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.
▪️ Top 10 players in 2023 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at upcoming pitching matchups.
▪️ Subscribe to Box-Toppers Email Newsletter.
Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Wheeler struck out nine over 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run (none earned), one hit and one walk, in the 3-2 win over the Tigers.
Wheeler took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before giving up a single. Wheeler did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Tigers tied the game after he exited.
Wheeler earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.0 for the season, 11th among all players and fourth among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Jose Ramirez of the Guardians hit three home runs and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in five runs, in the 10-3 win over the Red Sox.
Ramirez earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 2.7 for the season, 24th among AL batters.
National League Batter of the Day—Travis d'Arnaud of the Braves homered and went 3-for-4, scoring four times and driving in two runs, in the 13-10, 10-inning win over the Mets.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Jose Ramirez.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2023. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Thursday, June 8.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | tor al | 12.0 |
| 2 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 9.4 |
| 3 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | tor al | 9.4 |
| 4 | Gallen, Zac 4171 | pi sp | ari nl | 8.7 |
| 5 | McClanahan, Shane 4399 | pi sp | tb al | 8.7 |
| 6 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 8.1 |
| 7 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | tex al | 7.7 |
| 8 | Eovaldi, Nathan 2928 | pi sp | tex al | 7.7 |
| 9 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf cf dh | nyy al | 7.5 |
| 10 | Luzardo, Jesus 4282 | pi sp | fla nl | 7.4 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Back to top
Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises from 10th to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Kershaw (7IP 5H 0R 2BB 9K W in the 6-0 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.1 for the season. He ranks second among NL pitchers behind Zac Gallen of the Diamondbacks (8.7).
Kershaw also now has 267.4 career Box-Toppers points, second among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, behind only Randy Johnson (282.5). (It should be noted Johnson would have more Box-Toppers points if his entire career from 1988 were tracked—projections put his point total at about 385.) Kershaw leads active players in career points, ahead of second-place player, Mets pitcher Max Scherzer (242.0).
Debut—Yankees pitcher Randy Vasquez made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Vasquez (5.2IP 2H 0R BB 3K W in the 3-0 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut May 26 and was playing in his second career game.
NEW: Inbox notification of each post!
Scoring—Wheeler earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Ramirez earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. d’Arnaud earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Player of the Game winners (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).Back to top
| 6/8 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +12.1 | `PHI 3, DET 2 | Zack Wheeler | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| +9.0 | LAD 6, CIN 0 | Clayton Kershaw, (W 8‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | ||
| AL | +6.0 | CLE 10, BOS 3 | Jose Ramírez, 3B | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.2 | NYY 3, CHW 0 | Randy Vásquez, (W 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| BAT | +5.0 | ATL 13, NYM 10 (F/10) | Travis d'Arnaud, C | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.2 | LAA 3, CHC 1 | Reid Detmers, (W 1‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| +2.2 | TB 4, MIN 2 | Yonny Chirinos, (W 3‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
| +2.0 | SF 6, COL 4 | Michael Conforto, RF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | BAL 6, MIL 3 | Felix Bautista, (S 16) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | TOR 3, HOU 2 | Jordan Romano, (S 17) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| +1.0 | CHW 6, NYY 5 | Luis Robert Jr., CF | 5 | 2 | 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 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.
Back to top
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 in 2023 (’23). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’22-23), the period 2018-2023 (’18-23) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2023 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2022 total (+/-).Back to top
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’23 | ’22‑23 | ’18‑23 | Career | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 8.1 | 18.8 | 60.6 | 267.4 | -2.6 |
| Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 7.0 | 21.4 | 63.2 | 75.9 | -7.4 |
| Bautista, Felix 4668 | pi cp | bal al | 5.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 0.0 |
| Conforto, Michael 3622 | rf | sf nl | 3.5 | 3.5 | 20.7 | 31.7 | +3.5 |
| Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 2.7 | 14.4 | 38.4 | 53.4 | -9.0 |
| d’Arnaud, Travis 3384 | dh ca | atl nl | 2.5 | 7.0 | 14.7 | 25.9 | -2.0 |
| Detmers, Reid 4513 | pi sp | ana al | 2.0 | 9.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | -5.0 |
| Romano, Jordan 4299 | pi cp | tor al | 2.0 | 4.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 0.0 |
| Robert, Luis 4296 | cf | chi al | 1.0 | 5.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 | -3.5 |
| Chirinos, Yonny 4039 | pi sp | tb al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | +1.0 |
| Vazquez, Randy 4841 | pi sp | nyy 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.
Back to top
A Box-Toppers look at Friday’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARI | Kelly, Merrill 4143 | 6.0 | 17.0 | 32.0 | 32.0 |
| DET | Lorenzen, Michael 3479 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 10.5 | 16.5 |
| TEX | Heaney, Andrew 3515 | 4.7 | 12.7 | 35.8 | 40.8 |
| TB | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 37.4 | 37.4 |
| BOS | Whitlock, Garrett 4431 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 |
| NYY | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | 6.0 | 21.4 | 101.4 | 144.3 |
| KC | Lynch, Daniel 4488 | 0.0 | 4.7 | 8.4 | 8.4 |
| BAL | Wells, Tyler 4428 | 4.0 | 8.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 |
| LAD | Grove, Michael 4774 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| PHI | Suarez, Ranger 4228 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| NYM | Megill, Tylor 4464 | 2.0 | 7.7 | 13.7 | 13.7 |
| PIT | Hill, Rich 2215 | 4.0 | 11.7 | 32.4 | 83.2 |
| MIN | Gray, Sonny 3259 | 5.7 | 17.8 | 52.0 | 93.2 |
| TOR | Kikuchi, Yusei 4136 | 4.0 | 9.7 | 21.4 | 21.4 |
| HOU | Javier, Cristian 4290 | 5.0 | 20.7 | 28.7 | 28.7 |
| CLE | Allen, Logan T. 4789 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| WSH | Gray, Josiah 4503 | 2.7 | 7.4 | 8.4 | 8.4 |
| ATL | Smith‑Shawver, AJ* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| MIA | Perez, Eury 4814 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| CHW | Cease, Dylan 4231 | 5.0 | 25.4 | 41.8 | 41.8 |
| OAK | Medina, Luis* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| MIL | Houser, Adrian 4162 | 1.7 | 3.4 | 14.4 | 14.4 |
| CIN | Lively, Ben 3903 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 |
| STL | Montgomery, Jordan 3814 | 1.0 | 10.4 | 21.1 | 27.1 |
| SD | Darvish, Yu 3003 | 3.0 | 19.8 | 58.4 | 127.0 |
| COL | Gomber, Austin 3985 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 18.7 | 18.7 |
| SEA | Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 | 6.4 | 16.4 | 52.8 | 61.2 |
| LAA | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | 9.4 | 34.1 | 64.7 | 64.7 |
| CHC | Stroman, Marcus 3327 | 6.7 | 12.4 | 33.4 | 61.2 |
| SF | DeSclafani, Anthony 3441 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 30.1 | 41.8 |
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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, game-by-game view.
Back to top