Padres' Richard tops players for Tuesday, April 4; Yankees' Sabathia resumes lead among active players in career Box-Toppers points

Padres pitcher Clayton Richard is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Tuesday, Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia resumed the lead among active players in career Box-Toppers points only one day after losing that lead to Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw.

All-time leaders

Here are Box-Toppers top 20 players since record keeping began in 1995:

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Randy Johnson	pi sp	retired	278.8
2	Pedro Martinez	pi sp	retired	244.8
3	Curt Schilling	pi sp	retired	194.1
4	Alex Rodriguez	dh	released	187.0
5	CC Sabathia	pi sp	nyy al	186.0
6	Clayton Kershaw	pi sp	lad nl	185.7
7	Albert Pujols	1b dh	ana al	182.3
8	Roy Halladay	pi sp	retired	170.7
9	Felix Hernandez	pi sp	sea al	168.7
10	Manny Ramirez	lf dh	retired	167.2
11	Johan Santana	pi sp	free agent	166.6
12	Roger Clemens	pi sp	retired	164.8
13	John Smoltz	pi sp	retired	160.9
14	Tim Hudson	pi sp	retired	157.0
15	Zack Greinke	pi sp	ari nl	156.1
16	Mike Mussina	pi sp	retired	155.6
17	Barry Bonds	lf	retired	153.2
18	Greg Maddux	pi sp	retired	151.7
19	Chipper Jones	3b	retired	149.0
20	Bartolo Colon	pi sp	atl nl	148.5

BTP: Box-Toppers points
List of top 100 players since 1995 at the close of the 2016 season.

Sabathia earned Player of the Game honors in the win over the Rays, earning 1.0 Box-Toppers point and giving him 186.0 for his career. On Monday, Kershaw passed him by earning overall Player of the Day honors, giving him 185.7 career points. With Tuesday’s point, Sabathia resumes his spot in fifth place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began.

In addition, Sabathia has now earned Box-Toppers points for 17 straight seasons, tied for the seventh-longest streak in Box-Toppers tracking history and currently the second-longeststreak among active players (behind only Carlos Beltran’s 18-season streak).

Player of the Day—Richard pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing five hits and striking out five, in the 4-0 win over the Dodgers.

Richard now ranks third among all players in season Box-Toppers points with 2.0.

American League Player of the Day—Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander struck out 10 over 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs and six hits, in the 6-3 win over the White Sox.

Verlander has now earned Box-Toppers points for 11 straight seasons and has 141.0 career Box-Toppers points, 28th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 27th-ranked player Jake Peavy (141.8). Verlander ranks 10th among active players in career Box-Toppers points. 

Verlander, who has played his entire career with the Tigers, earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2006. His best seasons were 2011 (24.4 points) and 2012 (24.8), when he led all AL pitchers.

National League Batter of the Day—Gorkys Hernandez of the Giants doubled and went 2-for-5, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 8-4 win over the Diamondbacks.

This was Hernandez’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. He made his Major League debut May 21, 2012, and was playing in his 105th career game. He is the 3,758th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no AL Batter of the Day for Tuesday because no AL batter earned Player of the Game honors.

Notable—Sabathia, one day after losing the lead, regained the lead among active players in career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Sabathia (5IP 3H 0R 2BB 2K W in the 5-0 win over the Rays) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game, giving him 186.0 for his career. That puts him ahead of Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (185.7), who only passed Sabathia on Monday. Sabathia again ranks fifth among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995, when tracking began. He now trails fourth-ranked player Alex Rodriguez (187.0) by only 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

Sabathia also has now earned Box-Toppers points for 17 straight seasons, tied for the seventh-longest streak in Box-Toppers history with six others who had 17-year streaks—Mariano Rivera (1995-2011), Derek Jeter (1996-2012), Paul Konerko (1998-2014), Tim Hudson (1999-2015), Torii Hunter (1999-2015) and David Ortiz (2000-2016). Sabathia’s streak is the second-longest streak among active players, behind only Carlos Beltran, who has earned Box-Toppers points for 18 straight seasons from 1999-2016 and could extend it to 19 seasons if he earns Box-Toppers points in 2017.

Sabathia earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2001 with the Indians. His best season was 2008 with the Indians and Brewers when he had 26.7 Box-Toppers points, ending the season ranked first among NL pitchers. In 2014, he barely kept the streak alive earning only 1.0 Box-Toppers point as a Yankee.

Scoring—Richard earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Verlander earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Hernandez earns 1.5 points for being NL 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

4/4	Score	Game	Player	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	6.0	SD 4, LAD 0	Clayton Richard (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-		8.0	5	0	0	2	5
	5.0	CHC 2, STL 1	Jake Arrieta (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-		6.0	4	1	0	2	6
AL	4.1	DET 6, CHW 3	Justin Verlander (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-		6.1	6	2	2	2	10
	4.0	HOU 2, SEA 1	Lance McCullers Jr. (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-		6.0	5	1	1	2	7
	3.2	CLE 4, TEX 3	Carlos Carrasco (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-		5.2	4	2	2	1	7
	3.0	COL 6, MIL 5	Greg Holland (S,2)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
BAT	2.0	SF 8, ARI 4	Gorkys Hernandez, CF	5	1	2	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	NYY 5, TB 0	CC Sabathia (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-		5.0	3	0	0	2	2
	2.0	LAA 7, OAK 6	Cam Bedrosian (S,1)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	1

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 Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Richard, Clayton 2584	pi sp	sd nl	2.0	4.0	12.2	31.6	0.0
Verlander, Justin 2112	pi sp	det al	1.7	16.4	61.6	141.0	-13.0
Hernandez, Goryks 3758	cf	sf nl	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5
Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	1.0	16.7	71.5	76.5	-14.7
Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	1.0	13.4	42.1	47.5	-11.4
McCullers, Lance 3488	pi sp	hou al	1.0	7.1	13.8	13.8	-5.1
Sabathia, C.C. 1492	pi sp	nyy al	1.0	7.0	33.5	186.0	-5.0
Bedrosian, Cam 3694	pi cp	ana al	1.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	-2.0
Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	1.0	1.0	31.0	34.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Rangers' Yu Darvish tops players for Sunday, Aug. 7; Orioles' Machado regains AL batting Box-Toppers points lead

Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Sunday, Manny Machado of the Orioles regained the Box-Toppers points lead among American League batters after earning AL Batter of the Day honors.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Aug. 7:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	20.0
2	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	18.7
3	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	16.4
4	Kluber, Corey 3200	pi sp	cle al	16.2
5	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	14.4
6	Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	14.1
7	Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	14.1
8	Lester, Jon 2173	pi sp	chi nl	13.4
9	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	11.7
10	Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	sf nl	11.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Darvish pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing five hits and no walks, in the 5-3, 11-inning win over the Astros. Darvish did not earn the win, picking up a no decision, because after he exited, the Astros tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning.

National League Player of the Day—Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks allowed one run over 7 1/3 innings, allowing three hits, no walks and striking out four, in the 3-1 win over the Athletics.

American League Batter of the Day—Manny Machado of the Orioles hit three homers, going 3-for-6 and driving in seven runs, in the 10-2 win over the White Sox.

Machado earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 10.2 for the season. He becomes the 20th player with 10 or more Box-Toppers points this season and the second batter. He passes Jose Altuve of the Astros (10.0) to retake the Box-Toppers points lead among AL batters. Machado ranks 19th among all players, the highest-ranked batter.

National League Batter of the Day—Martin Prado of the Marlins doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 10-7 win over the Rockies.

Ichiro Suzuki

Suzuki joined the 3,000-hit club Sunday. Here are his career season-by-season Box-Toppers points totals:  

Yr	Team	BTP
2001	SEA	4.0
2002	SEA	2.5
2003	SEA	4.2
2004	SEA	5.0
2005	SEA	6.0
2006	SEA	3.5
2007	SEA	8.0*
2008	SEA	3.5
2009	SEA	5.5
2010	SEA	1.0
2011	SEA	2.0
2012	SEA/NYY	2.5
2013	NYY	2.0
2014	NYY	1.0
2015	MIA	1.0
2016	MIA	2.0
Total		53.7

* Best season, 9th among AL OF
16 straight seasons w/B-T pts, tied for 13th-longest streak since ’95
272nd among all players since ’95
7th among active NL OF

Notable—Ichiro Suzuki of the Marlins picked up his 3,000th Major League hit, a triple, Sunday in the 10-7 win over the Rockies. (Teammate Martin Prado was Player of the Game.) 

Suzuki has 53.7 career Box-Toppers points. He ranks 272nd among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He ranks 57th among all outfielders since 1995, ninth among all active outfielders and seventh among active NL outfielders.

Suzuki has earned Box-Toppers points in each of his 16 Major League seasons, tied for the 13th-longest streak in Box-Toppers tracking history. While Suzuki has consistently earned Box-Toppers points, he doesn’t earn very many since he doesn’t frequently hit for power, with few home runs and RBIs. His best season was 2007 with the Mariners when he had 8.0 Box-Toppers points, ninth among AL outfielders.

He’s had fewer than 3.0 Box-Toppers points in eight seasons—half his Major League career, including three seasons with only 1.0 point, just enough to keep the consecutive season streak with Box-Toppers points alive. In 2015, he had 1.0 point and so far in 2016, he has 2.0 points.

Only two other players in the 3,000-hit club earned nearly all their hits while being tracked by Box-Toppers (which began in 1995):

• Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees has 3,114 hits (including 11 earned in 1994 before Box-Toppers tracking). Rodriguez has 187.0 career Box-Toppers points, most among all batters since 1995 and most among all active players. Rodriguez Sunday announced he will play his final game for the Yankees this Friday.
• Derek Jeter, who played his entire career for the Yankees from 1995 to 2014 (all tracked by Box-Toppers), has 3,465 hits. Jeter, who like Suzuki, didn’t hit primarily for power, has 76.4 Box-Toppers points, 62nd-most among all batters since 1995 and second among all shortstops (behind Miguel Tejada with 102.3).

Scoring—Darvish earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Hendricks earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Machado and Prado each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

8/7	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	10.0	`TEX 5, HOU 3 (11)	Yu Darvish	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	0	0	0	8
	7.1	SEA 3, LAA 1	James Paxton (W,4-5)	-	-	-	-		8.1	5	1	0	1	6
BAT	7.0	BAL 10, CHW 2	Manny Machado, 3B	6	3	3	7		-	-	-	-	-	-
NL	6.1	CHC 3, OAK 1	Kyle Hendricks (W,11-7)	-	-	-	-		7.1	3	1	1	0	4
	6.0	NYY 3, CLE 2	Masahiro Tanaka (W,8-4)	-	-	-	-		6.0	6	1	1	0	8
	4.0	MIN 6, TB 3	Miguel Sano, 3B	4	2	2	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	4.0	MIA 10, COL 7	Martin Prado, 3B	3	2	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	WSH 1, SF 0	Tanner Roark (W,12-6)	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	0	0	3	5
	4.0	LAD 8, BOS 5	Kenley Jansen (S,34)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	3
	4.0	`PHI 6, SD 5	Hector Neris (H,21)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	3
	3.0	KC 7, TOR 1	Kendrys Morales, DH	3	1	1	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	ARI 9, MIL 3	Phil Gosselin, PH	1	1	1	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	CIN 7, PIT 3	Dan Straily (W,7-6)	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	2	2	0	4
	3.0	NYM 3, DET 1	Jeurys Familia (S,39)	-	-	-	-		1.0	1	0	0	0	3
	3.0	ATL 6, STL 3	Jim Johnson (S,8)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
		`Denotes that the 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 (16). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (15-16), the period 2011-2016 (11-16) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2016 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2015 total (+/-).  

Player of Game	Pos	Team	16	15-16	11-16	Career	+/-
Machado, Manny 3087	ss 3b	bal al	10.2	17.7	21.2	21.2	2.7
Hendricks, Kyle 3386	pi sp	chi nl	9.7	19.4	24.4	24.4	0.0
Tanaka, Masahiro 3305	pi sp	nyy al	9.7	17.7	30.4	30.4	1.7
Roark, Tanner 3261	pi sp	dc nl	9.7	10.7	25.7	25.7	8.7
Jansen, Kenley 2871	pi cp	lad nl	6.0	10.0	36.4	36.4	2.0
Familia, Jeurys 3446	pi cp	nym nl	5.0	13.0	13.0	13.0	-3.0
Morales, Kendrys 2142	dh	kc al	4.0	8.7	18.7	34.7	-0.7
Darvish, Yu 3003	pi sp	tex al	3.7	3.7	48.9	48.9	3.7
Prado, Martin 2511	3b	fla nl	3.0	9.0	22.5	29.0	-3.0
Johnson, Jim 2417	pi cp mr	atl nl	3.0	5.0	15.0	20.7	1.0
Straily, Dan 3080	pi sp	cin nl	3.0	3.0	13.7	13.7	3.0
Paxton, James 3280	pi sp	sea al	2.7	3.7	9.4	9.4	1.7
Sano, Miguel 3527	rf 3b	min al	2.0	8.0	8.0	8.0	-4.0
Neris, Hector 3553	pi mr	phi nl	2.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	1.0
Gosselin, Philip 3398	2b ph	ari nl	1.0	2.0	3.0	3.0	0.0

What are those numbers after players' names?