Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole is Saturday’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 7:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 3.0 |
| 2 | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | ari nl | 3.0 |
| 3 | Sano, Miguel 3527 | 3b | min al | 3.0 |
| 4 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 3.0 |
| 5 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | bos al | 2.7 |
| 6 | Polanco, Gregory 3361 | rf | pit nl | 2.5 |
| 7 | Bogaerts, Xander 3383 | ss | bos al | 2.5 |
| 8 | Dejong, Paul 3827 | ss | stl nl | 2.5 |
| 9 | Freeman, Freddie 2887 | 1b | atl nl | 2.5 |
| 10 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 2.0 |
Cole struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits and no walks, in the 1-0, 10-inning win over the Padres. Cole picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.
Cole earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season, most among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday. He rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings with the same point total as three others, but ranks below them because he had the fewest 2017 Box-Toppers points among the group (7.0).
National League Player of the Day—Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish struck out nine over six innings, allowing one run, two hits and one walk, in the 5-2 win over the Brewers. Darvish picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was tied, 1-1, when he exited.
National League Batter of the Day—Maikel Franco of the Phillies hit a grand slam and doubled, going 2-for-4, scoring three times and driving in six runs, in the 20-1 win over the Marlins.
American League Batter of the Day—Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox hit a grand slam and doubled, going 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in six runs, in the 10-3 win over the Rays.
Streak—Andrew McCutchen of the Giants has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2018 Saturday.
McCutchen (HR 2B 6-7 2R 4BI in the 7-5, 14-inning win over the Dodgers) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2009 with the Pirates and has 63.9 career points, 200th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He ranks 96th among all batters since 1995 and eighth among active NL batters. His best season was 2015 with the Pirates when he had 10.5 Box-Toppers points, third among NL batters. In 2017, he had 9.0 points with the Pirates, seventh among NL batters.
Debut—Niko Goodrum of the Tigers made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Goodrum (0-0 R 0BI in the 6-1 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut Sept. 2, 2017, and was playing in his 15th career game. He is the 3,932nd 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 Darvish earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Franco and Bogaerts 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 (BTG)| 4/7 | Score | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 13.0 | `HOU 1, SD 0 (F/10) | Gerrit Cole | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | |
| 10.0 | KC 1, CLE 0 | Ian Kennedy (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||
| NL | 10.0 | `CHC 5, MIL 2 | Yu Darvish | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |
| BAT | 7.0 | PHI 20, MIA 1 | Maikel Franco (3B) | 4 | 3 | 2 | 6 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| BAT | 7.0 | BOS 10, TB 3 | Xander Bogaerts (SS) | 3 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| 7.0 | TEX 5, TOR 1 | Mike Minor (W, 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 7.0 | `NYM 3, WSH 2 | Steven Matz | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 5.0 | SF 7, LAD 5 (F/14) | Andrew McCutchen (RF) | 7 | 2 | 6 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 5.0 | CIN 7, PIT 4 | Eugenio Suarez (3B) | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 4.0 | OAK 7, LAA 3 | Blake Treinen (S, 2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 3.0 | STL 5, ARI 3 | Jose Martinez (1B) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 3.0 | SEA 11, MIN 4 | Guillermo Heredia (LF) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 2.0 | NYY 8, BAL 3 | Brett Gardner (CF) | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 2.0 | COL 3, ATL 2 (F/10) | Adam Ottavino (W, 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | DET 6, CHW 1 | Niko Goodrum (PR‑1B) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 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 | +/‑ |
| Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 3.0 | 10.0 | 45.9 | 45.9 | -4.0 |
| Bogaerts, Xander 3383 | ss | bos al | 2.5 | 8.0 | 14.5 | 14.5 | -3.0 |
| Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | chi nl | 1.7 | 14.7 | 53.5 | 70.3 | -11.3 |
| Franco, Maikel 3510 | 3b | phi nl | 1.5 | 4.2 | 11.9 | 11.9 | -1.2 |
| McCutchen, Andrew 2637 | cf | sf nl | 1.0 | 10.0 | 40.0 | 63.9 | -8.0 |
| Kennedy, Ian 2723 | pi sp | kc al | 1.0 | 7.0 | 38.4 | 73.5 | -5.0 |
| Martinez, Jose 3830 | 1b | stl nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | -3.0 |
| Suarez, Eugenio 3355 | 3b | cin nl | 1.0 | 4.5 | 18.5 | 18.5 | -2.5 |
| Minor, Mike 2894 | pi sp mr cp | tex al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 19.4 | 30.1 | -1.0 |
| Gardner, Brett 2486 | cf | nyy al | 1.0 | 2.7 | 9.7 | 21.2 | -0.7 |
| Matz, Steven 3516 | pi sp | nym nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 17.6 | 17.6 | 0.0 |
| Ottavino, Adam 3054 | pi cp mr | col nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 7.0 | 9.0 | 0.0 |
| Treinen, Blake 3495 | pi cp | oak al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 |
| Heredia, Guillermo 3859 | lf | sea al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| Goodrum, Niko 3932 | 1b pr | det al | 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.