Blue Jays’ Serven tops players in spring training games for Monday, Feb. 26

Brian Serven of the Blue Jays is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Monday’s spring training games.

Brian Serven of the Blue Jays is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Monday’s spring training games.

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Serven hit a three-run homer, doubled and went 2-for-2, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 8-4 win over the Pirates.

Serven would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day if this were a regular season game. Because it’s a preseason exhibition game, no Box-Toppers points are awarded.

Serven earned no Box-Toppers points in 2023, playing in 11 games for the Rockies. He does have 1.5 career Box-Toppers points, earned in 2022 with the Rockies.

National League Player of the Day

Trayce Thompson of the Mets hit a grand slam and went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 6-3 win over the Nationals.

Thompson would have earned 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day if this were a regular season game.

Thompson earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023 with the Dodgers and was traded to the White Sox to finish the season.

Trayce Thompson of the Mets is Monday’s National League Player of the Day.

AL and NL Batters of the Day

There were no separate AL and NL Batters of the Day Monday since both league’s top batters were also their league’s overall Player of the Day.

Monday’s games

In Monday’s 16 spring training games featuring matchups between two Major League teams, eight Player of the Game winners had previously earned Box-Toppers points in regular season games.

Most notably, Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers (1-1 R 2BI in the 9-4 win over the Rockies), had the most 2023 Box-Toppers points among Monday’s Player of the Game winners. Freeman’s 10.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023 was third among NL batters.

One game (Cardinals vs. Marlins) ended in a 1-1 tie and so no Player of the Game honor was awarded.

Scoring

No Box-Toppers points are awarded in exhibition games. Were it a regular season day, Serven would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Thompson would have earned 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. All of Friday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) would have earned 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).

2/26 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +6.0 TOR 8, PIT 4 Brian Serven PR‑DH 2 1 2 5
NL +5.0 NYM 6, WSH 3 Trayce Thompson LF 3 1 2 5
+5.0 SEA 2, CIN 0 Reid VanScoter (S, 1) 2.0 1 0 0 0 4
+3.1 NYY 9, MIN 2 Cody Morris (W, 1‑0) 2.1 1 0 0 1 3
+3.0 CLE 7, SD 4 Milan Tolentino SS 2 1 2 2
+3.0 CIN 8, MIL 3 Tyler Callihan 2B 2 2 2 1
+3.0 DET 4, HOU 0 Brady Allen LF 2 1 1 3
+3.0 KC 6, CHC 0 Nick Pratto 1B 2 1 1 3
+3.0 LAA 11, SF 9 Hunter Dozier 1B 2 1 1 3
+3.0 OAK 9, ARI 8 Hoy Park RF 2 1 1 3
+3.0 LAD 9, COL 4 Freddie Freeman 1B 1 1 1 2
+3.0 BAL 2, ATL 1 Nolan Hoffman (S, 1) 1.0 1 0 0 0 3
+2.0 TEX 4, CHW 2 Blaine Crim DH 3 1 2 2
+2.0 TB 8, BAL 3 Junior Caminero DH 3 1 1 3
+1.0 BOS 7, PHI 6 Tyler Heineman C 2 1 2 0
0.0 STL 1, MIA 1 N/A
No points are awarded for exhibition games, but were this an actual regular season day, this is how points would be awarded:
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.
N/A—Not applicable. No Player of the Game was chosen because the game ended in a tie.
All other players listed here would 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. No points are awarded during spring training games, so all players have 0.0 Box-Toppers points for 2024. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total in 2023 (’23). Also shown is their point total for the period 2019-2023 (’19-23) and each players’ career point total. (Player of the Game winners not listed here have yet to earn Box-Toppers points during the regular season.)
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’24† ’23 ’19‑23 Career
Freeman, Freddie 2887 1b lad nl 0.0 10.0 36.7 85.9
Thompson, Trayce 4567 cf lf nym nl 0.0 2.0 8.5 8.5
Pratto, Nick 4700 1b lf kc al 0.0 1.5 4.0 4.0
Dozier, Hunter 4114 1b 3b ana al 0.0 0.0 12.0 12.0
Serven, Bruce 4620 ca tor al 0.0 0.0 1.5 1.5
Heineman, Tyler 4620 ca bos al 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0
Morris, Cody 4745 pi sp nyy al 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0
Park, Hoy 4553 2b oak al 0.0 0.0 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 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 2024 (’24)†, last year (’23), over a six-year period (’19-23) and their career point total.
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Game Starter ’24† ’23 ’19‑23 Career
DET Manning, Matt 4550 0.0 4.7 8.7 8.7
BAL Rodriguez, Grayson 4790 0.0 8.0 8.0 8.0
WSH Davies, Zach 3581 0.0 2.0 15.0 31.7
HOU Urquidy, Jose 4194 0.0 2.0 23.1 23.1
BOS Crawford, Kutter 4660 0.0 5.7 9.7 9.7
STL Gray, Sonny 3259 0.0 10.4 48.0 97.9
TOR Manoah, Alek 4424 0.0 2.0 25.8 25.8
DET Mize, Casey 4377 0.0 0.0 7.7 7.7
PHI Sanchez, Cristopher 4850 0.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
MIN Duarte, Daniel 4934 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
ATL Sale, Chris 2806 0.0 8.7 21.7 153.3
PIT Gonzales, Marco 3408 0.0 0.0 22.1 36.5
NYY Schmidt, Clarke 4581 0.0 2.0 6.4 6.4
TB Littell, Zack 4533 0.0 2.0 6.0 6.0
MIA Puk, A.J. 4253 0.0 3.0 4.0 4.0
NYM Houser, Adrian 4162 0.0 2.7 15.4 15.4
CIN Montas, Frankie 3803 0.0 0.0 32.5 35.5
CHC Hendricks, Kyle 3386 0.0 5.0 33.1 73.6
COL Feltner, Ryan 4635 0.0 2.0 4.0 4.0
KC Lynch, Daniel 4488 0.0 1.0 9.4 9.4
OAK Sears, JP 4627 0.0 4.0 9.0 9.0
CLE Curry, Xzavion 4875 0.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
SEA Kirby, George 4595 0.0 13.7 25.1 25.1
SF Hicks, Jordan 3991 0.0 3.0 7.0 9.0
CHW Crochet, Garrett 4434 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0
LAD Miller, Bobby 4820 0.0 8.7 8.7 8.7
KC Wacha, Michael 3276 0.0 11.0 30.5 61.2
SD Darvish, Yu 3003 0.0 7.0 57.0 131.0
TEX Dunning, Dane 4317 0.0 4.0 13.4 13.4
ARI Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 0.0 13.0 34.4 67.2
MIL Junk, Janson 4697 0.0 0.0 1.7 1.7
LAA Plesac, Zach 4168 0.0 1.0 22.2 22.2
Starters subject to change.
Games shown are spring training games between MLB teams. Doesn't include games vs. non-MLB teams.
† Players don’t earn Box-Toppers points in spring training games, only regular season games, so no pitcher has earned any points in 2024.
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default, game-by-game view.
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