(This post was edited Monday, November 19, 2018, to correct an error in the Box-Toppers point total of Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom. During the 2018 season, an extra, unearned point was added to his total. There is more information about this at the bottom of the post.)
Braves pitcher Mike Foltynewicz is Friday’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 Sept. 28:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | tb al | 26.2 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 25.1 |
| 3 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 22.1 |
| 4 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 21.7 |
| 5 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 20.1 |
| 6 | Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 20.1 |
| 7 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 18.1 |
| 8 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 18.0 |
| 9 | Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 17.8 |
| 10 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 17.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Also Friday, Twins pitcher Jose Berrios rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Player of the Day—Foltynewicz struck out nine over five innings, allowing one run, one hit and no walks, in the 10-2 win over the Phillies.
Foltynewicz earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 13.7 for the season, 21st among all players and seventh among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Twins pitcher Jose Berrios struck out nine over seven innings, allowing one run, three hits and four walks, in the 2-1 win over the White Sox.
Berrios earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 17.8 for the season, rising to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings, seventh among AL pitchers.
This was Berrios’s first Player of the Game honor in more than two months, since July 24, when he was fourth in player rankings.
American League Batter of the Day—Mitch Garver of the Twins hit two doubles and went 4-for-5, scoring once and driving in six runs, in the 12-4 win over the White Sox.
National League Batter of the Day—Ryan Braun of the Brewers hit two homers, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 6-5 win over the Tigers.
Notable—Indians pitcher Mike Clevinger now has 13.7 Box-Toppers points on the season after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Clevinger (6.2IP 3H R 0BB 5K W in the 14-6 win over the Royals) ranks 20th in Box-Toppers season player rankings, 14th among AL pitchers.
Also notable—Aaron Judge of the Yankees earns his first Box-Toppers point in more than three months after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Judge (HR 2-4 3R BI in the 11-6 win over the Red Sox) last earned Player of the Game honors June 21. Judge now has 5.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, 30th among AL batters.
Scoring—Foltynewicz earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Berrios earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Garver and Braun each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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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NOTE ABOUT JACOB DEGROM: After this post was published, Box-Toppers discovered an error: Jacob deGrom was credited with 1.0 more Box-Toppers point than he actually earned in 2018. This post has been changed to include deGrom’s actual Box-Toppers point total and player ranking position at the time of this post. Subtracting a point from deGrom’s season total meant he had 16.8 Box-Toppers points, rather than 17.8. Despite the change, he still finished third among National League pitchers. However, the change moves him from ninth place to 12th place in overall season player rankings, moving him out of the top 10 and keeping Yankees pitcher Luis Severino (17.7 points) in the top 10 for the season, in 10th place.
This is made all the more odd and awkward because the error was discovered while compiling the post about deGrom winning the NL Cy Young Award on Wednesday, Nov. 14. deGrom was the near-unanimous choice for the award, but even with his higher, incorrect Box-Toppers point total (17.8), Box-Toppers had him ranked third among NL pitchers, needing nearly 50 percent more points to catch the NL pitching leader, Max Scherzer of the Nationals (25.1).
My post was about how Scherzer was more deserving of the award than the widely acclaimed deGrom because Scherzer actually helped his team win more games. Despite deGrom’s great performances, the Mets lost most of the games he pitched. Since winning is the name of the game and since Box-Toppers points are only awarded in wins, deGrom’s point total was far lower—but it was still remarkable, given all the losses, that he reached as high as third place among NL pitchers. While writing about how deGrom wasn’t as deserving of the award, I found the error (the extra point), and correcting the record (subtracting the point), I found he was even more undeserving.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG)| 9/28 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | +11.0 | ATL 10, PHI 2 | Mike Foltynewicz (W, 13‑10) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | |
| AL | +7.0 | MIN 2, CHW 1 | Jose Berrios (W, 12‑11) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | |
| +6.2 | CLE 14, KC 6 | Mike Clevinger (W, 13‑8) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| BAT | +6.0 | MIN 12, CHW 4 | Mitch Garver 1B | 5 | 1 | 4 | 6 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.1 | LAA 8, OAK 5 | Taylor Cole (W, 4‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| +3.1 | `SD 3, ARI 2 (F/15) | Eric Lauer | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| +3.0 | SEA 12, TEX 6 | Robinson Cano 2B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | MIL 6, DET 5 | Ryan Braun LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | TOR 7, TB 6 | Randal Grichuk PH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | COL 5, WSH 2 | Wade Davis (S, 43) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.0 | `HOU 2, BAL 1 | Collin McHugh (H, 12) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | PIT 8, CIN 4 | Colin Moran 3B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | NYY 11, BOS 6 | Aaron Judge RF | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | CHC 8, STL 4 | Daniel Murphy 2B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | MIA 8, NYM 1 | Miguel Rojas SS | 6 | 2 | 4 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | LAD 3, SF 1 | Enrique Hernandez RF‑CF‑2B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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 | +/‑ |
| Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 17.8 | 26.8 | 26.8 | 26.8 | +8.8 |
| Clevinger, Mike 3707 | pi sp | cle al | 13.7 | 25.1 | 28.1 | 28.1 | +2.3 |
| Foltynewicz, Mike 3455 | pi sp | atl nl | 13.7 | 17.7 | 24.4 | 24.4 | +9.7 |
| Garver, Mitch 3950 | ca | min al | 7.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 | +7.5 |
| Davis, Wade 2681 | pi cp | col nl | 7.0 | 12.0 | 30.0 | 38.0 | +2.0 |
| Lauer, Eric 4017 | pi sp | sd nl | 6.7 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 6.7 | +6.7 |
| Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf | nyy al | 5.0 | 16.2 | 16.2 | 16.2 | -6.2 |
| Cano, Robinson 2092 | 2b | sea al | 4.0 | 8.0 | 41.5 | 83.4 | 0.0 |
| Braun, Ryan J. 2300 | lf | mil nl | 4.0 | 7.5 | 31.0 | 95.7 | +0.5 |
| Moran, Colin 3931 | 3b | pit nl | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | +3.5 |
| McHugh, Collin 3316 | pi mr cp | hou al | 3.0 | 6.7 | 38.9 | 38.9 | -0.7 |
| Hernandez, Enrique 3541 | ss rf cf 2b | lad nl | 3.0 | 4.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | +2.0 |
| Cole, Taylor 4067 | pi mr cp | ana al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +3.0 |
| Grichuk, Randal 3474 | rf ph | tor al | 2.7 | 10.7 | 21.2 | 21.2 | -5.3 |
| Murphy, Daniel 2589 | 2b | chi nl | 2.5 | 10.0 | 34.5 | 42.5 | -5.0 |
| Rojas, Miguel 3642 | ss | fla nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | -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.