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The Los Angeles Dodgers are Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team going into 2025 but with player injuries factored in, the New York Mets hold the overall edge.
The current 2025 roster of last year’s World Series champion Dodgers accumulated 118.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024, most of any team. However, with several players injured and expected to miss time in 2025, their injury-adjusted Box-Toppers point total drops to 106.7, fifth among all teams.
Read MoreMariners pitcher Luis Castillo is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Blue Jays pitcher Jose Berrios rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Travis d'Arnaud of the Braves earns Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second straight day.
Read MorePhillies pitcher Spencer Turnbull is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to ninth place in season player rankings.
Also Friday, Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta extended his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreDiamondbacks pitcher Ryan Thompson tops players in Monday’s two National League Division Series playoff games.
Travis d'Arnaud of the Braves was Box-Toppers Player of the Game in the other NLDS game.
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Source: MLB.com
Both National League Division Series begin Saturday.
The Philadelphia Phillies face the Atlanta Braves in one best-of-five game series and the Arizona Diamondbacks face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the other. The top two NL seeds, the Braves (first) and the Dodgers (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played this week.
Read MorePhillies pitcher Zack Wheeler is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreBoth National League Division Series begin Tuesday.
The Los Angeles Dodgers face the San Diego Padres in one best-of-five game series and the Atlanta Braves face the Philadelphia Phillies in the other. The top two NL seeds, the Dodgers (first) and the Braves (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played over the weekend.
Read MorePadres pitcher Yu Darvish is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Darvish struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 7-1 win over the Dodgers.
Read MoreReds pitcher Tyler Mahle is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Read MoreMarlins pitcher Sandy Alcantara is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fourth in season player rankings.
Also Thursday, Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors, passing previous leader Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, who held the top spot for nearly a month.
Read MoreBraves starting pitcher Ian Anderson is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s World Series Game 3.
The Atlanta Braves win 2-0 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven game series over the Houston Astros.
Read MoreAstros starting pitcher Jose Urquidy is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s World Series Game 2.
The Houston Astros win 7-2 to tie the best-of-seven game series with the Atlanta Braves at 1-1.
Read MoreIn four league division series playoff games Tuesday these are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners:
Travis d'Arnaud of the Braves is top player in Tuesday’s 9-5 win over the Marlins.
Dodgers pitcher Dustin May is top player in Tuesday’s 5-1 win over the Padres.
George Springer of the Astros is top player in Tuesday’s 5-2 win over the Athletics.
Manuel Margot of the Rays is top player in Tuesday’s 7-5 win over the Yankees.
The New York Yankees are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2020 preseason rankings, rising from fifth place at the end of the 2019 season.
The 2019 World Series-champion Washington Nationals, ranked second at the end of 2019, maintain second place in the 2020 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Blue Jays made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Houston Astros—2019’s top-ranked team and American League champion—had the biggest decline.
Read MoreBoth American League Division Series begin Friday.
The AL Wild Card champion Tampa Bay Rays face the AL West champion Houston Astros in one best-of-five game series and the AL Central champion Minnesota Twins take on the New York Yankees, champions of the AL East, in the other series.
Read MoreThe Tampa Bay Rays visit the Oakland Athletics in the American League one-game Wild Card playoff game Wednesday.
Starting pitchers are:
Rays—Charlie Morton, 18.8 Box-Toppers points in 2019, fifth among all players and third among American League pitchers. Morton is also the top Rays player in 2019’s Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Athletics—Sean Manaea, 3.7 Box-Toppers points in 2019, 265th among all players and 66th among AL pitchers.
Read MoreBrandon Crawford of the Giants is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Monday, Albert Pujols of the Angels reclaimed the sixth-place spot on Box-Toppers’ “all-time” career points list, passing Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to third place in season player rankings and sixth place on Box-Toppers’ “all-time” career points list.
Also Saturday, two other players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after earning Player of the Game honors—Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole rises to sixth place and Indians pitcher Shane Bieber rises to seventh place.
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Mariners pitcher Ariel Miranda is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, two closing pitchers rise in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings after both earned Player of the Game honors—Greg Holland of the Rockies rises to fourth place and Craig Kimbrel of the Red Sox rises to seventh.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.0 |
| 2 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 5.7 |
| 3 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 5.0 |
| 4 | Holland, Greg 2906 | pi cp | col nl | 5.0 |
| 5 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 4.7 |
| 6 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 4.0 |
| 7 | Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | bos al | 4.0 |
| 8 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 4.0 |
| 9 | Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | dc nl | 4.0 |
| 10 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 3.7 |
Player of the Day—Miranda struck out seven over 5 1/3 innings, allowing one run and two hits, in the 3-1 win over the Indians.
National League Player of the Day—Travis d’Arnaud of the Mets hit two homers and went 3-for-3, driving in five runs, in the 7-5 win over the Nationals.
American League Batter of the Day—Matt Holliday of the Yankees hit a 10th-inning, three-run walk-off home run in the 14-11, 10th-inning win over the Orioles. Holliday also doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring three times.
Holliday also has now earned Box-Toppers points in 14 consecutive seasons. He earned his first points in 2004 with the Rockies and has 99.3 career points, fifth among active AL batters. His best season was 2007 with the Rockies when he had 16.2 points, first among NL batters. In 2016, he had 6.0 points with the Cardinals.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Friday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Travis d’Arnaud.
Rankings—Two closing pitchers rise in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings after both earned Player of the Game honors Friday:
Debut—Gift Ngoepe of the Pirates made his Box-Toppers debut Friday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Ngoepe (3B 3-3 2R BI in the 12-2 win over the Marlins) made his Major League debut April 26 and was playing in his second career game. He is the 3,779th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Miranda earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and d’Arnaud earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Holliday earns 1.5 points for being AL 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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| 4/28 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 6.1 | SEA 3, CLE 1 | Ariel Miranda (W,2-2) | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | |
| NL | 6.0 | NYM 7, WSH 5 | Travis d'Arnaud, C | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | HOU 9, OAK 4 | Charlie Morton (W,2-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 12 | ||
| 5.0 | LAD 5, PHI 3 | Kenta Maeda (W,2-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 5.0 | `LAA 6, TEX 3 | Tyler Skaggs | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | NYY 14, BAL 11 (F/10) | Matt Holliday, DH | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | MIN 6, KC 4 | Miguel Sano, 3B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | CHW 7, DET 3 | Anthony Swarzak (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | PIT 12, MIA 2 | Gift Ngoepe, 2B-SS | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | BOS 5, CHC 4 | Craig Kimbrel (S,8) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | ATL 10, MIL 8 | Jose Ramirez (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.1 | STL 7, CIN 5 | Seung-Hwan Oh (S,6) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | SF 4, SD 3 | Brandon Belt, LF-1B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | COL 3, ARI 1 | Greg Holland (S,10) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.2 | TB 7, TOR 4 | Chase Whitley (S,1) | - | - | - | - | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Holland, Greg 2906 | pi cp | col nl | 5.0 | 5.0 | 35.0 | 38.0 | 5.0 |
| Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | bos al | 4.0 | 12.0 | 56.7 | 62.7 | -4.0 |
| Miranda, Ariel 3738 | pi sp | sea al | 3.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 1.0 |
| Sano, Miguel 3527 | 3b | min al | 2.5 | 5.5 | 11.5 | 11.5 | -0.5 |
| Whitley, Chase 3352 | pi mr sp | tb al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 2.0 |
| d’Arnaud, Travis 3384 | ca | nym nl | 1.7 | 2.7 | 9.2 | 9.2 | 0.7 |
| Holliday, Matt 1836 | dh lf | nyy al | 1.5 | 7.5 | 34.7 | 99.3 | -4.5 |
| Maeda, Kenta 3609 | pi sp | lad nl | 1.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | -9.0 |
| Belt, Brandon 2943 | 1b lf | sf nl | 1.0 | 8.0 | 20.0 | 21.5 | -6.0 |
| Oh, Seung Hwan 3693 | pi cp | stl nl | 1.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | -4.0 |
| Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | hou al | 1.0 | 4.0 | 17.7 | 28.7 | -2.0 |
| Skaggs, Tyler 3183 | pi sp | ana al | 1.0 | 3.7 | 13.4 | 13.4 | -1.7 |
| Ramirez, Jose A. 3716 | pi mr | atl nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| Swarzak, Anthony 2603 | pi mr | chi al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 8.7 | 1.0 |
| Ngoepe, Gift 3779 | 2b ss | pit nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Yankees pitcher Luis Severino is Box-Toppers spring training Player of the Day for Thursday.
Severino pitched four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out five, in the 7-2 win over the Pirates. Severino had 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Yankees.
National League Player of the Day—Travis d’Arnaud of the Mets doubled and went 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 6-5 win over the Marlins. d’Arnaud had 2.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Mets.
American League Batter of the Day—Sam Travis of the Red Sox hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-3, driving in four runs, in the 9-5 win over the Orioles. Travis has yet to make his regular season Major League debut and so has no Box-Toppers points.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the NL Player of the Day was a batter, Travis d’Arnaud.
Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in spring training games, but if it were the regular season, Severino would earn 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, d’Arnaud would earn 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day and Travis would earn 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) would earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
Note—Seventeen spring training games were scheduled for Thursday—14 are listed below. Two games are not included because they ended in ties (Mariners vs. Athletics and Angels vs. Rockies) and one game was not included that featured a non-Major League team (Blue Jays vs. Canadian Junior Team).
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
| 3/17 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 7.0 | Yankees | Luis Severino (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| 5.2 | `Rays | Matt Moore | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | ||
| NL | 5.0 | Mets | Travis d'Arnaud C | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | Brewers | Taylor Jungmann (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Red Sox | Sam Travis 1B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | Reds | Jumbo Diaz (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | Orioles | Dale Thayer (Sv, 1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | Cubs | Jorge Soler LF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Giants | Brandon Belt 1B | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Nationals | Chris Heisey PH-LF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Astros | Carlos Correa SS | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Tigers | Mike Pelfrey (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | Royals | Kris Medlen (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 2.1 | Astros | Will Harris (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| ` 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.