7BI in the 17-0 win over the Cubs). While Rafaela also recorded a +10.0 game score, Schwarber’s ranks higher because he hit more home runs—three vs. one.

And while Schwarber won overall Player of the Day honors with his +10.0 game score, Rafaela only earned AL Batter of the Day honors on April 27 with his +10.0 game score, which was that day’s fifth-highest.

While Schwarber’s +10.0 game score is the highest for a batter earning Player of the Game honors in 2024, it is the 129th-highest for all players earning Player of the Game honors this season, behind 128 pitchers.

This is just the fourth time this season that a batter has won overall Player of the Day honors. On the other 129 days of the season, pitchers have won overall Player of the Day honors. This is the first time this season that a batter has won overall Player of the Day honors on a day in which a full schedule of 15 or more games were completed (17 were completed Wednesday).

Here are the other three times this season that a batter won overall Player of the Day honors:

  • March 21—Jake Cronenworth of the Padres was Player of the Day with a +6.0 Box-Toppers game score. It was the only game of the day, the second game of the 2024 season, played in South Korea.

  • June 20—Ryan Mountcastle of the Orioles was Player of the Day with a +4.0 Box-Toppers game score. Nine games were played that day.

  • Aug. 1—Jose Ramirez of the Guardians was Player of the Day with a +4.0 Box-Toppers game score. Five games were played that day.

In 2023, batters won overall Player of the Day honors 12 times in 183 days of the regular season.

American League Player of the Day is Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal.

American League Player of the Day

Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal struck out nine over seven innings, allowing two runs, three hits and two walks, in the 6-2 win over the Mariners.

Skubal earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 16.1 for the season, rising from fourth to second place in season player rankings, behind overall leader, Padres pitcher Dylan Cease (17.4 points). Skubal also extends his lead among AL pitchers, ahead of second-place Luis Gil of the Yankees (15.4 points), who also earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

American League Batter of the Day is Bobby Witt Jr. of the Royals.

American League Batter of the Day

Bobby Witt Jr. of the Royals hit two home runs, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 8-4 win over the Red Sox.

Witt earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 8.9 for the season, 35th among all players and third among AL batters, behind Aaron Judge of the Yankees (11.0) and Juan Soto of the Yankees (9.5).

National League Batter of the Day

There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Wednesday because the overall Player of the Day is NL batter Kyle Schwarber.

Yankees pitcher Luis Gil maintains fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Rankings

Yankees pitcher Luis Gil maintains fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Gil (5IP 2H 0R 5BB 6K W in the 5-2 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 15.4 for the season. He also maintains his second-place ranking among AL pitchers, behind Tarik Skubal of the Tigers (16.1 points), who was Wednesday’s AL Player of the Day.

Giants pitcher Blake Snell was Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s win over the Nationals.

Notable

Giants pitcher Blake Snell, who was Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s win over the Nationals, has more Box-Toppers points at this point in 2024 than he did on the same date in his 2023 NL Cy Young Award-winning season.

Snell (6IP 4H 3R BB 8K W in the 7-4 win over the Nationals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.0 for the season. In 2023, on Aug. 7, Snell had 7.7 Box-Toppers points for the season, when he played for the Padres.

While Snell got off to a slow start in 2024, did not earn his first Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor until July 9 and only has two wins in 12 appearances this season, he’s won Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in five of his last six starts, including three times in which he did not pick up the win and once on Aug. 2, when he pitched a no-hitter.

Snell also started slow in 2023, not earning his first Player of the Game honor until June 5. Despite that slow start, he became the runaway favorite for NL Cy Young by July and August, even though he finished the season with 14.7 Box-Toppers points, sixth among NL pitchers.

Snell currently ranks 20th among NL pitchers in 2024 Box-Toppers points.

Derek Hill of the Marlins made his Box-Toppers debut Wednesday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Wednesday’s sidelights sidebar

Top pitching matchup

▪️Tarik Skubal, Tigers
14.4 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 1st among AL pitchers
▪️George Kirby, Mariners
11.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 4th among AL pitchers
Result—DET 6, SEA 2
Skubal was Player of the Game (7IP 3H 2R 2BB 9K W) with +7.0 B-T game score.
Kirby had -2.0 B-T game score in loss (5IP 7H 3R BB 7K L).
Skubal earns 1.7 B-T points as AL Player of the Day, giving him 16.1 for 2024, extending his lead among AL pitchers.

High scores, no points

Highest Box-Toppers game scores for the day among players who did not earn Player of the Game honors:
▪️+7.0—Davis Martin, White Sox (6IP 2H 0R BB 4K ND)
Was not Player of the Game in loss vs. OAK.
Player of the Game—Tyler Ferguson, Athletics (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K ND) with +3.0 game score.
▪️+5.0—Josh Winder, Twins (3IP H 0R 0BB 3K ND)
Was not Player of the Game in loss vs. CHC.
Player of the Game—Michael Busch, Cubs (HR 2-3 2R BI) with +2.0 game score.
▪️+4.0—Bowden Francis, Blue Jays (5IP 3H 2R BB 7K ND)
Was not Player of the Game in loss vs. BAL.
Player of the Game—Burch Smith, Orioles (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W) with +3.0 game score.

Lowest Box-Toppers game scores

Out of 483 total players Wednesday, 164 pitchers
-16.9—Will Warren, Yankees (4.1IP 8H 8R 3BB 6K L vs. LAA)
-14.8—Taj Bradley, Rays
-14.8—Kutter Crawford, Red Sox
-12.8—Marco Gonzales, Pirates
-11.9—Davis Daniel, Angels

Lowest Box-Toppers game scores by batters

Out of 319 total batters Wednesday
-5.0—Logan O'Hoppe, Angels 0-5, 4K (game 2 of doubleheader)
-5.0—Brandon Nimmo, Mets 0-5 3K
-5.0—Charlie Blackmon, Rockies 0-5 2K
-5.0—Logan O'Hoppe, Angels 0-5 2K (game 1 of doubleheader)
Box-Toppers uses Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com and other sources to compile this information.

Debut

Derek Hill of the Marlins made his Box-Toppers debut Wednesday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Hill (GS 1-3 R 4BI in the 6-4 win over the Reds) made his Major League debut Sept, 4, 2020, and was playing in his 132nd career game.

Scoring

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

  • Skubal earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day.

  • Witt 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).
8/7 BTG Game Player AB R H BI   IP H R ER BB K
MLB +10.0 PHI 9, LAD 4 Kyle Schwarber DH 4 3 4 7   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
AL +7.0 DET 6, SEA 2 Tarik Skubal (W, 13‑4) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   7.0 3 2 2 2 9
BAT +6.0 KC 8, BOS 4 Bobby Witt Jr. SS 4 3 3 4   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
  +5.0 LAA 8, NYY 2 Zach Neto SS 5 1 3 6   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
  +4.0 SD 9, PIT 8 (F/10) Jackson Merrill CF 6 3 4 3   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
  +4.0 NYY 5, LAA 2 Luis Gil (W, 12‑5) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   5.0 2 0 0 5 6
  +3.1 ARI 7, CLE 3 Brandon Pfaadt (W, 6‑6) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   6.1 4 2 2 1 6
  +3.0 ARI 5, CLE 3 Josh Bell 1B 4 2 2 3   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
  +3.0 MIA 6, CIN 4 Derek Hill LF 3 1 1 4   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
  +3.0 SF 7, WSH 4 Blake Snell (W, 2‑3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   6.0 4 3 3 1 8
  +3.0 STL 5, TB 2 Erick Fedde (W, 8‑5) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   5.0 4 1 1 2 6
  +3.0 NYM 5, COL 3 José Buttó (W, 5‑3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   2.0 1 0 0 0 2
  +3.0 BAL 7, TOR 3 Burch Smith (W, 3‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   1.0 0 0 0 0 2
  +3.0 `OAK 3, CHW 2 Tyler Ferguson (H, 2) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   1.0 0 0 0 0 2
  +2.1 HOU 6, TEX 4 Yusei Kikuchi (W, 5‑9) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑   5.1 4 2 2 3 8
  +2.0 MIL 8, ATL 5 Joey Ortiz 3B 4 1 3 2   ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
  +2.0 CHC 8, MIN 2 Michael Busch 1B 3 2 2 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 2024 (’24). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’23-24), the period 2019-2024 (’19-24) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2024 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2023 total (+/-).
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’24 ’23‑24 ’19‑24 Career +/‑
Skubal, Tarik 4414 pi sp det al 16.1 26.8 46.2 46.2 +5.4
Gil, Luis 4498 pi sp nyy al 15.4 15.4 16.4 16.4 +15.4
Witt, Bobby Jr. 4592 ss kc al 8.9 16.6 18.6 18.6 +1.2
Pfaadt, Brandon 4812 pi sp ari nl 8.4 12.1 12.1 12.1 +4.7
Snell, Blake 3688 pi sp sf nl 8.0 22.7 60.9 97.1 -6.7
Neto, Zach 4821 ss ana al 7.0 9.5 9.5 9.5 +4.5
Fedde, Erick 4065 pi sp stl nl 6.7 6.7 23.5 25.2 +6.7
Butto, Jose 4933 pi mr nym nl 6.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 +4.0
Kikuchi, Yusei 4136 pi sp hou al 5.7 15.7 33.1 33.1 -4.3
Schwarber, Kyle 3536 dh phi nl 5.5 11.0 24.0 37.5 0.0
Bell, Josh E. 3682 1b ari nl 4.5 9.0 24.2 32.2 0.0
Merrill, Jackson 4977 cf sd nl 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 +4.0
Smith, Burch 3281 pi cp mr bal al 2.0 2.0 6.0 9.0 +2.0
Busch, Michael 4981 1b chi nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Ferguson, Tyler 5069 pi cp mr oak al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Ortiz, Joey 4987 3b mil nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
Hill, Derek 5077 lf fla nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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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 2024 (’24), this year and last year (’23-24), over a six-year period (’19-24) and their career point total.
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Game Starter ’24 ’23‑24 ’19‑24 Career
SF Harrison, Kyle 4914 5.0 7.0 7.0 7.0
WSH Herz, DJ 5032 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
MIL Montas, Frankie 3803 3.0 3.0 35.5 38.5
ATL Morton, Charlie 2503 7.4 17.4 61.3 111.5
SD Vasquez, Randy 4841 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
PIT Ortiz, Luis 4738 5.0 5.0 6.0 6.0
NYM Peterson, David 4347 1.0 4.0 14.0 14.0
COL Gomber, Austin 3985 3.0 4.0 17.0 21.7
CIN Greene, Hunter 4651 7.7 13.4 19.4 19.4
MIA Tyler, Kyle* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
LAA Anderson, Tyler 3656 6.0 8.0 30.4 43.4
NYY Cortes, Nestor 4160 6.7 8.7 31.1 31.1
BAL Kremer, Dean 4330 6.0 15.7 27.1 27.1
TOR Gausman, Kevin 3191 6.0 24.7 55.1 94.1
TB Baz, Shane 4560 0.0 0.0 1.7 1.7
STL Gibson, Kyle 3312 5.4 14.1 41.2 67.6
DET Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
SEA Woo, Bryan 4842 8.7 17.4 17.4 17.4
PHI Allard, Kolby 4232 0.0 1.0 5.0 5.0
ARI Montgomery, Jordan 3814 1.0 11.4 31.5 37.5
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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