Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to second place in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 31:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 10.7 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 10.0 |
| 3 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 9.4 |
| 4 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 |
| 5 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 7.0 |
| 6 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.0 |
| 7 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 6.7 |
| 8 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf | nyy al | 6.5 |
| 9 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.4 |
| 10 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 6.4 |
Scherzer struck out 11 in a five-hit complete game, allowing one run and no walks, in the 3-1 win over the Giants.
Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 10.0 for the season. He becomes the second player this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points and is second overall and among National League pitchers, behind Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (10.7).
This is the sixth straight season Scherzer has earned 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points and his seventh season overall.
Scherzer also now has 141.7 career Box-Toppers points, 29th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 28th-ranked player Jake Peavy (141.8).
American League Player of the Day—Athletics pitcher Sean Manaea struck out nine over seven innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 3-1 win over the Indians.
American League Batter of the Day—George Springer of the Astros homered twice and went 4-for-4, scoring four times and driving in two runs, in the 17-6 win over the Twins.
National League Batter of the Day—Eric Thames of the Brewers homered, doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 7-1 win over the Mets.
Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Manaea earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Springer and Thames 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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score| 5/31 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 13.0 | WSH 3, SF 1 | Max Scherzer (W,6-3) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 | |
| AL | 10.0 | OAK 3, CLE 1 | Sean Manaea (W,4-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |
| 8.1 | SEA 5, COL 0 | James Paxton (W,4-0) | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 8.0 | STL 2, LAD 1 | Carlos Martinez (W,4-4) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | HOU 17, MIN 6 | George Springer, DH | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | BOS 4, CHW 1 | Drew Pomeranz (W,5-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 5.0 | BAL 10, NYY 4 | Adam Jones, CF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | TB 7, TEX 5 (F/10) | Austin Pruitt (W,4-1) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | `SD 2, CHC 1 | Luis Perdomo | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 3.2 | MIA 10, PHI 2 | Dan Straily (W,4-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | MIL 7, NYM 1 | Eric Thames, LF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | ARI 6, PIT 5 (F/14) | T.J. McFarland (W,3-0) | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 3.0 | `LAA 2, ATL 1 | Jesse Chavez | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 2.0 | DET 6, KC 5 | Justin Upton, LF | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | TOR 5, CIN 4 | Ryan Goins, SS | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 10.0 | 35.7 | 113.9 | 141.7 | -15.7 |
| Martinez, Carlos 3371 | pi sp | stl nl | 5.5 | 17.9 | 32.6 | 32.6 | -6.9 |
| Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 5.0 | 9.4 | 16.1 | 16.1 | 0.6 |
| Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 4.4 | 11.1 | 11.1 | 11.1 | -2.3 |
| Straily, Dan 3080 | pi sp | fla nl | 4.0 | 11.0 | 21.7 | 21.7 | -3.0 |
| Goins, Ryan 3478 | ss | tor al | 4.0 | 5.5 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 2.5 |
| Chavez, Jesse 2780 | pi sp | ana al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 22.1 | 23.1 | 3.0 |
| Thames, Eric 2909 | lf 1b | mil nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 5.5 | 3.0 |
| Pruitt, Austin 3773 | pi mr cp | tb al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Pomeranz, Drew 3061 | pi sp | bos al | 2.7 | 15.1 | 26.1 | 26.1 | -9.7 |
| Springer, George 3337 | rf dh | hou al | 2.5 | 9.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | -4.0 |
| Jones, Adam 2347 | cf | bal al | 2.5 | 3.5 | 34.5 | 52.0 | 1.5 |
| Upton, Justin 2411 | lf | det al | 2.0 | 8.7 | 34.9 | 53.1 | -4.7 |
| McFarland, T.J. 3585 | pi mr cp | ari nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 2.0 |
| Perdomo, Luis D. 3715 | pi sp | sd nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | -1.0 |