Indians' Corey Kluber tops players for Monday, April 9; Nationals' Scherzer rises to top player rankings

Indians pitcher Corey Kluber is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2018 season as of April 9:  
 

 Player Pos Team BTP
1 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 3.7
2 Severino, Luis 3567 pi sp nyy al 3.0
3 Corbin, Patrick 3027 pi sp ari nl 3.0
4 Sano, Miguel 3527 3b min al 3.0
5 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp hou al 3.0
6 Taillon, Jameson 3658 pi sp pit nl 2.7
7 Morton, Charlie 2503 pi sp hou al 2.7
8 Price, David 2593 pi sp bos al 2.7
9 Polanco, Gregory 3361 rf pit nl 2.5
10 Bogaerts, Xander 3383 ss bos al 2.5
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Monday, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors.

Player of the Day—Kluber struck out 13 over eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 2-0 win over the Tigers.

National League Player of the Day—Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer pitched a complete-game, two-hit shutout, striking out 10 and walking none, in the 2-0 win over the Braves.

Scherzer earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 3.7 points for the season, rising to the top spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings, passing previously leader, Yankees pitcher Luis Severino (3.0 points). Scherzer previously led player rankings this season from March 30 to April 1.

Scherzer also now has 160.4 career points, ranked 15th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 14th-ranked player John Smoltz (160.9). (Smoltz would have an estimated 255 Box-Toppers points if his entire career from 1988 were tracked.) Scherzer ranks sixth among active players in career points.

Monday’s top two Player of the Game honorees were also last year’s Cy Young winners—Kluber in the American League and Scherzer in the National League. Kluber barely beat Scherzer Monday for Player of the Day—he had a Box-Toppers game score of +18.0 while Scherzer’s score was +17.0.

American League Batter of the Day—Mallex Smith of the Rays tripled, doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring once and driving in one run, in the 5-4 win over the White Sox.

National League Batter of the Day—Nick Williams of the Phillies hit a go-ahead, eighth-inning, pinch-hit home run, in the 6-5 win over the Reds.

Streak—Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2018 Monday.

Happ (6IP 5H R 3BB 9K W in the 7-1 win over the Orioles) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2009 with the Phillies and has 57.9 career Box-Toppers points, 23rd among active AL pitchers. His best season was 2016 with the Blue Jays when he had 14.7 Box-Toppers points, third among AL pitchers. In 2017, he had 5.7 points, 45th among AL pitchers.

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 Clayton Kershaw pi sp lad nl 207.8
4 Curt Schilling pi sp retired 194.1
5 CC Sabathia pi sp nyy al 192.7
6 Albert Pujols 1b dh ana al 187.8
7 Alex Rodriguez dh retired 187.0
8 Zack Greinke pi sp ari nl 176.2
9 Felix Hernandez pi sp sea al 172.4
10 Roy Halladay pi sp retired 170.7
11 Manny Ramirez lf dh retired 167.2
12 Johan Santana pi sp free agent 166.6
13 Roger Clemens pi sp retired 164.8
14 John Smoltz pi sp retired 160.9
15 Max Scherzer pi sp dc nl 160.4
16 Tim Hudson pi sp retired 157.0
17 Justin Verlander pi sp hou al 156.0
18 Mike Mussina pi sp retired 155.6
19 Jon Lester pi sp chi nl 154.9
20 Cole Hamels pi sp tex al 154.4
BTP: Box-Toppers points
List of top 100 players since 1995 at the end of the 2017 season.

Notable—Astros pitcher Justin Verlander rises to 17th place in career Box-Toppers points since 1995, when tracking began, after earning Player of the Game honors Monday.

Verlander (7IP 4H 0R BB 9K W in the 2-0 win over the Twins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 156.0 career points. He passes Mike Mussina (155.6) on the “all-time” list and now trails 16th-ranked Tim Hudson (157.0). (It should be noted that Mussina would have an estimated 193 career Box-Toppers points if his entire career from 1991 were tracked.) Verlander ranks seventh among active players in career points and has 2.0 points on the season, 14th place in season player rankings.

Scoring—Kluber earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Scherzer earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Smith and Williams each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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 (BTG)
 
4/9 Score Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 18.0 CLE 2, DET 0 Corey Kluber (W, 1‑1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 8.0 2 0 0 1 13
NL 17.0 WSH 2, ATL 0 Max Scherzer (W, 2‑1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 9.0 2 0 0 0 10
12.0 ARI 2, SF 1 Zack Godley (W, 2‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 4 0 0 0 9
11.0 HOU 2, MIN 0 Justin Verlander (W, 2‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 4 0 0 1 9
7.0 KC 10, SEA 0 Jakob Junis (W, 2‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 7.0 1 0 0 2 3
5.0 TOR 7, BAL 1 J.A. Happ (W, 2‑1) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 5 1 1 3 9
4.0 SD 7, COL 6 Brad Hand (S, 3) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
BAT 2.0 TB 5, CHW 4 Mallex Smith (RF) 4 1 4 1 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
2.0 LAA 8, TEX 3 Martin Maldonado (C) 3 1 2 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
BAT 2.0 PHI 6, CIN 5 Nick Williams (PH) 1 1 1 1 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
2.0 NYM 4, MIA 2 Jeurys Familia (S, 5) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.0 2 0 0 0 3
1.0 MIL 5, STL 4 (F/10) Travis Shaw (3B) 4 3 2 0 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 (’18). also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’17-18), the period 2013-2018 (’13-18) and each players’ career point total. also shown is how their 2018 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2017 total (+/-).
 
Player of Game Pos Team ’18 ’17‑18 ’13‑18 Career +/‑
Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 3.7 28.7 115.6 160.4 -21.3
Kluber, Corey 3200 pi sp cle al 2.0 24.0 89.4 89.4 -20.0
Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 2.0 16.7 51.8 156.0 -12.7
Godley, Zack 3538 pi sp ari nl 2.0 13.0 17.7 17.7 -9.0
Junis, Jake 3857 pi sp mr kc al 2.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 -1.0
Smith, Mallex 3819 rf tb al 1.5 4.0 4.0 4.0 -1.0
Shaw, Travis 3544 3b mil nl 1.0 9.0 20.2 20.2 -7.0
Happ, J.A. 2536 pi sp tor al 1.0 6.7 41.9 57.9 -4.7
Hand, Brad 2907 pi cp sd nl 1.0 5.7 14.7 15.7 -3.7
Maldonado, Martin 3082 ca ana al 1.0 2.0 6.5 9.5 0.0
Williams, Nick 3852 rf ph phi nl 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0
Familia, Jeurys 3446 pi cp nym nl 1.0 1.0 17.0 17.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?