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The Philadelphia Phillies finish 2024 atop Box-Toppers team rankings, leading for the 22nd straight week.
Meanwhile, the New York Yankees maintain their lead among American League teams in final Box-Toppers team rankings, while the non-playoff-bound Seattle Mariners are the hottest team over the final days of the season.
Read MoreThough the Washington Nationals are the Wild Card team, they seem to hold most of the advantages over the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series.
The Nationals have more wins and rank higher in Box-Toppers team rankings than the NL Central champion Cardinals. Still, the Cardinals have a Box-Toppers point advantage in starting batting lineups, as the teams begin the best-of-seven games series Friday in St. Louis.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Tuesday’s National League Wild Card Game.
Strasburg pitched three innings of scoreless middle relief, striking out four, allowing two hits and no walks and picking up the win, in the 4-3 win over the Brewers. The Nationals advance to the NL Divisional Series Thursday against the Dodgers.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg and Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman are Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Players of the Day in two League Division Series games.
Read MoreIndians pitcher Mike Clevinger is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, the third day in a row an Indians pitcher has earned that honor. Clevinger also becomes the 26th player this season to reach 10 or more Box-Toppers points.
Also Friday, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer failed to retake the Box-Toppers player rankings lead after he did not earn Player of the Game honors in his start, a win over the Phillies. That gives Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale the chance to take the lead in his start Saturday against the Rays.
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Indians pitcher Corey Kluber, who struck out 18 and allowed one hit over eight innings, is Wednesday’s Player of the Day.
Kluber did not allow a hit until the seventh inning in the 2-0 win over the Cardinals. His Box-Toppers game score of 25 is the highest of the season, far outdistancing the previous high game scores of 15.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 8.7 |
| 2 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 6.0 |
| 3 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 6.0 |
| 4 | Miller, Shelby 3134 | pi sp | atl nl | 5.0 |
| 5 | Hosmer, Eric 2886 | 1b | kc al | 5.0 |
| 6 | Harper, Bryce 3011 | lf rf | dc nl | 5.0 |
| 7 | Heston, Chris 3437 | pi sp | sf nl | 5.0 |
| 8 | Cabrera, Miguel 1776 | 1b | det al | 4.7 |
| 9 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 4.7 |
| 10 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 4.7 |
Kluber led American League players in Box-Toppers points in 2014 with 25.8. This was his first Player of the Game honor this season and first Box-Toppers points of the season. Until now, he held the distinction of the player with the highest 2014 Box-Toppers point total who had yet to earn points in 2015, a dubious honor that now goes to Twins pitcher Phil Hughes (14.1 points in 2014).
Though it was Kluber’s first points of the season, he is not very far off pace from his 2014 point total. As Wednesday’s Player of the Day, Kluber now has 2.0 Box-Toppers points for the season. As of May 14, 2014, Kluber had 3.0 Box-Toppers points. His 25.8 Box-Toppers points were the 17th-most points scored by a player in a single season since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Player of the Day—Reds pitcher Raisel Iglesias allowed one run and two hits over eight innings in the 5-1 win over the Braves.
This was Iglesias’ Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. He made his Major League debut April 12 and was playing in his third career game. He is the 3,467th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Batter of the Day—Michael Taylor of the Nationals hit a grand slam in the 9-6 win over the Diamondbacks.
American League Batter of the Day—Prince Fielder of the Rangers homered and went 3-for-4 with two RBIs in the 5-2 win over the Royals.
Fielder has now earned at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point for 11 straight seasons. He earned his first points in 2005 with the Brewers. His best year was 2011 with the Brewers when he had 15.7 Box-Toppers points, first among NL batters. In 2014, he had 1.0 Box-Toppers point with the Rangers.
Fielder has 71.8 career Box-Toppers points, ranking 73rd among all batters since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. His career 71.8 points ranks ninth among active batters currently in the AL.
Notable—Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels moves up to 41st place among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995 after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Hamels now has 114.8 Box-Toppers points and moves past Blue Jays pitcher Mark Buehrle (114.7). He trails 40th-place player Josh Beckett (114.9).
Hamels (7IP 2R 9K W in the 3-2 win over the Pirates) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game, giving him 4.0 for the season, 19th among all players for 2015.
Hammel, Hamels—Cubs pitcher Jason Hammel and Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels have been Box-Toppers Players of the Game on the same day three times this season, including Wednesday. Obviously, the similarly-named hurlers are on the same starting rotation schedule and both are doing well so far—Hamels has earned Player of the Game honors four times and has 4.0 Box-Toppers points. Hammel has earned Player of the Game honors three times and also has 4.0 Box-Toppers points. Both were top players in their games on April 27, May 8 and May 13. In addition, the two have shared Player of the Game honors on the same day in previous seasons three different times—April 25, 2012, June 6, 2014, and Sept. 1, 2014.
Scoring—Kluber earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Iglesias earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Taylor and Fielder each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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
| 5/13 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 25.0 | Indians | Corey Kluber (W, 1-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | |
| 10.0 | White Sox | Jose Quintana (W, 2-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | ||
| NL | 6.0 | Reds | Raisel Iglesias (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | |
| 6.0 | Phillies | Cole Hamels (W, 3-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 6.0 | `Cubs | Jason Hammel | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 5.2 | Orioles | Miguel Gonzalez (W, 4-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | Nationals | Michael Taylor RF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | `Angels | Hector Santiago | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 4.0 | Padres | James Shields (W, 5-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | ||
| 3.1 | Twins | Ricky Nolasco (W, 3-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | ||
| 3.0 | Rays | Brad Boxberger (S, 10) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | Marlins | A.J. Ramos (S, 1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Rangers | Prince Fielder DH | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Astros | Chad Qualls (W, 1-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | Red Sox | Daniel Nava 1B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| ` Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||
Rays pitcher Chris Archer is Thursday’s Player of the Day.
Archer pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out 11 in the 4-2 win over the Blue Jays.
Archer rose to second place in Box-Toppers player rankings. He earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season. Overall leader, Athletics pitcher Scott Kazmir, has 3.7 Box-Toppers points.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kazmir, Scott 1947 | pi sp | oak al | 3.7 |
| 2 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 3.0 |
| 3 | Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 3.0 |
| 4 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 2.7 |
| 5 | Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 | rf | fla nl | 2.5 |
| 6 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 2.0 |
| 7 | Wainwright, Adam 2150 | pi sp | stl nl | 2.0 |
| 8 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 2.0 |
| 9 | Odorizzi, Jake 3291 | pi sp | tb al | 2.0 |
| 10 | Gonzalez, Miguel 3062 | pi sp | bal al | 2.0 |
National League Player of the Day—Cardinals pitcher John Lackey pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out eight in the 4-0 win over the Brewers.
National League Batter of the Day—Paul Goldschmidt of the Diamondbacks hit a three-run homer and scored two runs in the 7-6 win over the Giants.
American League Batter of the Day—Kurt Suzuki of the Twins hit a two-run homer and went 2-for-4 in the 8-5 win over the Royals.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Thursday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:
Scoring—Archer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lackey earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Goldschmidt and Suzuki each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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
| 4/16 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 14.0 | Rays | Chris Archer (W, 2-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 11 | |
| NL | 9.0 | Cardinals | John Lackey (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| 2.0 | Mets | Jeurys Familia (S, 4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| BAT | 1.0 | Dbacks | Paul Goldschmidt 1B | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 1.0 | Twins | Kurt Suzuki C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1.0 | Nationals | Michael Taylor CF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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.