Giants’ Madison Bumgarner tops players for Friday, Aug. 30; Rays’ Pruitt tops AL players

Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Bumgarner struck out nine over seven innings, allowing one run, four hits and two walks, in the 8-3 win over the Padres.

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Tigers’ Matthew Boyd tops players for Saturday, Sept. 8; Nationals’ Scherzer extends player rankings lead

Tigers pitcher Matthew Boyd is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Saturday, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer extends his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

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Astros' Gerrit Cole tops players for Friday, April 13, rises to lead Box-Toppers rankings

Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to first place in season player rankings.

Cole struck out 14 over seven innings, allowing two runs, three hits and one walk, in the 3-2 win over the Rangers. Cole picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was tied, 2-2, when he exited.

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Box-Toppers top pitchers and batters by team, 2017

Three of the four players who won Cy Young or Most Valuable Player awards in 2017 also led their teams in Box-Toppers points for the season.

The only exception: American League Most Valuable Player Jose Altuve did not lead Astros batters in Box-Toppers points. In fact, with only 2.5 Box-Toppers points, he finished 11th among Astros batters and 21st among all Astros players.

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Brad Peacock tops players in World Series Game 3 as Astros take a 2-1 series lead

Astros pitcher Brad Peacock is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in World Series Game 3 Friday.

The Houston Astros win 5-3 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven game series.

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Justin Verlander tops players in ALCS Game 6 as Astros tie series with Yankees, 3-3

Astros pitcher Justin Verlander is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s American League Championship Series Game 6, as Houston pulls even in the series with the New York Yankees.

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Yankees' Todd Frazier tops players in AL Championship Series Game 3

Todd Frazier of the Yankees is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Game in the American League Championship Series Game 3.

The Astros lead the best-of-seven series 2-1.

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Cubs' Jose Quintana tops players in Monday's 4 League Division Series playoff games

Cubs pitcher Jose Quintana is Monday’s Box-Toppers top Player of the Game among the four League Division Series playoff games.

The other three Players of the Game Monday are Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish, Yankees closer Tommy Kahnle and George Springer of the Astros.

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Tigers' Justin Verlander tops players for Wednesday, Aug. 9; Colon rises to 19th in career Box-Toppers points

Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Verlander is one of three with more than 100 career Box-Toppers points to earn Player of the Game honors. Twins pitcher Bartolo Colon rises to 19th place in career points since 1995 (with 152.2) after earning Player of the Game honors.

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Box-Toppers top pitchers and batters by team in 2016

3 of 4 major postseason award winners are among Box-Toppers top-ranked pitchers or batters on their teams. The exception: AL Cy Young Rick Porcello, who ranks 6th among Red Sox players.

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How did 2016 home run leaders fare in Box-Toppers points? 7 of top 10 finish in Box-Toppers' top 100

Home run leader Mark Trumbo of the Orioles ranked 14th among AL batters in Box-Toppers points. Only three of the overall top 10 in home runs were among their league’s top 10 batters in Box-Toppers points.

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Brewers' Guerra tops players for Monday, July 4; Astros' McCullers tops NL players

Brewers pitcher Junior Guerra is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of July 4:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 20.0
2 Fernandez, Jose 3147 pi sp fla nl 13.4
3 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 12.0
4 Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp sf nl 11.7
5 Kluber, Corey 3200 pi sp cle al 10.8
6 Arrieta, Jake 2738 pi sp chi nl 10.7
7 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp chi al 10.7
8 Salazar, Danny 3223 pi sp cle al 10.5
9 Hamels, Cole 2135 pi sp tex al 10.4
10 Syndergaard, Noah 3472 pi sp nym nl 10.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Guerra pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing two hits and no walks, in the 1-0 win over the Nationals.

American League Player of the Day—Astros pitcher Lance McCullers struck out 10 over seven innings, allowing one run, five hits and one walk, in the 2-1 win over the Mariners.

National League Batter of the Day—Kris Bryant of the Cubs hit a two-run homer, going 1-for-1 and scoring three times, in the 10-4 win over the Reds.

Bryant earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 7.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, most of any of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Monday. Bryant rises to 29th place among all players and third among NL batters, behind Matt Carpenter of the Cardinals (7.5) and Wil Myers of the Padres (7.2).

American League Batter of the Day—Todd Frazier of the White Sox hit two doubles and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in a run, in the 8-2 win over the Yankees.

Streak—Mike Napoli of the Indians has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of the season Monday.

Napoli (HR 2B 2-3 2R 2BI in the 5-3 win over the Tigers) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Angels and has 52.2 career points, ninth among active AL first basemen. His best season was 2011 with the Rangers when he had 9.0 Box-Toppers points, ninth among AL batters. In 2015, he had 4.5 points with the Red Sox, a season in which he also played for the Rangers.

Notable—Giants pitcher Jake Peavy now has 141.8 career Box-Toppers points—24th-most since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began—after earning Player of the Game honors Monday.

Peavy (6.2IP 5H R 2BB 6K W in the 3-1 win over the Rockies) trails 23rd-ranked player on the “all-time” list, David Ortiz of the Red Sox (142.9). Peavy has 5.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, 29th among NL pitchers.

Debut—Dodgers pitcher Pedro Baez made his Box-Toppers debut Monday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.

Baez (2IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K ND in the 7-5 win over the Orioles) made his Major League debut May 5, 2014, and was playing in his 110th career game. He is the 3,678th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Guerra earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and McCullers earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Bryant and Frazier each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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

7/4 Score Game Player of Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 10.1 MIL 1/DC 0 Junior Guerra (W,6-1) - - - - 7.1 2 0 0 2 7
AL 9.0 HOU 2/SEA 1 Lance McCullers (W,4-2) - - - - 7.0 5 1 1 1 10
BAT 5.0 CHC 10/CIN 4 Kris Bryant, LF 1 3 1 2 - - - - - -
5.0 TOR 6/KC 2 Aaron Sanchez (W,9-1) - - - - 8.0 3 1 1 1 3
4.0 `LAD 7/BAL 5 Pedro Baez - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 0 2
3.2 PHI 8/ATL 2 Jerad Eickhoff (W,6-9) - - - - 7.2 5 2 2 3 8
3.2 SF 3/COL 1 Jake Peavy (W,5-7) - - - - 6.2 5 1 1 2 6
3.0 NYM 8/MIA 6 Travis d'Arnaud, C 4 2 3 2 - - - - - -
3.0 SD 8/ARI 4 Derek Norris, C 4 2 2 3 - - - - - -
BAT 3.0 CHW 8/NYY 2 Todd Frazier, 3B 3 2 3 1 - - - - - -
3.0 CLE 5/DET 3 Mike Napoli, 1B 3 2 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 BOS 12/TEX 5 Travis Shaw, 3B 5 2 3 2 - - - - - -
2.0 PIT 4/STL 2 Gregory Polanco, RF 5 2 2 3 - - - - - -
2.0 TB 4/LAA 2 Logan Morrison, 1B 4 2 2 2 - - - - - -
0.2 OAK 3/MIN 1 Kendall Graveman (W,4-6) - - - - 6.2 3 1 1 4 3
`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 +/-
Bryant, Kris 3465 lf 3b rf chi nl 7.0 15.5 15.5 15.5 -1.5
Eickhoff, Jerad 3566 pi sp phi nl 7.0 12.0 12.0 12.0 2.0
Guerra, Junior 3633 pi sp mil nl 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0
Sanchez, Aaron 3392 pi sp tor al 5.7 7.7 9.7 9.7 3.7
Peavy, Jake 1635 pi sp sf nl 5.0 10.0 38.1 141.8 0.0
Shaw, Travis 3544 1b 3b bos al 4.5 8.7 8.7 8.7 0.3
Polanco, Gregory 3361 rf pit nl 4.5 7.5 11.5 11.5 1.5
McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 3.4 10.1 10.1 10.1 -3.3
Frazier, Todd 2929 3b chi al 3.2 12.1 26.1 26.1 -5.7
Graveman, Kendall 3444 pi sp oak al 3.0 7.7 7.7 7.7 -1.7
Napoli, Mike 2161 1b cle al 1.0 5.5 33.2 52.2 -3.5
Norris, Derek 3198 ca sd nl 1.0 5.5 13.0 13.0 -3.5
Morrison, Logan 2794 1b tb al 1.0 5.0 15.0 16.5 -3.0
d’Arnaud, Travis 3384 ca nym nl 1.0 3.5 7.5 7.5 -1.5
Baez, Pedro 3678 pi mr lad nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Marlins' Fernandez tops players for Monday, May 9; White Sox' Frazier tops AL players

Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of May 9:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 7.0
2 Arrieta, Jake 2738 pi sp chi nl 6.0
3 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp chi al 5.7
4 Machado, Manny 3087 3b ss bal al 5.7
5 Quintana, Jose 3040 pi sp chi al 5.7
6 Hill, Rich 2215 pi sp oak al 5.4
7 Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp sf nl 5.0
8 Altuve, Jose 3007 2b hou al 5.0
9 Matz, Steven 3516 pi sp nym nl 5.0
10 Velasquez, Vince 3611 pi sp phi nl 5.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Fernandez struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits, in the 4-1 win over the Brewers. Fernandez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.0 for the season, ranking 21st among all players, the highest ranking of any of Monday’s 11 Players of the Games.

American League Player of the Day—Todd Frazier of the White Sox hit two home runs, including a 12-inning, tie-breaking grand slam, in the 8-4 win over the Twins. Frazier also went 4-for-6.

National League Batter of the Day—Jake Lamb of the Diamondbacks hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-3, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 10-5 win over the Rockies.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Monday because the overall AL Player of the Day was batter Todd Frazier.

Debut—Ketel Marte of the Mariners made his Box-Toppers debut Monday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Marte (HR 2B 4-5 3R 3BI in the 5-2 win over the Rays) made his Major League debut July 31, 2015, and was playing in his 87th career game. He is the 3,630th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Fernandez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, Frazier earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day and Lamb earns 1.5 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

5/9 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 10.0 Marlins Jose Fernandez (W,4-2) - - - - - - 7.0 4 0 0 4 11
AL 6.0 White Sox Todd Frazier, 3B 6 2 4 6 0 1 - - - - - -
6.0 Red Sox Jackie Bradley Jr., CF 5 2 3 6 0 1 - - - - - -
BAT 6.0 Dbacks Jake Lamb, 3B 3 3 2 4 2 0 - - - - - -
5.0 Mariners Ketel Marte, SS 5 3 4 3 0 0 - - - - - -
4.0 Astros Mike Fiers (W,3-1) - - - - - - 7.0 3 1 1 2 4
2.2 Yankees Kirby Yates (W,2-0) - - - - - - 1.2 1 0 0 0 2
2.0 Nationals Daniel Murphy, 2B 4 1 2 3 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Blue Jays Aaron Sanchez (W,3-1) - - - - - - 7.0 3 1 1 5 5
2.0 Mets Jeurys Familia (S,11) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
1.0 Reds Joey Votto, 1B 2 1 1 1 1 0 - - - - - -

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 Pos Team 16 15-16 11-16 Career +/-
Fernandez, Jose 3147 pi sp fla nl 4.0 8.7 34.7 34.7 -0.7
Sanchez, Aaron 3392 pi sp tor al 3.7 5.7 7.7 7.7 1.7
Murphy, Daniel 2589 2b dc nl 2.5 4.0 26.0 27.5 1.0
Votto, Joey 2366 1b cin nl 2.0 7.0 23.7 55.7 -3.0
Yates, Kirby 3628 pi mr nyy al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Frazier, Todd 2929 3b chi al 1.7 10.6 24.6 24.6 -7.2
Lamb, Jake 3517 3b ari nl 1.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 0.5
Bradley, Jackie Jr. 3293 cf bos al 1.0 10.5 11.5 11.5 -8.5
Familia, Jeurys 3446 pi cp nym nl 1.0 9.0 9.0 9.0 -7.0
Fiers, Michael 3029 pi sp hou al 1.0 8.0 22.1 22.1 -6.0
Marte, Ketel 3630 ss sea al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Chicago Cubs, Toronto Blue Jays top Box-Toppers 2016 preseason team rankings

Cubs, Blue Jays top preseason rankings. 2015 champ Royals fall to 11th. Red Sox, Dbacks make big offseason gains in Box-Toppers points, signing marquee pitchers.

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Box-Toppers top pitchers and batters by team in 2015

Box-Toppers' high players by team does not include AL MVP Donaldson, who ranked 3rd among Blue Jays batters.

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Box-Toppers pitching leaders among finalists for Cy Young, but batting leaders excluded from MVP finalists

Box-Toppers' top pitchers Jake Arrieta of the Cubs and Dallas Keuchel of the Astros are Cy Young Award finalists. But Box-Toppers' top batters Adrian Beltre of the Rangers and Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies are not MVP finalists.

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How 2015 Silver Slugger winners fared in Box-Toppers points and rankings

Only 5 of 17 Silver Slugger Award winners also led their position in Box-Toppers points.

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Mariners' Hernandez tops players for Thursday, Sept. 10, rises to lead AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points

Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fourth in overall player rankings, first among American League pitchers.

Hernandez pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out eight, in the 5-0 win over the Rangers.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 10.  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 21.7
2 Arrieta, Jake 2738 pi sp chi nl 21.1
3 deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp nym nl 20.4
4 Hernandez, Felix 2064 pi sp sea al 19.4
5 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 19.4
6 Price, David 2593 pi sp tor al 19.1
7 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp lad nl 18.0
8 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp chi al 17.1
9 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp pit nl 17.0
10 Gray, Sonny 3259 pi sp oak al 16.8
What are those numbers after players' names?

He earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 19.4 for the season. He regains the lead among AL pitchers, passing previous leader Dallas Keuchel of the Astros (19.4). 

Hernandez led all players in Box-Toppers points much of the season—including all of May and much of June—but by August nearly fell out of the top 10 list before rebounding. Hernandez lost his lead among all players on July 26 and lost his lead among AL pitchers on Aug. 8.

Hernandez also rises to 11th place among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. Hernandez now has 162.7 Box-Toppers points, passing John Smoltz (160.9) on the “all-time” list. (It should be noted Smoltz began his career in 1988, so his first seven seasons weren’t recorded by Box-Toppers. Making rough extrapolations, Smoltz would likely have about 250 career Box-Toppers points if all his seasons were included.) Hernandez now trails 10th-ranked player Roger Clemens (164.8).

National League Player of the Day—Todd Frazier of the Reds homered, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 11-0 win over the Cardinals.

Frazier earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 8.9 for the season. He ranks fifth among NL batters.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall NL Player of the Day was batter Todd Frazier.

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

Scoring—Hernandez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Frazier earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

9/10 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 9.0 Mariners Felix Hernandez (W,17-8) - - - - - - 8.0 3 0 0 4 8
NL 4.0 Reds Todd Frazier, 3B 5 3 3 3 0 0 - - - - - -
4.0 Rockies Justin Miller (MR) (W,2-2) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
3.2 Indians Cody Allen (W,2-4; BS,4) - - - - - - 1.2 1 0 0 0 3
3.0 Mets Juan Uribe, 3B 4 1 3 3 0 1 - - - - - -
2.0 Brewers Logan Schafer, CF 1 1 1 1 1 0 - - - - - -