Mets pitcher Steven Matz is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fifth place in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of May 25:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 12.0 |
| 2 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 9.0 |
| 3 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.7 |
| 4 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 8.7 |
| 5 | Matz, Steven 3516 | pi sp | nym nl | 8.7 |
| 6 | Machado, Manny 3087 | ss 3b | bal al | 7.7 |
| 7 | Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | oak al | 7.4 |
| 8 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 7.0 |
| 9 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 6.7 |
| 10 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 6.4 |
Matz pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing four hits, in the 2-0 win over the Nationals.
Matz earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 8.7 for the season, rising to fifth in player rankings, fourth among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Adam Lind of the Mariners hit two homers and a double, going 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in six runs, in the 13-3 win over the Athletics.
Lind has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons. He earned his first points in 2006 with the Blue Jays and has 55.8 career points, seventh among active AL first basemen. His best season was 2009 with the Blue Jays when he had 16.4 Box-Toppers points, second among AL batters. He had 6.5 points in 2015 with the Brewers.
National League Batter of the Day—Kris Bryant of the Cubs hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 9-8 win over the Cardinals.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Wednesday because the overall AL Player of the Day was a batter, Adam Lind.
Streak—Russell Martin of the Blue Jays has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Martin (2HR 2-5 2R 3BI in the 8-4 win over the Yankees) earned his first points in 2006 with the Dodgers and has 43.5 career points, second among active AL catchers, behind Brian McCann of the Yankees (55.2). His best season was 2007 with the Dodgers when he had 8.5 points, first among NL catchers. He had 5.0 points in 2015 with the Blue Jays.
Scoring—Matz earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lind earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Bryant earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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
| 5/25 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.0 | NYM 2/DC 0 | Steven Matz (W,7-1) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| 10.0 | LAD 3/CIN 1 | Scott Kazmir (W,4-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 12 | ||
| AL | 9.0 | SEA 13/OAK 3 | Adam Lind, 1B | 4 | 3 | 4 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.1 | CLE 4/CHW 3 | Corey Kluber (W,4-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 4.0 | TEX 15/LAA 9 | Ryan Rua, LF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | CHC 9/STL 8 | Kris Bryant, LF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | `MIL 3/ATL 2 | Junior Guerra | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | `MIA 4/TB 3 | David Phelps (H,11) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | `HOU 4/BAL 3 | Ken Giles (H,9) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 2.0 | TOR 8/NYY 4 | Russell Martin, C | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | BOS 10/COL 3 | Travis Shaw, 3B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | PHI 8/DET 5 | Andres Blanco, 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | MIN 7/KC 5 | Miguel Sano, RF | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.2 | SF 4/SD 3 | George Kontos (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | PIT 5/ARI 4 | Gregory Polanco, RF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 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 of Game | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Matz, Steven 3516 | pi sp | nym nl | 8.7 | 12.2 | 12.2 | 12.2 | 5.2 |
| Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 4.4 | 17.8 | 48.6 | 48.6 | -9.0 |
| Bryant, Kris 3465 | lf 3b | chi nl | 3.5 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | -5.0 |
| Polanco, Gregory 3361 | rf lf | pit nl | 3.5 | 6.5 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 0.5 |
| Kazmir, Scott 1947 | pi sp | lad nl | 3.0 | 15.7 | 43.6 | 99.4 | -9.7 |
| Phelps, David 2994 | pi mr | fla nl | 3.0 | 6.4 | 19.8 | 19.8 | -0.4 |
| Guerra, Junior 3633 | pi sp | mil nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Shaw, Travis 3544 | 1b | bos al | 2.5 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 6.7 | -1.7 |
| Blanco, Andres 2980 | ss 3b | phi nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 1.0 |
| Rua, Ryan 3631 | lf 1b | tex al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Lind, Adam 2238 | 1b | sea al | 1.7 | 8.2 | 28.2 | 55.8 | -4.8 |
| Sano, Miguel 3527 | rf dh | min al | 1.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | -5.0 |
| Martin, Russell 2202 | ca | tor al | 1.0 | 6.0 | 22.5 | 43.5 | -4.0 |
| Giles, Ken 3402 | pi mr | hou nl | 1.0 | 4.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | -2.0 |
| Kontos, George 3106 | pi cp | sf nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 5.7 | 5.7 | -1.0 |