Mariners’ Kirby tops players for Saturday, Sept. 10; Mets’ Carrasco tops NL players

Mariners pitcher George Kirby is Saturday’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.

Mariners pitcher George Kirby is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Kirby struck out eight over six innings, allowing one run (none earned), three hits and no walks, in the 3-1 win over the Braves.

Kirby earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 10.4 for the season, 39th among all players and 20th among American League pitchers.

Kirby becomes the 42nd player this season to reach 10.0 Box-Toppers points. It is his first season to reach 10.0 points and also his first season earning points.

National League Player of the Day—Mets pitcher Carlos Carrasco struck out six over six innings, allowing one run, four hits and no walks, in the 11-3 win over the Marlins.

Carrasco earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 8.7 for the season, 24th among NL pitchers.

Carrasco also now has 108.8 career Box-Toppers points, 67th among all players since player tracking began in 1995. With his 1.7 points earned Saturday, he passes five players on the “all-time” list—Lance Berkman (108.1), Kevin Millwood (108.3), Carlos Beltran (108.6), Gio Gonzalez (108.6) and Billy Wagner (108.7). He now trails 66th-ranked player Jeff Kent (110.2). Carrasco ranks 18th among active players in career points, ninth among active NL pitchers.

Mets pitcher Carlos Carrasco is Saturday’s Box-Toppers NL Player of the Day.

National League Batter of the Day—Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers homered, doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 8-4 win over the Padres.

Freeman earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 7.5 for the season, seventh among NL batters.

Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers is Saturday’s Box-Toppers NL Batter of the Day.

American League Batter of the Day—Rafael Devers of the Red Sox hit a grand slam and went 3-for-5, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 17-4 win over the Orioles.

Rafael Devers of the Red Sox is Saturday’s Box-Toppers AL Batter of the Day.

Notable—Guardians pitcher Triston McKenzie has the most 2022 Box-Toppers points among Saturday’s 15 Player of the Game winners.

McKenzie (7IP 6H 0R 2BB 5K W in the 6-4 win over the Twins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.0 for the season, 17th among all players and seventh among AL pitchers.

Guardians pitcher Triston McKenzie is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Twins.

Also notable—Two other players with more than 100 career Box-Toppers points earned Player of the Game honors Saturday:

Albert Pujols of the Cardinals is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Pirates.

  • Albert Pujols of the Cardinals (HR 2B 3-4 R 3BI in the 7-5 win over the Pirates) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 207.8 career points, seventh among all players since player tracking began in 1995. He trails sixth-ranked player, Royals pitcher Zack Greinke (222.5). Pujols is also first among all batters since 1995, ahead of second-place Alex Rodriguez (187.0). (Pujols tied Rodriguez Saturday in career home runs, hitting his 696th.) Pujols leads active batters in career points, ahead of second-place Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (159.4). Pujols ranks fifth among active players and now has 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 57th among NL batters.

  • White Sox pitcher Lance Lynn (6IP 3H 2R 0ER BB 5K W in the 10-2 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 112.8 career points, 63rd among all players since tracking began in 1995. With his 1.0 point Saturday, he passes Kevin Brown (112.8) on the “all-time” list and now trails 62nd-ranked Sammy Sosa (113.2). Lynn has 8.7 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 26th among AL pitchers.

White Sox pitcher Lance Lynn is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Athletics.

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 Saturday, Sept. 10.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 22.0
2 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 21.0
3 Cease, Dylan 4231 pi sp chi al 20.4
4 Alcantara, Sandy 4061 pi sp fla nl 18.1
5 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 16.7
6 Urias, Julio 3652 pi sp lad nl 16.4
7 Rodon, Carlos 3494 pi sp sf nl 16.4
8 Fried, Max 4011 pi sp atl nl 16.0
9 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp nyy al 15.4
10 Musgrove, Joe 3705 pi sp sd nl 15.4
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Scoring—Kirby earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Carrasco earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Freeman and Devers each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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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9/10 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +8.0 SEA 3, ATL 1 George Kirby, (W 7‑3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 3 1 0 0 6
NL +6.0 NYM 11, MIA 3 Carlos Carrasco, (W 14‑6) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 4 1 1 0 6
+5.0 CHW 10, OAK 2 Lance Lynn, (W 6‑5) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 3 2 0 1 5
BAT +4.0 LAD 8, SD 4 Freddie Freeman, 1B 5 1 4 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
BAT +4.0 BOS 17, BAL 4 Rafael Devers, 3B 5 1 3 5 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+4.0 CLE 6, MIN 4 Triston McKenzie, (W 10‑11) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 6 0 0 2 5
+3.0 TOR 11, TEX 7 Danny Jansen, C 5 2 4 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 STL 7, PIT 5 Albert Pujols, 1B 4 1 3 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 PHI 8, WSH 5 Brandon Marsh, CF 4 2 3 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 DET 8, KC 4 (F/8) Victor Reyes, RF 4 2 2 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 LAA 6, HOU 1 Mike Trout, CF 4 2 2 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 SF 5, CHC 2 Logan Webb, (W 13‑8) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 6 2 2 0 6
+2.2 COL 4, ARI 1 Justin Lawrence, (W 3‑1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.2 0 0 0 0 1
+2.1 NYY 10, TB 3 Jameson Taillon, (W 13‑4) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.1 6 3 3 1 8
+1.0 MIL 5, CIN 1 Christian Yelich, LF 3 1 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 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 +/‑
McKenzie, Triston 4303 pi sp cle al 13.0 23.4 27.4 27.4 +2.6
Kirby, George 4595 pi sp sea al 10.4 10.4 10.4 10.4 +10.4
Lynn, Lance 2992 pi sp chi al 8.7 21.1 56.9 112.8 -3.7
Taillon, Jameson 3658 pi sp nyy al 8.7 17.7 39.1 44.1 -0.3
Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp nym nl 8.7 8.7 62.3 108.8 +8.7
Webb, Logan 4258 pi sp sf nl 7.7 23.2 25.9 25.9 -7.8
Freeman, Freddie 2887 1b lad nl 7.5 12.0 36.2 74.9 +3.0
Devers, Rafael 4038 3b bos al 4.0 11.5 26.0 26.0 -3.5
Trout, Mike 2949 cf ana al 4.0 5.0 31.2 80.2 +3.0
Yelich, Christian 3334 lf mil nl 3.5 9.0 38.7 54.2 -2.0
Jansen, Danny 4163 ca tor al 3.5 4.5 8.0 8.0 +2.5
Reyes, Victor 3984 rf cf det al 3.0 7.5 11.0 11.0 -1.5
Pujols, Albert 1438 dh 1b ph stl nl 3.0 5.0 25.5 207.8 +1.0
Marsh, Brandon 4670 lf cf phi nl 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 +2.5
Lawrence, Justin 4717 pi mr col nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 +2.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Sunday’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
BOS Hill, Rich 2215 4.0 10.0 37.4 75.5
BAL Bradish, Kyle 4597 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
WSH Sanchez, Anibal 2187 4.0 4.0 21.4 86.7
PHI Nola, Aaron 3569 13.0 23.7 78.0 86.7
STL Quintana, Jose 3040 6.7 7.7 43.2 78.4
PIT Keller, Mitch 4230 2.0 6.0 7.0 7.0
TB Patino, Luis 4308 1.0 2.0 3.0 3.0
NYY German, Domingo 3957 1.0 5.7 24.4 24.4
NYM Walker, Taijuan 3453 4.0 13.4 24.4 45.8
MIA Luzardo, Jesus 4282 3.0 10.4 15.1 15.1
LAA Davidson, Tucker 4429 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
HOU Garcia, Luis 4423 6.7 16.7 16.7 16.7
CIN Dunn, Justin 4267 1.0 4.0 8.0 8.0
MIL Woodruff, Brandon 3868 14.1 31.2 47.9 47.9
CLE Bieber, Shane 4005 11.7 18.4 54.3 54.3
MIN Winder, Josh 4588 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
DET Alexander, Tyler 4196 0.0 3.0 8.0 8.0
KC Singer, Brady 4337 8.0 11.0 15.0 15.0
TOR Richards, Trevor 3945 1.0 4.0 14.7 14.7
TEX Perez, Martin 3213 9.1 10.1 16.8 29.8
ARI Gallen, Zac 4171 16.7 20.7 32.4 32.4
COL Feltner, Ryan 4635 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
CHW Cueto, Johnny 2400 6.4 11.4 18.4 118.2
OAK Irvin, Cole 4140 6.7 11.4 14.4 14.4
ATL Odorizzi, Jake 3291 7.4 11.4 41.9 68.0
SEA Gonzales, Marco 3408 2.0 6.0 32.5 35.5
LAD Heaney, Andrew 3515 6.0 11.0 30.1 34.1
SD Musgrove, Joe 3705 15.4 31.5 47.5 51.2
SF Brebbia, John 4080 1.0 1.0 6.0 6.0
CHC Miley, Wade 3006 1.0 11.7 27.1 63.5
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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