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The New York Mets are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2023 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the World Series champion Houston Astros saw the biggest decline.
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The New York Yankees and New York Mets lead Box-Toppers offseason rankings after landing the winter’s two biggest free agents.
The Yankees rank first after Carlos Rodon Thursday agreed to a free agent deal. Rodon earned 19.8 Box-Toppers points in 2022 with the Giants, sixth overall and third among National League pitchers. He ranked second among all free agents going into the 2023 season.
Read MoreRed Sox pitcher Nick Pivetta is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Pivetta pitched a complete-game two-hitter, allowing one run and no walks, and striking out eight, in the 5-1 win over the Astros.
Read MoreIndians pitcher Shane Bieber is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to sixth place in season player rankings.
Also Wednesday, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander regains the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after falling to second place two days ago. In addition, three other players in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday—Rays pitcher Charlie Morton (third place), Brewers pitcher Josh Hader (fourth place) and Nationals pitcher Patrick Corbin (10th place).
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Zach Davies is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs extended his season Box-Toppers points lead among National League batters after earning National League Batter of the Day honors.
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Mets pitcher Steven Matz is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels rose to 36th place among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995, when record keeping began.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.0 |
| 2 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 13.4 |
| 3 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | det al | 12.1 |
| 4 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 12.0 |
| 5 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 12.0 |
| 6 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 11.4 |
| 7 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 11.4 |
| 8 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 10.7 |
| 9 | Martinez, Carlos 3371 | pi sp | stl nl | 10.7 |
| 10 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 9.7 |
Player of the Day—Matz pitched six scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing two hits, in the 8-0 win over the Dodgers.
American League Player of the Day—Kole Calhoun of the Angels hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 12-6 win over the Rangers.
National League Batter of the Day—Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies homered and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 6-4 win over the Diamondbacks.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Sunday because the overall AL Player of the Day was a batter (Kole Calhoun).
Notable—Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels rose to 36th place in Box-Toppers points among players since 1995 after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Hamels (7IP 0R 6H 6K ND in the 4-0, 10-inning win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 118.8 for his career. With his point Sunday, he passes Justin Verlander (118.2) on the “all-time” list and now trails 34th-place player Cliff Lee (119.1). Hamels ranks 25th among all pitchers since 1995 and 12th among active pitchers.
Hamels also has the highest Box-Toppers season player ranking of any of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday. Hamels has 8.0 Box-Toppers points on the season and ranks 18th among all players, 10th among NL pitchers.
Debut—Curt Casali of the Rays made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Casali (2B 1-2 R BI in the 8-1 win over the Yankees) made his Major League debut July 18, 2014, and was playing in his 40th career game. He is the 3,524th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Matz earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Calhoun earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Gonzalez earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL 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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 7/5 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.0 | Mets | Steven Matz (W, 2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | |
| 9.0 | Nationals | Jordan Zimmermann (W, 7-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 8.0 | Cardinals | Lance Lynn (W, 6-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 8 | ||
| 7.1 | Cubs | Kyle Hendricks (W, 4-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 7.0 | `Phillies | Cole Hamels | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | Brewers | Taylor Jungmann (W, 3-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| AL | 3.0 | Angels | Kole Calhoun RF | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 3.0 | Rockies | Carlos Gonzalez RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Blue Jays | Devon Travis 2B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | `Red Sox | Eduardo Rodriguez | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 2.0 | Orioles | Steve Pearce 1B RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Rays | Curt Casali C | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Pirates | Mark Melancon (S, 27) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | Royals | Alex Gordon LF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Mariners | Seth Smith RF | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||
Giants pitcher Chris Heston, pitching a no-hitter, is Tuesday's Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to eighth in season player rankings.
Heston struck out 11 over nine innings, allowing no hits, runs or walks, in the 5-0 win over the Mets. Heston allowed three base runners—he hit three batters with pitches.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 12.4 |
| 2 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 11.0 |
| 3 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 11.0 |
| 4 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 10.4 |
| 5 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 9.7 |
| 6 | Martinez, Carlos 3371 | pi sp | stl nl | 9.7 |
| 7 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 9.0 |
| 8 | Heston, Chris 3437 | pi sp | sf nl | 8.7 |
| 9 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | det al | 8.1 |
| 10 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 7.7 |
Heston earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 8.7 for the season, rising to eighth in player rankings and fifth among NL pitchers.
Heston had a Box-Toppers game score Tuesday of 20, the second-highest score of the season. On May 13, Corey Kluber of the Indians had the season’s highest Box-Toppers game score so far—25 (8IP H 0R 0BB 18K).
American League Player of the Day—Tigers pitcher Anibal Sanchez pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings and struck out seven in the 6-0 win over the Cubs.
National League Batter of the Day—Joey Votto of the Reds hit three home runs, going 3-for-4, scoring four times and driving in four runs, in the 11-2 win over the Phillies.
American League Batter of the Day—Kole Calhoun of the Angels doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 8-2 win over the Rays.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:
Scoring—Heston earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Sanchez earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Votto and Calhoun each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers 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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 6/9 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 20.0 | Giants | Chris Heston (W, 6-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | |
| BAT | 7.0 | Reds | Joey Votto 1B | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| AL | 6.2 | Tigers | Anibal Sanchez (W, 4-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | |
| 6.0 | Rockies | Jorge De La Rosa (W, 3-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 6.0 | Yankees | Masahiro Tanaka (W, 4-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 6.0 | Brewers | Taylor Jungmann (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 5.0 | White Sox | Carlos Rodon (W, 2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 5.0 | Rangers | Nick Martinez (W, 5-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | ||
| 4.1 | Royals | Chris Young (W, 5-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Angels | Kole Calhoun RF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Dodgers | Kenley Jansen (S, 7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.2 | Orioles | Zach Britton (S, 16) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | Braves | Andrelton Simmons SS | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Blue Jays | Edwin Encarnacion DH | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Mariners | Dustin Ackley PH, LF | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Orioles pitcher Bud Norris is Friday’s Player of the Day, while Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner rises to second place in Box-Toppers player rankings.
Norris pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out 10 in the 5-0 win over the Yankees.
Bumgarner rose from third to second place in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors Friday. (See the updated top 10 player list on the home page.) Bumgarner pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out nine in the 9-0 win over the Dodgers. Bumgarner earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 22.6 for the season. He is also second place among NL pitchers, trailing overall Box-Toppers points leader Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (28.8 Box-Toppers points). Bumgarner passes American League leader Max Scherzer of the Tigers (21.1 Box-Toppers points) on the player rankings list.
Kole Calhoun of the Angels is AL Batter of the Day. Calhoun went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 11-3 win over the Astros.
Jordy Mercer of the Pirates is NL Batter of the Day. Mercer went 3-for-5 and drove in three runs in the 7-3 win over the Cubs.
Notables: Tigers pitcher David Price maintained his eighth-place spot in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday. (See the updated top 10 player list on the home page.) Price (7.2IP R 7K W in the 7-2 win over the Indians) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 17.1 for the season. He ranks fifth among AL pitchers.
Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright rose to ninth place in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday. (See the updated top 10 player list on the home page.) Wainwright (8IP R 8K W in the 5-1 win over the Rockies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 16.0 for the season. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.
Wainwright had led all players in Box-Toppers points several times this season, as late as June 28. However, he only scored 2.0 Box-Toppers points in July and none in August and on Aug. 30, fell out of Box-Toppers top 10 list. With this Player of the Game honor Friday, he rejoins the top 10 list, pushing out Jose Abreu of the White Sox (15.5 Box-Toppers points), who had been the only batter on the list.
Norris receives 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day. Bumgarner receives 1.7 for NL Player of the Day. Calhoun and Mercer each receive 1.5 for being top Batter of the Day in their league.
All of Friday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) receive 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
Box-Toppers watches the daily performances of selected star players and Box-Toppers points leaders. To see how they performed, click here.
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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 912 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | 12.0 | Orioles | Bud Norris (W, 13-8) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | |
| NL | 11.0 | Giants | Madison Bumgarner (W, 18-9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | |
| 11.0 | Rays | Nate Karns (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 8.0 | Cardinals | Adam Wainwright (W, 18-9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 5.0 | `Orioles | Kevin Gausman | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 4.2 | Tigers | David Price (W, 14-11) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Angels | Kole Calhoun RF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | Mariners | James Paxton (W, 6-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | ||
| 3.0 | `Rangers | Derek Holland | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | `Phillies | Ken Giles | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1.2 | `Brewers | Kyle Lohse | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 1.0 | Pirates | Jordy Mercer SS | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1.0 | Mets | Juan Lagares CF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Red Sox | Jemile Weeks 2B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.0 | Padres | Yasmani Grandal 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 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 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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.