Royals pitcher Jason Vargas is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 13:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 3.0 |
| 2 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 3.0 |
| 3 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | det al | 2.7 |
| 4 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 2.7 |
| 5 | Garcia, Avisail 3256 | rf | chi al | 2.5 |
| 6 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 2.0 |
| 7 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 2.0 |
| 8 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 2.0 |
| 9 | Martinez, Carlos 3371 | pi sp | stl nl | 2.0 |
| 10 | Finnegan, Brandon 3535 | pi sp | cin nl | 2.0 |
Vargas pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing four hits and one walk, in the 3-1 win over the Athletics.
Vargas earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season, rising to second place among players in Box-Toppers points for 2017. He trails Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard, who also has 3.0 Box-Toppers points, but holds the tiebreaker because he had more Box-Toppers points in 2016—16.7 vs. 1.0.
National League Player of the Day—Mets pitcher Josh Smoker pitched three innings of extra-innings middle relief in the 9-8, 16-inning win over the Marlins. Smoker allowed no runs, one hit, one walk and struck out five, pitching the 12th, 13th and 14th innings. Smoker did not earn the win or save because the game was tied when he exited.
American League Batter of the Day—Miguel Sano of the Twins hit a three-run homer and went 1-for-2, scoring twice, in the 11-5 win over the Tigers.
National League Batter of the Day—Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs homered and went 2-for-4, driving in two runs, in the 4-0 win over the Dodgers.
Rankings—Avisail Garcia of the White Sox rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday. Garcia (3-4 R 3BI in the 10-4 win over the Indians) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 2.5 for the season. He is the only batter in Box-Toppers’ top 10 season player rankings.
Scoring—Vargas earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Smoker earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Sano and Rizzo 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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score| 4/13 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.2 | KC 3, OAK 1 | Jason Vargas (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| 10.0 | TEX 8, LAA 3 | Yu Darvish (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | ||
| 8.0 | NYY 3, TB 2 | Luis Severino (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 | ||
| NL | 6.0 | `NYM 9, MIA 8 (F/16) | Josh Smoker | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| 5.0 | MIL 5, CIN 1 | Jimmy Nelson (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | MIN 11, DET 5 | Miguel Sano, 3B | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | CHW 10, CLE 4 | Avisail Garcia, RF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.1 | COL 3, SF 1 | Chris Rusin (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 3.1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 1.0 | CHC 4, LAD 0 | Anthony Rizzo, 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1.0 | BAL 2, TOR 1 | Jonathan Schoop, 2B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.1 | `BOS 4, PIT 3 | Eduardo Rodriguez | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` 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 (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).| Player of Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 3.0 | 4.0 | 29.4 | 50.2 | 2.0 |
| Garcia, Avisail 3256 | rf | chi al | 2.5 | 5.0 | 13.5 | 13.5 | 0.0 |
| Nelson, Jimmy 3299 | pi sp | mil nl | 2.0 | 5.0 | 15.4 | 15.4 | -1.0 |
| Smoker, Josh 3725 | pi mr cp | nym nl | 1.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | -0.3 |
| Rizzo, Anthony 3063 | 1b | chi nl | 1.5 | 4.5 | 28.5 | 28.5 | -1.5 |
| Sano, Miguel 3527 | 3b | min al | 1.5 | 4.5 | 10.5 | 10.5 | -1.5 |
| Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | tex al | 1.0 | 11.4 | 56.6 | 56.6 | -9.4 |
| Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 | pi sp | bos al | 1.0 | 5.7 | 11.7 | 11.7 | -3.7 |
| Schoop, Jonathan 3307 | 2b | bal al | 1.0 | 5.5 | 10.5 | 10.5 | -3.5 |
| Rusin, Chris 3236 | pi sp | col nl | 1.0 | 3.7 | 6.7 | 6.7 | -1.7 |
| Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp mr | nyy al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | -1.0 |