Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day making his Box-Toppers debut.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2018 season through the games of May 20:


	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	Morton, Charlie 2503	pi sp	hou al	10.1
4	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	hou al	10.0
5	Berrios, Jose 3791	pi sp	min al	7.7
6	Paxton, James 3280	pi sp	sea al	7.0
7	Corbin, Patrick 3027	pi sp	ari nl	7.0
8	Pivetta, Nick 3825	pi sp	phi nl	6.7
9	Happ, J.A. 2536	pi sp	tor al	6.7
10	Verlander, Justin 2112	pi sp	hou al	5.7

What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations

Flaherty struck out 13 over 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run, two hits and one walk, in the 5-1 win over the Phillies.

This is Flaherty’s first career Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor. Flaherty made his Major League debut Sept. 1, 2017, and was playing in his 10th career game. He is the 3,971st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

American League Player of the Day—White Sox pitcher Reynaldo Lopez struck out eight over eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 3-0 win over the Rangers.

National League Batter of the Day—Brandon Belt of the Giants hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 9-5 win over the Rockies.

American League Batter of the Day—Mitch Haniger of the Mariners homered and went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 3-2, 11-inning win over the Tigers.

Notable—Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. has the most Box-Toppers points among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday.

McCullers (7IP 2H 0R 2BB 8K W in the 3-1 win over the Indians) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.7 for the season, rising to 11th among all players, eighth among AL pitchers.

Scoring—Flaherty earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lopez earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Belt and Haniger each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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)




  
    5/20
    BTG
    Game
    Player
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    15.2
    STL 5, PHI 1
    Jack Flaherty (W, 1‑1)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    7.2
    2
    1
    1
    1
    13
  

    AL
    12.0
    CHW 3, TEX 0
    Reynaldo Lopez (W, 1‑3)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    8.0
    2
    0
    0
    2
    8
  

    
    12.0
    HOU 3, CLE 1
    Lance McCullers (W, 6‑2)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    7.0
    1
    0
    0
    2
    8
  

    
    6.2
    `MIN 3, MIL 1
    Jake Odorizzi
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    5.2
    5
    1
    1
    2
    10
  

    
    6.0
    NYY 10, KC 1
    Sonny Gray (W, 3‑3)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    8.0
    4
    1
    1
    1
    5
  

    
    6.0
    OAK 9, TOR 2
    Daniel Mengden (W, 4‑4)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    7.0
    2
    0
    0
    1
    2
  

    
    6.0
    CHC 6, CIN 1
    Yu Darvish (W, 1‑3)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    6.0
    2
    1
    1
    3
    7
  

    
    5.2
    LAA 5, TB 2
    Shohei Ohtani (W, 4‑1)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    7.2
    6
    2
    2
    1
    9
  

    
    5.0
    NYM 4, ARI 1
    Noah Syndergaard (W, 4‑1)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    7.0
    6
    1
    1
    1
    7
  

    
    3.2
    BOS 5, BAL 0
    Eduardo Rodriguez (W, 4‑1)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    5.2
    9
    0
    0
    0
    7
  

    BAT
    3.0
    SF 9, COL 5
    Brandon Belt LF‑1B
    4
    2
    2
    3
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    
    3.0
    LAD 7, WSH 2
    Enrique Hernandez SS
    2
    2
    1
    2
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    
    2.0
    ATL 10, MIA 9
    Ronald Acuna LF‑CF
    4
    1
    2
    3
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    BAT
    2.0
    SEA 3, DET 2 (F/11)
    Mitch Haniger RF
    3
    1
    2
    2
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    
    1.0
    SD 8, PIT 5
    Christian Villanueva 3B
    4
    1
    2
    2
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  
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	+/‑
McCullers, Lance 3488	pi sp	hou al	5.7	15.1	27.9	27.9	-3.7
Darvish, Yu 3003	pi sp	chi nl	5.4	18.4	57.2	74.0	-7.6
Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480	pi sp	bos al	4.0	12.7	23.4	23.4	-4.7
Haniger, MItch 3772	rf	sea al	4.0	8.5	8.5	8.5	-0.5
Belt, Brandon 2943	1b lf	sf nl	4.0	6.5	22.5	27.0	1.5
Ohtani, Shohei 3933	pi sp	ana al	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0
Mengden, Daniel 3741	pi sp	oak al	3.0	7.0	9.0	9.0	-1.0
Villanueva, Christian 3930	3b	sd nl	2.7	2.7	2.7	2.7	2.7
Acuña, Ronald Jr. 3947	lf cf	atl nl	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5
Odorizzi, Jake 3291	pi sp	min al	2.0	13.1	39.2	39.2	-9.1
Gray, Sonny 3259	pi sp	nyy al	2.0	10.4	43.2	43.2	-6.4
Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	2.0	5.0	32.1	32.1	-1.0
Flaherty, Jack 3971	pi sp	stl nl	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Lopez, Reynaldo 3712	pi sp mr	chi al	1.7	1.7	3.7	3.7	1.7
Hernandez, Enrique 3541	ss	lad nl	1.0	2.0	4.0	4.0	0.0