Astros pitcher Justin Verlander is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to seventh 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 July 10:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 16.7 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.4 |
| 3 | Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 15.1 |
| 4 | Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 14.4 |
| 5 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 14.0 |
| 6 | Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 |
| 7 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 12.4 |
| 8 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 12.0 |
| 9 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | hou al | 11.8 |
| 10 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 11.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Verlander struck out six over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 6-5, 11-inning win over the Athletics. Verlander did not earn the win or save, picking up a no-decision, because the Athletics tied the game after he exited.
Verlander earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 12.4 for the season, rising to seventh in Box-Toppers season player rankings, fifth among American League pitchers and first among the three Astros pitchers now ranked among Box-Toppers’ top 10 players. The others are ninth-ranked Gerrit Cole (12.0 points) and 10th-ranked Charlie Morton (11.8).
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 | 210.8 |
| 4 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 196.7 |
| 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 | 183.2 |
| 9 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 174.1 |
| 10 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | dc nl | 173.1 |
| 11 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 12 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 13 | Johan Santana | pi sp | free agent | 166.6 |
| 14 | Justin Verlander | pi sp | hou al | 166.4 |
| 15 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | retired | 164.8 |
| 16 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 17 | Cole Hamels | pi sp | tex al | 159.8 |
| 18 | Jon Lester | pi sp | chi nl | 159.6 |
| 19 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 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.
Verlander also rises to 14th place in career Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Tuesday, he now has 166.4 career points, rising past Roger Clemens (164.8) on the “all-time” list. (It should be noted that Clemens would have an estimated 320 Box-Toppers points if his entire career from 1984 were tracked.) Verlander now trails 13th-ranked player, Johan Santana (166.6). Verlander ranks seventh among active players in career points.
National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Eric Lauer struck out eight over 8 2/3 innings, allowing one run, four hits and two walks, in the 4-1 win over the Dodgers.
This was Lauer’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Lauer made his Major League debut April 24 and was playing in his 15th career game. He is the 4,017th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
American League Batter of the Day—Manny Machado of the Orioles hit two home runs and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 6-5 win over the Yankees.
National League Batter of the Day—Christian Yelich of the Brewers hit two doubles and went 3-for-5, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 8-4 win over the Marlins.
Notable—Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer had a Box-Toppers game score of +13.0, good enough to earn overall Player of the Day Tuesday, but did not because it came in his team’s loss.
Bauer (8IP 3H 0R 4BB 12K ND in the 7-4 loss to the Reds) was pitching a shutout through eight innings, but the bullpen gave up seven runs in the top of the ninth, blowing the game and Bauer’s chances of earning Box-Toppers Player of the Game and Player of the Day honors.
Bauer has 10.4 Box-Toppers points in 2018, 11th among AL pitchers.
Instead, Player of the Game was Adam Duvall (2B 1-1 R 2BI), who had the highest Box-Toppers game score among the winning Reds, +3.0.
Debut—Royals pitcher Brian Flynn made his Box-Toppers debut Tuesday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Flynn (4IP H 0R 2BB 3K W in the 9-4 win over the Twins) made his Major League debut Sept. 4, 2013, and was playing in his 68th career game. He is the 4,018th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Verlander earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lauer earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Machado and Yelich 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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG)| 7/10 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | `HOU 6, OAK 5 (F/11) | Justin Verlander | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| NL | 8.2 | SD 4, LAD 1 | Eric Lauer (W, 5‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 8.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| 5.0 | WSH 5, PIT 1 | Jeremy Hellickson (W, 3‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 5.0 | TB 5, DET 2 | Jose Alvarado (W, 1‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | BAL 6, NYY 5 | Manny Machado SS | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| 4.0 | LAA 9, SEA 3 | Kole Calhoun RF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 4.0 | STL 14, CHW 2 | Miles Mikolas (W, 10‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | CHC 2, SF 0 | Jose Quintana (W, 8‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | KC 9, MIN 4 | Brian Flynn (W, 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | BOS 8, TEX 4 | Matt Barnes (W, 3‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | MIL 8, MIA 4 | Christian Yelich LF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| 3.0 | PHI 7, NYM 3 | Maikel Franco 3B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 3.0 | CIN 7, CLE 4 | Adam Duvall PH‑LF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 2.2 | ARI 5, COL 3 | Randall Delgado (W, 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | TOR 6, ATL 2 | Marcus Stroman (W, 2‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
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 | +/‑ |
| Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 12.4 | 27.1 | 62.2 | 166.4 | -2.3 |
| Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.1 | 23.1 | 52.9 | 58.3 | -6.9 |
| Mikolas, Miles 3034 | pi sp | stl nl | 7.7 | 7.7 | 9.4 | 10.4 | +7.7 |
| Yelich, Christian 3334 | rf lf cf | mil nl | 5.0 | 10.0 | 25.5 | 25.5 | 0.0 |
| Franco, Maikel 3510 | 3b | phi nl | 5.0 | 7.7 | 15.4 | 15.4 | +2.3 |
| Hellickson, Jeremy 2778 | pi sp | dc nl | 3.7 | 7.7 | 32.8 | 52.5 | -0.3 |
| Duvall, Adam 3573 | lf ph | cin nl | 3.5 | 8.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | -1.0 |
| Machado, Manny 3087 | ss 3b | bal al | 3.0 | 10.0 | 32.2 | 33.7 | -4.0 |
| Stroman, Marcus 3327 | pi sp | tor al | 2.0 | 6.7 | 29.8 | 29.8 | -2.7 |
| Calhoun, Kole 3279 | rf | ana al | 2.0 | 5.5 | 21.2 | 21.2 | -1.5 |
| Lauer, Eric 4017 | pi sp | sd nl | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | +1.7 |
| Barnes, Matt 3466 | pi mr cp | bos al | 1.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | -2.0 |
| Delgado, Randall 2939 | pi mr sp | ari nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 9.4 | 11.4 | 0.0 |
| Alvarado, Jose 3797 | pi mr | tb al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| Flynn, Brian 4018 | pi mr | kc al | 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.