Rangers pitcher Colby Lewis is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of May 20:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 10.0 |
| 2 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.7 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 8.7 |
| 4 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 8.0 |
| 5 | Machado, Manny 3087 | ss 3b | bal al | 7.7 |
| 6 | Matz, Steven 3516 | pi sp | nym nl | 6.7 |
| 7 | Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | oak al | 6.4 |
| 8 | Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 6.1 |
| 9 | Velasquez, Vince 3611 | pi sp | phi nl | 6.0 |
| 10 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | bos al | 5.7 |
Also Friday, Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta rose to second place in Box-Toppers player rankings, Manny Machado of the Orioles extended his Box-Toppers points lead among American League batters and Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia extended his career Box-Toppers points lead among all active pitchers.
Player of the Day—Lewis pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out six, in the 2-1 win over the Astros.
National League Player of the Day—Mets pitcher Steven Matz struck out eight over seven innings, allowing two runs and three hits, in the 3-2 win over the Brewers.
Matz earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 6.7 for the season, rising to sixth in season player rankings, fourth among NL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day—Dae-Ho Lee of the Mariners homered and went 2-for-2, driving in three runs, in the 8-3 win over the Reds.
National League Batter of the Day—Christian Bethancourt of the Padres hit a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the 7-6 win over the Dodgers.
Rankings—Besides Matz, two other players in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings earned Player of the Game honors Friday:
- Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta (7IP 4H R 8K W in the 8-1 win over the Giants) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.7 for the season and rising to second place in player rankings, trailing only Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (10.0).
- Manny Machado of the Orioles (HR 2-4 2R BI in the 9-4 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.7 for the season, maintaining his rank of fifth place among all players and his rank of first among AL batters. He is the only batter among the top 10 players. Also, his 7.7 Box-Toppers points this season is already better than the 7.5 he earned in all of 2015 (his previous best year), when he finished the season ranked 18th among AL batters.
Streak—Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Bautista (HR 2-5 2R 3BI in the 9-3 win over the Twins) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Pirates and has 62.9 career points, 12th among active AL batters and second among active AL outfielders. His best year was 2010 with the Blue Jays when he led AL batters with 15.2 points. In 2015, he had 10.0 points with the Blue Jays, sixth among AL batters.
Notable—Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia, the active leader among pitchers in career Box-Toppers points, earned Player of the Game honors Friday.
Sabathia (6IP 3H R 8K W in the 8-3 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 181.0 career Box-Toppers points. He ranks fifth among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began, behind teammate Alex Rodriguez (187.0), and first among active pitchers. Sabathia has 2.0 points for the season.
Scoring—Lewis earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Matz earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Lee and Bethancourt each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’s other Players of the Game (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.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 5/20 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | Rangers | Colby Lewis (W,3-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| NL | 8.0 | Mets | Steven Matz (W,6-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | |
| 8.0 | Yankees | CC Sabathia (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 7.0 | Cubs | Jake Arrieta (W,8-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 4.2 | Braves | Matt Wisler (W,2-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Mariners | Dae-Ho Lee, PH-1B | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.2 | Nationals | Tanner Roark (W,3-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Padres | Christian Bethancourt, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Royals | Dillon Gee (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | Indians | Cody Allen (S,10) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 2.0 | Blue Jays | Jose Bautista, RF | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Dbacks | Chris Herrmann, C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Orioles | Manny Machado, SS | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Rays | Alex Colome (S,11) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | `Pirates | Tony Watson (H,10) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||
Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players
Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (16). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (15-16), the period 2011-2016 (11-16) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2016 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2015 total (+/-).| Player | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.7 | 37.8 | 65.5 | 68.5 | -20.4 |
| Machado, Manny 3087 | ss 3b | bal al | 7.7 | 15.2 | 18.7 | 18.7 | 0.2 |
| Matz, Steven 3516 | pi sp | nym nl | 6.7 | 10.2 | 10.2 | 10.2 | 3.2 |
| Lewis, Colby 1567 | pi sp | tex al | 4.7 | 12.4 | 30.6 | 42.0 | -3.0 |
| Colome, Alex 3189 | pi cp | tb al | 4.0 | 9.0 | 12.7 | 12.7 | -1.0 |
| Roark, Tanner 3261 | pi sp | dc nl | 4.0 | 5.0 | 20.0 | 20.0 | 3.0 |
| Lee, Dae-Ho 3627 | 1b ph | sea al | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Sabathia, C.C. 1492 | pi sp | nyy al | 2.0 | 7.7 | 42.5 | 181.0 | -3.7 |
| Allen, Cody 3265 | pi mr cp | cle al | 2.0 | 6.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | -2.0 |
| Wisler, Matt 3522 | pi sp | atl nl | 2.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | -1.0 |
| Bethancourt, Christian 3407 | ca ph | sd nl | 1.5 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 0.5 |
| Bautista, Jose 2169 | rf | tor al | 1.0 | 11.0 | 35.7 | 62.9 | -9.0 |
| Gee, Dillon 2808 | pi sp | kc al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 28.8 | 29.8 | 0.0 |
| Watson, Tony 3215 | pi mr | pit nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 0.0 |
| Herrmann, Chris 3196 | ca | ari nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 1.0 |