Box-Toppers Toppers Box
Today’s key Box-Toppers numbers. Click links to jump to charts elsewhere on this page.▪️ Players of the Game
▪️ B-T points of day’s top players
▪️ Upcoming pitching matchups
▪️ Subscribe to newsletter
▪️ Support Box-Toppers
Braves pitcher Chris Sale is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Saturday’s spring training games.
Other Player of the Game winners Saturday include Astros pitcher Framber Valdez, Henry Davis of the Pirates, Corey Seager of the Rangers and Royals pitcher Austin Cox.
Player of the Day
Sale struck out nine over six innings, allowing two runs, four hits and one walk, in the 7-3 win over the Red Sox.
Sale had a Box-Toppers game score of +6.0, best among all Braves players. While one other Player of the Game winner Saturday also had a +6.0 game score—Giants pitcher Logan Webb (5IP H 2R 0ER BB 5K W in the 6-2 win over the Mariners)—Sale won overall Player of the Day honors because he had more innings pitched than Webb (six vs. five).
Sale earned 19.1 Box-Toppers points in 2024, fifth overall and fourth among National League pitchers. He also has 172.4 career Box-Toppers points, 14th-most since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He also ranks fourth among active, signed players in career points, third among active NL pitchers, behind Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (272.4) and Justin Verlander of the Giants (247.0).
American League Player of the Day
Astros pitcher Framber Valdez struck out six over four scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 6-4 win over the Marlins. Valdez did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because when he exited, the game was in a scoreless tie.
Valdez earned 15.4 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 10th overall and fifth among AL pitchers.
National League Batter of the Day
Henry Davis of the Pirates hit a grand slam and went 1-for-2, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 15-5 win over the Orioles.
Davis earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point in 2024, playing in 37 games, his only career Box-Toppers point.
Box-Toppers’ top two pitchers in 2024 match up in Saturday spring training game: DET at PHI • Tarik Skubal #Tigers 21.1 B-T points in 2024, 2nd* • Zack Wheeler #Phillies 21.4 B-T points in 2024, 1st* *Overall rank in 2024 All Saturday pitching matchups—https://buff.ly/bhUXUZ6
— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Mar 15, 2025 at 11:50 AM
[image or embed]
Saturday’s matchup between Box-Toppers' top 2 players in 2024: Tarik Skubal #Tigers 5IP 6H 2R 0BB 7K ND, +2.0 B-T game score Zack Wheeler #Phillies 5IP 3H 2R 0ER BB 3K ND, +2.0 B-T game score (Game ended in tie, so no Player of the Game honors awarded). www.box-toppers.com/blog/2025/3/...
— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Mar 16, 2025 at 9:42 AM
[image or embed]
American League Batter of the Day
Corey Seager of the Rangers hit two doubles and went 2-for-2, driving in four runs, in the 4-3 win over the Athletics.
Seager earned 3.5 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 44th among AL batters.
Notable
Royals closing pitcher Austin Cox won Player of the Game honors Saturday for the second time during the 2025 spring training season.
Cox (2IP 0H 0R BB 2K Sv in the 13-7 win over the Reds) was also Player of the Game March 9 in the 5-2 win over the Brewers (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W).
Cox has 1.0 career Box-Toppers point, earned in his only Major League season in 2023 with the Royals, when he played 24 games. He pitched in 42 minor league games in 2024.
Saturday’s games
There were 17 completed spring training games between two Major League teams Saturday. (Spring games featuring club prospects were also played but are excluded here). In the 17 games, there were 11 Player of the Game winners who had previously earned Box-Toppers points in regular season games. In four of Saturday’s games, the Player of the Game winner was a player who has yet to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in the regular season and so has 0.0 career Box-Toppers points.
Two games ended in a tie (Tigers vs. Phillies and Yankees vs. Rays). No Player of the Game honors are awarded in tie games.
Scoring
No Box-Toppers points are awarded in exhibition games. Were it a regular season day:
Sale would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.
Valdez would have earned 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day.
Davis and Seager would have each earned 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day.
All of Saturday’s other Player of the Game winners (listed in the chart) 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.
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.
For additional updates, follow Box-Toppers on Bluesky or Twitter (X).
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).| 3/15 | BTG | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +6.0 | ATL 7, BOS 3 | Chris Sale (W, 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | |
| +6.0 | SF 6, SEA 2 | Logan Webb (W, 3‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| AL | +6.0 | `HOU 6, MIA 4 | Framber Valdez | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| BAT | +5.0 | PIT 15, BAL 5 | Henry Davis C | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.0 | MIN 4, ATL 0 | Simeon Woods Richardson (W, 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +4.1 | MIL 8, ATH 0 | Freddy Peralta (W, 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| BAT | +4.0 | TEX 4, ATH 3 | Corey Seager SS | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | MIL 4, LAA 0 | Isaac Collins LF | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | STL 9, TOR 5 | Alec Burleson DH | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | SD 8, SEA 3 | Mason McCoy SS | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | CHW 2, COL 1 | Owen White (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.0 | KC 13, CIN 7 | Austin Cox (S, 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | ARI 9, CHW 8 | Lourdes Gurriel Jr. LF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | CLE 7, KC 5 | Angel Martínez 2B | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | WSH 4, NYM 1 | Eduardo Salazar (S, 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 0.0 | DET 2, PHI 2 | N/A | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 0.0 | NYY 7, TB 7 | N/A | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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.
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. No points are awarded during spring training games, so all players have 0.0 Box-Toppers points for 2025. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total in 2024 (’24). Also shown is their point total for the period 2020-2024 (’20-24) 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 | ’25 | ’24 | ’20‑24 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | atl nl | 0.0 | 19.1 | 29.8 | 172.4 |
| Valdez, Framber 4048 | pi sp | hou al | 0.0 | 15.4 | 51.1 | 56.8 |
| Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi sp | mil nl | 0.0 | 13.4 | 53.2 | 69.9 |
| Webb, Logan 4258 | pi sp | sf nl | 0.0 | 11.0 | 49.6 | 51.3 |
| Burleson, Alec 4874 | dh | stl nl | 0.0 | 7.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 |
| Gurriel, Lourdes Jr. 4148 | lf ph | ari nl | 0.0 | 3.7 | 19.4 | 20.4 |
| Woods Richardson, Simeon 4974 | pi sp | min al | 0.0 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| Seager, Corey 3587 | ss dh | tex al | 0.0 | 3.5 | 17.7 | 32.2 |
| Davis, Henry 4973 | ca | pit nl | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| McCoy, Mason 5092 | ss | sd nl | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Cox, Austin 4860 | pi mr | kc al | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
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 Sunday’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 2025 (’25)†, last year (’24), over a five-year period (’20-24) and their career point total.Back to top
| Game | Starter | ’25† | ’24 | ’20‑24 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BAL | Suarez, Albert 3870 | 0.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 8.0 |
| DET | Flaherty, Jack 3971 | 0.0 | 12.0 | 27.7 | 57.3 |
| TB | Seabold, Connor 4845 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| WSH | Soroka, Michael 3956 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 14.4 |
| BOS | Crochet, Garrett 4434 | 0.0 | 10.7 | 11.7 | 11.7 |
| MIN | Lopez, Pablo 4028 | 0.0 | 11.7 | 51.2 | 58.9 |
| PHI | Luzardo, Jesus 4282 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 35.9 | 35.9 |
| BAL | Eflin, Zach 3679 | 0.0 | 7.7 | 29.8 | 51.2 |
| PIT | Fulmer, Carson 3910 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| NYY | Schmidt, Clarke 4581 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 10.4 | 10.4 |
| NYY | Leibrant, Brandon* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| TB | Boyle, Joe 4948 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| ATL | Holmes, Grant 5127 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| TOR | Berrios, Jose 3791 | 0.0 | 9.7 | 41.5 | 79.0 |
| HOU | Okert, Steven 3745 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 |
| NYM | Megill, Tylor 4464 | 0.0 | 2.7 | 18.4 | 18.4 |
| STL | Gray, Sonny 3259 | 0.0 | 12.4 | 46.0 | 110.3 |
| MIA | Quantrill, Cal 4195 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 20.7 | 22.7 |
| SEA | Miller, Bryce 4797 | 0.0 | 15.7 | 28.8 | 28.8 |
| CIN | Singer, Brady 4337 | 0.0 | 10.0 | 33.7 | 33.7 |
| ATH | Springs, Jeffrey 4372 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 22.4 | 22.4 |
| SF | Birdsong, Hayden 5063 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| CHW | Wilson, Bryse 4048 | 0.0 | 4.7 | 9.7 | 10.7 |
| TEX | Leiter, Jack* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| KC | Ragans, Cole 4889 | 0.0 | 12.0 | 16.4 | 16.4 |
| COL | Freeland, Kyle 3763 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 21.7 | 41.1 |
| SD | Cease, Dylan 4231 | 0.0 | 21.1 | 65.9 | 67.9 |
| LAA | Hendricks, Kyle 3386 | 0.0 | 5.7 | 25.4 | 79.3 |
| KC | Pfaadt, Brandon 4812 | 0.0 | 12.4 | 16.1 | 16.1 |
| SD | Hart, Kyle* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| CLE | Lively, Ben 3903 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 8.0 |
| MIL | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 51.9 | 61.6 |
Games shown are spring training games between MLB teams. Doesn't include games vs. non-MLB teams.
† Players don’t earn Box-Toppers points in spring training games, only regular season games, so no pitcher has earned any points in 2025.
* Player has yet to earn any career 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