Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to eighth place in season player rankings.
Also Wednesday, Phillies pitcher Nick Pivetta rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors. Plus, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander rises to ninth place in 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 2018 season through the games of May 16:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 11.4 |
| 2 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 10.7 |
| 3 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 10.0 |
| 4 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | hou al | 8.4 |
| 5 | Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 7.7 |
| 6 | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | ari nl | 7.0 |
| 7 | Pivetta, Nick 3825 | pi sp | phi nl | 6.7 |
| 8 | Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 6.7 |
| 9 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 5.7 |
| 10 | Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 5.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Player of the Day—Happ struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks, in the 12-1 win over the Mets.
Happ earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.7 for the season. He now ranks eighth in Box-Toppers season player rankings, fifth among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Phillies pitcher Nick Pivetta struck out 11 over seven innings, allowing one run, two hits and one walk, in the 4-1 win over the Orioles.
Pivetta earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 6.7 for the season. He ranks seventh in Box-Toppers season player rankings, third among NL pitchers.
While Pivetta and Happ both have 6.7 Box-Toppers points on the season, Pivetta ranks higher because he has more 2017 Box-Toppers points (8.0 vs. 5.7).
National League Batter of the Day—Adam Duvall of the Reds hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 6-3 win over the Giants.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Wednesday because no AL batter earned Player of the Game honors.
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 | 209.8 |
| 4 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 195.7 |
| 5 | Curt Schilling | pi sp | retired | 194.1 |
| 6 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 187.8 |
| 7 | Alex Rodriguez | dh | retired | 187.0 |
| 8 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 179.2 |
| 9 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 172.4 |
| 10 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 11 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | dc nl | 168.1 |
| 12 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 13 | Johan Santana | pi sp | free agent | 166.6 |
| 14 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | retired | 164.8 |
| 15 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 16 | Justin Verlander | pi sp | hou al | 159.7 |
| 17 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 18 | Cole Hamels | pi sp | tex al | 156.1 |
| 19 | Bartolo Colon | pi sp | tex al | 155.9 |
| 20 | Jon Lester | pi sp | chi nl | 155.9 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
List of top 100 players since 1995 at the end of the 2017 season.
Rankings—Astros pitcher Justin Verlander rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Verlander (CG 5H 0R BB 7K W in the 2-0 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.7 for the season. He ranks sixth among AL pitchers.
Verlander now also has 159.7 career Box-Toppers points, 16th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 15th-ranked player John Smoltz (160.9). (It should be noted Smoltz would have an estimated 255 career points if his entire career from 1988 were tracked.) Verlander ranks seventh in career points among active players.
Notable—In addition to Verlander, two other players with more than 100 career Box-Toppers points earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday:
Rangers pitcher Bartolo Colon (7.2IP 4H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 5-1 win over the Mariners) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 155.9 career points, rising to 19th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Wednesday, he passes two players on the “all-time” list—Mike Mussina (155.6) and Cubs pitcher Jon Lester (155.9). (While both Lester and Colon have 155.9 points, Colon ranks higher because he has more 2018 points—2.7 vs. 2.0.) Colon now trails 18th-ranked player, Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels (156.1). Colon ranks ninth in career points among active players.
Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale (5IP 2H R 2BB 8K W in the 6-4 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 114.5 career points. He has 3.0 Box-Toppers points on the season.
Scoring—Happ earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Pivetta earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Duvall earns 1.5 points for being NL 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 (BTG)| 5/16 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 15.0 | TOR 12, NYM 1 | J.A. Happ (W, 5‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | |
| 14.0 | CLE 6, DET 0 | Trevor Bauer (W, 3‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 8.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | ||
| NL | 13.0 | PHI 4, BAL 1 | Nick Pivetta (W, 3‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | |
| 10.0 | HOU 2, LAA 0 | Justin Verlander (W, 5‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 9.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 6.2 | TEX 5, SEA 1 | Bartolo Colon (W, 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 5.0 | `ATL 4, CHC 1 | Brandon McCarthy | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 4.0 | BOS 6, OAK 4 | Chris Sale (W, 4‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 9 | ||
| 3.2 | STL 7, MIN 5 | Bud Norris (S, 9) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | TB 5, KC 3 | Matt Andriese (W, 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | CIN 6, SF 3 | Adam Duvall LF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| 2.0 | MIL 8, ARI 2 | Travis Shaw 3B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 1.0 | MIA 6, LAD 5 | Starlin Castro 2B | 5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 1.0 | PIT 3, CHW 2 | Elias Diaz C | 2 | 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 (’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 | +/‑ |
| Pivetta, Nick 3825 | pi sp | phi nl | 6.7 | 14.7 | 14.7 | 14.7 | -1.3 |
| Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 6.7 | 12.4 | 47.6 | 63.6 | 1.0 |
| Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 5.7 | 20.4 | 55.5 | 159.7 | -9.0 |
| Shaw, Travis 3544 | 3b | mil nl | 3.5 | 11.5 | 22.7 | 22.7 | -4.5 |
| Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 3.0 | 28.1 | 93.8 | 114.5 | -22.1 |
| Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 3.0 | 12.7 | 40.2 | 42.2 | -6.7 |
| Colon, Bartolo | pi sp | tex al | 2.7 | 7.4 | 46.3 | 155.9 | -2.0 |
| Norris, Bud 2638 | pi cp | stl nl | 2.0 | 8.0 | 29.4 | 54.1 | -4.0 |
| Duvall, Adam 3573 | lf | cin nl | 1.5 | 6.0 | 14.0 | 14.0 | -3.0 |
| Castro, Starlin 2767 | 2b | fla nl | 1.0 | 6.0 | 19.5 | 31.5 | -4.0 |
| McCarthy, Brandon 2082 | pi sp | atl nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 20.7 | 41.5 | -3.0 |
| Andriese, Matt 3505 | pi mr sp | tb al | 1.0 | 4.7 | 9.7 | 9.7 | -2.7 |
| Diaz, Elias 3813 | ca | pit nl | 1.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | -0.5 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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.