Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Saturday’s Player of the Day and rises to second place in Box-Toppers player rankings for the season.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of May 16.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 8.7 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 3 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 6.0 |
| 4 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 6.0 |
| 5 | Harang, Aaron 1599 | pi sp | phi nl | 5.1 |
| 6 | Miller, Shelby 3134 | pi sp | atl nl | 5.0 |
| 7 | Hosmer, Eric 2886 | 1b | kc al | 5.0 |
| 8 | Harper, Bryce 3011 | lf rf | dc nl | 5.0 |
| 9 | Heston, Chris 3437 | pi sp | sf nl | 5.0 |
| 10 | Cabrera, Miguel 1776 | 1b | det al | 4.7 |
Also Saturday, CC Sabathia and Jonathan Papelbon extended their streaks of consecutive seasons with at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point—Sabathia now has 15 seasons and Papelbon has 10—and Kris Bryant earned Player of the Game honors two days in a row, the third time in six days.
Player of the Day—Scherzer struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits, in the 4-1 win over the Padres.
Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season, rising to second place in overall player rankings for the season. He now ranks first among all NL players, passing Gerrit Cole of the Pirates. Both Scherzer and Cole have 6.0 Box-Toppers points, but Scherzer wins the tie-breaker because he had more Box-Toppers points in 2014—22.1 vs. 5.7.
American League Player of the Day—Angels pitcher Matt Shoemaker struck out seven over seven innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 6-1 win over the Orioles.
National League Batter of the Day—Brandon Crawford of the Giants homered, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in six runs, in the 11-2 win over the Reds.
American League Batter of the Day—Eduardo Escobar of the Twins doubled and went 4-for-4, with one run and one RBI, in the 6-4 win over the Rays.
Streaks—Two players extended their streaks of consecutive seasons with at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point after earning Player of the Game honors Friday:
- Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia has now earned Box-Toppers points in 15 straight seasons, extending his lead in career points among active pitchers (174.3) and earning his first Player of the Game honor in more than a year.
Sabathia (7IP R 5K W in the 5-1 win over the Royals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, his first of the season. He earned his first points in 2001 with the Indians. His best year was 2008 with the Indians and Brewers when he had 26.7 Box-Toppers points, first among NL pitchers that year (while he played in both leagues in 2008, he is counted as an NL pitcher since that’s where he ended his season).
In 2014, Sabathia had 1.0 Box-Toppers point with the Yankees. Saturday marked the first time Sabathia earned Player of the Game honors since April 24, 2014.
Sabathia’s career 174.3 Box-Toppers points is fifth among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers record keeping began). He trails Randy Johnson (278.8), Pedro Martinez (244.8), Curt Schilling (194.1) and Alex Rodriguez (183.8).
- Phillies closing pitcher Jonathan Papelbon has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 straight seasons. Papelbon (1IP 0R 2K Sv in the 7-5 win over the Diamondbacks) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game, his first of the season.
Papelbon earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Red Sox. His two best seasons were 2006 with the Red Sox and 2012 with the Phillies—he had 7.0 Box-Toppers points in both seasons. In 2006, he ranked seventh among AL closing pitchers. In 2012, he ranked fifth among NL closing pitchers.
In 2014, he had 3.0 Box-Toppers points with the Phillies.
Papelbon has 49.4 career Box-Toppers points, which ranks 20th among all closing pitchers since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. His career 49.4 points ranks second among active closing pitchers currently in the NL (behind Francisco Rodriguez of the Brewers with 59.4).
Notable—Kris Bryant of the Cubs earned Player of the Game honors for the second day in a row and the third time in six days.
Bryant (2-2 2R in the 4-1 win over the Pirates) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point. He was also Player of the Game Thursday and on May 11, when he made his Box-Toppers debut. He has 3.0 Box-Toppers points for the season (and for his career) and currently ranks eighth among NL batters for 2015.
Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Jace Peterson of the Braves (grand slam 2-5 in the 5-3 win over the Marlins) made his Major League debut April 25, 2014, and was playing in his 60th career game. He is the 3,469th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Tigers pitcher Blaine Hardy (1IP 0R 2K W in the 4-3 win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut June 16, 2014, and was playing in his 51st career game. He is the 3,470th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Shoemaker earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Crawford and Escobar each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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
| 5/16 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | Nationals | Max Scherzer (W, 4-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 11 | |
| AL | 9.0 | Angels | Matt Shoemaker (W, 3-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | |
| 8.1 | Rockies | Jorge De La Rosa (W, 1-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | Giants | Brandon Crawford SS | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | Mets | Wilmer Flores SS | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Yankees | CC Sabathia (W, 2-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | White Sox | John Danks (W, 2-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | `Red Sox | Tommy Layne (H, 1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | Phillies | Jonathan Papelbon (S, 9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.2 | Astros | Scott Feldman (W, 3-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 10 | ||
| 2.0 | Braves | Jace Peterson 2B | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Twins | Eduardo Escobar SS | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Cubs | Kris Bryant 3B | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Tigers | Blaine Hardy (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | Indians | Cody Allen (S, 6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||