Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon is Monday’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 2:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.0 |
| 2 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 5.0 |
| 3 | Velasquez, Vince 3611 | pi sp | phi nl | 5.0 |
| 4 | Cespedes, Yoenis 3008 | cf lf dh ph | nym nl | 4.5 |
| 5 | Volquez, Edinson 2220 | pi sp | kc al | 4.4 |
| 6 | Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | oak al | 4.4 |
| 7 | Machado, Manny 3087 | 3b ss | bal al | 4.2 |
| 8 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 4.0 |
| 9 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 4.0 |
| 10 | De La Rosa, Rubby 3342 | pi sp mr | ari nl | 4.0 |
Colon struck out seven over eight scoreless innings, allowing seven hits, in the 4-1 win over the Braves.
Colon earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first of the season, giving him 142.1 for his career. Colon ranks 22nd among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 21st-ranked player Jim Thome (146.7).
American League Player of the Day—Rangers pitcher A.J. Griffin struck out nine over six innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 3-1 win over the Blue Jays. Griffin did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because he exited the game with the score tied, 1-1.
National League Batter of the Day—Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright hit a three-run homer and doubled, going 2-for-2, in the 10-3 win over the Phillies. Wainwright also won the game on the mound (6IP 5H 3R 4K), but had a higher Box-Toppers game score for batting (+4.0) than pitching (-2.0).
This is the first time in 2016 that a pitcher has earned Player of the Game honors for batting—it happened seven times in 2015. This is the third time in Wainwright’s career he has earned Player of the Game honors for batting.
Wainwright earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, his first of the season, and now has 103.3 career points and rises to 60th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes three players on the “all-time” list—Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2), Miguel Tejada (102.3) and Adrian Beltre of the Rangers (102.8). Wainwright trails 59th-ranked player Jamie Moyer (104.0).
This is also Wainwright’s first Box-Toppers points in more than a year—he was out much of 2015 with an Achilles injury. He last earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors April 25, 2015, and had 3.0 points for 2015 after he had 18.7 in 2014 (ranked eighth) and 20.2 in 2013 (ranked second).
American League Batter of the Day—Byung Ho Park of the Twins tripled and went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 6-2 win over the Astros.
Streak—Nationals closing pitcher Jonathan Papelbon has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Monday.
Papelbon (1IP 0H 0R K Sv in the 2-0 win over the Royals) first earned Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Red Sox and has 53.4 career points, first among active NL closing pitchers, second among all active closing pitchers (behind Francisco Rodriguez of the Tigers, with 60.4) and 18th among all closing pitchers since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began.
Papelbon’s best season was 2012 with the Phillies when he had 7.0 Box-Toppers points and ranked fifth among NL closing pitchers. In 2015, Papelbon had 4.0 points with the Phillies, a season in which he also played for the Nationals. Monday was the first time Papelbon earned Player of the Game honors as a member of the Nationals.
Notable—Ryan Braun of the Brewers is Monday’s highest-ranked Player of the Game. Braun (2B 3-3 R BI in the 8-5 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 3.5 for the season and ranks 20th in Box-Toppers season player rankings, fourth among NL batters.
Debut—Padres relief pitcher Ryan Buchter made his Box-Toppers debut Monday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Buchter (1.1IP 0H 0R 4K ND in the 2-1 win over the Rockies) made his Major League debut June 20, 2014, and was playing in his 14th career game. He is the 3,626th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Colon earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Griffin earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Wainwright and Park each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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
| 5/2 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 8.0 | Mets | Bartolo Colon (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| AL | 8.0 | `Rangers | A.J. Griffin | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | |
| 4.1 | `Padres | Ryan Buchter | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Cardinals | Adam Wainwright, SP | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Mariners | Steve Cishek (S,7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | Giants | Santiago Casilla (S,5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | Brewers | Ryan Braun, LF | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Twins | Byung Ho Park, DH | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Nationals | Jonathan Papelbon (S,9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | Cubs | Ben Zobrist, RF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `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 | +/- |
| Braun, Ryan J. 2300 | lf | mil nl | 3.5 | 8.5 | 39.5 | 81.2 | -1.5 |
| Park, Byung Ho 3616 | dh | min al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Griffin, A.J. 3074 | pi sp | tex al | 2.7 | 2.7 | 17.4 | 17.4 | 2.7 |
| Colon, Bartolo | pi sp | nym nl | 2.0 | 8.7 | 50.6 | 142.1 | -4.7 |
| Cishek, Steve 2997 | pi cp | sea al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 22.0 | 22.0 | 1.0 |
| Wainwright, Adam 2150 | pi sp | stl nl | 1.5 | 4.5 | 52.6 | 103.3 | -1.5 |
| Casilla, Santiago 2301 | pi cp | sf nl | 1.0 | 6.0 | 18.7 | 21.7 | -4.0 |
| Papelbon, Jonathan 2110 | pi cp | dc nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 22.7 | 53.4 | -3.0 |
| Zobrist, Ben 2216 | rf | chi nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 20.0 | 29.0 | 0.0 |
| Buchter, Ryan 3626 | pi mr | sd nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |