Reds pitcher Brandon Finnegan is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Braves pitcher Bartolo Colon rose to 19th place among all players in Box-Toppers points (since 1995 when tracking began) after earning Player of the Game honors.
All-time leaders
Here are Box-Toppers top 20 players since record keeping began in 1995:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | retired | 278.8 |
| 2 | Pedro Martinez | pi sp | retired | 244.8 |
| 3 | Curt Schilling | pi sp | retired | 194.1 |
| 4 | Alex Rodriguez | dh | released | 187.0 |
| 5 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 186.0 |
| 6 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | lad nl | 185.7 |
| 7 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 182.3 |
| 8 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 9 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 168.7 |
| 10 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 11 | Johan Santana | pi sp | free agent | 166.6 |
| 12 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | retired | 164.8 |
| 13 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 14 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 15 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 156.1 |
| 16 | Mike Mussina | pi sp | retired | 155.6 |
| 17 | Barry Bonds | lf | retired | 153.2 |
| 18 | Greg Maddux | pi sp | retired | 151.7 |
| 19 | Bartolo Colon | pi sp | atl nl | 149.5 |
| 20 | Chipper Jones | 3b | retired | 149.0 |
List of top 100 players since 1995 at the close of the 2016 season.
Player of the Day—Finnegan struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 2-0 win over the Phillies.
American League Player of the Day—Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 3-0, 12-inning win over the Pirates. Sale did not pick up the win because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.
American League Batter of the Day—Francisco Lindor of the Indians hit two homers, including a grand slam, in the 9-6 win over the Rangers. Lindor went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in five runs.
National League Batter of the Day—Jeremy Hazelbaker of the Diamondbacks hit a pinch-hit double, going 1-for-1, scoring a run and driving in a run, in the 8-6 win over the Giants.
This was Hazelbaker’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. He made his Major League debut April 3, 2016, and was playing in his 117th career game. He is the 3,759th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Notable—Braves pitcher Bartolo Colon rises to 19th place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995 (when player tracking began) after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Colon (6IP 2H R BB 6K ND in the 3-1, 12-inning win against the Mets) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 149.5 for his career. He passes Chipper Jones (149.0) on the “all-time” list and now trails 18th-ranked player Greg Maddux (151.7).
Scoring—Finnegan earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Sale earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Lindor and Hazelbaker each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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.
Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 4/5 | Score | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 14.0 | CIN 2, PHI 0 | Brandon Finnegan (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |
| AL | 10.0 | `BOS 3, PIT 0 (F/12) | Chris Sale | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| 10.0 | `HOU 5, SEA 3 (F/13) | Chris Devenski | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 9.0 | BAL 3, TOR 1 | Dylan Bundy (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 7.0 | CLE 9, TEX 6 | Francisco Lindor, SS | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 7.0 | `ATL 3, NYM 1 (F/12) | Bartolo Colon | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 6.0 | MIL 6, COL 1 | Wily Peralta (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 4.2 | `LAA 5, OAK 0 | Garrett Richards | - | - | - | - | 4.2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | MIN 9, KC 1 | Eduardo Escobar, SS | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | WSH 6, MIA 4 | Tanner Roark (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | LAD 3, SD 1 | Rich Hill (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | ||
| 2.2 | TB 4, NYY 1 | Alex Cobb (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | ARI 8, SF 6 | Jeremy Hazelbaker, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| `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 | +/- |
| Finnegan, Brandon 3535 | pi sp | cin nl | 2.0 | 9.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | -5.0 |
| Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 1.7 | 15.1 | 83.1 | 88.1 | -11.7 |
| Lindor, Francisco 3586 | ss | cle al | 1.5 | 8.5 | 9.5 | 9.5 | -5.5 |
| Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | lad nl | 1.0 | 15.4 | 19.4 | 39.1 | -13.4 |
| Roark, Tanner 3261 | pi sp | dc nl | 1.0 | 13.7 | 29.7 | 29.7 | -11.7 |
| Colon, Bartolo | pi sp | atl nl | 1.0 | 9.4 | 50.3 | 149.5 | -7.4 |
| Bundy, Dylan 3655 | pi sp | bal al | 1.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | -5.0 |
| Devenski, Chris 3702 | pi mr | hou al | 1.0 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 | -2.7 |
| Peralta, Wily 3123 | pi sp | mil nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 20.0 | 20.0 | 0.0 |
| Richards, Garrett 3042 | pi sp | ana al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 34.4 | 34.4 | 1.0 |
| Escobar, Eduardo 3135 | ss | min al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 12.7 | 12.7 | 1.0 |
| Cobb, Alex 2916 | pi sp | tb al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 31.4 | 32.4 | 1.0 |
| Hazelbaker, Jeremy 3759 | ph | ari nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |