Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to first place in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2018 season through the games of April 14:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 5.7 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 5.0 |
| 3 | Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 4.0 |
| 4 | Ramirez, Hanley 2119 | 1b dh | bos al | 3.5 |
| 5 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 3.0 |
| 6 | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | ari nl | 3.0 |
| 7 | Sano, Miguel 3527 | 3b | min al | 3.0 |
| 8 | Pivetta, Nick 3825 | pi sp | phi nl | 3.0 |
| 9 | Taillon, Jameson 3658 | pi sp | pit nl | 2.7 |
| 10 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | hou al | 2.7 |
Scherzer struck out 11 over seven innings, allowing two runs, one hit and one walk, in the 6-2 win over the Rockies.
Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.7 for the season. He rises from third to first in Box-Toppers season player rankings, taking the lead for the third time this season. He led from March 30 to April 1 and again from April 9 to 11. It is the third time in three days the Box-Toppers season player rankings lead has changed hands. Scherzer passes Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole (5.0 Box-Toppers points), who only took the lead Friday.
Scherzer now has 162.4 career Box-Toppers points and rises to 14th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes John Smoltz (160.9) on the “all-time” list. (It should be noted Smoltz would have an estimated 255 career points if his entire career from 1988 were tracked). Scherzer now trails 13th-ranked Roger Clemens (164.8). (It should be noted that Clemens would have an estimated 320 Box-Toppers points if his entire career from 1984 were tracked.) Scherzer ranks sixth in career points among active players.
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 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | dc nl | 162.4 |
| 15 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 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 |
List of top 100 players since 1995 at the end of the 2017 season.
American League Player of the Day—Angels pitcher Garrett Richards struck out five over five innings, allowing one run, one hit and three walks, in the 5-3 win over the Royals.
National League Batter of the Day—Greg Garcia of the Cardinals hit two home runs and doubled in the 6-1 win over the Reds. Garcia went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs.
American League Batter of the Day—Hanley Ramirez of the Red Sox homered, doubled and went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 10-3 win over the Orioles.
Ramirez earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 3.5 for the season, rising to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings, first among AL batters.
Debut—J.P. Crawford of the Phillies made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Crawford (HR 2B 2-3 2R 2BI in the 9-4 win over the Rays) made his Major League debut Sept. 5, 2017, and was playing in his 34th career game. He is the 3,937th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Richards earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Garcia and Ramirez 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.
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)| 4/14 | Score | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | WSH 6, COL 2 | Max Scherzer (W, 3‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 | |
| 7.0 | MIL 5, NYM 1 | Josh Hader (S, 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 5.1 | SD 5, SF 4 | Brad Hand (S, 6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | STL 6, CIN 1 | Greg Garcia (2B) | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| 5.0 | CHC 14, ATL 10 | Ben Zobrist (1B‑LF‑RF) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| AL | 4.0 | LAA 5, KC 3 | Garrett Richards (W, 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | |
| 3.0 | ARI 9, LAD 1 | Paul Goldschmidt (1B) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 3.0 | PHI 9, TB 4 | J.P. Crawford (SS) | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | BOS 10, BAL 3 | Hanley Ramirez (1B) | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| 2.0 | SEA 10, OAK 8 | Kyle Seager (3B) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 2.0 | `PIT 1, MIA 0 | Michael Feliz | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | TEX 6, HOU 5 (F/10) | Jurickson Profar (SS) | 3 | 2 | 2 | 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 (’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 | 5.7 | 30.7 | 117.6 | 162.4 | -19.3 |
| Ramirez, Hanley 2119 | 1b dh | bos al | 3.5 | 5.5 | 22.0 | 63.1 | 1.5 |
| Richards, Garrett 3042 | pi sp | ana al | 2.7 | 3.7 | 35.1 | 37.1 | 1.7 |
| Hand, Brad 2907 | pi cp | sd nl | 2.0 | 6.7 | 15.7 | 16.7 | -2.7 |
| Garcia, Greg 3331 | 2b | stl nl | 1.5 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 1.5 |
| Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 | 1b | ari nl | 1.0 | 8.4 | 39.8 | 48.3 | -6.4 |
| Hader, Josh 3881 | pi cp mr | mil nl | 1.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | -2.0 |
| Seager, Kyle 3031 | 3b | sea al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 27.5 | 31.5 | -1.0 |
| Feliz, Michael 3632 | pi mr | pit nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 0.0 |
| Zobrist, Ben 2216 | 1b lf rf | chi nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 11.0 | 33.0 | 1.0 |
| Profar, Jurickson 3665 | ss | tex al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 |
| Crawford, J.P. 3937 | ss | phi nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Box-Toppers
Tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score stats. A method to measure & compare baseball's top players.
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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.