Box-Toppers Toppers Box
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Guardians pitcher Shane Bieber is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Friday’s spring training games.
Bieber struck out seven over six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 10-0 win over the Rangers.
Bieber 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.
Bieber earned 4.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 66th among American League pitchers, his lowest single-season total since he began earning points in 2018. His 53.9 Box-Toppers points earned from 2019-23 is seventh among AL pitchers over that span.
This is the third time during 2024 spring training that Bieber has won Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. He also did it March 12 (4IP 2H 0R BB 4K ND in the 3-0 win over the Rangers) and March 17 (5.2IP 2H R 2BB 8K W in the 4-2 win over the Reds) when he was overall Player of the Day.
National League Player of the Day
Blake Perkins of the Brewers went 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 11-2 win over the Royals.
Perkins would have earned 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day if this were a regular season game. Because it’s a preseason exhibition game, no Box-Toppers points are awarded.
Perkins earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 128th among NL batters.
American League Batter of the Day
Daniel Susac of the Athletics hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, going 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 8-6 win over the Reds.
Susac would have earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day if this were a regular season game.
Susac, 22, has yet to make his regular season Major League debut and so has 0.0 career Box-Toppers points.
National League Batter of the Day
There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Friday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Blake Perkins
Friday’s games
In Friday’s 13 completed spring training games featuring matchups between two Major League teams, there were eight Player of the Game winners who had previously earned Box-Toppers points in regular season games.
Most notably, Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland (5IP 2H 0R 2BB 2K ND in the 3-2 win over the Rangers) had the most 2023 Box-Toppers points among Friday’s Player of the Game winners. Freeland earned 5.7 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 46th among NL pitchers.
In three of Friday’s games, the Player of the Game winner was a player who has yet to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in the regular season and so has 0.0 career Box-Toppers points.
Two games ended in ties (Brewers vs. Mariners and Mariners vs. Diamondbacks) and so no Player of the Game honors were awarded.
Scoring
No Box-Toppers points are awarded in exhibition games. Were it a regular season day, Bieber would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Perkins would have earned 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Susac would have earned 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Friday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart) 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).| 3/22 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +10.0 | CLE 10, TEX 0 | Shane Bieber (W, 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| +9.0 | LAA 2, CHW 0 | José Soriano (W, 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||
| +6.2 | TOR 5, BOS 1 | Mitch White (W, 3‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| BAT | +6.0 | OAK 8, CIN 6 | Daniel Susac PH‑C | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.0 | DET 4, PHI 3 | Tyler Holton (W, 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| +3.0 | CHW 8, OAK 2 | Dominic Fletcher RF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| NL | +3.0 | MIL 11, KC 5 | Blake Perkins CF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | `COL 3, TEX 2 | Kyle Freeland | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | SF 7, CHC 3 | Tyler Fitzgerald 2B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | SF 13, CHC 12 | Eric Silva (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| +1.0 | NYY 5, NYM 3 | Kevin Smith 3B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 0.0 | MIL 4, SEA 4 | N/A | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 0.0 | SEA 3, ARI 3 | N/A | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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.)Back to top
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’24 | ’23 | ’19‑23 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freeland, Kyle 3763 | pi sp | col nl | 0.0 | 5.7 | 20.7 | 39.1 |
| Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | cle al | 0.0 | 4.0 | 53.9 | 60.3 |
| Holton, Tyler 4775 | pi mr | det al | 0.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Fletcher, Dominic 4810 | cf rf | chi al | 0.0 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| Perkins, Blake 4832 | rf | mil nl | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Smith, Kevin 4927 | 3b | nyy al | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Soriano, Jose 4884 | pi mr | ana al | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| White, Mitch 4519 | pi sp cp | tor al | 0.0 | 0.0 | 4.7 | 4.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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A Box-Toppers look at Saturday’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 five-year period (’19-23) and their career point total.Back to top
| Game | Starter | ’24† | ’23 | ’19‑23 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOS | Bello, Brayan 4727 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| PIT | Anderson, Chase 3328 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 11.7 | 44.5 |
| WSH | Irvin, Jake 4805 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| STL | Mikolas, Miles 3034 | 0.0 | 6.7 | 21.8 | 36.2 |
| BAL | Teheran, Julio 3176 | 0.0 | 2.7 | 10.7 | 74.9 |
| TB | Eflin, Zach 3679 | 0.0 | 12.0 | 30.8 | 43.5 |
| TB | Civale, Aaron 4173 | 0.0 | 6.0 | 28.4 | 28.4 |
| ATL | Strider, Spencer 4626 | 0.0 | 21.1 | 34.5 | 34.5 |
| NYY | Poteet, Cody 4405 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| DET | Hurter, Brant* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| PHI | Undecided | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| NYY | Rodon, Carlos 3494 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 34.5 | 57.6 |
| DET | Maeda, Kenta 3609 | 0.0 | 11.1 | 33.9 | 64.6 |
| TOR | Kikuchi, Yusei 4136 | 0.0 | 10.0 | 27.4 | 27.4 |
| HOU | Javier, Cristian 4290 | 0.0 | 7.0 | 30.7 | 30.7 |
| NYM | Quintana, Jose 3040 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 22.8 | 83.1 |
| LAA | Moore, Matt 2975 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 9.7 | 53.3 |
| OAK | Stripling, Ross 3629 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 24.7 | 39.1 |
| TEX | Eovaldi, Nathan 2928 | 0.0 | 9.7 | 34.8 | 69.3 |
| KC | Sauer, Matt* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| COL | Quantrill, Cal 4195 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 17.7 | 17.7 |
| CIN | Montas, Frankie 3803 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 32.5 | 35.5 |
| ARI | Allen, Logan S. 4167 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| SF | Harrison, Kyle 4914 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| SEA | Kirby, George 4595 | 0.0 | 13.7 | 25.1 | 25.1 |
| CHW | Nastrini, Nick* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| MIL | Miley, Wade 3006 | 0.0 | 4.7 | 24.1 | 68.2 |
| CHC | Brown, Ben* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| CLE | Bibee, Tanner 4792 | 0.0 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 |
| ARI | Gallen, Zac 4171 | 0.0 | 16.7 | 51.1 | 51.1 |
| TOR | Rodriguez, Yariel* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| BAL | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | 0.0 | 11.7 | 52.9 | 55.9 |
| MIN | Paddack, Chris 4093 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 25.8 | 25.8 |
| BOS | Pivetta, Nick 3825 | 0.0 | 9.0 | 24.7 | 44.4 |
| MIA | Gutierrez, Vladimir 4525 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| WSH | Gray, Josiah 4503 | 0.0 | 5.7 | 11.4 | 11.4 |
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?
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