Phillies pitcher Nick Pivetta is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to eighth place in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2018 season through the games of June 18:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 15.4 |
| 2 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 14.7 |
| 3 | Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 11.4 |
| 4 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 11.0 |
| 5 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 11.0 |
| 6 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | hou al | 10.1 |
| 7 | Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 9.7 |
| 8 | Pivetta, Nick 3825 | pi sp | phi nl | 9.7 |
| 9 | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | ari nl | 9.0 |
| 10 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 8.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Pivetta struck out 13 over 7 1/3 innings, allowing two runs, four hits and one walk, in the 6-5, 10-inning win over the Cardinals. Pivetta picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because although he left with the Phillies leading, 4-2, the Cardinals tied the game after he exited.
Pivetta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 9.7 points for the season. He ranks third among National League pitchers, behind overall leader Max Scherzer of the Nationals (15.4 points) and teammate Aaron Nola (9.7 points).
American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer struck out eight over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 6-2 win over the White Sox.
American League Batter of the Day—Shin-Soo Choo of the Rangers homered, doubled and went 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in one run, in the 6-3 win over the Royals.
National League Batter of the Day—Nick Ahmed of the Diamondbacks homered and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in one run, in the 7-4 win over the Angels.
Debut—Marlins pitcher Drew Rucinski made his Box-Toppers debut Monday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Rucinski (3IP 0H 0R 0BB 4K ND in the 5-4 win over the Giants) made his Major League debut July 10, 2014, and was playing in his 15th career game. He is the 4,001st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Correction—The initial posting of the day’s results showed Anthony Rendon as Player of the Game in the Nationals 5-3 win over the Yankees with a Box-Toppers game score of +1.0 (HR 2-4 2R BI). But the initial box score we viewed was incomplete, though it listed final score and included the winning pitcher. The full and correct box score showed the actual Player of the Game was closing pitcher Sean Doolittle with a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv).
The box score we initially viewed may have been incomplete since this was a game from May 15 that was suspended in the bottom of the sixth inning with a 3-3 score and completed Monday.
Baseball treats all statistics earned in the completion of a suspended game to have happened on the day of the suspension, in this case May 15. This creates a paradox in the case of Nationals’ Juan Soto, who hadn’t yet made his Major League debut May 15, yet appeared as a pinch hitter and left fielder when the game resumed June 18, in the bottom of the sixth inning.
But in Box-Toppers’ view, May 15 is already a closed book. Even though much of the game was completed May 15, Box-Toppers treats the completion of a suspended game as part of the most recent day’s games. For example, if Rendon had been Player of the Game—as the initial incorrect box score indicated—he would have been given credit for the honor on June 18, even though the home run he hit to earn the honor happened May 15. As it turns out, Doolittle, who gets credit for being Player of the Game on June 18, actually pitched the inning to earn the honor on June 18.
Scoring—Pivetta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Bauer earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Choo and Ahmed each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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)| 6/18 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.1 | `PHI 6, STL 5 (F/10) | Nick Pivetta | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 13 | |
| 11.0 | PIT 1, MIL 0 | Trevor Williams (W, 6‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | ||
| AL | 10.0 | CLE 6, CHW 2 | Trevor Bauer (W, 6‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | |
| 7.0 | `MIA 5, SF 4 | Drew Rucinski | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 6.0 | NYM 12, COL 2 | Jacob deGrom (W, 5‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 8.0 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | TEX 6, KC 3 | Shin‑Soo Choo DH | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| 3.0 | HOU 5, TB 4 | Collin McHugh (W, 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | WSH 5, NYY 3 | Sean Doolittle, S (10) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | ARI 7, LAA 4 | Nick Ahmed SS | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| 1.0 | NYY 4, WSH 2 | Giancarlo Stanton LF | 5 | 0 | 4 | 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 Player of the Game winners. 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 the Game | Pos | Team | ’18 | ’17‑18 | ’13‑18 | Career | +/‑ |
| Pivetta, Nick 3825 | pi sp | phi nl | 9.7 | 17.7 | 17.7 | 17.7 | +1.7 |
| Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 7.7 | 17.4 | 44.9 | 46.9 | -2.0 |
| deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 5.0 | 20.7 | 65.8 | 65.8 | -10.7 |
| Choo, Shin-Soo 2267 | dh | tex al | 4.0 | 10.0 | 26.5 | 57.7 | -2.0 |
| Doolittle, Sean 3052 | pi cp | dc nl | 4.0 | 10.0 | 22.0 | 23.0 | -2.0 |
| Ahmed, Nick 3520 | ss | ari nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 7.5 | 7.5 | +4.0 |
| Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 | rf lf | nyy al | 3.0 | 17.2 | 40.9 | 56.4 | -11.2 |
| Williams, Trevor 3792 | pi sp | pit nl | 3.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | -2.0 |
| McHugh, Collin 3316 | pi cp sp | hou al | 1.0 | 4.7 | 36.9 | 36.9 | -2.7 |
| Rucinski, Drew 4001 | pi mr | fla nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +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.