Cubs pitcher John Lackey is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Lackey struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits, in the 5-0 win over the Cardinals.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of April 18:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Velasquez, Vince 3611 | pi sp | phi nl | 4.0 |
| 2 | Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 3.4 |
| 3 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 3.0 |
| 4 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 3.0 |
| 5 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 3.0 |
| 6 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | phi nl | 3.0 |
| 7 | Santiago, Hector 3109 | pi sp | ana al | 2.7 |
| 8 | Volquez, Edinson 2220 | pi sp | kc al | 2.7 |
| 9 | Bettis, Chad 3481 | pi sp | col nl | 2.7 |
| 10 | Ross, Joe 3499 | pi sp | dc nl | 2.7 |
Lackey earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season, giving him 109.8 for his career. Lackey rises to 51st place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began, passing five players on the “all-time” list—Max Scherzer of the Tigers (108.0), Lance Berkman (108.1), Kevin Millwood (108.3), Billy Wagner (108.7) and Jeff Kent (109.7). He trails 50th-place player Tom Glavine (110.6).
American League Player of the Day—Angels pitcher Hector Santiago struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits, in the 7-0 win over the White Sox.
Santiago earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 2.7 for the season, rising to seventh in season player rankings.
American League Batter of the Day—Byung Ho Park of the Twins homered and went 2-for-3, in the 7-4 win over the Brewers.
This was Park’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Park made his Major League debut April 4 and was playing in his 11th career game. He is the 3,616th 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 Monday because no NL batter earned Player of the Game honors.
Notable—Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard rose to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Monday. Syndergaard (7IP 5H R 8K W in the 5-2 win over the Phillies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 3.0 for the season.
Scoring—Lackey earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, Santiago earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day and Park earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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
| 4/18 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 13.0 | Cubs | John Lackey (W,3-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | |
| AL | 12.0 | Angels | Hector Santiago (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | |
| 6.0 | Mets | Noah Syndergaard (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 6.0 | Marlins | Jose Fernandez (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | ||
| 5.0 | Rockies | Jordan Lyles (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | Blue Jays | J.A. Happ (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 3.0 | Dbacks | Rubby De La Rosa (W,1-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 1.0 | Twins | Byung Ho Park, DH | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Box-Toppers point totals of Players of the Games
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 | +/- |
| Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 3.0 | 13.4 | 13.4 | 13.4 | -7.4 |
| Santiago, Hector 3109 | pi sp | ana al | 2.7 | 10.7 | 23.1 | 23.1 | -5.3 |
| Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | chi nl | 2.0 | 11.7 | 31.4 | 109.8 | -7.7 |
| Park, Byung Ho 3616 | dh | min al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 1.0 | 14.1 | 29.5 | 37.5 | -12.1 |
| De La Rosa, Rubby 3342 | pi mr | ari nl | 1.0 | 7.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | -5.0 |
| Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 1.0 | 5.7 | 31.7 | 31.7 | -3.7 |
| Lyles, Jordan 3100 | pi sp | col nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 1.0 |