Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fifth place in season player rankings.
Scherzer struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hit and three walks, in the 3-1 win over the Braves.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 18:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 4.7 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 4.0 |
| 3 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 3.4 |
| 4 | Morrison, Logan 2794 | 1b | tb al | 3.2 |
| 5 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 3.0 |
| 6 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 3.0 |
| 7 | Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | bos al | 3.0 |
| 8 | Devenski, Chris 3702 | pi mr cp | hou al | 3.0 |
| 9 | Bedrosian, Cam 3694 | pi cp | ana al | 3.0 |
| 10 | Marte, Starling 3122 | lf cf | pit nl | 3.0 |
Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season. He also now has 134.7 career points and rises to 30th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes Jason Giambi (133.4) on the “all-time” list and now trails 29th-ranked player Andy Pettitte (138.5).
American League Player of the Day—Athletics pitcher Andrew Triggs struck out five over six innings, allowing two runs (none earned) and three hits, in the 4-2 win over the Rangers.
National League Batter of the Day—Nolan Arenado of the Rockies homered twice and doubled, going 3-for-4 and driving in three runs, in the 4-3 win over the Dodgers.
American League Batter of the Day—Mookie Betts of the Red Sox homered and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 8-7 win over the Blue Jays.
Streak—Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians has now earned Box-Toppers points in 13 consecutive seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Encarnacion (HR 1-3 2R 3BI in the 11-4 win over the Twins) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2005 with the Reds and has 68.1 career points, ninth among active AL batters. His best season was 2015 with the Blue Jays, when he had 10.4 Box-Toppers points, fifth among AL batters.
Rankings—Angels closing pitcher Cam Bedrosian rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Bedrosian (2IP 2H 0R 0BB 3K Sv in the 5-2 win over the Astros) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game, giving him 3.0 for the season.
Notable—Starling Marte of the Pirates was suspended Tuesday for 80 games for violating baseball’s performance enhancing drug policy. Marte currently ranks 10th in Box-Toppers season player rankings with 3.0 Box-Toppers points. He was NL Batter of the Day on April 9 and April 15.
Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Triggs earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Arenado and Betts each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’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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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score| 4/18 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | WSH 3, ATL 1 | Max Scherzer (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | |
| 7.0 | MIA 5, SEA 0 | Wei-Yin Chen (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| AL | 6.0 | OAK 4, TEX 2 | Andrew Triggs (W,3-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| 5.1 | CHW 4, NYY 1 | Miguel Gonzalez (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 8.1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 4.1 | ARI 11, SD 2 | Shelby Miller (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | COL 4, LAD 3 | Nolan Arenado, 3B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | CIN 9, BAL 3 | Adam Duvall, LF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | TB 5, DET 1 | Matt Andriese (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | BOS 8, TOR 7 | Mookie Betts, RF | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | CHC 9, MIL 7 | Miguel Montero, C | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CLE 11, MIN 4 | Edwin Encarnacion, DH | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | LAA 5, HOU 2 | Cam Bedrosian (S,3) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 2.0 | PHI 6, NYM 2 (F/10) | Aaron Altherr, PH-LF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | SF 2, KC 1 (F/11) | Mark Melancon (S,3) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 1.0 | `STL 2, PIT 1 | Matt Bowman (H,3) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 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 top players
Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 3.0 | 28.7 | 106.9 | 134.7 | -22.7 |
| Bedrosian, Cam 3694 | pi cp | ana al | 3.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 0.0 |
| Triggs, Andrew 3723 | pi sp | oak al | 2.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 1.7 |
| Duvall, Adam 3573 | lf | cin nl | 2.0 | 8.5 | 10.0 | 10.0 | -4.5 |
| Arenado, Nolan 3306 | 3b | col nl | 1.5 | 12.2 | 22.2 | 22.2 | -9.2 |
| Betts, Mookie 3404 | rf | bos al | 1.5 | 7.7 | 12.7 | 12.7 | -4.7 |
| Gonzalez, Miguel 3062 | pi sp | chi al | 1.0 | 10.1 | 38.9 | 38.9 | -8.1 |
| Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 | dh 1b | cle al | 1.0 | 9.0 | 44.1 | 68.1 | -7.0 |
| Melancon, Mark 2792 | pi cp | sf nl | 1.0 | 4.0 | 20.0 | 25.0 | -2.0 |
| Altherr, Aaron 3563 | lf ph | phi nl | 1.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | -1.5 |
| Miller, Shelby 3134 | pi sp | ari nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 39.1 | 39.1 | -1.0 |
| Chen, Wei-Yin 3026 | pi sp | fla nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 28.1 | 28.1 | -1.0 |
| Montero, Miguel 2304 | ca | chi nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 16.7 | 32.9 | -1.0 |
| Andriese, Matt 3505 | pi sp mr | tb al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | -1.0 |
| Bowman, Matt 3699 | pi mr | stl nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
