Yankees pitcher Corey Kluber, pitching a no-hitter, is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, two players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after both earned Player of the Game honors—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises to fourth place and Marlins pitcher Trevor Rogers rises to fifth.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2021. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Wednesday, May 19.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 9.0 |
| 2 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 8.7 |
| 3 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 7.7 |
| 4 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.4 |
| 5 | Rogers, Trevor 4311 | pi sp | fla nl | 7.0 |
| 6 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.7 |
| 7 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 6.4 |
| 8 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 6.4 |
| 9 | Martinez, J.D. 2922 | dh | bos al | 6.2 |
| 10 | Means, John 4115 | pi sp | bal al | 6.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Player of the Day—Kluber pitched a complete-game, no-hit shutout, striking out nine and walking one, in the 2-0 win over the Rangers.
Kluber earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season, 21st among all players and sixth among American League pitchers.
It is the season’s sixth no-hitter—the seventh, if you count Diamondbacks pitcher Madison Bumgarner’s seven-inning no-hitter April 25. It is also the second no-hitter in two days after Tigers pitcher Spencer Turnbull no-hit the Mariners Tuesday.
Kluber had the third-best Box-Toppers game score (+17.0) among the six regular-length, nine-inning no-hitters (Bumgarner had a +14.0 game score in his seven-inning no-hitter). Kluber’s +17.0 game score also ranks as the seventh-best among Player of the Game winners so far this season. The top game score by a Player of the Game winner in 2021 is +22.0 by Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom on April 23.
Here are the game scores for the season’s other five no-hitters:
+21.0 by Orioles pitcher John Means on May 5, second-highest game score among all Player of the Game winners in 2021.
+19.0 by Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove on April 9, third-highest game score of the season.
+16.0 by Turnbull on May 18, the 10th-highest game score of the season.
+16.0 by Reds pitcher Wade Miley on May 7, the 10th-highest game score of the season.
+16.0 by White Sox pitcher Carlos Rodon on April 14, the 11th-highest game score of the season. (Though Turnbull, Miley and Rodon all had +16.0 game scores in their no-hitters, Turnbull’s is ranked highest because he had the most strikeouts in his game (nine), Miley had the second-most (eight) and Rodon the third-most (seven).
Kluber also now has 114.1 career Box-Toppers points, 54th-most among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his 2.0 points Wednesday, he passes five players on the “all-time” list—Kevin Brown (112.8), Sammy Sosa (113.2), Dan Haren (113.2), Chris Carpenter (113.3) and Royals pitcher Ervin Santana (113.4). Kluber now trails 53rd-ranked player Josh Beckett (114.9). Passing Santana, Kluber now ranks 13th among active, signed players in career points, fourth among active AL pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks, in the 3-0 win over the Rockies.
Musgrove had a Box-Toppers game score Wednesday of +16.0, just 1.0 less than the +17.0 achieved by Kluber in his no-hitter.
American League Batter of the Day—Randy Arozarena of the Rays hit two homers, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 9-7 win over the Orioles.
National League Batter of the Day—Tommy Edman of the Cardinals doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 8-5 win over the Pirates.
Kershaw—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises from fifth to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Kershaw (6IP 2H 2R BB 8K ND in the 4-2 win over the Diamondbacks) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.4 for the season. He ranks second among NL pitchers, behind Yu Darvish of the Padres (7.7).
Kershaw also now has 242.6 career Box-Toppers points, third-most since 1995 when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails second-place player Pedro Martinez (244.8) by 2.2 points. (If Martinez’ entire career were tracked from 1992, rough projections put his career Box-Toppers total at about 270.) Kershaw leads active players in career Box-Toppers points ahead of second-place player, Astros pitcher Zack Greinke (212.8), who also earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Rankings—Also rising in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list: Marlins pitcher Trevor Rogers rises to fifth place after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Rogers (7.2IP 5H R 2BB 8K W in the 3-1 win over the Phillies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.0 for the season. He ranks third among NL pitchers behind Darvish (7.7) and Kershaw (7.0).
Notable—Astros pitcher Zack Greinke now has 212.8 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Greinke (8IP 4H R 0BB 8K W in the 8-1 win over the Athletics) ranks fourth among all players in career points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He ranks second among active players, behind Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (242.6), who also earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Greinke has 3.7 Box-Toppers points in 2021, 19th among AL pitchers.
Debut—Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal made his Box-Toppers debut Wednesday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Skubal (5IP 4H 2R 2BB 9K W in the 6-2 win over the Mariners) made his Major League debut Aug. 18, 2020, and was playing in his 17th career game.
Scoring—Kluber earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Musgrove earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Arozarena and Edman each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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.
Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners
Here is the top player from each of the day’s games listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG).| 5/19 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +17.0 | NYY 2, TEX 0 | Corey Kluber, (W 4‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 9.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |
| NL | +16.0 | SD 3, COL 0 | Joe Musgrove, (W 4‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | |
| +12.0 | CHW 2, MIN 1 | Lucas Giolito, (W 3‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 8.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 11 | ||
| +11.0 | SF 4, CIN 0 | Kevin Gausman, (W 4‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | ||
| +10.0 | HOU 8, OAK 1 | Zack Greinke, (W 4‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | ||
| +10.0 | `ATL 5, NYM 4 | Charlie Morton | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | ||
| +7.0 | `LAD 4, ARI 2 | Clayton Kershaw | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| +6.2 | MIA 3, PHI 1 | Trevor Rogers, (W 6‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| +6.0 | CLE 3, LAA 2 | Aaron Civale, (W 6‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| BAT | +4.0 | TB 9, BAL 7 | Randy Arozarena, LF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| BAT | +4.0 | STL 8, PIT 5 | Tommy Edman, 2B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | DET 6, SEA 2 | Tarik Skubal, (W 1‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | ||
| +2.0 | KC 6, MIL 4 | Michael Taylor, CF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | BOS 7, TOR 3 | Enrique Hernández, CF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | WSH 4, CHC 3 | Victor Robles, CF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 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 Player of the Game winners
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 (’21). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’20-21), the period 2016-2021 (’16-21) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2021 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2020 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’21 | ’20‑21 | ’16‑21 | Career | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.4 | 15.1 | 83.3 | 242.6 | ‑0.3 |
| Rogers, Trevor 4311 | pi sp | fla nl | 7.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | +6.0 |
| Civale, Aaron 4173 | pi sp | cle al | 5.7 | 8.4 | 11.4 | 11.4 | +3.0 |
| Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | nyy al | 5.0 | 5.0 | 69.9 | 114.1 | +5.0 |
| Musgrove, Joe 3705 | pi sp | sd nl | 4.7 | 6.7 | 24.4 | 24.4 | +2.7 |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | hou al | 3.7 | 5.7 | 66.4 | 212.8 | +1.7 |
| Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | sf nl | 3.0 | 4.0 | 32.6 | 46.0 | +2.0 |
| Giolito, Lucas 3900 | pi sp | chi al | 2.0 | 9.0 | 29.7 | 29.7 | ‑5.0 |
| Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | atl nl | 2.0 | 4.0 | 48.3 | 73.0 | +0.0 |
| Arozarena, Randy 4331 | lf | tb al | 1.5 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +0.0 |
| Edman, Tommy 4255 | 2b rf 3b | stl nl | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | +1.5 |
| Hernandez, Enrique (Kike) 3541 | cf 2b | bos al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 11.5 | 12.5 | ‑1.0 |
| Robles, Victor 4087 | cf | dc nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | +0.0 |
| Taylor, Michael 3447 | cf | kc al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5.7 | 11.2 | +1.0 |
| Skubal, Tarik 4414 | pi sp | det al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default view.