Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale is Tuesday’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 through the games of May 22:| 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 | 9.4 |
| 6 | Pivetta, Nick 3825 | pi sp | phi nl | 7.7 |
| 7 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 7.0 |
| 8 | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | ari nl | 7.0 |
| 9 | Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 6.7 |
| 10 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 5.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Sale struck out nine over 7 2/3 innings, allowing two runs (one earned), four hits and two walks, in the 4-2 win over the Rays.
Sale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season.
This is Sale’s first Player of the Day honor of the season. In 2017, he had eight Player of the Day honors, tied for the most in the season with Indians pitcher Corey Kluber. Sale also led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2017 with 25.1.
Sale also now has 116.5 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 45th place among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. With his points Tuesday, he passes three players on the “all-time” list—Adrian Beltre of the Rangers (115.8), Torii Hunter (115.9) and Todd Helton (116.4). Sale now trails 44th-ranked player Mark Buehrle (116.7).
National League Player of the Day—Marlins pitcher Caleb Smith struck out eight over 6 2/3 innings, allowing one run, three hits and two walks, in the 5-1 win over the Mets.
Smith had a Box-Toppers game score Tuesday of +7.2, same as overall Player of the Day Chris Sale, who held the tiebreaker advantage because he had more innings pitched (7.2 vs. 6.2).
National League Batter of the Day—Scooter Gennett of the Reds hit a grand slam and doubled in the 7-2 win over the Pirates. Gennett went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in six runs.
American League Batter of the Day—Tony Kemp of the Astros went 2-for-2, driving in five runs, in the 11-2 win over the Giants.
This was Kemp’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Kemp made his Major League debut May 17, 2016, and was playing in his 81st career game. He is the 3,973rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
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 | Cole Hamels | pi sp | tex al | 157.1 |
| 18 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 19 | Jon Lester | pi sp | chi nl | 156.9 |
| 20 | Bartolo Colon | pi sp | tex al | 155.9 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
List of top 100 players since 1995 at the end of the 2017 season.
Notable—Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels rises to 17th place in career Box-Toppers points since 1995, when player tracking began, after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Hamels (7IP 4H 2R 2BB 7K W in the 6-4 win over the Yankees) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 157.1 career points. He rises two spots on the “all-time” career points list, passing Cubs pitcher Jon Lester (156.9) and Tim Hudson (157.0). Hamels now trails 16th-ranked player, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander (159.7). Hamels rises to eighth place in career points among active players.
Hamels has 3.7 Box-Toppers points for the season, 18th among AL pitchers.
Streak—Royals pitcher Jason Hammel has now earned Box-Toppers points in 13 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Hammel (7IP 9H R 0BB 6K W in the 5-1 win over the Cardinals) earned his first points in 2006 with the Rays and has 61.2 career points, 21st among active AL pitchers. His best season was 2016 with the Cubs, when he had 13.0 Box-Toppers points, 13th among NL pitchers.
In 2017, he had just 1.0 Box-Toppers point with the Royals. In the 12 complete seasons of his streak from 2006 to 2017, Hammel barely kept the streak alive in four different seasons in which he earned just 1.0 Box-Toppers point—2006, 2008, 2013 and 2017.
Hamels, Hammel—For the seventh time in their careers and the first time in more than three years, the similarly-named Cole Hamels and Jason Hammel earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors on the same day.
They last did it May 13, 2015, the third time that season they had done it. Both were also top players in their games in 2015 on April 27 and May 8. In addition, the two have shared Player of the Game honors on the same day in previous seasons three different times—April 25, 2012, June 6, 2014, and Sept. 1, 2014.
Scoring—Sale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Smith earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Gennett and Kemp each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’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)| 5/22 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 7.2 | BOS 4, TB 2 | Chris Sale (W, 5‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | |
| NL | 7.2 | MIA 5, NYM 1 | Caleb Smith (W, 3‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| BAT | 7.0 | CIN 7, PIT 2 | Scooter Gennett 2B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| BAT | 5.0 | HOU 11, SF 2 | Tony Kemp CF | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| 5.0 | `MIL 1, ARI 0 | Jhoulys Chacin | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | ||
| 4.2 | MIN 6, DET 0 | Lance Lynn (W, 2‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | CLE 10, CHC 1 | Yonder Alonso 1B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 4.0 | TEX 6, NYY 4 | Cole Hamels (W, 3‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 4.0 | WSH 2, SD 1 | Sean Doolittle (W, 2‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | LAD 5, COL 3 | Yasiel Puig RF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 2.2 | ATL 3, PHI 1 | Brandon McCarthy (W, 5‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 2.1 | SEA 3, OAK 2 (F/10) | Nick Vincent (W, 3‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | TOR 5, LAA 3 | Kendrys Morales DH | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 2.0 | KC 5, STL 1 | Jason Hammel (W, 1‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 2.0 | CHW 3, BAL 2 | Bruce Rondon (W, 2‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
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 | +/‑ |
| Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 5.0 | 30.1 | 95.8 | 116.5 | -20.1 |
| Smith, Caleb 3952 | pi sp | fla nl | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 |
| Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 3.7 | 13.1 | 69.1 | 157.1 | -5.7 |
| Chacin, Jhoulys 2711 | pi sp | mil nl | 3.0 | 14.4 | 25.8 | 42.2 | -8.4 |
| Alonso, Yonder 2945 | 1b | cle al | 2.5 | 10.5 | 17.0 | 23.5 | -5.5 |
| Morales, Kendrys 2142 | dh | tor al | 2.5 | 9.0 | 28.7 | 48.2 | -4.0 |
| Doolittle, Sean 3052 | pi cp | dc nl | 2.0 | 8.0 | 20.0 | 21.0 | -4.0 |
| McCarthy, Brandon 2082 | pi sp | atl nl | 2.0 | 6.0 | 21.7 | 42.5 | -2.0 |
| Gennett, Scooter 3254 | 2b | cin nl | 1.5 | 12.2 | 23.7 | 23.7 | -9.2 |
| Kemp, Tony 3973 | cf | hou al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | min al | 1.0 | 9.7 | 47.9 | 65.6 | -7.7 |
| Puig, Yasiel 3193 | rf | lad nl | 1.0 | 7.0 | 16.5 | 16.5 | -5.0 |
| Hammel, Jason 2235 | pi sp | kc al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 36.1 | 61.2 | 0.0 |
| Vincent, Nick 3203 | pi mr | sea al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 0.0 |
| Rondon, Bruce 3245 | pi mr | chi al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 0.0 |
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.