Cubs’ Steele tops players for Monday, Sept. 4; Royals’ Ragans tops AL players

Cubs pitcher Justin Steele is Monday’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.
▪️ Subscribe to Box-Toppers Email Newsletter.

Cubs pitcher Justin Steele is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Steele struck out 12 over eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 5-0 win over the Giants.

Steele earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 11.1 for the season, 17th among all players and eighth among National League pitchers.

Steele becomes the 37th player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points. It is his first season with 10 or more points. His previous best was 2022 with the Cubs when he had 5.5 points, 59th among NL pitchers.

American League Player of the Day

Royals pitcher Cole Ragans struck out seven over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 12-1 win over the White Sox.

Ragans earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.4 for the season, 60th among AL pitchers.

American League Player of the Day is Royals pitcher Cole Ragans.

American League Batter of the Day

Royce Lewis of the Twins hit a grand slam and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in six runs, in the 20-6 win over the Guardians.

American League Batter of the Day is Royce Lewis of the Twins.

National League Batter of the Day

Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies homered and went 2-for-3, scoring three times and driving in one run, in the 9-7 win over the Padres.

Schwarber earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 5.5 for the season, 19th among NL batters.

National League Batter of the Day is Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies.

Notable

Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly now has 11.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023 after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Kelly (7IP 4H R BB 12K W in the 4-2 win over the Rockies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point and now ranks 20th among all players and 10th among NL pitchers.

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

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. 4.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 19.4
2 Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 19.1
3 Peralta, Freddy 3965 pi sp mil nl 15.7
4 Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 15.4
5 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 15.1
6 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 14.7
7 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp tex al 14.4
8 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 13.7
9 Lopez, Pablo 4028 pi sp min al 13.4
10 Miller, Bryce 4797 pi sp sea al 13.1
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Scoring

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

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

  • Lewis and Schwarber each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter 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).

9/4 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +16.0 CHC 5, SF 0 Justin Steele (W, 16‑3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 8.0 2 0 0 2 12
+12.0 ARI 4, COL 2 Merrill Kelly (W, 11‑6) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 4 1 1 1 12
AL +12.0 KC 12, CHW 1 Cole Ragans (W, 6‑4) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 1 0 0 0 7
BAT +7.0 MIN 20, CLE 6 Royce Lewis 3B 4 2 3 6 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+4.0 BOS 7, TB 3 Triston Casas 1B 4 2 2 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+4.0 `TOR 6, OAK 5 (F/10) Jose Berríos ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 4 2 2 1 7
+3.0 HOU 13, TEX 6 Jose Altuve 2B 6 3 4 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
BAT +3.0 PHI 9, SD 7 Kyle Schwarber LF 3 3 2 1 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+1.0 BAL 6, LAA 3 Gunnar Henderson 3B 5 1 2 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+1.0 PIT 4, MIL 2 Jack Suwinski CF‑RF 4 1 2 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+1.0 CIN 6, SEA 3 Elly De La Cruz SS 2 1 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 +/‑
Steele, Justin 4415 pi sp chi nl 11.1 16.1 19.1 19.1 +6.1
Kelly, Merrill 4143 pi sp ari nl 11.0 22.0 37.0 37.0 0.0
Berrios, Jose 3791 pi sp tor al 8.4 17.4 58.3 67.3 -0.6
Henderson, Gunnar 4739 dh 3b ss bal al 7.5 10.7 10.7 10.7 +4.3
Altuve, Jose 3007 2b hou al 6.0 10.0 22.5 54.0 +2.0
Schwarber, Kyle 3536 dh lf phi nl 5.5 7.5 22.5 32.0 +3.5
Casas, Triston 4752 1b bos al 4.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 +3.5
De La Cruz, Elly 4844 3b cin nl 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 +4.5
Ragans, Cole 4889 pi sp kc al 4.4 4.4 4.4 4.4 +4.4
Suwinski, Jack 4628 cf rf pit nl 2.5 5.0 5.0 5.0 0.0
Lewis, Royce 4606 3b ss min al 2.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 +1.5
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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
MIN Gray, Sonny 3259 8.4 20.5 54.7 95.9
CLE Bibee, Tanner 4792 7.7 7.7 7.7 7.7
MIL Woodruff, Brandon 3868 3.0 23.8 56.6 57.6
PIT Jackson, Andre 4748 1.7 2.7 2.7 2.7
BOS Crawford, Kutter 4660 4.7 8.7 8.7 8.7
TB Eflin, Zach 3679 10.0 13.7 36.5 41.5
LAD Kershaw, Clayton 2494 10.1 20.8 62.6 269.4
MIA Luzardo, Jesus 4282 15.1 19.1 31.2 31.2
SEA Miller, Bryce 4797 13.1 13.1 13.1 13.1
CIN Phillips, Connor* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
DET Faedo, Alex 4612 3.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
NYY Cole, Gerrit 3232 11.0 26.4 106.4 149.3
NYM Quintana, Jose 3040 0.0 11.4 32.9 83.1
WSH Corbin, Patrick 3027 6.1 10.1 49.2 91.4
STL Mikolas, Miles 3034 5.7 17.8 32.5 35.2
ATL Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
CHW Cease, Dylan 4231 7.0 27.4 43.8 43.8
KC Singer, Brady 4337 5.0 16.7 23.7 23.7
SF Walker, Ryan* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
CHC Hendricks, Kyle 3386 5.0 9.7 41.8 73.6
HOU Valdez, Framber 4048 9.0 25.0 40.4 40.4
TEX Eovaldi, Nathan 2928 9.7 15.7 43.5 69.3
BAL Kremer, Dean 4330 7.7 15.4 19.1 19.1
LAA Detmers, Reid 4513 6.7 13.7 14.7 14.7
COL Freeland, Kyle 3763 5.7 11.7 33.1 39.1
ARI Pfaadt, Brandon 4812 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
TOR Bassitt, Chris 3413 15.4 26.4 55.2 59.2
OAK Waldichuk, Ken 4757 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
PHI Lorenzen, Michael 3479 8.7 12.7 17.2 23.2
SD Avila, Pedro 4105 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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