Dodgers' Alex Wood tops players for Saturday, May 13; Red Sox' Sale rises to lead Box-Toppers player rankings

Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Saturday, Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale rises to retake the lead in season Box-Toppers player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 13:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
2 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 7.7
3 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 7.0
4 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
5 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 6.0
6 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 5.4
7 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 5.4
8 Triggs, Andrew 3723 pi sp oak al 5.4
9 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 5.0
10 Nova, Ivan 2796 pi sp pit nl 5.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Wood struck out 10 over six scoreless innings, allowing five hits and one walk, in the 4-0 win over the Rockies.

American League Player of the Day—Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale struck out 12 over seven innings, allowing three runs on two hits, in the 6-3 win over the Rays.

Sale earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 8.4 for the season, rising from third to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings. He passes previous leader Twins pitcher Ervin Santana (7.7 Box-Toppers points), who only took the lead after Friday’s games. It is the second time this season Sale has led player rankings—he also led from May 2 to 5.

National League Batter of the Day—Travis Shaw of the Brewers homered and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 11-4 win over the Mets.

American League Batter of the Day—J.D. Martinez of the Tigers hit two homers and went 3-for-4, driving in three runs, in the 4-3 win over the Angels.

2017 lead changes

Here are the season’s lead changes among players in Box-Toppers points. Chart shows the date and the player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total when they took the lead.  

Date Player Team BTP
4/2 Carlos Martinez stl nl 2.0
4/3 Clayton Kershaw lad nl 2.0
4/9 Noah Syndergaard nym nl 3.0
4/14 Clayton Kershaw lad nl 4.0
4/15 Ervin Santana min al 4.7
4/19 Clayton Kershaw lad nl 5.0
5/2 Chris Sale bos al 6.7
5/6 Clayton Kershaw lad nl 7.0
5/12 Ervin Santana min al 7.7
5/13 Chris Sale bos al 8.4

Notable—Bryce Harper of the Nationals leads batters in season Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday. Harper (HR 1-4 2R 2BI in the 6-4 win over the Phillies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.0 for the season, rising to 11th place among all players. He passes previous batting leader, Aaron Judge of the Yankees (5.0 Box-Toppers points). Though both Harper and Judge have 5.0 Box-Toppers points, Harper ranks higher because he had more 2016 Box-Toppers points (3.0 vs. 0.0).

Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:

  • Marlins pitcher Jose Berrios (7.2IP 2H R BB 4K W in the 4-1 win over the Indians) made his Major League debut April 27, 2016, and was playing in his 15th career game. He is the 3,791st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams (5IP 4H R BB 4K W in the 4-3 win over the Diamondbacks) made his Major League debut Sept. 7, 2016, and was playing in his 15th career game. He is the 3,792nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Wood earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Sale earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Shaw and Martinez each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

5/13 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 10.0 LAD 4, COL 0 Alex Wood (W,4-0) - - - - 6.0 5 0 0 1 10
AL 9.0 BOS 6, TB 3 Chris Sale (W,4-2) - - - - 7.0 2 3 3 2 12
7.0 `KC 4, BAL 3 Nate Karns - - - - 5.0 5 2 2 1 12
6.2 MIN 4, CLE 1 Jose Berrios (W,1-0) - - - - 7.2 2 1 1 1 4
5.0 ATL 3, MIA 1 Julio Teheran (W,3-3) - - - - 6.0 3 0 0 2 4
4.2 `CHW 5, SD 4 Anthony Swarzak - - - - 1.2 0 0 0 0 3
BAT 4.0 MIL 11, NYM 4 Travis Shaw, 3B 5 2 3 4 - - - - - -
BAT 4.0 DET 4, LAA 3 J.D. Martinez, RF 4 2 3 3 - - - - - -
3.0 STL 5, CHC 3 Tommy Pham, LF 3 2 2 2 - - - - - -
3.0 TEX 6, OAK 5 Matt Bush (S,3) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.0 TOR 7, SEA 2 Kevin Pillar, CF 4 2 3 1 - - - - - -
2.0 PIT 4, ARI 3 Trevor Williams (W,2-2) - - - - 5.0 4 1 1 1 4
1.1 SF 3, CIN 1 Matt Moore (W,2-4) - - - - 7.1 8 1 1 3 7
1.0 WSH 6, PHI 4 Bryce Harper, RF 4 2 1 2 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 +/-
Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4 21.8 89.8 94.8 -5.0
Harper, Bryce 3011 rf dc nl 5.0 8.0 32.4 32.4 2.0
Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp mr lad nl 5.0 6.0 24.4 24.4 4.0
Shaw, Travis 3544 3b mil nl 4.5 11.5 15.7 15.7 -2.5
Karns, Nathan 3414 pi sp kc al 3.7 6.7 12.7 12.7 0.7
Moore, Matt 2975 pi sp sf nl 2.7 15.1 38.6 40.6 -9.7
Pham, Thomas 3596 lf stl nl 2.5 4.0 5.5 5.5 1.0
Swarzak, Anthony 2603 pi mr chi al 2.0 2.0 6.0 9.7 2.0
Martinez, J.D. 2922 rf det al 1.5 7.0 16.7 18.7 -4.0
Teheran, Julio 3176 pi sp atl nl 1.0 11.7 47.5 47.5 -9.7
Pillar, Kevin 3486 cf tor al 1.0 3.0 6.5 6.5 -1.0
Bush, Matt 3673 pi cp tex al 1.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 -1.0
Berrios, Jose 3791 pi sp min al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Williams, Trevor 3792 pi sp pit nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Angels' Matt Shoemaker tops players for Friday, May 12; Twins' Santana retakes Box-Toppers player rankings lead

Angels pitcher Matt Shoemaker is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 12:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 7.7
2 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 7.0
3 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 6.7
4 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
5 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 6.0
6 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 5.4
7 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 5.4
8 Triggs, Andrew 3723 pi sp oak al 5.4
9 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 5.0
10 Nova, Ivan 2796 pi sp pit nl 5.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Friday, Twins pitcher Ervin Santana regains the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Shoemaker pitched six scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing three hits, in the 7-0 win over the Tigers.

Shoemaker had a Box-Toppers game score of +9.0, tied with Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr., who was Player of the Game in the 5-1 win over the Yankees (6IP 4H 0R 0BB 7K W). But Shoemaker won overall Player of the Day honors on a tiebreaker—he allowed one fewer hit than McCullers (three vs. four). Yet, because of that one-hit difference, Shoemaker earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day while McCullers earns only 1.0 point for being Player of the Game.

National League Player of the Day—Cubs pitcher Eddie Butler pitched six scoreless innings, striking out five and allowing two hits, in the 3-2 win over the Cardinals.

National League Batter of the Day—Tyler Flowers of the Braves homered and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 8-4 win over the Marlins.

2017 lead changes

Here are the season’s lead changes among players in Box-Toppers points. Chart shows the date and the player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total when they took the lead.  

Date Player Team BTP
4/2 Carlos Martinez stl nl 2.0
4/3 Clayton Kershaw lad nl 2.0
4/9 Noah Syndergaard nym nl 3.0
4/14 Clayton Kershaw lad nl 4.0
4/15 Ervin Santana min al 4.7
4/19 Clayton Kershaw lad nl 5.0
5/2 Chris Sale bos al 6.7
5/6 Clayton Kershaw lad nl 7.0
5/12 Ervin Santana min al 7.7

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

Rankings—Twins pitcher Ervin Santana rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday in the 1-0 win over the Indians (7IP 2H 0R 4K W).

Santana earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.7 for the season, passing previous leader Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (7.0 Box-Toppers points). It is the second time this season Santana has led players in Box-Toppers points; he previously led from April 15 to 18. Santana also takes the lead in Box-Toppers points among AL pitchers, passing previous leader Chris Sale of the Red Sox (6.7).

Santana also now has 105.0 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 65th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Friday, he passes Blue Jays pitcher Francisco Liriano (104.2) on the “all-time” list and now trails 64th-ranked player, Dodgers pitcher Scott Kazmir (105.1).

Streak—Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto has now earned Box-Toppers points for 10 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of the 2017 season.

Cueto (8IP 5H 2R 3BB 6K ND in the 3-2, 17-inning win over the Reds) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2008 with the Reds and has 100.8 career Box-Toppers points, becoming the 78th player with 100 or more Box-Toppers points since tracking began in 1995. 

Cueto ranks 74th among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995 and Friday passed four players on the “all-time” list—Larry Walker (100.1), Jeff Bagwell (100.4), Paul Konerko (100.7) and Giants pitcher Matt Cain (100.7). Cueto now trails 73rd-ranked player Matt Holliday of the Yankees (100.8). Though both Cueto and Holliday both have 100.8 career Box-Toppers points, Holliday ranks higher because he has more 2017 Box-Toppers points than Cueto (3.0 vs. 1.0).

Cueto’s best season was 2014 with the Reds, when he had 22.4 Box-Toppers points, fourth among all players. In 2016, he had 16.4 points with the Giants, eighth among all players.

Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debuts Friday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:

  • Rangers closer Kela Keone (2IP 0H 0R BB 2K W in the 5-2 win over the Athletics) made his Major League debut April 7, 2015, and was playing in his 115th career game. He is the 3,789th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Austin Hedges of the Padres (HR 2B 2-4 R 3BI in the 6-3 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut May 4, 2015, and was playing in his 98th career game. He is the 3,790th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Shoemaker earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Butler earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Flowers earns 1.5 points for being NL 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

5/12 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 9.0 LAA 7, DET 0 Matt Shoemaker (W,2-2) - - - - 6.0 3 0 0 1 7
9.0 HOU 5, NYY 1 Lance McCullers Jr. (W,3-1) - - - - 6.0 4 0 0 0 7
NL 6.0 CHC 3, STL 2 Eddie Butler (W,1-0) - - - - 6.0 2 0 0 3 5
BAT 4.0 ATL 8, MIA 4 Tyler Flowers, C 4 2 2 4 - - - - - -
4.0 MIN 1, CLE 0 Ervin Santana (W,6-1) - - - - 7.0 2 0 0 5 4
4.0 TOR 4, SEA 0 Joe Biagini (W,1-1) - - - - 5.0 4 0 0 0 3
3.0 MIL 7, NYM 4 Eric Sogard, SS 1 1 1 2 - - - - - -
3.0 TEX 5, OAK 2 Keone Kela (W,1-1) - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 1 2
2.1 TB 5, BOS 4 Alex Colome (S,9) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 1
2.0 ARI 11, PIT 4 Brandon Drury, 2B 5 1 3 3 - - - - - -
2.0 SD 6, CHW 3 Austin Hedges, C 4 1 2 3 - - - - - -
2.0 LAD 6, COL 2 Chase Utley, 1B 1 0 1 2 - - - - - -
2.0 `SF 3, CIN 2 (F/17) Johnny Cueto - - - - 8.0 5 2 2 3 6
1.0 KC 3, BAL 2 Joakim Soria (W,2-1) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 0
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 +/-
Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 7.7 11.7 44.5 105.0 3.7
McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 4.0 10.1 16.8 16.8 -2.1
Colome, Alex 3189 pi cp tb al 3.0 12.0 20.7 20.7 -6.0
Shoemaker, Matt 3290 pi sp ana al 2.0 9.0 27.4 27.4 -5.0
Soria, Joakim 2258 pi mr cp kc al 2.0 3.0 11.7 47.7 1.0
Butler, Eddie 3483 pi sp chi nl 1.7 2.7 3.7 3.7 0.7
Flowers, Tyler 3101 ca atl nl 1.5 4.0 12.5 12.5 -1.0
Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp sf nl 1.0 17.4 71.0 100.8 -15.4
Biagini, Joe 3646 pi sp tor al 1.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 -1.0
Drury, Brandon 3744 2b lf ari nl 1.0 2.5 2.5 2.5 -0.5
Utley, Chase 1861 1b 2b lad nl 1.0 2.0 13.0 74.1 0.0
Sogard, Eric 3174 ss 2b mil nl 1.0 1.0 5.0 5.0 1.0
Hedges, Austin 3790 ca sd nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Kela, Keone 3789 pi cp tex al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Dbacks' Zack Greinke tops players for Thursday, May 11; Vargas, Keuchel rise in Box-Toppers top 10

Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Grienke is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 11:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 7.0
2 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 6.7
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 6.7
4 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
5 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 6.0
6 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 5.4
7 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 5.4
8 Triggs, Andrew 3723 pi sp oak al 5.4
9 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 5.0
10 Nova, Ivan 2796 pi sp pit nl 5.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Thursday, two players rise in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors—Royals pitcher Jason Vargas rises to fifth place and Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel rises to seventh place.

Player of the Day—Greinke struck out 11 over eight innings, allowing one hit—an eighth-inning home run—in the 2-1 win over the Pirates. Greinke allowed just the one run and walked only one.

Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 160.8 for his career, 14th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 13th-place player John Smoltz (160.9) on the “all-time” list. Greinke ranks fifth among all active players.

American League Player of the Day—Tigers pitcher Michael Fulmer struck out nine over six innings, allowing one run and five hits, in the 7-1 win over the Angels.

American League Batter of the Day—Justin Smoak of the Blue Jays homered and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 7-2 win over the Mariners.

National League Batter of the Day—Nolan Arenado of the Rockies hit two doubles and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 10-7 win over the Dodgers.

Rankings—Two players rise in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday:

  • Royals pitcher Jason Vargas (7IP 3H 0R BB 4K W in the 6-0 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.0 for the season, rising to fifth place, third among AL pitchers.
  • Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel (6IP 5H R BB 9K W in the 3-2 win over the Yankees) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.4 for the season, rising to seventh place, fifth among AL pitchers.

Streak—Mike Napoli of the Rangers has now earned Box-Toppers points for 12 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday (2HR 2-3 2R 4BI in the 5-2 win over the Padres).

Napoli earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Angels and has 58.7 career points, sixth 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 2016, he had 6.5 points with the Indians, ninth among AL first basemen.

Scoring—Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Fulmer earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Smoak and Arenado each earn 1.5 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

5/11 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 15.0 ARI 2, PIT 1 Zack Greinke (W,4-2) - - - - 8.0 1 1 1 1 11
8.0 HOU 3, NYY 2 Dallas Keuchel (W,6-0) - - - - 6.0 5 1 0 1 9
AL 7.0 DET 7, LAA 1 Michael Fulmer (W,4-1) - - - - 7.0 3 1 1 2 7
7.0 KC 6, TB 0 Jason Vargas (W,5-1) - - - - 7.0 3 0 0 1 4
BAT 6.0 TOR 7, SEA 2 Justin Smoak, 1B 3 2 3 4 - - - - - -
6.0 `BOS 4, MIL 1 Eduardo Rodriguez - - - - 6.0 3 1 1 0 5
5.0 TEX 5, SD 2 Mike Napoli, DH 3 2 2 4 - - - - - -
4.2 MIN 7, CHW 6 Brandon Kintzler (S,8) - - - - 1.2 0 0 0 0 3
BAT 4.0 COL 10, LAD 7 Nolan Arenado, 3B 4 3 3 2 - - - - - -
2.1 CIN 3, SF 2 Wandy Peralta (W,2-0) - - - - 1.1 1 0 0 0 2
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 +/-
Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 6.0 7.0 32.4 53.2 5.0
Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 5.4 12.4 48.2 48.2 -1.6
Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 4.7 14.4 83.7 160.8 -5.0
Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 pi sp bos al 4.7 9.4 15.4 15.4 0.0
Fulmer, Michael 3640 pi sp det al 3.7 16.4 16.4 16.4 -9.0
Arenado, Nolan 3306 3b col nl 3.0 13.7 23.7 23.7 -7.7
Kintzler, Brandon 3150 pi cp min al 3.0 3.0 5.0 5.0 3.0
Smoak, Justin 2731 1b tor al 2.5 6.0 19.2 25.4 -1.0
Peralta, Wandy 3782 pi mr cin nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Napoli, Mike 2161 dh 1b tex al 1.0 7.5 30.7 58.7 -5.5
What are those numbers after players' names?

Rays' Chris Archer tops players for Wednesday, May 10; Athletics' Triggs rises to 6th in Box-Toppers player rankings

Rays pitcher Chris Archer is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 10:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 7.0
2 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 6.7
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 6.7
4 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
5 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 5.4
6 Triggs, Andrew 3723 pi sp oak al 5.4
7 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 5.0
8 Nova, Ivan 2796 pi sp pit nl 5.0
9 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 5.0
10 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 5.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Wednesday, Athletics pitcher Andrew Triggs rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Archer struck out 11 over eight scoreless innings, allowing five hits and no walks, in the 12-1 win over the Royals.

National League Player of the Day—Rockies pitcher German Marquez struck out eight over eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk-in the 3-0 win over the Cubs.

This was Marquez’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Marquez made his Major League debut Sept. 8, 2016, and was playing in his 10th career game. He is the 3,788th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

American League Batter of the Day—Robinson Cano of the Mariners homered and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 11-6 win over the Phillies.

Cano has now earned Box-Toppers points in 13 consecutive seasons. He earned his first points in 2005 with the Yankees and has 76.9 career points, sixth among active AL batters. His best season was 2013 with the Yankees, when he had 12.5 points, fourth among AL batters. In 2016, Cano had 8.0 points with the Mariners, second among AL second basemen.

National League Batter of the Day—Dexter Fowler of the Cardinals hit a pinch-hit, go-ahead triple in the 7-5 win over the Marlins. Fowler went 1-for-1, scoring once and driving in two runs.

Rankings—Athletics pitcher Andrew Triggs rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Triggs (6IP 3H R 3BB 4K W in the 3-1 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.4 for the season. Triggs ranks fourth among AL pitchers.

Scoring—Archer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Marquez earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Cano and Fowler each earn 1.5 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

5/10 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 14.0 TB 12, KC 1 Chris Archer (W,3-1) - - - - 8.0 5 0 0 0 11
NL 12.0 COL 3, CHC 0 German Marquez (W,1-2) - - - - 8.0 3 0 0 1 8
6.0 ARI 7, DET 1 Zack Godley (W,1-0) - - - - 7.0 4 1 1 1 6
4.1 LAD 5, PIT 2 Kenta Maeda (W,3-2) - - - - 8.1 5 2 2 0 5
BAT 4.0 SEA 11, PHI 6 Robinson Cano, 2B 5 2 4 3 - - - - - -
4.0 WSH 7, BAL 6 Matt Albers (W,2-0) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
3.0 TOR 8, CLE 7 Ezequiel Carrera, RF 5 3 3 2 - - - - - -
BAT 3.0 STL 7, MIA 5 Dexter Fowler, PH 1 1 1 2 - - - - - -
2.0 SF 6, NYM 5 Buster Posey, 1B-C 4 3 2 1 - - - - - -
2.0 TEX 4, SD 3 Shin-Soo Choo, DH 3 1 3 1 - - - - - -
2.0 HOU 4, ATL 2 Carlos Correa, SS 3 1 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 OAK 3, LAA 1 Andrew Triggs (W,5-2) - - - - 6.0 3 1 1 3 4
1.0 MIL 7, BOS 4 Travis Shaw, 3B 4 2 2 1 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 +/-
Triggs, Andrew 3723 pi sp oak al 5.4 6.4 6.4 6.4 4.4
Shaw, Travis 3544 3b 1b mil nl 2.5 9.5 13.7 13.7 -4.5
Fowler, Dexter 2698 cf ph stl nl 2.5 4.0 18.0 20.5 1.0
Choo, Shin-Soo 2267 rf dh tex al 2.5 3.5 23.5 50.2 1.5
Maeda, Kenta 3609 pi sp lad nl 2.0 12.0 12.0 12.0 -8.0
Archer, Chris 3194 pi sp tb al 2.0 11.0 51.1 51.1 -7.0
Posey, Buster 2745 ca 1b sf nl 2.0 5.5 30.5 35.0 -1.5
Marquez, German 3788 pi sp col nl 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7
Cano, Robinson 2092 2b sea al 1.5 9.5 39.0 76.9 -6.5
Correa, Carlos 3506 ss hou al 1.0 8.7 15.9 15.9 -6.7
Godley, Zack 3538 pi sp ari nl 1.0 2.0 5.7 5.7 0.0
Albers, Matt 2274 pi cp dc nl 1.0 2.0 3.0 6.0 0.0
Carrera, Ezequiel 2873 rf tor al 1.0 1.0 3.5 5.5 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Cubs' Lackey tops players for Tuesday, May 9; Astros' Beltran ties Box-Toppers record, earning points in 19 straight seasons

Cubs pitcher John Lackey is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 9:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 7.0
2 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 6.7
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 6.7
4 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
5 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 5.4
6 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 5.0
7 Nova, Ivan 2796 pi sp pit nl 5.0
8 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 5.0
9 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 5.0
10 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 5.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Tuesday, Carlos Beltran of the Astros has now earned Box-Toppers points for 19 straight seasons, tying the “all-time” record set by Jason Giambi, after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday. Plus, Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Lackey struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks, in the 8-1 win over the Rockies.

Lackey earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 123.2 career points, ranked 39th among all player since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 38th-ranked player Gary Sheffield (124.1).

American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 6-0 win over the Blue Jays.

Box-Toppers season streaks

Here are the players who have earned Box-Toppers points in the most consecutive seasons. Carlos Beltran has tied Jason Giambi for the longest streak—19 straight seasons. Beltran has earned points each season from 1999 to 2017; Giambi earned points each season from 1995 to 2013. (Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.) Players are listed by length of their streak. Also shown is the duration of their streak and their career Box-Toppers point (BTP) total.



Streak

Player

Pos

Duration
Career
BTP
1 19 Jason Giambi 1b 1995-2013 133.4
1 19 Carlos Beltran* rf 1999-2017 105.9
3 18 Jim Thome 1b dh 1995-2012 146.7
3 18 Chipper Jones 3b 1995-2012 149.0
3 18 Johnny Damon lf 1995-2012 63.0
3 18 Alex Rodriguez 3b 1996-2013 187.0
7 17 Mariano Rivera pi cp 1995-2011 126.4
7 17 Derek Jeter ss 1996-2012 76.4
7 17 Paul Konerko 1b 1998-2014 100.7
7 17 Tim Hudson pi sp 1999-2015 157.0
7 17 Torii Hunter cf 1999-2015 115.9
7 17 David Ortiz dh 2000-2016 145.9
7 17 CC Sabathia* pi sp 2001-2017 187.0
14 16 Manny Ramirez lf 1995-2010 167.2
14 16 Andy Pettitte pi sp 1995-2010 138.5
14 16 Jamie Moyer pi sp 1995-2010 104.0
14 16 Scott Rolen 3b 1996-2011 97.6
14 16 Kevin Millwood pi sp 1997-2012 108.3
14 16 Derek Lowe pi sp 1998-2013 91.5
14 16 Aramis Ramirez 3b 2000-2015 105.8
14 16 Mark Buehrle pi sp 2000-2015 116.7
14 16 Albert Pujols* dh 1b 2001-2016 182.3
14 16 Ichiro Suzuki* rf 2001-2016 53.7
24 15 Randy Johnson pi sp 1995-2009 278.8
24 15 Garret Anderson lf 1995-2009 86.5
24 15 Ivan Rodriguez ca 1995-2009 79.0
24 15 Tony Clark 1b 1995-2009 63.8
24 15 Gary Sheffield lf 1995-2009 124.1
24 15 Jason Kendall ca 1996-2010 40.9
24 15 Vladimir Guerrero rf 1997-2011 128.3
24 15 Bobby Abreu rf 1997-2011 95.5
24 15 Mike Cameron cf 1997-2011 70.3
24 15 Miguel Tejada ss 1997-2011 102.3
24 15 Jorge Posada ca 1997-2011 79.5
24 15 Livan Hernandez pi sp 1997-2011 76.7
24 15 Kyle Lohse pi sp 2001-2015 89.0
24 15 Jake Peavy pi sp 2002-2016 141.8
BTP: Box-Toppers points
* Active streak of a player active in 2017
Updated Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Details

Carrasco earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 5.4 for the season, rising to fifth place in season player rankings and third among AL pitchers, behind Chris Sale of the Red Sox (6.7) and Ervin Santana of the Twins (6.7).

National League Batter of the Day—Keon Broxton of the Brewers homered, tripled and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 11-7 win over the Red Sox.

American League Batter of the Day—Ben Gamel of the Mariners hit a three-run homer and doubled in the 10-9 win over the Phillies. Gamel went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in four runs.

Streak—Carlos Beltran of the Astros tied Box-Toppers’ record for the longest consecutive season streak in which a player has earned Player of the Game honors. 

Beltran was Player of the Game Tuesday in the 8-3 win over the Braves (HR 2-4 2R BI), marking the 19th straight season in which he has earned Box-Toppers points (1999 to 2017). That ties the record of Jason Giambi, who earned Box-Toppers points for 19 straight seasons from 1995 to 2013. (Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, the same year Giambi began his Major League career. Giambi earned points in each season he played except for his last season in 2014.)

Beltran earned his first Box-Toppers points in 1999 with the Royals and has 105.9 career points, rising to 61st place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. Beltran earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point Tuesday, passing three players on the “all-time” list—Dodgers pitcher Scott Kazmir (105.1), Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner (105.7) and Aramis Ramirez (105.8). Beltran now trails 60th-ranked player Frank Thomas (106.2).

Beltran’s 105.9 career Box-Toppers points also ranks fourth among active AL batters.

Beltran’s best season was 2003 with the Royals when he had 13.9 Box-Toppers points, second among AL batters, behind Carlos Delgado of the Blue Jays (17.7). In 2016, Beltran had 6.0 points with the Yankees and Rangers, eighth among AL designated hitters.

Beltran barely kept the streak alive earning only 1.0 Box-Toppers points in two different seasons—in 2010 with the Mets and in 2014 with the Yankees.

Besides Beltran, there are only three other Major League players who earned Box-Toppers points in 1999 or earlier who are still listed as active players today:

  • Braves pitcher Bartolo Colon, who has 2.7 points this season, but he earned no points in 2010, so his consecutive season streak stands only at seven.
  • Adrian Beltre of the Rangers, though he hasn’t earned Box-Toppers points yet this season. Also, Beltre did not earn points in 2005 or 2014, so his longest consecutive season streak earning Box-Toppers points is eight. His current streak is two seasons (2015 and 2016). 
  • Pitcher Joe Nathan of the Nationals, though he hasn’t earned Box-Toppers points since Sept. 25, 2014.

Scoring—Lackey earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Carrasco earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Broxton and Gamel each earn 1.5 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

5/9 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 11.0 CHC 8, COL 1 John Lackey (W,3-3) - - - - 7.0 4 0 0 2 10
AL 11.0 CLE 6, TOR 0 Carlos Carrasco (W,4-2) - - - - 7.0 3 0 0 0 7
8.0 TEX 11, SD 0 A.J. Griffin (W,4-0) - - - - 9.0 4 0 0 1 4
BAT 7.0 MIL 11, BOS 7 Keon Broxton, CF 3 3 3 4 - - - - - -
6.1 `LAD 4, PIT 3 (F/10) Julio Urias - - - - 6.1 1 1 1 2 5
BAT 6.0 SEA 10, PHI 9 Ben Gamel, RF 5 3 4 4 - - - - - -
5.0 COL 10, CHC 4 Mark Reynolds, 1B 4 3 3 3 - - - - - -
3.0 KC 7, TB 6 (F/12) Salvador Perez, C 4 2 3 2 - - - - - -
2.0 STL 6, MIA 5 Matt Adams, PH 1 1 1 1 - - - - - -
2.0 NYM 6, SF 1 Zack Wheeler (W,2-2) - - - - 6.0 2 1 1 4 4
2.0 BAL 5, WSH 4 (F/12) Logan Verrett (W,2-0) - - - - 3.0 2 0 0 1 2
1.0 LAA 7, OAK 3 Yunel Escobar, 3B 5 1 1 4 - - - - - -
1.0 MIN 7, CHW 2 Byron Buxton, CF 4 1 3 1 - - - - - -
1.0 HOU 8, ATL 3 Carlos Beltran, DH 4 2 2 1 - - - - - -
1.0 CIN 5, NYY 3 Joey Votto, 1B 2 0 1 2 - - - - - -
0.0 DET 7, ARI 3 Nicholas Castellanos, 3B 3 0 1 2 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 +/-
Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 5.4 17.8 46.5 51.9 -7.0
Reynolds, Mark 2297 1b col nl 3.5 7.5 22.2 54.9 -0.5
Griffin, A.J. 3074 pi sp tex al 3.0 8.7 23.4 23.4 -2.7
Gamel, Ben 3784 rf sea al 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Votto, Joey 2366 1b cin nl 2.5 13.0 27.7 66.7 -8.0
Broxton, Keon 3785 cf mil nl 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5
Lackey, John 1640 pi sp chi nl 2.0 15.4 41.8 123.2 -11.4
Castellanos, Nick 3349 3b det al 2.0 7.5 15.7 15.7 -3.5
Verrett, Logan 3518 pi cp bal al 2.0 3.0 6.0 6.0 1.0
Beltran, Carlos 1194 dh rf hou al 1.0 7.0 19.2 105.9 -5.0
Urias, Julio 3652 pi sp lad nl 1.0 6.7 6.7 6.7 -4.7
Buxton, Byron 3604 cf min al 1.0 5.7 6.7 6.7 -3.7
Perez, Salvador 2972 ca kc al 1.0 5.0 20.2 22.7 -3.0
Escobar, Yunel 2331 3b ana al 1.0 2.0 17.5 42.0 0.0
Adams, Matt 3220 1b ph stl nl 1.0 2.0 10.5 10.5 0.0
Wheeler, Zack 3204 pi sp nym nl 1.0 1.0 12.7 12.7 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Dodgers' Alex Wood tops players for Monday, May 8; Cardinals' Martinez rises to 10th in player rankings

Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Monday, Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez rises to 10th place in season Box-Toppers player rankings after becoming the second pitcher of the season to earn Player of the Game honors for batting.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 8:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 7.0
2 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 6.7
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 6.7
4 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
5 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 5.0
6 Nova, Ivan 2796 pi sp pit nl 5.0
7 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 5.0
8 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 5.0
9 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 5.0
10 Martinez, Carlos 3371 pi sp stl nl 4.5
What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Wood struck out 11 over five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 12-1 win over the Pirates.

American League Player of the Day—Orioles pitcher Kevin Gausman struck out eight over seven innings, allowing two runs and five hits, in the 6-4 win over the Nationals.

National League Batter of the Day—Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 9-4 win over the Marlins.

Martinez earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 4.5 for the season, rising to 10th in Box-Toppers season player rankings and fifth among NL pitchers.

He also becomes the second pitcher this season to earn Player of the Game honors for batting. Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright did it on April 21. Not only has the feat been accomplished both times by Cardinals, but both pitchers also earned NL Batter of the Day honors when they did it.

This is the second time in his career Martinez has earned Player of the Game honors for batting. He also did it Sept. 19, 2016. During the 2016 season, pitchers won Player of the Game honors for batting eight times.

Martinez had a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0 for batting, highest among all Cardinals players Monday. He had a Box-Toppers game score of 0.0 for pitching (6IP 5H 3R 3ER 2BB 7K W).

American League Batter of the Day—Matt Holliday of the Yankees homered and went 2-for-4, scoring three times and driving in one run, in the 10-4 win over the Reds.

Holliday earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 100.8 for his career. He becomes the 77th player to earn 100 Box-Toppers points since 1995, when player tracking began. With his points Monday, he rises to 73rd on the “all-time” player list, passing six players—White Sox pitcher James Shields (99.4), Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto (99.8), Larry Walker (100.1), Jeff Bagwell (100.4), Paul Konerko (100.7) and Giants pitcher Matt Cain (100.7). Holliday now trails 72nd-ranked player Jason Schmidt (101.2).

Scoring—Wood earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cahill earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Martinez and Holliday 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

5/8 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 13.0 LAD 12, PIT 1 Alex Wood (W,3-0) - - - - 5.0 2 0 0 1 11
6.1 SD 5, TEX 1 Trevor Cahill (W,3-2) - - - - 5.1 1 0 0 5 7
AL 5.0 BAL 6, WSH 4 Kevin Gausman (W,2-3) - - - - 7.0 5 2 2 1 8
4.1 KC 7, TB 3 Nate Karns (W,2-2) - - - - 6.1 6 2 2 2 10
BAT 4.0 STL 9, MIA 4 Carlos Martinez, P 3 1 2 4 - - - - - -
4.0 `NYM 4, SF 3 Jacob deGrom - - - - 6.0 4 3 3 3 11
BAT 2.0 NYY 10, CIN 4 Matt Holliday, 1B 4 3 2 1 - - - - - -
2.0 TOR 4, CLE 2 Ryan Goins, SS 2 1 1 2 - - - - - -
1.0 OAK 3, LAA 2 (F/11) Jed Lowrie, 2B 5 2 2 2 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 +/-
Martinez, Carlos 3371 pi sp stl nl 4.5 16.9 31.6 31.6 -7.9
Cahill, Trevor 2658 pi sp sd nl 4.4 7.4 22.1 44.6 1.4
Holliday, Matt 1836 dh 1b lf nyy al 3.0 9.0 36.2 100.8 -3.0
Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp mr lad nl 3.0 4.0 22.4 22.4 2.0
Karns, Nathan 3414 pi sp kc al 2.7 5.7 11.7 11.7 -0.3
Goins, Ryan 3478 ss 2b tor al 2.0 3.5 8.0 8.0 0.5
Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp bal al 1.7 12.5 25.9 25.9 -9.1
deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp nym nl 1.0 10.7 46.1 46.1 -8.7
Lowrie, Jed 2437 2b ss oak al 1.0 2.0 16.5 28.0 0.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Reds' Scott Feldman tops players for Sunday, May 7; Yankees' Severino tops AL players

Reds pitcher Scott Feldman is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Feldman pitched a complete-game, four-hit shutout, striking out five, in the 4-0 win over the Giants.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 7:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 7.0
2 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 6.7
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 6.7
4 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
5 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 5.0
6 Nova, Ivan 2796 pi sp pit nl 5.0
7 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 5.0
8 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 5.0
9 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 5.0
10 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 4.4
What are those numbers after players' names?

American League Player of the Day—Yankees pitcher Luis Severino struck out nine over seven innings, allowing one run and four hits, in the 5-4, 18-inning win over the Cubs. Severino picked up the no-decision and did not earn the win because the Cubs tied the game after he exited.

Severino earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 3.7 for the season, most among the 14 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday. Severino ranks 20th among all players in season Box-Toppers points, 10th among AL pitchers.

National League Batter of the Day—Tommy Pham of the Cardinals hit two homers and went 4-for-5, driving in three runs, in the 6-4, 14-inning win over the Braves.

American League Batter of the Day—Sandy Leon of the Red Sox hit two homers and went 2-for-4, driving in four runs, in the 17-6 win over the Twins.

Debut—Jesus Aguilar of the Brewers made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Aguilar (HR 2B 2-2 R 2BI in the 6-2 win over the Pirates) made his Major League debut May 15, 2014, and was playing in his 63rd career game. He is the 3,787th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Feldman earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Severino earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Pham and Leon each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

5/7 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 9.0 CIN 4, SF 0 Scott Feldman (W,2-3) - - - - 9.0 4 0 0 1 5
AL 9.0 `NYY 5, CHC 4 (F/18) Luis Severino - - - - 7.0 4 1 1 1 9
6.0 MIA 7, NYM 0 Jose Urena (W,1-0) - - - - 6.0 1 0 0 1 2
5.2 CLE 1, KC 0 Mike Clevinger (W,1-0) - - - - 5.2 1 0 0 4 5
5.0 COL 5, ARI 2 Tyler Chatwood (W,3-4) - - - - 7.0 2 1 1 3 5
5.0 TOR 2, TB 1 Ryan Tepera (W,2-1) - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 1 4
BAT 4.0 STL 6, ATL 4 (F/14) Tommy Pham, LF 5 2 4 3 - - - - - -
BAT 4.0 BOS 17, MIN 6 Sandy Leon, C 4 2 2 4 - - - - - -
4.0 PHI 6, WSH 5 (F/10) Aaron Altherr, RF 1 1 1 3 - - - - - -
3.0 OAK 8, DET 6 Ryon Healy, DH 3 2 2 2 - - - - - -
3.0 MIL 6, PIT 2 Jesus Aguilar, 1B 2 1 2 2 - - - - - -
3.0 BAL 4, CHW 0 Chris Tillman (W,1-0) - - - - 5.0 3 0 0 3 4
3.0 HOU 5, LAA 3 Ken Giles (S,8) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
3.0 SEA 4, TEX 3 Edwin Diaz (S,6) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 +/-
Severino, Luis 3567 pi sp nyy al 3.7 5.7 8.7 8.7 1.7
Healy, Ryon 3685 1b 3b dh oak al 3.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 0.5
Altherr, Aaron 3563 lf rf ph phi nl 3.5 6.0 7.0 7.0 1.0
Feldman, Scott 2632 pi sp cin nl 3.0 3.0 19.7 27.7 3.0
Tepera, Ryan 3774 pi mr tor al 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Chatwood, Tyler 2856 pi sp col nl 2.7 9.7 16.4 19.4 -4.3
Giles, Ken 3402 pi cp mr hou al 2.0 5.0 10.0 10.0 -1.0
Clevinger, Mike 3707 pi sp mr cle al 1.7 4.7 4.7 4.7 -1.3
Leon, Sandy 3676 ca bos al 1.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 -1.5
Pham, Thomas 3596 lf stl nl 1.5 3.0 4.5 4.5 0.0
Tillman, Chris 2754 pi sp bal al 1.0 9.0 40.8 44.8 -7.0
Diaz, Edwin 3690 pi cp sea al 1.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 -6.0
Urena, Jose 3492 pi sp fla nl 1.0 3.7 4.7 4.7 -1.7
Aguilar, Jesus 3787 1b mil nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Pirates' Gerrit Cole tops players for Saturday, May 6; Kershaw rises to lead Box-Toppers player rankings

Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Saturday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 6:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 7.0
2 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 6.7
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 6.7
4 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
5 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 5.0
6 Nova, Ivan 2796 pi sp pit nl 5.0
7 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 5.0
8 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 5.0
9 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 5.0
10 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 4.4
What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Cole struck out eight over seven innings, allowing one run and two hits, in the 2-1, 10-inning win over the Brewers. Cole picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was tied, 1-1, when he exited.

American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Jake Odorizzi struck out six over seven innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 6-1 win over the Blue Jays.

American League Batter of the Day—Aaron Hicks of the Yankees hit a three-run homer and doubled in the 11-6 win over the Cubs. Hicks went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs.

National League Batter of the Day—Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals homered, doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 6-2 win over the Phillies.

2017 lead changes

Here are the season’s lead changes among players in Box-Toppers points. Chart shows the date and the player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total when they took the lead.  

Date Player Team BTP
4/2 Carlos Martinez stl nl 2.0
4/3 Clayton Kershaw lad nl 2.0
4/9 Noah Syndergaard nym nl 3.0
4/14 Clayton Kershaw lad nl 4.0
4/15 Ervin Santana min al 4.7
4/19 Clayton Kershaw lad nl 5.0
5/2 Chris Sale bos al 6.7
5/6 Clayton Kershaw lad nl 7.0

Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday (7.1IP 5H R 4BB 9K W in the 10-2 win over the Padres).

Kershaw earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.0 for the season, passing previous leader, Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale (6.7 points). This is the fourth time this season Kershaw has led players in Box-Toppers points.

Kershaw also now has 190.7 career Box-Toppers points, most among active players and fourth among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails third-place player Curt Schilling (194.1) on the “all-time” list.

Debut—Mariners pitcher James Pazos made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Pazos (1IP H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 8-2 win over the Rangers) made his Major League debut Sept. 5, 2015, and was playing in his 31st career game. He is the 3,786th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Cole earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Odorizzi earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Hicks and Zimmerman each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

5/6 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 9.0 `PIT 2, MIL 1 (F/10) Gerrit Cole - - - - 7.0 2 1 1 2 8
AL 8.0 TB 6, TOR 1 Jake Odorizzi (W,2-1) - - - - 7.0 3 1 1 0 6
7.0 COL 9, ARI 1 Tyler Anderson (W,2-3) - - - - 6.0 6 1 1 1 10
5.1 LAD 10, SD 2 Clayton Kershaw (W,5-2) - - - - 7.1 5 1 1 4 9
BAT 5.0 NYY 11, CHC 6 Aaron Hicks, CF 5 3 4 3 - - - - - -
5.0 `CLE 3, KC 1 Josh Tomlin - - - - 7.0 3 1 1 0 3
4.0 BOS 11, MIN 1 Rick Porcello (W,2-4) - - - - 7.0 7 1 1 0 6
4.0 CIN 14, SF 2 Robert Stephenson (S,1) - - - - 3.0 0 0 0 1 2
3.0 OAK 6, DET 5 Yonder Alonso, 1B 4 2 2 3 - - - - - -
BAT 3.0 WSH 6, PHI 2 Ryan Zimmerman, 1B 4 2 2 3 - - - - - -
3.0 BAL 6, CHW 5 Trey Mancini, LF 3 1 2 3 - - - - - -
3.0 SEA 8, TEX 2 James Pazos (W,1-1) - - - - 1.0 1 0 0 0 3
2.0 LAA 2, HOU 1 Bud Norris (W,1-1) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
1.0 NYM 11, MIA 3 Jay Bruce, RF 5 1 2 3 - - - - - -
1.0 STL 5, ATL 3 Aledmys Diaz, SS-LF 4 0 3 2 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 +/-
Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 7.0 31.4 131.1 190.7 -17.4
Odorizzi, Jake 3291 pi sp tb al 3.4 9.8 29.5 29.5 -3.0
Bruce, Jay 2453 rf nym nl 3.0 11.5 28.7 61.8 -5.5
Mancini, Trey 3766 lf bal al 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7
Zimmerman, Ryan 2180 1b dc nl 2.5 4.0 23.7 58.8 1.0
Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp pit nl 2.0 8.5 37.9 37.9 -4.5
Hicks, Aaron 3170 cf nyy al 1.5 2.5 6.5 6.5 0.5
Porcello, Rick 2573 pi sp bos al 1.0 9.0 31.7 43.7 -7.0
Norris, Bud 2638 pi cp sp ana al 1.0 6.7 31.4 47.1 -4.7
Diaz, Aledmys 3612 ss lf stl nl 1.0 6.5 6.5 6.5 -4.5
Tomlin, Josh 2771 pi sp cle al 1.0 6.0 19.4 25.4 -4.0
Alonso, Yonder 2945 1b oak al 1.0 3.0 12.5 14.0 -1.0
Anderson, Tyler 3656 pi sp col nl 1.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 -1.0
Stephenson, Robert 3617 pi cp cin nl 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0
Pazos, James 3786 pi mr sea al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Blue Jays' Kendrys Morales tops players for Friday, May 5; Dbacks' Goldschmidt tops NL players

Kendrys Morales of the Blue Jays is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Morales hit two homers and doubled, going 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five runs, in the 8-4 win over the Rays.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 5:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 6.7
2 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 6.7
3 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
4 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 6.0
5 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 5.0
6 Nova, Ivan 2796 pi sp pit nl 5.0
7 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 5.0
8 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 5.0
9 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 5.0
10 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 4.4
What are those numbers after players' names?

National League Player of the Day—Paul Goldschmidt of the Diamondbacks hit two homers and went 3-for-3, driving in five runs, in the 6-3 win over the Rockies.

Goldschmidt earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 3.7 points for the season, most among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Friday. Goldschmidt ranks 19th among all players and second among NL batters, behind Bryce Harper of the Nationals (4.0 Box-Toppers points).

Batters of the Day—There are no separate AL and NL Batters of the Day for Friday because the overall Player of the Day was AL batter Kendrys Morales and the overall NL Player of the Day was NL batter Paul Goldschmidt.

Streaks—Three players extended streaks of 10 or more consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points after all three earned Player of the Game honors Friday:

  • Joe Mauer of the Twins (HR 2-4 2R 2BI in the 4-3 win over the Red Sox) has now earned Box-Toppers points for 14 straight seasons. He earned his first points in 2004 with the Twins and has 71.6 career points, eighth among active AL batters. His best season was 2008 with the Twins when he had 9.5 points, eighth among AL batters. In 2016, he had 1.5 points with the Twins.
  • Royals pitcher Jason Hammel (6IP 3H R 2BB 6K W in the 3-1 win over the Indians) has now earned Box-Toppers points for 12 straight seasons. He earned his first points in 2006 with the Rays and has 60.2 career points, 21st among active AL pitchers. His best season was 2016 with the Cubs, when he had 13.0 Box-Toppers points, 13th among NL pitchers.
  • Brian McCann of the Astros (HR 2-4 R 4BI in the 7-6, 10-inning win over the Angels) has now earned Box-Toppers points for 12 straight seasons. He earned his first points in 2006 with the Braves and has 59.4 career points, first among active catchers and fifth among all catchers since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. His best season was 2009 with the Braves, when he had 8.5 points, first among NL catchers. In 2016, he had 3.2 points with the Yankees.

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

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

5/5 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 7.0 TOR 8, TB 4 Kendrys Morales, DH 4 3 3 5 - - - - - -
NL 7.0 ARI 6, COL 3 Paul Goldschmidt, 1B 3 2 3 5 - - - - - -
6.0 STL 10, ATL 0 Lance Lynn (W,4-1) - - - - 6.0 4 0 0 2 6
5.0 CIN 13, SF 3 Billy Hamilton, CF 4 4 3 2 - - - - - -
5.0 KC 3, CLE 1 Jason Hammel (W,1-3) - - - - 6.0 3 1 1 2 6
5.0 BAL 4, CHW 2 Gabriel Ynoa (W,1-0) - - - - 6.0 6 0 0 0 5
5.0 PIT 4, MIL 0 Wade LeBlanc (W,2-0) - - - - 3.0 2 0 0 0 4
4.1 `WSH 4, PHI 2 Enny Romero (H,2) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 3
4.0 LAD 8, SD 2 Cody Bellinger, 1B 5 2 3 4 - - - - - -
4.0 DET 7, OAK 2 Michael Fulmer (W,3-1) - - - - 8.0 8 2 1 2 9
4.0 `NYY 3, CHC 2 Michael Pineda - - - - 6.0 3 2 2 1 6
3.0 HOU 7, LAA 6 (F/10) Brian McCann, C 4 1 2 4 - - - - - -
2.0 NYM 8, MIA 7 T.J. Rivera, 1B 4 1 2 3 - - - - - -
2.0 MIN 4, BOS 3 Joe Mauer, 1B 4 2 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 `TEX 3, SEA 1 (F/13) Tony Barnette - - - - 3.0 2 0 0 1 2
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 +/-
Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 1b ari nl 3.7 8.2 39.6 43.6 -0.8
Lynn, Lance 2992 pi sp stl nl 3.7 3.7 59.6 59.6 3.7
Pineda, Michael 2841 pi sp nyy al 3.0 9.0 25.4 37.1 -3.0
Fulmer, Michael 3640 pi sp det al 2.0 14.7 14.7 14.7 -10.7
Morales, Kendrys 2142 dh tor al 2.0 10.5 25.2 41.2 -6.5
LeBlanc, Wade 2669 pi cp mr sp pit nl 2.0 5.0 5.0 12.0 -1.0
Bellinger, Cody 3781 lf 1b lad nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Hammel, Jason 2235 pi sp kc al 1.0 14.0 45.1 60.2 -12.0
McCann, Brian 2179 ca hou al 1.0 4.2 30.2 59.4 -2.2
Hamilton, Billy 3287 cf cin nl 1.0 3.0 9.5 9.5 -1.0
Barnette, Tony 3670 pi mr tex al 1.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 -1.0
Mauer, Joe 1869 1b min al 1.0 2.5 24.0 71.6 -0.5
Rivera, T.J. 3710 1b nym nl 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0
Romero, Enny 3726 pi mr dc nl 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0
Ynoa, Gabriel 3743 pi mr bal al 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Nationals' Max Scherzer tops players for Thursday, May 4, rises to 3rd in Box-Toppers player rankings

Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to third in season player rankings.

Scherzer struck out 11 over seven innings, allowing one run and two hits, in the 4-2 win over the Diamondbacks.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 4:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 6.7
2 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 6.7
3 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
4 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 6.0
5 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 5.0
6 Nova, Ivan 2796 pi sp pit nl 5.0
7 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 5.0
8 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 5.0
9 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 5.0
10 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 4.4
What are those numbers after players' names?

Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season, rising to third in player rankings, first among National League pitchers, passing previous leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw. Though Scherzer and Kershaw both have 6.0 points on the season, Scherzer ranks ahead because he had more 2016 Box-Toppers points—25.7 vs. 24.4. Scherzer led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2016; Kershaw was second.

Scherzer also now has 137.7 career Box-Toppers points, ranked 30th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 29th-ranked player Andy Pettitte (138.5).

American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Matt Andriese pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing five hits, in the 5-1 win over the Marlins.

American League Batter of the Day—Ben Gamel of the Mariners doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 11-3 win over the Angels.

This was Gamel’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Gamel made his Major League debut May 6, 2016, and was playing in his 41st career game. He is the 3,784th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

National League Batter of the Day—Joey Votto of the Reds doubled twice and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 4-2 win over the Pirates.

Debut—Keon Broxton of the Brewers made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday with his first career Player of the Game honor. Broxton (HR 2B 4-5 R 2BI in the 5-4 win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut Sept. 21, 2015, and was playing in his 107th career game. He is the 3,785th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Andriese earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Gamel and Votto each earn 1.5 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

5/4 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 12.0 WSH 4, ARI 2 Max Scherzer (W,4-2) - - - - 7.0 2 1 1 2 11
AL 7.0 TB 5, MIA 1 Matt Andriese (W,2-1) - - - - 7.0 5 0 0 3 8
6.2 CHW 8, KC 3 Derek Holland (W,3-2) - - - - 6.2 3 2 1 1 7
BAT 5.0 SEA 11, LAA 3 Ben Gamel, RF 3 3 3 2 - - - - - -
4.0 BAL 8, BOS 3 Seth Smith, RF 4 2 4 2 - - - - - -
4.0 OAK 8, MIN 5 Jharel Cotton (W,3-3) - - - - 6.0 3 3 2 3 9
3.1 `COL 3, SD 2 (F/11) Kyle Freeland - - - - 6.1 3 1 1 2 4
BAT 3.0 CIN 4, PIT 2 Joey Votto, 1B 3 2 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 MIL 5, STL 4 Keon Broxton, CF 5 1 4 2 - - - - - -
2.0 TEX 10, HOU 4 Joey Gallo, 3B 5 2 2 3 - - - - - -
2.0 CHC 5, PHI 4 (F/13) Koji Uehara (W,1-2) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 6.0 31.7 109.9 137.7 -19.7
Gallo, Joey 3485 3b tex al 4.0 4.0 5.5 5.5 4.0
Holland, Derek 2634 pi sp chi al 3.0 7.0 29.1 48.8 -1.0
Andriese, Matt 3505 pi sp mr tb al 2.7 4.7 7.7 7.7 0.7
Smith, Seth 2489 rf bal al 2.0 7.0 19.5 40.2 -3.0
Cotton, Jharel 3733 pi sp oak al 2.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 0.0
Freeland, Kyle 3763 pi sp col nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Votto, Joey 2366 1b cin nl 1.5 12.0 26.7 65.7 -9.0
Gamel, Ben 3784 rf sea al 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Uehara, Koji 2802 pi cp chi nl 1.0 5.0 25.0 31.0 -3.0
Broxton, Keon 3785 cf mil nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Giants' Jeff Samardzija tops players for Wednesday, May 3; Red Sox' Kimbrel rises to 4th in Box-Toppers player rankings

Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Wednesday, Red Sox closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 3:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 6.7
2 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 6.7
3 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 6.0
4 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 5.0
5 Nova, Ivan 2796 pi sp pit nl 5.0
6 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 5.0
7 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 5.0
8 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 5.0
9 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 4.4
10 Triggs, Andrew 3723 pi sp oak al 4.4
What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Samardzija struck out 11 over eight innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 4-3, 11-inning win over the Dodgers. Samardzija picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was tied, 1-1, when he exited.

American League Player of the Day—Royals pitcher Nate Karns pitched six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out seven, in the 6-1 win over the White Sox.

American League Batter of the Day—Kennys Vargas of the Twins homered and went 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 7-4 win over the Athletics.

National League Batter of the Day—Jose Reyes of the Mets doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 16-5 win over the Braves.

Rankings—Red Sox closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Kimbrel (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 3K Sv in the 4-2 win over the Orioles) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.0 for the season. He ranks third among AL pitchers and first among all closing pitchers.

Scoring—Samardzija earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Karns earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Vargas and Reyes each earn 1.5 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

5/3 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 15.0 `SF 4, LAD 1 (F/11) Jeff Samardzija - - - - 8.0 3 1 0 0 11
AL 11.0 KC 6, CHW 1 Nate Karns (W,1-2) - - - - 6.0 1 0 0 1 7
6.0 WSH 2, ARI 1 Jacob Turner (W,1-0) - - - - 4.0 2 0 0 0 4
5.0 HOU 10, TEX 1 Charlie Morton (W,3-2) - - - - 6.0 5 1 1 2 8
BAT 4.0 MIN 7, OAK 4 Kennys Vargas, DH 4 1 2 5 - - - - - -
BAT 4.0 NYM 16, ATL 5 Jose Reyes, 3B-SS 4 1 2 5 - - - - - -
4.0 BOS 4, BAL 2 Craig Kimbrel (S,10) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
3.1 NYY 8, TOR 6 Dellin Betances (W,3-1) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 2
3.0 COL 11, SD 3 Ian Desmond, 1B 5 2 3 3 - - - - - -
3.0 MIA 10, TB 6 J.T. Realmuto, C 5 2 2 4 - - - - - -
3.0 CHC 5, PHI 4 Willson Contreras, PH-C 1 1 1 2 - - - - - -
2.0 SEA 8, LAA 7 Jean Segura, SS 5 1 2 4 - - - - - -
2.0 CIN 7, PIT 2 Eugenio Suarez, 3B 3 1 1 3 - - - - - -
2.0 CLE 3, DET 2 Jose Ramirez, 3B 2 1 1 2 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 +/-
Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 5.0 13.0 57.7 63.7 -3.0
Suarez, Eugenio 3355 3b cin nl 2.5 11.0 16.5 16.5 -6.0
Ramirez, Jose 3436 3b cle al 2.5 4.0 7.5 7.5 1.0
Contreras, Willson 3776 ca ph chi nl 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5
Samardzija, Jeff 2495 pi sp sf nl 2.0 12.7 48.8 51.8 -8.7
Realmuto, J.T. 3491 ca fla nl 2.0 7.5 12.5 12.5 -3.5
Betances, Dellin 3333 pi mr nyy al 2.0 6.0 14.7 14.7 -2.0
Morton, Charlie 2503 pi sp hou al 2.0 5.0 18.7 29.7 -1.0
Karns, Nathan 3414 pi sp kc al 1.7 4.7 10.7 10.7 -1.3
Vargas, Kennys 3511 dh 1b min al 1.5 4.0 5.5 5.5 -1.0
Reyes, Jose 1759 3b ss nym nl 1.5 3.5 12.5 31.5 -0.5
Segura, Jean 3173 ss 2b sea al 1.0 5.5 12.0 12.0 -3.5
Desmond, Ian 2673 1b cf lf col nl 1.0 5.0 16.7 28.2 -3.0
Turner, Jacob 3120 pi cp sp dc nl 1.0 1.0 6.7 6.7 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Red Sox' Chris Sale top players for Tuesday, May 2, rises to lead Box-Toppers player rankings

Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to take the lead in season player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 2:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 6.7
2 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 6.7
3 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 6.0
4 Nova, Ivan 2796 pi sp pit nl 5.0
5 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 5.0
6 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 5.0
7 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 5.0
8 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 4.4
9 Triggs, Andrew 3723 pi sp oak al 4.4
10 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 4.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Tuesday, Twins pitcher Ervin Santana maintains his second-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings and Aaron Judge of the Yankees rises to seventh place after both earned Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Sale struck out 11 over eight innings, allowing two runs and three hits, in the 5-2 win over the Orioles.

Sale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.7 for the season, rising from sixth to first place in season player rankings. He passes previous leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (5.0 Box-Toppers points), who had been leading since April 19. It is the second time in his career Sale has led Box-Toppers season player rankings—previously, he led May 17-18, 2013, when he had 8.7 points with the White Sox.

National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Trevor Cahill struck out seven over six innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 6-2 win over the Rockies.

American League Batter of the Day—Marwin Gonzalez of the Astros hit two home runs, including a grand slam, in the 8-7 win over the Rangers. Gonzalez went 2-for-3, driving in five runs.

National League Batter of the Day—Javier Baez of the Cubs homered, tripled and went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 8-3 win over the Phillies.

Rankings—In addition to Sale, two other players earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday are also among Box-Toppers top 10 players in season player rankings:

  • Twins pitcher Ervin Santana (6IP 3H 0R 3BB 7K W in the 9-1 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.7 for the season, maintaining his second-place spot in Box-Toppers player rankings. He passes previous leader, Kershaw (5.0 points), but is passed by Sale in rankings. Though Sale and Santana both have 6.7 points on the season, Sale ranks ahead because he has more 2016 points (13.4 vs. 4.0).

Santana also now has 104.0 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 66th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Tuesday, he passes Jamie Moyer (104.0) on the “all-time” list and now trails 65th-ranked player, Blue Jays pitcher Francisco Liriano (104.2).

  • Aaron Judge of the Yankees (2HR 2-3 3R 4BI in the 11-5 win over the Blue Jays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.0 for the season, rising to seventh place in season player rankings, first among all batters, just ahead of Bryce Harper of the Nationals (4.0 points, ranked 13th overall). Judge just missed out on earning AL Batter of the Day honors—his Box-Toppers game score of +6.0 was tied with Tuesday AL Batter of the Day Marwin Gonzalez of the Astros, but Gonzalez ranked ahead because he had more runs batted in than Judge (five vs. four).

Scoring—Sale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cahill earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Gonzalez and Baez each earn 1.5 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

5/2 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 10.0 BOS 5, BAL 2 Chris Sale (W,2-2) - - - - 8.0 3 2 2 2 11
9.0 CHW 6, KC 0 Jose Quintana (W,2-4) - - - - 8.0 4 0 0 2 7
NL 9.0 SD 6, COL 2 Trevor Cahill (W,2-2) - - - - 6.0 3 1 0 0 7
7.0 MIN 9, OAK 1 Ervin Santana (W,5-0) - - - - 6.0 3 0 0 3 7
BAT 6.0 HOU 8, TEX 7 Marwin Gonzalez, LF 3 2 2 5 - - - - - -
6.0 NYY 11, TOR 5 Aaron Judge, RF 3 3 2 4 - - - - - -
5.1 STL 2, MIL 1 Carlos Martinez (W,1-3) - - - - 7.1 4 1 0 1 4
BAT 5.0 CHC 8, PHI 3 Javier Baez, 2B-3B 4 2 4 3 - - - - - -
4.0 LAD 13, SF 5 Yasiel Puig, RF 5 2 3 4 - - - - - -
4.0 PIT 12, CIN 3 Wade LeBlanc (S,1) - - - - 3.0 1 0 0 1 3
4.0 LAA 6, SEA 4 (F/11) Deolis Guerra (W,2-1) - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 1 3
3.0 TB 3, MIA 1 Alex Colome (S,7) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 1 3
2.1 ARI 6, WSH 3 T.J. McFarland (W,1-0) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 1
1.1 ATL 9, NYM 7 Jim Johnson (S,5) - - - - 0.1 0 0 0 0 1
0.0 DET 5, CLE 2 Alex Avila, C 4 1 2 1 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 +/-
Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 6.7 20.1 88.1 93.1 -6.7
Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 6.7 10.7 43.5 104.0 2.7
Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
Cahill, Trevor 2658 pi sp mr sd nl 3.4 6.4 21.1 43.6 0.4
Martinez, Carlos 3371 pi sp stl nl 3.0 15.4 30.1 30.1 -9.4
Puig, Yasiel 3193 rf lad nl 3.0 6.5 12.5 12.5 -0.5
Quintana, Jose 3040 pi sp chi al 2.0 12.4 37.2 37.2 -8.4
Colome, Alex 3189 pi cp tb al 2.0 11.0 19.7 19.7 -7.0
Johnson, Jim 2417 pi cp atl nl 2.0 6.0 17.0 23.7 -2.0
Avila, Alex 2642 ca det al 2.0 3.0 9.5 19.0 1.0
Baez, Javier 3395 2b 3b chi nl 1.5 3.5 6.0 6.0 -0.5
Gonzalez, Marwin 3078 lf hou al 1.5 2.5 7.0 7.0 0.5
LeBlanc, Wade 2669 pi cp sp pit nl 1.0 4.0 4.0 11.0 -2.0
Guerra, Deolis 3521 pi cp mr ana al 1.0 2.0 4.0 4.0 0.0
McFarland, T.J. 3585 pi mr ari nl 1.0 1.0 3.0 3.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Reds' Michael Lorenzen tops players for Monday, May 1; Rays' Odorizzi tops AL players

Reds pitcher Michael Lorenzen is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Lorenzen pitched two scoreless innings, striking out three and earning the win, in the 4-3, 10-inning win over the Pirates.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 1:  


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 Nova, Ivan 2796 pi sp pit nl 5.0
4 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 5.0
5 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 5.0
6 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 4.7
7 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 4.4
8 Triggs, Andrew 3723 pi sp oak al 4.4
9 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 4.0
10 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 4.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Jake Odorizzi struck out six over five innings, allowing two hits and two runs, in the 4-2 win over the Marlins. Odorizzi picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was tied, 2-2, when he exited.

Lorenzen and Odorizzi had identical Box-Toppers game scores Monday (+5.0), but Lorenzen wins overall Player of the Day honors on a tiebreaker—he earned the win his game, while Odorizzi picked up a no-decision, even though Odorizzi pitched more innings than Lorenzen (5.0 vs. 2.0).

American League Batter of the Day—Tyler Collins of the Tigers hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-4, scoring twice, in the 7-1 win over the Indians.

National League Batter of the Day—Aaron Altherr of the Phillies hit two doubles and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 10-2 win over the Cubs.

Rankings—Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. has the most season Box-Toppers points of the 11 who earned Player of the Game honors Monday. McCullers (6.1IP 6H 2R 2BB 10K ND in the 6-2 win over the Rangers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 3.0 for the season. He ranks 24th among all players and 12th among AL pitchers.

Debut—Jorge Bonifacio of the Royals made his Box-Toppers debut Monday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Bonifacio (HR 2-3 R 2BI in the 6-1 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut April 21 and was playing in his eighth career game. He is the 3,783rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Comment—After Sunday’s record-breaking day in Box-Toppers, in which Anthony Rendon of the Nationals had what seems to be the highest Box-Toppers game score for a batter (+15.0) in Box-Toppers’ 23-season tracking history, Monday’s game scores were some of the lowest of the season. In fact, the +5.0 game score earned by Lorenzen was the lowest such score to earn Player of the Day honors all season. If Lorenzen had earned Player of the Game honors with that score Sunday, he would have ranked ninth among the 15 games played and earned only 1.0 Box-Toppers point, rather than the 2.0 he received Monday, and would have received barely a mention. But in a comparatively lackluster, ho-hum Monday, he is the top dog, the lead story.

Scoring—Lorenzen earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Odorizzi earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Collins and Altherr 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

5/1 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 5.0 CIN 4, PIT 3 (F/10) Michael Lorenzen (W,2-0) - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 0 3
AL 5.0 `TB 4, MIA 2 Jake Odorizzi - - - - 5.0 2 2 1 1 6
4.1 `HOU 6, TEX 2 Lance McCullers Jr. - - - - 6.1 6 2 2 2 10
BAT 3.0 DET 7, CLE 1 Tyler Collins, CF 4 2 2 3 - - - - - -
BAT 3.0 PHI 10, CHC 2 Aaron Altherr, LF 4 2 2 3 - - - - - -
3.0 MIL 7, STL 5 (F/10) Jonathan Villar, 2B 3 2 2 2 - - - - - -
3.0 TOR 7, NYY 1 Ryan Goins, SS 3 1 1 4 - - - - - -
2.2 `SF 4, LAD 3 Steven Okert (H,2) - - - - 1.2 0 0 0 0 1
2.0 NYM 7, ATL 5 Michael Conforto, LF 4 1 2 3 - - - - - -
2.0 KC 6, CHW 1 Jorge Bonifacio, RF 3 1 2 2 - - - - - -
1.0 BAL 5, BOS 2 Manny Machado, 3B 4 2 1 2 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 +/-
McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 3.0 9.1 15.8 15.8 -3.1
Altherr, Aaron 3563 lf ph phi nl 2.5 5.0 6.0 6.0 0.0
Conforto, Michael 3622 cf nym nl 2.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 -3.0
Lorenzen, Michael 3479 pi cp cin nl 2.0 3.0 4.0 4.0 1.0
Odorizzi, Jake 3291 pi sp tb al 1.7 8.1 27.8 27.8 -4.7
Collins, Tyler 3302 cf det al 1.5 1.5 4.5 4.5 1.5
Machado, Manny 3087 3b ss bal al 1.0 13.7 24.7 24.7 -11.7
Villar, Jonathan 3233 2b ss mil nl 1.0 5.0 7.0 7.0 -3.0
Goins, Ryan 3478 ss 2b tor al 1.0 2.5 7.0 7.0 -0.5
Okert, Steven 3745 pi mr sf nl 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0
Bonifacio, Jorge 3783 rf kc al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Nationals' Anthony Rendon tops players for Sunday, April 30, recording possibly highest Box-Toppers game score by batter since 1995

Anthony Rendon of the Nationals is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, recording what is possibly the highest Box-Toppers game score by a batter in Box-Toppers’ 23-season history.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 29:  


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 Nova, Ivan 2796 pi sp pit nl 5.0
4 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 5.0
5 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 5.0
6 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 4.7
7 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 4.4
8 Triggs, Andrew 3723 pi sp oak al 4.4
9 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 4.0
10 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 4.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Sunday, Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Rendon hit three home runs, doubled, went 6-for-6, scored five times and drove in 10 runs, in the 23-5 win over the Mets.

Rendon had a Box-Toppers game score of +15.0, which appears to be the highest score by a batter since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.

While Box-Toppers has records for each Player of the Game since the start of 1995, the data from actual game score records from box scores only goes back to the start of 2011. The previous high game score for a batter since 2011 was +12.0, done twice:

  • On June 9, 2014, Lonnie Chisenhall of the Indians (3HR 5-5 3R 9BI in the 17-7 win over the Rangers) earned Player of the Day honors.
  • On May 8, 2012, Josh Hamilton of the Rangers (4HR 2B 5-5 4R 8BI in the 10-3 win over the Orioles) earned Player of the Day honors.

However, looking back at some of the most likely games to produce high Box-Toppers game scores for batters from 1995 to 2010, it appears no batter had a higher game score than Rendon had Sunday.

Rendon became the 13th player in Major League history to have a game with 10 runs batted in. That’s a club that’s even rarer than the four-home run club, which has been done 16 times in Major League history.

During the Box-Toppers era (since 1995), there have been three games in which a player has had 10 RBIs and no player had a Box-Toppers game score of more than +12.0:

  • On May 10, 1999, Nomar Garciaparra of the Red Sox (3HR 3-4 3R 10BI in the 12-4 win over the Mariners) had a Box-Toppers game score of +12.0.
  • On April 26, 2005, Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees (3HR 4-5 3R 10BI in the 12-4 win over the Angels) had a Box-Toppers game score of +12.0.
  • On Aug. 21, 2007, Garret Anderson of the Angels (2HR 2-2B 4-6 3R 10BI in the 18-9 win over the Yankees) had a Box-Toppers game score of +11.0.

Rendon also had a six-hit game, something that’s been done 101 times in Major League history (30 of those games happened in the 1800s). There have been 22 six-hit games in the Box-Toppers era (since 1995). The highest Box-Toppers game score of those games and what appears to be the previous high Box-Toppers game score for a batter (since 1995) was +13.0, achieved by Shawn Green of the Dodgers on May 23, 2002 (4HR 2B 6-6 6R 7BI in the 16-3 win over the Brewers).

Batters have hit four home runs in a game 16 times in Major League history, including four times during the Box-Toppers era (since 1995), however Green’s +13.0 score is the highest for those games. The other four-home run games during the Box-Toppers era:

  • On May 2, 2002, Mike Cameron of the Mariners (4HR 4-5 4R 4BI in the 15-4 win over the White Sox) had a Box-Toppers game score of +7.0.
  • On Sept. 25, 2002, Carlos Delgado of the Blue Jays (4HR 4-4 4R 6BI in the 10-8 win over the Devil Rays) had a Box-Toppers game score of +10.0.
  • On May 8, 2012, Josh Hamilton of the Rangers (4HR 2B 5-5 4R 8BI in the 10-3 win over the Orioles) had a Box-Toppers game score of +12.0.

While Rendon seems to have broken the “all-time” (since 1995) record for Box-Toppers game score for a batter, it is still only the second-best game score of 2017. On April 20, Chris Sale of the Red Sox had a Box-Toppers game score of +16.0 (8IP 4H 0R BB 13K ND in the 4-3, 10-inning win over the Blue Jays). Pitchers generally have more opportunity to earn high game scores than batters. In 2016, the highest overall game score was +22.0, earned by Vince Velasquez of the Phillies on April 14 (CG 3H 0R 0BB 16K W in the 3-0 win over the Padres).

(Related: Highest Box-Toppers game scores by batters in the 2016 season and 2015 season.)

American League Player of the Day—Blue Jays pitcher Ryan Tepera pitched 3 1/3 innings of scoreless middle relief, allowing one hit and striking out five, in the 3-1 win over the Rays. Tepera picked up a no decision and did not earn the win because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.

American League Batter of the Day—Miguel Sano of the Twins homered and went 3-for-5, driving in five runs, in the 7-5 win over the Royals.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Sunday because the overall Player of the Day was NL batter Anthony Rendon.

Rankings—Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel rises to seventh in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Keuchel (7.2IP 3H R 2BB 9K W in the 7-2 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 4.4 for the season. He ranks fourth among AL pitchers.

Streak—Justin Upton of the Tigers has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Upton (HR 2-3 2R BI in the 7-3 win over the White Sox) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2008 with the Diamondbacks and has 52.1 career points, fourth among active AL outfielders. His best season was 2011 with the Diamondbacks, when he had 9.7 points, 10th among NL batters. In 2016, he had 6.7 points with the Tigers, fourth among AL outfielders.

Debut—Reds pitcher Wandy Peralta made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.

Peralta (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 5-4 win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut Sept. 4, 2016, and was playing in his 22nd career game. He is the 3,782nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Rendon earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Tepera earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Sano earns 1.5 points for being AL 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

4/30 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 15.0 WSH 23, NYM 5 Anthony Rendon, 3B 6 5 6 10 - - - - - -
9.2 HOU 7, OAK 2 Dallas Keuchel (W,5-0) - - - - 7.2 3 1 1 2 9
8.1 `ARI 2, COL 0 (F/13) Patrick Corbin - - - - 6.1 2 0 0 2 6
AL 7.1 `TOR 3, TB 1 Ryan Tepera - - - - 3.1 1 0 0 0 5
6.1 LAD 5, PHI 3 Hyun-Jin Ryu (W,1-4) - - - - 5.1 3 1 1 3 9
6.0 MIA 10, PIT 3 Justin Bour, 1B 5 1 4 6 - - - - - -
6.0 `BOS 6, CHC 2 Eduardo Rodriguez - - - - 6.0 5 1 1 2 9
5.0 MIL 4, ATL 3 Domingo Santana, RF 3 2 2 4 - - - - - -
4.1 LAA 5, TEX 2 JC Ramirez (W,3-2) - - - - 5.1 4 2 2 2 9
BAT 4.0 MIN 7, KC 5 Miguel Sano, 3B 5 1 3 5 - - - - - -
4.0 SD 5, SF 2 (F/12) Ryan Buchter (W,2-1) - - - - 2.0 1 0 0 0 3
3.0 CLE 12, SEA 4 Abraham Almonte, RF 4 2 3 2 - - - - - -
3.0 BAL 7, NYY 4 Logan Verrett (W,1-0) - - - - 2.0 1 0 0 0 2
3.0 CIN 5, STL 4 Wandy Peralta (W,1-0) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.0 DET 7, CHW 3 Justin Upton, LF 3 2 2 1 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 +/-
Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 4.4 11.4 47.2 47.2 -2.6
Sano, Miguel 3527 3b min al 4.0 7.0 13.0 13.0 1.0
Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 pi sp bos al 3.7 8.4 14.4 14.4 -1.0
Ramirez, JC 3778 pi sp ana al 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Rendon, Anthony 3258 3b dc nl 2.0 7.5 14.0 14.0 -3.5
Corbin, Patrick 3027 pi sp cp ari nl 2.0 5.7 34.5 34.5 -1.7
Tepera, Ryan 3774 pi mr tor al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Upton, Justin 2411 lf det al 1.0 7.7 33.9 52.1 -5.7
Bour, Justin 3433 1b fla nl 1.0 3.5 13.5 13.5 -1.5
Almonte, Abraham 3554 rf cle al 1.0 3.0 4.5 4.5 -1.0
Verrett, Logan 3518 pi cp bal al 1.0 2.0 5.0 5.0 0.0
Buchter, Ryan 3626 pi mr sd nl 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0
Santana, Domingo 3507 rf mil nl 1.0 1.0 2.5 2.5 1.0
Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139 pi sp lad nl 1.0 1.0 22.1 22.1 1.0
Peralta, Wandy 3782 pi mr cin nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Pirates' Ivan Nova tops players for Saturday, April 29, rises to 3rd Box-Toppers player rankings

Pirates pitcher Ivan Nova is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to third place in season player rankings.

Nova pitched a three-hit, complete-game shutout, striking out seven and walking none, in the 4-0 win over the Marlins.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 29:  


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 Nova, Ivan 2796 pi sp pit nl 5.0
4 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 5.0
5 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 5.0
6 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 4.7
7 Triggs, Andrew 3723 pi sp oak al 4.4
8 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 4.0
9 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 4.0
10 Paxton, James 3280 pi sp sea al 4.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Nova earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season, rising to third in season player rankings, second among National League pitchers, behind Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (6.0 Box-Toppers points).

American League Player of the Day—Athletics pitcher Andrew Triggs pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out nine and allowing five hits, in the 2-1 win over the Astros.

Triggs earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 4.4 for the season and rising to seventh in Box-Toppers season player rankings, fourth among AL pitchers.

National League Batter of the Day—Matt Kemp of the Braves hit three homers, going 3-for-5, driving in five runs, in the 11-3 win over the Brewers.

With Saturday’s Player of the Game honor, Kemp has now earned Box-Toppers points in 12 straight seasons. He earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Dodgers and has 60.6 career points, fourth among active NL batters. His best season was 2012 with the Dodgers, when he had 10.0 Box-Toppers points, third among NL batters. In 2016, he had 7.5 points with the Padres and the Braves, sixth among NL outfielders.

American League Batter of the Day—Aaron Judge of the Yankees homered and went 2-for-2, scoring four times and driving in two runs, in the 12-4 win over the Orioles.

Judge earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 4.0 points for the season, rising to lead AL batters, passing previous leader, Logan Morrison of the Rays (3.2).

Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:

  • Allen Cordoba of the Padres (HR 1-2 2R 3BI in the 12-4 win over the Giants) made his Major League debut April 3 and was playing in his 17th career game. He is the 3,780th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers (2HR 2-4 2R 2BI in the 6-5 win over the Phillies) made his Major League debut April 25 and was playing in his fifth career game. He is the 3,781st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Nova earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Triggs earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Kemp and Judge each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

4/29 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 13.0 PIT 4, MIA 0 Ivan Nova (W,3-2) - - - - 9.0 3 0 0 0 7
AL 11.0 OAK 2, HOU 1 Andrew Triggs (W,4-1) - - - - 7.0 5 0 0 0 9
BAT 6.0 ATL 11, MIL 3 Matt Kemp, LF 5 3 3 5 - - - - - -
BAT 6.0 NYY 12, BAL 4 Aaron Judge, RF 2 4 2 2 - - - - - -
6.0 TEX 6, LAA 3 Yu Darvish (W,3-2) - - - - 6.0 3 2 1 4 10
4.2 NYM 5, WSH 3 Hansel Robles (W,4-0; H,4) - - - - 1.2 0 0 0 1 4
4.2 `CLE 4, SEA 3 Andrew Miller (H,5) - - - - 1.2 0 0 0 1 4
4.0 TOR 4, TB 1 Justin Smoak, 1B 3 2 3 2 - - - - - -
4.0 SD 12, SF 4 Allen Cordoba, PR-LF 2 2 1 3 - - - - - -
3.0 CHW 6, DET 4 (F/10) Jose Abreu, 1B 3 2 2 2 - - - - - -
3.0 CHC 7, BOS 4 Wade Davis (S,6) - - - - 1.0 1 0 0 0 3
2.0 LAD 6, PHI 5 Cody Bellinger, LF 4 2 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 COL 7, ARI 6 Alexi Amarista, PH 1 1 1 1 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 +/-
Nova, Ivan 2796 pi sp pit nl 5.0 13.0 28.7 36.1 -3.0
Triggs, Andrew 3723 pi sp oak al 4.4 5.4 5.4 5.4 3.4
Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
Darvish, Yu 3003 pi sp tex al 3.0 13.4 58.6 58.6 -7.4
Miller, Andrew 2436 pi mr cp cle al 2.0 10.0 17.0 25.0 -6.0
Kemp, Matt 2151 lf atl nl 1.5 9.0 32.0 60.6 -6.0
Davis, Wade 2681 pi cp chi nl 1.0 5.0 20.0 27.0 -3.0
Smoak, Justin 2731 1b tor al 1.0 4.5 17.7 23.9 -2.5
Abreu, Jose 3308 1b chi al 1.0 2.5 21.0 21.0 -0.5
Robles, Hansel 3580 pi mr cp nym nl 1.0 2.0 4.7 4.7 0.0
Amarista, Alexi 3032 ss ph col nl 1.0 1.0 10.0 10.0 1.0
Bellinger, Cody 3781 lf lad nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Cordova, Allen 3780 lf pr sd nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Mariners' Ariel Miranda tops players for Friday, April 28; Holland, Kimbrel rise in Box-Toppers top 10 rankings

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.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 28:  


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
What are those numbers after players' names?

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:

  • Greg Holland of the Rockies (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K Sv in the 3-1 win over the Diamondbacks) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.0 for the season, rising to fourth place among all players, second among NL pitchers, behind Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (6.0).
  • Craig Kimbrel of the Red Sox (1IP H 0R 0BB 3K Sv in the 5-4 win over the Cubs) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers points, giving him 4.0 for the season, rising to seventh place among all players, fourth among AL pitchers.

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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

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
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 +/-
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
What are those numbers after players' names?