Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fourth place in season player rankings.
Scherzer struck out 13 over 8 2/3 innings, allowing one run, three hits and two walks, in the 5-1 win over the Padres.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 26:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 10.7 |
| 2 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 9.4 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 |
| 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 8.0 |
| 5 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.0 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 6.7 |
| 7 | McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | hou al | 6.0 |
| 8 | Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 9 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 6.0 |
| 10 | Holland, Greg 2906 | pi cp | col nl | 6.0 |
Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 8.0 for the season and rises from fifth to fourth place in season player rankings. He is second among National League pitchers, behind overall leader Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (10.7).
Scherzer also now has 139.7 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 29th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Friday, he passes Andy Pettitte (138.5) on the “all-time” list. He now trails 28th-ranked player Jake Peavy (141.8).
American League Player of the Day—Athletics pitcher Sean Manaea struck out eight over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 4-1 win over the Yankees.
American League Batter of the Day—Devon Travis of the Blue Jays hit a grand slam and doubled in the 7-6 win over the Rangers. Travis went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs.
National League Batter of the Day—Justin Bour of the Marlins hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-4 in the 8-5 win over the Angels.
Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Wood (5IP 2H 0R 2BB 8K W in the 4-0 win over the Cubs) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.0 for the season. He rises from eighth to fifth place in rankings. He ranks third among NL pitchers, behind Kershaw (10.7) and Scherzer (8.0).
Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Manaea earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Travis and Bour each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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| 5/26 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 14.2 | WSH 5, SD 1 | Max Scherzer (W,5-3) | - | - | - | - | 8.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 13 | |
| AL | 10.0 | OAK 4, NYY 1 | Sean Manaea (W,3-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| 9.1 | NYM 8, PIT 1 | Jacob deGrom (W,4-1) | - | - | - | - | 8.1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | ||
| 9.0 | CIN 5, PHI 2 | Tim Adleman (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 9.0 | HOU 2, BAL 0 | Joe Musgrove (W,4-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 9.0 | LAD 4, CHC 0 | Alex Wood (W,6-0) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 8.2 | TB 5, MIN 2 | Chris Archer (W,4-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 | ||
| 6.0 | COL 10, STL 0 | Antonio Senzatela (W,7-1) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 6.0 | `ARI 4, MIL 2 (F/10) | Zack Godley | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 5.2 | ATL 2, SF 0 | Jaime Garcia (W,2-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | TOR 7, TEX 6 | Devon Travis, 2B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | CHW 8, DET 2 | Melky Cabrera, LF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | KC 6, CLE 4 | Mike Minor (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | MIA 8, LAA 5 | Justin Bour, 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | BOS 3, SEA 0 | Eduardo Rodriguez (W,4-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
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 | 8.0 | 33.7 | 111.9 | 139.7 | -17.7 |
| Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.0 | 8.0 | 26.4 | 26.4 | 6.0 |
| Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 | pi sp | bos al | 5.7 | 10.4 | 16.4 | 16.4 | 1.0 |
| Godley, Zack 3538 | pi sp | ari nl | 4.0 | 5.0 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 3.0 |
| deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 3.7 | 13.4 | 48.8 | 48.8 | -6.0 |
| Bour, Justin 3433 | 1b | fla nl | 3.5 | 6.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 1.0 |
| Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 3.0 | 12.0 | 52.1 | 52.1 | -6.0 |
| Senzatela, Antonio 3760 | pi sp | col nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 2.7 | 9.4 | 9.4 | 9.4 | -4.0 |
| Cabrera, Melky 2143 | lf ph | chi al | 2.0 | 6.0 | 16.0 | 32.5 | -2.0 |
| Travis, Devon 3436 | 2b | tor al | 1.5 | 2.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 0.5 |
| Garcia, Jaime 2508 | pi sp | atl nl | 1.0 | 9.0 | 27.1 | 44.8 | -7.0 |
| Musgrove, Joe 3705 | pi sp | hou al | 1.0 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 | -2.7 |
| Adleman, Tim 3625 | pi sp | cin nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | -1.0 |
| Minor, Mike 2894 | pi mr sp | kc al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 25.4 | 28.1 | 1.0 |
