Dodgers pitcher Kenta Maeda is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Maeda struck out eight over eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks, in the 7-0 win over the Marlins.
American League Player of the Day—Red Sox pitcher David Price pitched a complete game, striking out eight and allowing two runs, five hits and no walks, in the 6-2 win over the Orioles.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2018 season through the games of May 17:| 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
Price earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 115.3 career points, rising to 48th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. Price has 4.4 Box-Toppers points for the season.
American League Batter of the Day—Khris Davis of the Athletics homered and went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 10-5 win over the Blue Jays.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because no NL batter earned Player of the Game honors. In fact, only one batter, Khris Davis, earned Player of the Game honors in the nine games played Thursday.
Streak—White Sox pitcher James Shields has now earned Box-Toppers points in 13 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2018 Thursday.
Shields (7.1IP 3H R 3BB 8K ND in the 4-2 win over the Rangers) earned his first points in 2006 with the Rays and has 102.4 career points, rising to 71st among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Thursday, he passes two players on the “all-time” list—Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2) and Miguel Tejada (102.3). He now trails 70th-ranked player, Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto (103.8). Shields ranks 11th in career points among active AL pitchers.
Shields’ best season was 2011 with the Rays when he had 20.1 Box-Toppers points, sixth among all players and third among AL pitchers. He’s had four seasons with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points. In 2017, he had 2.0 points with the White Sox.
Notable—Phillies pitcher Vince Velasquez has the most 2018 Box-Toppers points among the nine who earned Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Velasquez (6.1IP 5H 0R 2BB 5K W in the 6-2 win over the Cardinals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 4.7 for the season. He ranks 24th in season player rankings, 10th among NL pitchers.
Also notable—Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez earns Player of the Game honors for the first time since changing his name from Felipe Rivero .
Vazquez (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 3K Sv in the 5-4 win over the Padres) now has 2.0 Box-Toppers points for the season.
Scoring—Maeda earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Price earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Davis earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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)| 5/17 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 14.0 | LAD 7, MIA 0 | Kenta Maeda (W, 3‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 8.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| AL | 8.0 | BOS 6, BAL 2 | David Price (W, 4‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 9.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | |
| 7.1 | `CHW 4, TEX 2 | James Shields | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | ||
| 5.2 | TB 7, LAA 1 | Chris Archer (W, 3‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | OAK 10, TOR 5 | Khris Davis DH | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| 4.1 | PHI 6, STL 2 | Vince Velasquez (W, 4‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | `DET 3, SEA 2 | Matthew Boyd | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 4.0 | PIT 5, SD 4 | Felipe Vazquez (S, 9) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 2.0 | COL 5, SF 3 (F/12) | Jake McGee (W, 1‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
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 | +/‑ |
| Velasquez, Vince 3611 | pi sp | phi nl | 4.7 | 5.7 | 13.7 | 13.7 | 3.7 |
| Price, David 2593 | pi sp | bos al | 4.4 | 9.1 | 69.4 | 115.3 | -0.3 |
| Maeda, Kenta 3609 | pi sp | lad nl | 4.0 | 14.0 | 24.0 | 24.0 | -6.0 |
| Boyd, Matthew 3550 | pi sp | det al | 3.0 | 6.0 | 13.1 | 13.1 | 0.0 |
| Davis, Khris 3242 | dh lf | oak al | 2.5 | 7.0 | 23.7 | 23.7 | -2.0 |
| Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 2.0 | 10.0 | 59.1 | 59.1 | -6.0 |
| Vazquez, Felipe 3579 | pi cp | pit nl | 2.0 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | -2.0 |
| McGee, Jake 3385 | pi mr | col nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 2.0 |
| Shields, James 2157 | pi sp | chi al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 36.8 | 102.4 | -1.0 |
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.