Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia is Thursday’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 5:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 6.0 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.0 |
| 3 | Altuve, Jose 3007 | 2b | hou al | 5.0 |
| 4 | Matz, Steven 3516 | pi sp | nym nl | 5.0 |
| 5 | Velasquez, Vince 3611 | pi sp | phi nl | 5.0 |
| 6 | Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi al | 4.7 |
| 7 | Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 4.7 |
| 8 | Cespedes, Yoenis 3008 | cf lf dh ph | nym nl | 4.5 |
| 9 | Cano, Robinson 2092 | 2b | sea al | 4.5 |
| 10 | Suarez, Eugenio 3355 | 3b | cin nl | 4.5 |
Garcia pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out five, in the 4-0 win over the Phillies.
American League Player of the Day—Orioles pitcher Kevin Gausman pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out four, in the 10-inning, 1-0 win over the Yankees. Gausman did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because he exited the game with the score tied, 0-0.
American League Batter of the Day—Edwin Encarnacion of the Blue Jays hit a three-run homer and doubled twice, going 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in six runs, in the 12-2 win over the Rangers. This was the second straight day Encarnacion earned Player of the Game honors. He has 2.5 Box-Toppers points for the season.
National League Batter of the Day—Gerardo Parra of the Rockies doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 17-7 win over the Giants.
Rankings—Robinson Cano of the Mariners rose to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Cano (2B 3-5 4BI in the 6-3 win over the Astros) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 4.5 for the season. He ranks second among AL batters, behind Jose Altuve of the Astros (5.0).
Streak—Brandon Phillips of the Reds has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Phillips (HR 2B 2-3 R 3BI in the 9-5 win over the Brewers) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2002 with the Indians, but his 11-season streak began in 2006 with the Indians and Reds. He has 63.1 career Box-Toppers points, second among active NL second basemen, behind Chase Utley of the Dodgers (72.1). His best season was 2012 with the Reds, when he had 9.5 points, seventh among NL batters. He had 2.7 points in 2015 with the Reds.
Scoring—Garcia earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gausman earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Encarnacion and Parra each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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
| 5/5 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.0 | Cardinals | Jaime Garcia (W,2-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| AL | 9.0 | `Orioles | Kevin Gausman | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 8.1 | Marlins | Adam Conley (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 7.0 | Blue Jays | Edwin Encarnacion, DH | 4 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 7.0 | Padres | Colin Rea (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 6.0 | Cubs | Kyle Hendricks (W,2-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Rockies | Gerardo Parra, RF | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | `Red Sox | Robbie Ross | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | Indians | Michael Brantley, LF | 5 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Reds | Brandon Phillips, 2B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Mariners | Robinson Cano, 2B | 5 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 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 | +/- |
| Cano, Robinson 2092 | 2b | sea al | 4.5 | 11.0 | 40.0 | 71.9 | -2.0 |
| Garcia, Jaime 2508 | pi sp | stl nl | 3.0 | 12.4 | 30.1 | 38.8 | -6.4 |
| Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 | dh | tor al | 2.5 | 12.9 | 41.1 | 61.6 | -7.9 |
| Conley, Adam 3594 | pi sp | fla nl | 2.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | -1.0 |
| Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | bal al | 1.7 | 7.4 | 15.1 | 15.1 | -4.0 |
| Parra, Gerardo 2746 | rf | col nl | 1.5 | 8.0 | 19.0 | 20.0 | -5.0 |
| Hendricks, Kyle 3386 | pi sp | chi nl | 1.0 | 10.7 | 15.7 | 15.7 | -8.7 |
| Brantley, Michael 2785 | lf | cle al | 1.0 | 5.2 | 19.9 | 21.4 | -3.2 |
| Phillips, Brandon 1691 | 2b | cin nl | 1.0 | 3.7 | 29.2 | 63.1 | -1.7 |
| Rea, Colin 3582 | pi sp | sd nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| Ross, Robbie 2999 | pi cp | bos al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 10.7 | 10.7 | 1.0 |