Dodgers' Greinke tops players for Thursday, June 18, rises to 26th in Box-Toppers points among players since 1995

Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Greinke pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing four hits, in the 1-0 win over the Rangers. Greinke did not earn the win because he left with the score tied 0-0. The Dodgers won the game in the bottom of the ninth inning on a walk-off balk.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of June 18.  


 Player Pos Team BTP
1 Hernandez, Felix 2064 pi sp sea al 13.4
2 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp pit nl 12.0
3 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 11.0
4 Archer, Chris 3194 pi sp tb al 11.0
5 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp chi al 10.4
6 Price, David 2593 pi sp det al 10.1
7 deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp nym nl 9.7
8 Martinez, Carlos 3371 pi sp stl nl 9.7
9 Harvey, Matt 3075 pi sp nym nl 9.7
10 Gray, Sonny 3259 pi sp oak al 9.4
What are those numbers after players' names?

Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 132.7 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 26th place among all players since 1995 when Box-Toppers record keeping began. Greinke passes Jake Peavy (131.8) on the “all-time” list and now trails 25th-place player Miguel Cabrera (132.9). Greinke has 7.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, ranking 16th among all players and eighth among NL pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson struck out nine over eight innings, allowing one run, in the 7-1 win over the Diamondbacks. Wilson earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 7.4 for the season. Wilson is the season’s highest ranked player of the 14 who earned Player of the Game honors Thursday—he ranks 15th among all players and seventh among AL pitchers.

American League Batter of the Day—Domingo Santana of the Astros hit a three-run, pinch-hit home run in the 8-4 win over the Rockies. This was Santana’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. He made his Major League debut July 1, 2014, and was playing in his eighth career game. He is the 3,507th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because no NL batter earned Player of the Game honors.

Streak—Brian McCann of the Yankees has now earned at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point for 10 straight seasons. McCann was Player of the Game in Thursday’s 9-4 win over the Marlins (3-4 2R BI) and earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, his first of the season.

McCann earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2006 with the Braves. His best season was 2009 with the Braves when he had 8.5 Box-Toppers points, first among NL catchers. In 2014, he had 6.5 Box-Toppers points with the Yankees, first among AL catchers.

McCann has 49.7 career Box-Toppers points and ranks 22nd among active AL batters and first among active AL catchers (second place is Russell Martin of the Blue Jays—38.5 career Box-Toppers points).

Notable—Two pitchers with more than 10.0 Box-Toppers points this season started games on Thursday, but did not earn Player of the Game honors:

  • Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole, second place in overall Box-Toppers player rankings with 12.0 points, did not earn Player of the Game honors in his team’s 3-2 win over the White Sox. Cole (7IP 3H 2R 4K W) had a Box-Toppers game score of 1. Player of the Game was closer Mark Melancon (1IP 0H 0R 2K Sv), who had a Box-Toppers game score of 3.
  • Rays pitcher Chris Archer, fourth place in overall Box-Toppers player rankings with 11.0 points, did not earn Player of the Game honors in his team’s 5-3 win over the Nationals. Archer (5IP 8H 3R 3K W) had a Box-Toppers game score of −8. Player of the Game was closer Brad Boxgerger (1IP H 0R 2K Sv), who had a Box-Toppers game score of 2.

Scoring—Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Wilson earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Santana earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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

6/18 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 11.0 `Dodgers Zack Greinke - - - - - - 7.0 4 0 0 0 8
7.2 Giants Ryan Vogelsong (W, 5-5) - - - - - - 6.2 3 0 0 2 6
AL 7.0 Angels C.J. Wilson (W, 5-5) - - - - - - 8.0 8 1 1 0 9
4.1 Blue Jays R.A. Dickey (W, 3-6) - - - - - - 7.1 3 1 1 5 7
4.1 Indians Zach McAllister (W, 2-2) - - - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 1 4
BAT 4.0 Astros Domingo Santana PH, RF 1 1 1 3 0 0 - - - - - -
4.0 `Twins Mike Pelfrey - - - - - - 8.0 4 1 1 1 3
4.0 `Phillies Sean O’Sullivan - - - - - - 5.0 4 1 1 2 7
3.0 Padres Ian Kennedy (W, 4-5) - - - - - - 6.0 4 1 1 1 4
3.0 Royals Greg Holland (S, 12) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
3.0 Red Sox Koji Uehara (S, 14) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
3.0 Pirates Mark Melancon (S, 23) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.0 Yankees Brian McCann C 4 2 3 1 1 1 - - - - - -
2.0 Rays Brad Boxberger (S, 16) - - - - - - 1.0 1 0 0 0 2
`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.