Box-Toppers Toppers Box
Today’s key Box-Toppers numbers. Click links to jump to charts elsewhere on this page.▪️ Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners.
▪️ Box-Toppers points of the day’s top players.
▪️ A B-T look at upcoming pitching matchups.
Rangers pitcher Dane Dunning is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Wednesday’s spring training games.
Dunning struck out six over five scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 4-3 win over the Royals. Dunning did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Royals tied the game after he exited.
Dunning would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day if this were a regular season game. Because it’s a preseason exhibition game, no Box-Toppers points are awarded.
Dunning earned 4.4 Box-Toppers points in 2022. This is Dunning’s second Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor of 2023 spring training. He also did it March 2.
National League Player of the Day—Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola struck out seven over 3 2/3 innings, allowing one run, two hits and two walks, in the 9-8 win over the Yankees. Nola did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Yankees took the lead after he exited.
Nola would have earned 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day if this were a regular season game.
Nola earned 16.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022, most among Wednesday’s spring training Player of the Game winners and 13th among all players in 2022, ninth among NL pitchers.
AL and NL Batters of the Day—There are no AL and NL Batter of the Day winners for Wednesday because no batters earned Player of the Game honors in the six games completed.
Notable—In addition to Dunning, one other player earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second time this spring training: Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman (3.1IP 2H 0R 2BB 7K W in the 7-1 win over the Pirates). Gausman was also Player of the Game on March 9.
Box-Toppers tracks spring training games between two Major League teams and does not track World Baseball Classic games or other games that involve non-Major League teams. In Wednesday’s six spring training games (see chart below for game details), five who earned Player of the Game honors have earned Box-Toppers points in the past (see those players here); the remaining player (Cardinals pitcher Connor Thomas) has yet to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in a regular season game.
Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in exhibition games. Were it a regular season day, Dunning would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Nola would have earned 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. All of Wednesday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) would have earned 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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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).Back to top
| 3/15 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +9.0 | `TEX 4, KC 3 | Dane Dunning | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| +6.1 | TOR 7, PIT 1 | Kevin Gausman, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | ||
| NL | +4.2 | `PHI 9, NYY 8 | Aaron Nola | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | |
| +4.0 | BOS 9, TB 1 | Corey Kluber, (W 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| +4.0 | `STL 4, NYM 1 | Connor Thomas | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | HOU 9, ATL 3 | Bryan Garcia, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
MLB—Overall Box‑Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box‑Toppers points.
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.
N/A—Not applicable. No Player of the Game was chosen because the game ended in a tie.
All other players listed here would 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.
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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. No points are awarded during spring training games, so all players have 0.0 Box-Toppers points for 2023. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total in 2022 (’22). Also shown is their point total for the period 2018-2022 (’18-22) and each players’ career point total. (Player of the Game winners not listed here have yet to earn Box-Toppers points during the regular season.)Back to top
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’23 | ’22 | ’18‑22 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 0.0 | 16.0 | 65.2 | 89.7 |
| Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | tor al | 0.0 | 12.7 | 34.1 | 69.4 |
| Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | bos al | 0.0 | 11.0 | 37.7 | 125.1 |
| Dunning, Dane 4317 | pi sp | tex al | 0.0 | 4.4 | 9.4 | 9.4 |
| Garcia, Bryan 4379 | pi cp | hou al | 0.0 | 0.0 | 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.
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A Box-Toppers look at Thursday’s pitching matchups
A Box-Toppers look at the upcoming day’s probable pitching matchups. Teams are paired below with visiting teams on top and home teams on the bottom. Each team’s starting pitcher is shown with their Box-Toppers point total from 2023 (’23), over a two-year period (’22-23), over a six-year period (’18-23) and their career point total.Back to top
| Game | Starter | ’23 | ’22‑23 | ’18‑23 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOU | Blanco, Ronel* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| STL | Flaherty, Jack 3971 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 41.3 | 41.3 |
| TB | Fleming, Josh 4316 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 9.7 | 9.7 |
| MIN | Ryan, Joe 4539 | 0.0 | 14.7 | 17.4 | 17.4 |
| ATL | Morton, Charlie 2503 | 0.0 | 10.4 | 58.7 | 94.1 |
| TB | Springs, Jeffrey 4372 | 0.0 | 10.7 | 13.7 | 13.7 |
| ARI | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | 0.0 | 3.7 | 31.4 | 139.1 |
| CHC | Smyly, Drew 3009 | 0.0 | 8.7 | 20.7 | 56.2 |
| OAK | Oller, Adam 4719 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| KC | Bubic, Kris 4413 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| CHW | Avila, Nick* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| CLE | McKenzie, Triston 4303 | 0.0 | 15.7 | 30.1 | 30.1 |
| SD | Wacha, Michael 3276 | 0.0 | 8.4 | 23.5 | 50.2 |
| COL | Undecided | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| SF | Cobb, Alex 2916 | 0.0 | 6.7 | 18.1 | 57.9 |
| SEA | Kirby, George 4595 | 0.0 | 11.4 | 11.4 | 11.4 |
| LAA | Detmers, Reid 4513 | 0.0 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| MIL | Lauer, Eric 4017 | 0.0 | 9.4 | 28.8 | 28.8 |
| NYM | Undecided | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| WSH | Gray, Josiah 4503 | 0.0 | 4.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 |
| TOR | Thompson, Zach 4437 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| BAL | Irvin, Cole 4140 | 0.0 | 7.7 | 15.4 | 15.4 |
| PHI | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | 0.0 | 14.4 | 56.2 | 68.9 |
| DET | Turnbull, Spencer 4086 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 13.7 | 13.7 |
| PIT | Oviedo, Johan 4442 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| NYY | Schmidt, Clarke 4581 | 0.0 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 |
| TEX | Gray, Jon 3634 | 0.0 | 6.0 | 33.7 | 45.4 |
| LAD | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | 0.0 | 10.7 | 52.5 | 259.3 |
Games shown are spring training games between MLB teams. Doesn't include World Baseball Classic or games vs. non-MLB teams.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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