Jose Bautista of the Mets is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Meanwhile, Rays pitcher Blake Snell rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2018 season through the games of Aug. 16:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 20.1 |
| 2 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 19.1 |
| 3 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 16.7 |
| 4 | Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 16.1 |
| 5 | Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | tb al | 16.1 |
| 6 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 16.0 |
| 7 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 16.0 |
| 8 | Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 15.4 |
| 9 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 15.4 |
| 10 | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | ari nl | 15.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Player of the Day—Bautista hit a grand slam and doubled, going 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in seven runs, in the 24-4 win over the Phillies.
Bautista has now earned Box-Toppers points in 13 straight seasons after earning his first points of 2018—he earns 2.0 points for being Player of the Day.
Bautista earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Pirates and has 67.4 career points, sixth among active National League outfielders, ninth among active NL batters. His best year was 2010 with the Blue Jays when he had 15.2 points, first among American League batters. He twice extended his consecutive season streak with just 1.0 Box-Toppers point per season in 2009 and 2016, both with the Blue Jays. In 2017, he had 2.5 points with the Blue Jays.
Thursday was the first time in Bautista’s career he earned overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day honors (worth 2.0 Box-Toppers points). He was AL Player of the Day twice (worth 1.7 points), once in 2010 and once in 2011 and has won league Batter of the Day honors (worth 1.5 points) 22 times.
Bautista’s Box-Toppers game score of +9.0 ranked ahead of two pitchers with notable performances Thursday:
Cubs pitcher Jon Lester, Player of the Game in the 1-0 win over the Pirates, also had a game score of +9.0. But in cases of game score ties, batters rank ahead of pitchers, giving Bautista the edge in this case.
Diamondbacks pitcher Clay Buchholz, Player of the Game in the 5-1 win over the Padres, pitched a complete game, but had a slightly lower game score +8.0, behind Bautista (CG 5H R 0BB 6K W). Pitching a complete game usually assures Player of the Day honors and almost always ranks ahead of all batters. Not Thursday.
American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Blake Snell struck out six over five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 3-1 win over the Yankees.
Snell earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 16.1 for the season, most among the 10 who earned Player of the Game honors Thursday. Snell rises to fifth in Box-Toppers season player rankings, fourth among AL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day—Logan Forsythe of the Twins hit two doubles and went 5-for-5, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 15-8 win over the Tigers.
This was Forsythe’s second straight day earning Player of the Game honors. He was also Player of the Game Wednesday in the 6-4 win over the Pirates. They are Forsythe’s only two Player of the Game honors in 2018; he has 2.5 Box-Toppers points for the season—and for the past two days.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall Player of the Day is NL batter Jose Bautista.
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 | 211.8 |
| 4 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 198.7 |
| 5 | Curt Schilling | pi sp | retired | 194.1 |
| 6 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 189.3 |
| 7 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 188.2 |
| 8 | Alex Rodriguez | dh | retired | 187.0 |
| 9 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | dc nl | 176.8 |
| 10 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 174.1 |
| 11 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 12 | Justin Verlander | pi sp | hou al | 169.4 |
| 13 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 14 | Johan Santana | pi sp | free agent | 166.6 |
| 15 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | retired | 164.8 |
| 16 | Cole Hamels | pi sp | chi nl | 162.5 |
| 17 | Jon Lester | pi sp | chi nl | 161.6 |
| 18 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 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.
Notable—Cubs pitcher Jon Lester now has 161.6 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 17th place among all players since 1995, after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Lester (6IP 5H 0R 0BB 8K W in the 1-0 win over the Pirates) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point to pass John Smoltz (160.9) on Box-Toppers’ “all-time” list. (It should be noted Smoltz would have an estimated 255 career points if his entire career from 1988 were tracked.) Lester now trails 16th-ranked player on Box-Toppers’ “all-time” list, teammate Cole Hamels (162.5). Lester ranks ninth among active players in career points .
Lester now has 7.7 Box-Toppers points for the season, 22nd among NL pitchers.
Lester now has 7.7 Box-Toppers points for the season, 22nd among NL pitchers.
Also notable—Rockies pitcher Jon Gray becomes the 24th player in 2018 to reach 10 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Gray (7IP 5H 3R BB 9K ND in the 5-3 win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.7 for the season, 22nd among all players and eighth among NL pitchers. It is Gray’s first season with 10 or more points in the three seasons he has earned points.
Scoring—Bautista earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Snell earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Forsythe 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)| 8/16 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | +9.0 | NYM 24, PHI 4 | Jose Bautista RF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 7 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +9.0 | CHC 1, PIT 0 | Jon Lester (W, 13‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||
| +8.0 | ARI 5, SD 1 | Clay Buchholz (W, 6‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 9.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| AL | +8.0 | TB 3, NYY 1 | Blake Snell (W, 14‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| BAT | +5.0 | MIN 15, DET 8 | Logan Forsythe 2B | 5 | 3 | 5 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | TEX 8, LAA 6 | Matt Moore (W, 2‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +4.0 | `COL 5, ATL 3 | Jon Gray | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 9 | ||
| +3.0 | PHI 9, NYM 6 | Rhys Hoskins LF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | WSH 5, STL 4 | Bryce Harper CF‑RF | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | KC 6, TOR 2 | Rosell Herrera 2B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 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 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 | +/‑ |
| Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | tb al | 16.1 | 21.1 | 25.1 | 25.1 | +11.1 |
| Gray, Jon 3634 | pi sp | col nl | 10.7 | 15.4 | 22.4 | 22.4 | +6.0 |
| Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 7.7 | 18.4 | 81.6 | 161.6 | -3.0 |
| Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf cf | dc nl | 5.0 | 12.0 | 33.4 | 39.4 | -2.0 |
| Buchholz, Clay 2363 | pi sp | ari nl | 3.7 | 3.7 | 31.5 | 62.6 | +3.7 |
| Forsythe, Logan 3364 | 2b | min al | 2.5 | 4.5 | 10.0 | 10.0 | +0.5 |
| Bautista, Jose 2169 | rf | nym nl | 2.0 | 4.5 | 25.0 | 67.4 | -0.5 |
| Hoskins, Rhys 3909 | lf | phi nl | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 |
| Herrera, Rosell 4035 | dh 2b | kc al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +2.0 |
| Moore, Matt 2975 | pi mr sp | tex al | 1.0 | 5.7 | 34.2 | 43.6 | -3.7 |
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.