Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 6:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.0 |
| 2 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 6.7 |
| 3 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 6.7 |
| 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 5 | Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | bos al | 5.0 |
| 6 | Nova, Ivan 2796 | pi sp | pit nl | 5.0 |
| 7 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 5.0 |
| 8 | Holland, Greg 2906 | pi cp | col nl | 5.0 |
| 9 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf | nyy al | 5.0 |
| 10 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 4.4 |
Player of the Day—Cole struck out eight over seven innings, allowing one run and two hits, in the 2-1, 10-inning win over the Brewers. Cole picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was tied, 1-1, when he exited.
American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Jake Odorizzi struck out six over seven innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 6-1 win over the Blue Jays.
American League Batter of the Day—Aaron Hicks of the Yankees hit a three-run homer and doubled in the 11-6 win over the Cubs. Hicks went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs.
National League Batter of the Day—Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals homered, doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 6-2 win over the Phillies.
2017 lead changes
Here are the season’s lead changes among players in Box-Toppers points. Chart shows the date and the player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total when they took the lead.| Date | Player | Team | BTP |
| 4/2 | Carlos Martinez | stl nl | 2.0 |
| 4/3 | Clayton Kershaw | lad nl | 2.0 |
| 4/9 | Noah Syndergaard | nym nl | 3.0 |
| 4/14 | Clayton Kershaw | lad nl | 4.0 |
| 4/15 | Ervin Santana | min al | 4.7 |
| 4/19 | Clayton Kershaw | lad nl | 5.0 |
| 5/2 | Chris Sale | bos al | 6.7 |
| 5/6 | Clayton Kershaw | lad nl | 7.0 |
Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday (7.1IP 5H R 4BB 9K W in the 10-2 win over the Padres).
Kershaw earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.0 for the season, passing previous leader, Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale (6.7 points). This is the fourth time this season Kershaw has led players in Box-Toppers points.
Kershaw also now has 190.7 career Box-Toppers points, most among active players and fourth among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails third-place player Curt Schilling (194.1) on the “all-time” list.
Debut—Mariners pitcher James Pazos made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Pazos (1IP H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 8-2 win over the Rangers) made his Major League debut Sept. 5, 2015, and was playing in his 31st career game. He is the 3,786th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Cole earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Odorizzi earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Hicks and Zimmerman each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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| 5/6 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | `PIT 2, MIL 1 (F/10) | Gerrit Cole | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| AL | 8.0 | TB 6, TOR 1 | Jake Odorizzi (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | |
| 7.0 | COL 9, ARI 1 | Tyler Anderson (W,2-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | ||
| 5.1 | LAD 10, SD 2 | Clayton Kershaw (W,5-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | NYY 11, CHC 6 | Aaron Hicks, CF | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | `CLE 3, KC 1 | Josh Tomlin | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | BOS 11, MIN 1 | Rick Porcello (W,2-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | CIN 14, SF 2 | Robert Stephenson (S,1) | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | OAK 6, DET 5 | Yonder Alonso, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | WSH 6, PHI 2 | Ryan Zimmerman, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | BAL 6, CHW 5 | Trey Mancini, LF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | SEA 8, TEX 2 | James Pazos (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 2.0 | LAA 2, HOU 1 | Bud Norris (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | NYM 11, MIA 3 | Jay Bruce, RF | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | STL 5, ATL 3 | Aledmys Diaz, SS-LF | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.0 | 31.4 | 131.1 | 190.7 | -17.4 |
| Odorizzi, Jake 3291 | pi sp | tb al | 3.4 | 9.8 | 29.5 | 29.5 | -3.0 |
| Bruce, Jay 2453 | rf | nym nl | 3.0 | 11.5 | 28.7 | 61.8 | -5.5 |
| Mancini, Trey 3766 | lf | bal al | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| Zimmerman, Ryan 2180 | 1b | dc nl | 2.5 | 4.0 | 23.7 | 58.8 | 1.0 |
| Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 2.0 | 8.5 | 37.9 | 37.9 | -4.5 |
| Hicks, Aaron 3170 | cf | nyy al | 1.5 | 2.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 0.5 |
| Porcello, Rick 2573 | pi sp | bos al | 1.0 | 9.0 | 31.7 | 43.7 | -7.0 |
| Norris, Bud 2638 | pi cp sp | ana al | 1.0 | 6.7 | 31.4 | 47.1 | -4.7 |
| Diaz, Aledmys 3612 | ss lf | stl nl | 1.0 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 | -4.5 |
| Tomlin, Josh 2771 | pi sp | cle al | 1.0 | 6.0 | 19.4 | 25.4 | -4.0 |
| Alonso, Yonder 2945 | 1b | oak al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 12.5 | 14.0 | -1.0 |
| Anderson, Tyler 3656 | pi sp | col nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | -1.0 |
| Stephenson, Robert 3617 | pi cp | cin nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| Pazos, James 3786 | pi mr | sea al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |