Brewers' Jimmy Nelson tops players for Sunday, May 28; Yankees' Judge rises to 7th in Box-Toppers rankings

Brewers pitcher Jimmy Nelson is Sunday’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 28:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 10.7
2 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 9.4
3 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
4 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 8.0
5 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 7.0
6 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 6.7
7 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 6.5
8 Strasburg, Stephen 2736 pi sp dc nl 6.4
9 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 6.4
10 McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 6.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Sunday, Aaron Judge of the Yankees rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings—first among all batters—after earning American League Batter of the Day honors.

Player of the Day—Nelson struck out 10 over seven innings, allowing one run, seven hits and no walks, in the 9-5 win over the Diamondbacks.

American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Tommy Hunter pitched two scoreless innings—the ninth and the 10th—striking out three and allowing no hits, in the 8-6, 15-inning win over the Twins. Hunter picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the score was tied 5-5 when he exited.

Normally, middle relievers who pitch fewer than three innings and do not earn the win or save don’t earn Player of the Game honors. But Hunter did because he had a higher Box-Toppers game score and the same or more innings pitched than the player who otherwise would have won. Closer Erasmo Ramirez (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv) with a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 was in line for Player of the Game honors. But Hunter edged him out because he had both a higher Box-Toppers game score (+5.0) and more innings pitched (2.0 vs. 1.0).

Additionally, Hunter, with only two innings pitched, was able to win AL Player of the Day honors because of lower Box-Toppers game scores of AL players who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday, including his runner-up, Indians pitcher Josh Tomlin, who despite a complete game win (CG 6H R 0BB 3K W in the 10-1 win over the Royals) only had a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0.

National League Batter of the Day—Adam Duvall of the Reds homered twice and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 8-4 win over the Phillies.

American League Batter of the Day—Aaron Judge of the Yankees hit a grand slam and went 2-for-4 in the 9-5 win over the Athletics.

Judge earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.5 for the season, rising to seventh in season player rankings. He also rises to first among all batters, moving ahead of Bryce Harper of the Nationals (6.0), who falls out of the overall top 10 to 11th place.

Notable—Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto rises to 70th place among all players in career Box-Toppers points (since 1995 when tracking began) after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Cueto (6IP 6H R BB 8K W in the 7-1 win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 101.8 for his career. With his point Sunday, he passes three players on Box-Toppers “all-time” career points list—Jason Schmidt (101.2), Mark Teixeira (101.3) and Tim Wakefield (101.4). Cueto now trails 69th-place player Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2).

Scoring—Nelson earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Hunter earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Duvall and Judge 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 

5/28 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 8.0 MIL 9, ARI 5 Jimmy Nelson (W,3-3) - - - - 7.0 7 1 1 0 10
BAT 6.0 CIN 8, PHI 4 Adam Duvall, LF 4 2 3 5 - - - - - -
5.0 COL 8, STL 4 Gerardo Parra, RF 4 3 3 3 - - - - - -
5.0 SF 7, ATL 1 Johnny Cueto (W,5-4) - - - - 6.0 6 1 1 1 8
AL 5.0 `TB 8, MIN 6 (F/15) Tommy Hunter - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 0 3
4.0 CLE 10, KC 1 Josh Tomlin (W,3-6) - - - - 9.0 6 1 1 0 3
3.2 SD 5, WSH 3 Kirby Yates (W,1-0) - - - - 1.2 0 0 0 0 2
3.2 LAD 9, CHC 4 Josh Fields (W,2-0) - - - - 1.2 0 0 0 0 2
BAT 3.0 NYY 9, OAK 5 Aaron Judge, RF 4 1 2 4 - - - - - -
3.0 MIA 9, LAA 2 JT Riddle, SS 4 2 2 3 - - - - - -
3.0 SEA 5, BOS 0 Christian Bergman (W,2-2) - - - - 7.0 4 0 0 2 2
2.0 HOU 8, BAL 4 Yuli Gurriel, 1B 4 2 2 2 - - - - - -
1.2 CHW 7, DET 3 Miguel Gonzalez (W,4-5) - - - - 7.2 6 3 3 0 6
1.0 NYM 7, PIT 2 Jay Bruce, RF 5 1 3 2 - - - - - -
0.0 TEX 3, TOR 1 Elvis Andrus, SS 5 2 3 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 +/-
Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5
Gonzalez, Miguel 3062 pi sp chi al 4.0 13.1 41.9 41.9 -5.1
Bruce, Jay 2453 rf nym nl 4.0 12.5 29.7 62.8 -4.5
Nelson, Jimmy 3299 pi sp mil nl 4.0 7.0 17.4 17.4 1.0
Duvall, Adam 3573 lf cin nl 3.5 10.0 11.5 11.5 -3.0
Bergman, Christian 3799 pi sp sea al 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Gurriel, Yuli 3796 1b hou al 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7
Parra, Gerardo 2746 rf col nl 2.5 5.0 17.0 23.5 0.0
Riddle, JT 3805 ss fla nl 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5
Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp sf nl 2.0 18.4 72.0 101.8 -14.4
Andrus, Elvis 2582 ss tex al 2.0 11.2 16.2 21.7 -7.2
Tomlin, Josh 2771 pi sp cle al 2.0 7.0 20.4 26.4 -3.0
Hunter, Tommy 2623 pi mr tb al 1.7 2.7 9.7 17.7 0.7
Yates, Kirby 3628 pi mr sd nl 1.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 -1.0
Fields, Josh 3247 pi mr lad nl 1.0 1.0 5.0 5.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Nationals' Stephen Strasburg tops players for Saturday, May 27, rises to 7th in season player rankings

Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to seventh place 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 27:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 10.7
2 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 9.4
3 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
4 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 8.0
5 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 7.0
6 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 6.7
7 Strasburg, Stephen 2736 pi sp dc nl 6.4
8 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 6.4
9 McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 6.0
10 Harper, Bryce 3011 rf dc nl 6.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

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

Player of the Day—Strasburg struck out 15 over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 3-0 win over the Padres.

Strasburg earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.4 for the season, rising to seventh in player rankings, fifth among National League pitchers.

With Strasburg's rise, there are now three Nationals players in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings—Max Scherzer in fourth with 8.0 points, Bryce Harper in 10th with 6.0 and Strasburg in seventh with 6.4.

American League Player of the Day—Tigers pitcher Buck Farmer struck out 11 over 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 4-3 win over the White Sox.

This was Farmer’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Farmer made his Major League debut Aug. 13, 2014, and was playing in his 33rd career game. He is the 3,809th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

National League Batter of the Day—Nick Hundley of the Giants homered and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 6-3 win over the Braves.

American League Batter of the Day—Andrelton Simmons of the Angels doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 5-2 win over the Marlins.

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

Keuchel (6IP 4H R 2BB 8K W in the 5-2 win over the Orioles) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.4 for the season. He ranks third among AL pitchers.

Notable—Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright now has 114.5 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Wainwright (7IP 3H 0R BB 6K W in the 3-0 win over the Rockies) ranks 45th among all players in career Box-Toppers points since 1995 (when Box-Toppers tracking began). He trails 44th-ranked player Josh Beckett (114.9). Wainwright has 2.5 Box-Toppers points this season.

Debut—Red Sox pitcher Brian Johnson made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.

Johnson (CG 5H 0R 0BB 8K W in the 6-0 win over the Mariners) made his Major League debut July 21, 2015, and was playing in his third career game. He is the 3,810th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Strasburg earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Farmer earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Hundley and Simmons 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 

5/27 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 18.0 WSH 3, SD 0 Stephen Strasburg (W,6-1) - - - - 7.0 3 0 0 1 15
14.0 MIL 6, ARI 1 Chase Anderson (W,3-1) - - - - 7.0 1 0 0 3 11
AL 12.1 DET 4, CHW 3 Buck Farmer (W,1-0) - - - - 6.1 3 0 0 2 11
12.0 BOS 6, SEA 0 Brian Johnson (W,2-0) - - - - 9.0 5 0 0 0 8
9.0 STL 3, COL 0 Adam Wainwright (W,5-3) - - - - 7.0 3 0 0 1 6
9.0 LAD 5, CHC 0 Brandon McCarthy (W,5-1) - - - - 6.0 2 0 0 1 6
7.0 TOR 3, TEX 1 Marco Estrada (W,4-2) - - - - 6.0 4 1 1 1 8
6.0 HOU 5, BAL 2 Dallas Keuchel (W,8-0) - - - - 6.0 4 1 1 2 8
4.2 NYY 3, OAK 2 Dellin Betances (S,5) - - - - 1.2 0 0 0 0 3
BAT 4.0 SF 6, ATL 3 Nick Hundley, C 4 2 3 3 - - - - - -
3.0 PIT 5, NYM 4 (F/10) Andrew McCutchen, CF 3 1 2 3 - - - - - -
3.0 CHW 3, DET 0 David Robertson (S,6) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
3.0 `KC 5, CLE 2 Joakim Soria - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.0 PHI 4, CIN 3 Hector Neris (W,2-2) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 1 2
BAT 1.0 LAA 5, MIA 2 Andrelton Simmons, SS 4 1 2 2 - - - - - -
1.0 MIN 5, TB 3 Eddie Rosario, LF 3 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 +/-
Strasburg, Stephen 2736 pi sp dc nl 6.4 21.5 80.6 89.3 -8.7
Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 6.4 13.4 49.2 49.2 -0.6
Estrada, Marco 2847 pi sp tor al 4.0 15.0 44.1 47.1 -7.0
Betances, Dellin 3333 pi mr cp nyy al 4.0 8.0 16.7 16.7 0.0
McCarthy, Brandon 2082 pi sp lad nl 4.0 6.7 26.4 40.5 1.3
Soria, Joakim 2258 pi mr kc al 3.0 4.0 12.7 48.7 2.0
Wainwright, Adam 2150 pi sp stl nl 2.5 12.7 63.8 114.5 -7.7
Simmons, Andrelton 3165 ss ana al 2.5 4.0 9.5 9.5 1.0
Anderson, Chase 3328 pi sp mil nl 2.0 9.0 18.0 18.0 -5.0
Robertson, David 2774 pi cp chi al 2.0 7.0 24.0 28.0 -3.0
Rosario, Eddie 3542 lf min al 2.0 5.0 6.5 6.5 -1.0
Neris, Hector 3553 pi mr phi nl 2.0 4.0 5.0 5.0 0.0
Farmer, Buck 3809 pi sp det al 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7
Hundley, Nick 2497 ca sf nl 1.5 2.5 13.5 24.0 0.5
McCutchen, Andrew 2637 cf pit nl 1.0 8.0 39.5 54.9 -6.0
Johnson, Brian 3810 pi sp bos al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

For nearly 16 years, Curt Schilling held 3rd-place spot in Box-Toppers career points rankings, until Clayton Kershaw passed him this week

Curt Schilling rose into third place in Box-Toppers career points on July 21, 2001, and held that spot continuously for nearly 16 years until just this week, when Clayton Kershaw, in his 10th season, passed him.

Read More

Nationals' Max Scherzer tops players for Friday, May 26, rises to 4th in season player rankings

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

Scherzer struck out 13 over 8 2/3 innings, allowing one run, three hits and two walks, in the 5-1 win over the Padres.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 26:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 10.7
2 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 9.4
3 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
4 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 8.0
5 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 7.0
6 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 6.7
7 McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 6.0
8 Harper, Bryce 3011 rf dc nl 6.0
9 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 6.0
10 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 6.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 8.0 for the season and rises from fifth to fourth place in season player rankings. He is second among National League pitchers, behind overall leader Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (10.7).

Scherzer also now has 139.7 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 29th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Friday, he passes Andy Pettitte (138.5) on the “all-time” list. He now trails 28th-ranked player Jake Peavy (141.8).

American League Player of the Day—Athletics pitcher Sean Manaea struck out eight over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 4-1 win over the Yankees.

American League Batter of the Day—Devon Travis of the Blue Jays hit a grand slam and doubled in the 7-6 win over the Rangers. Travis went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs.

National League Batter of the Day—Justin Bour of the Marlins hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-4 in the 8-5 win over the Angels.

Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Wood (5IP 2H 0R 2BB 8K W in the 4-0 win over the Cubs) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.0 for the season. He rises from eighth to fifth place in rankings. He ranks third among NL pitchers, behind Kershaw (10.7) and Scherzer (8.0).

Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Manaea earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Travis and Bour each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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 

5/26 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 14.2 WSH 5, SD 1 Max Scherzer (W,5-3) - - - - 8.2 3 1 1 2 13
AL 10.0 OAK 4, NYY 1 Sean Manaea (W,3-3) - - - - 7.0 4 0 0 1 8
9.1 NYM 8, PIT 1 Jacob deGrom (W,4-1) - - - - 8.1 6 1 1 1 10
9.0 CIN 5, PHI 2 Tim Adleman (W,3-2) - - - - 8.0 1 0 0 2 4
9.0 HOU 2, BAL 0 Joe Musgrove (W,4-4) - - - - 7.0 4 0 0 0 6
9.0 LAD 4, CHC 0 Alex Wood (W,6-0) - - - - 5.0 2 0 0 2 8
8.2 TB 5, MIN 2 Chris Archer (W,4-3) - - - - 7.2 5 2 2 1 11
6.0 COL 10, STL 0 Antonio Senzatela (W,7-1) - - - - 8.0 5 0 0 0 3
6.0 `ARI 4, MIL 2 (F/10) Zack Godley - - - - 6.0 5 0 0 1 6
5.2 ATL 2, SF 0 Jaime Garcia (W,2-3) - - - - 6.2 4 0 0 2 5
BAT 5.0 TOR 7, TEX 6 Devon Travis, 2B 4 2 3 4 - - - - - -
4.0 CHW 8, DET 2 Melky Cabrera, LF 5 2 3 4 - - - - - -
4.0 KC 6, CLE 4 Mike Minor (W,2-1) - - - - 2.0 1 0 0 0 3
BAT 2.0 MIA 8, LAA 5 Justin Bour, 1B 4 1 2 3 - - - - - -
2.0 BOS 3, SEA 0 Eduardo Rodriguez (W,4-1) - - - - 6.0 5 0 0 3 4
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 8.0 33.7 111.9 139.7 -17.7
Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 7.0 8.0 26.4 26.4 6.0
Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 pi sp bos al 5.7 10.4 16.4 16.4 1.0
Godley, Zack 3538 pi sp ari nl 4.0 5.0 8.7 8.7 3.0
deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp nym nl 3.7 13.4 48.8 48.8 -6.0
Bour, Justin 3433 1b fla nl 3.5 6.0 16.0 16.0 1.0
Archer, Chris 3194 pi sp tb al 3.0 12.0 52.1 52.1 -6.0
Senzatela, Antonio 3760 pi sp col nl 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Manaea, Sean 3637 pi sp oak al 2.7 9.4 9.4 9.4 -4.0
Cabrera, Melky 2143 lf ph chi al 2.0 6.0 16.0 32.5 -2.0
Travis, Devon 3436 2b tor al 1.5 2.5 5.5 5.5 0.5
Garcia, Jaime 2508 pi sp atl nl 1.0 9.0 27.1 44.8 -7.0
Musgrove, Joe 3705 pi sp hou al 1.0 4.7 4.7 4.7 -2.7
Adleman, Tim 3625 pi sp cin nl 1.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 -1.0
Minor, Mike 2894 pi mr sp kc al 1.0 1.0 25.4 28.1 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Dbacks' Robbie Ray tops players for Thursday, May 25; Red Sox' Pomeranz tops AL players

Diamondbacks pitcher Robbie Ray 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 25:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 10.7
2 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 9.4
3 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
4 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 6.7
5 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
6 McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 6.0
7 Harper, Bryce 3011 rf dc nl 6.0
8 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 6.0
9 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 6.0
10 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 6.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Ray struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks, in the 4-0 win over the Brewers.

Ray earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season, most of any of the 10 who earned Player of the Game honors Thursday. Ray ranks 18th among players in 2017 Box-Toppers points, seventh among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Red Sox pitcher Drew Pomeranz struck out 11 over six innings, allowing two runs, four hits and one walk, in the 6-2 win over the Rangers.

National League Batter of the Day—Francisco Cervelli of the Pirates doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 9-4 win over the Braves.

American League Batter of the Day—Carlos Correa of the Astros homered and went 3-for-4, driving in two runs, in the 7-6 win over the Tigers.

Debut—Padres pitcher Dinelson Lamet made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.

Lamet (5IP 3H R 2BB 8K W in the 4-3 win over the Mets) was also making his Major League debut Thursday. He is the 3,808th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Ray earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Pomeranz earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Cervelli and Correa 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 

5/25 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 14.0 ARI 4, MIL 0 Robbie Ray (W,4-3) - - - - 7.0 2 0 0 0 9
AL 8.0 BOS 6, TEX 2 Drew Pomeranz (W,4-3) - - - - 6.0 4 2 2 1 11
6.0 SD 4, NYM 3 Dinelson Lamet (W,1-0) - - - - 5.0 3 1 1 2 8
5.0 TB 4, LAA 0 Matt Andriese (W,5-1) - - - - 8.0 6 0 0 2 5
BAT 3.0 PIT 9, ATL 4 Francisco Cervelli, C 5 2 4 2 - - - - - -
3.0 LAD 7, STL 3 Hyun-Jin Ryu (S,1) - - - - 4.0 2 0 0 1 2
BAT 2.0 HOU 7, DET 6 Carlos Correa, SS 4 1 3 2 - - - - - -
2.0 SEA 4, WSH 2 Nelson Cruz, RF 3 1 1 3 - - - - - -
2.0 CHC 5, SF 1 Mike Montgomery (S,1) - - - - 4.0 1 0 0 1 0
2.0 `PHI 2, COL 1 (F/11) Hector Neris - - - - 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 +/-
Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 5.0 11.7 15.7 15.7 -1.7
Andriese, Matt 3505 pi sp tb al 3.7 5.7 8.7 8.7 1.7
Correa, Carlos 3506 ss hou al 2.5 10.2 17.4 17.4 -5.2
Cruz, Nelson 2224 dh rf sea al 2.0 8.5 29.5 55.7 -4.5
Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139 pi sp cp lad nl 2.0 2.0 23.1 23.1 2.0
Pomeranz, Drew 3061 pi sp bos al 1.7 14.1 25.1 25.1 -10.7
Cervelli, Francisco 3387 ca pit nl 1.5 2.5 7.5 7.5 0.5
Montgomery, Mike 3513 pi cp chi nl 1.0 6.0 10.0 10.0 -4.0
Neris, Hector 3553 pi mr phi nl 1.0 3.0 4.0 4.0 -1.0
Lamet, Dinelson 3808 pi sp sd nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Athletics' Sonny Gray tops players for Wednesday, May 24; Rockies' Chatwood tops NL players

Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray 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 24:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 10.7
2 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 9.4
3 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
4 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 6.7
5 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
6 McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 6.0
7 Harper, Bryce 3011 rf dc nl 6.0
8 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 6.0
9 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 6.0
10 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 6.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Gray struck out 11 over seven innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 4-1 win over the Marlins.

National League Player of the Day—Rockies pitcher Tyler Chatwood pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing one hit, in the 7-2 win over the Phillies.

National League Batter of the Day—Adam Frazier of the Pirates hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-2, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 12-5, 10-inning win over the Braves.

American League Batter of the Day—Jose Iglesias of the Tigers homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 6-3 win over the Astros.

Notable—Yankees pitcher Luis Severino has the most season Box-Toppers points of any of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Severino (8IP 4H 0R BB 7K W in the 3-0 win over the Royals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 4.7 for the season, ranked 20th among all players this season. He ranks 11th among AL pitchers.

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

5/24 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 12.0 OAK 4, MIA 1 Sonny Gray (W,2-1) - - - - 7.0 3 1 1 1 11
10.0 NYY 3, KC 0 Luis Severino (W,3-2) - - - - 8.0 4 0 0 1 7
NL 10.0 COL 7, PHI 2 Tyler Chatwood (W,4-6) - - - - 7.0 1 0 0 4 8
7.0 STL 6, LAD 1 Mike Leake (W,5-2) - - - - 8.0 4 1 1 0 5
BAT 6.0 PIT 12, ATL 5 (F/10) Adam Frazier, LF-CF 2 3 2 3 - - - - - -
5.0 WSH 5, SEA 1 Tanner Roark (W,4-2) - - - - 7.0 8 1 1 0 8
BAT 4.0 DET 6, HOU 3 Jose Iglesias, SS 4 3 3 2 - - - - - -
4.0 CHC 5, SF 4 Anthony Rizzo, 1B 3 2 3 2 - - - - - -
4.0 TB 5, LAA 2 Steven Souza Jr., RF 3 2 2 3 - - - - - -
3.1 `ARI 8, CHW 6 J.J. Hoover (H,6) - - - - 1.1 2 0 0 0 4
3.0 TOR 8, MIL 4 Ryan Goins, SS 4 1 2 4 - - - - - -
3.0 BOS 9, TEX 4 Mitch Moreland, PH-1B 2 2 2 1 - - - - - -
2.0 SD 6, NYM 5 Matt Szczur, CF 1 2 1 0 - - - - - -
1.1 MIN 4, BAL 3 Jose Berrios (W,3-0) - - - - 6.1 4 3 3 2 7
1.0 CIN 4, CLE 3 Arismendy Alcantara, PR 0 1 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 +/-
Severino, Luis 3567 pi sp nyy al 4.7 6.7 9.7 9.7 2.7
Chatwood, Tyler 2856 pi sp col nl 4.4 11.4 18.1 21.1 -2.6
Frazier, Adam 3771 lf cf pit nl 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5
Leake, Mike 2709 pi sp stl nl 3.0 8.0 38.4 47.6 -2.0
Goins, Ryan 3478 ss tor al 3.0 4.5 9.0 9.0 1.5
Berrios, Jose 3791 pi sp min al 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Rizzo, Anthony 3063 1b chi nl 2.5 5.5 29.5 29.5 -0.5
Iglesias, Jose 3532 ss det al 2.5 2.5 3.5 3.5 2.5
Roark, Tanner 3261 pi sp dc nl 2.0 14.7 30.7 30.7 -10.7
Souza, Steven Jr. 3461 rf tb al 2.0 7.7 13.2 13.2 -3.7
Gray, Sonny 3259 pi sp oak al 2.0 3.0 34.8 34.8 1.0
Moreland, Mitch 2799 1b ph bos al 1.0 4.5 17.7 19.7 -2.5
Szczur, Matt 3704 cf sd nl 1.0 2.5 2.5 2.5 -0.5
Hoover, J.J. 3163 pi mr ari nl 1.0 1.0 10.0 10.0 1.0
Alcantara, Arismendy 3378 2b pr cin nl 1.0 1.0 2.5 2.5 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw tops players for Tuesday, May 23, rises to 3rd in career Box-Toppers points since 1995, passing Schilling

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, maintaining his top spot in season player rankings and rising to third place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 23:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 10.7
2 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 9.4
3 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
4 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 6.7
5 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
6 McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 6.0
7 Harper, Bryce 3011 rf dc nl 6.0
8 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 6.0
9 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 6.0
10 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 6.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Tuesday, two other players rose in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors: Twins pitcher Ervin Santana rose to second place and Astros pitcher Lance McCullers rose to sixth place.

Player of the Day—Kershaw struck out 10 over nine innings, allowing one run, three hits and no walks, in the 2-1, 13-inning win over the Cardinals. Kershaw did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was tied 1-1 when he exited after nine innings.

Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 10.7 for the season. He is the first player to reach 10.0 Box-Toppers points in 2017, the ninth straight season he’s earned 10 or more points in a season. Kershaw was also the first player to 10 points in 2016, reaching the milestone a week earlier than this year (May 17).

All-time leaders

Here are Box-Toppers top 20 players since record keeping began in 1995:


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Randy Johnson pi sp retired 278.8
2 Pedro Martinez pi sp retired 244.8
3 Clayton Kershaw pi sp lad nl 194.4
4 Curt Schilling pi sp retired 194.1
5 CC Sabathia pi sp nyy al 188.0
6 Alex Rodriguez dh released 187.0
7 Albert Pujols 1b dh ana al 182.3
8 Roy Halladay pi sp retired 170.7
9 Felix Hernandez pi sp sea al 169.7
10 Manny Ramirez lf dh retired 167.2
11 Johan Santana pi sp free agent 166.6
12 Roger Clemens pi sp retired 164.8
13 Zack Greinke pi sp ari nl 162.8
14 John Smoltz pi sp retired 160.9
15 Tim Hudson pi sp retired 157.0
16 Mike Mussina pi sp retired 155.6
17 Barry Bonds lf retired 153.2
18 Greg Maddux pi sp retired 151.7
19 Bartolo Colon pi sp atl nl 151.2
20 Chipper Jones 3b retired 149.0
BTP: Box-Toppers points
List of top 100 players since 1995 at the close of the 2016 season.

Kershaw maintains his top spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings, ahead of second-place player, Twins pitcher Ervin Santana (9.4 Box-Toppers points), who was American League Player of the Day Tuesday.

Kershaw also rises to third place in career Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. Kershaw now has 194.4 career Box-Toppers points and passes Curt Schilling (194.1) on the “all-time” list. It should be noted that Schilling began his career in 1988, before Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, and so would likely have more total career points. Rough Box-Toppers projected estimates put Schilling’s actual career total at 232. (A look at projected Box-Toppers point totals for pitchers who began their careers before 1995.)

Kershaw has risen steadily up Box-Toppers career points rankings in recent years but his rise will now become more difficult. Kershaw now trails second-place player Pedro Martinez on the “all-time” list, who has 244.8 career Box-Toppers points since 1995. The 50.4-point gap between Martinez and Kershaw is the largest between any two players in “all-time” Box-Toppers rankings. In essence, Kershaw has whizzed by the close-together “inner planets” of players with fewer than 200 Box-Toppers points and now has to travel much greater distances to reach the “gas giants” of players with more than 200 career Box-Toppers points since 1995—Martinez and Randy Johnson (the overall leader with 278.8 points).

However, given Kershaw’s pace, perhaps the 50.4-point gap between Martinez and Kershaw is not so great and insurmountable. Kershaw has earned 50.8 points since July 23, 2015, less than two complete seasons (which included time on the disabled list). If Kershaw were able to maintain that pace, he might catch Martinez by the end of the 2018 season.

American League Player of the Day—Twins pitcher Ervin Santana pitched a two-hit, complete-game shutout, striking out six and walking two, in the 2-0 win over the Orioles.

Santana earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 9.4 for the season, rising from third to second place in season player rankings, first among AL pitchers, passing previous AL pitching leader, Chris Sale of the Red Sox (8.4 points). Santana trails overall leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (10.7 points).

Santana also now has 106.7 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 59th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Tuesday, he passes six players on the “all-time” list: Dodgers pitcher Scott Kazmir (105.1), Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner (105.7), Aramis Ramirez (105.8), Carlos Beltran of the Astros (105.9), Frank Thomas (106.2) and Red Sox pitcher David Price (106.2). Santana now trails 58th-ranked player Lance Berkman (108.1).

National League Batter of the Day—Anthony Rendon of the Nationals homered twice and doubled in the 10-1 win over the Mariners. Rendon went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five runs.

American League Batter of the Day—Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring four times and driving in three runs, in the 11-6 win over the Rangers.

Rankings—Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. Rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

McCullers (5IP H 0R 2BB 5K W in the 6-2 win over the Tigers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.0 for the season. He ranks third among AL pitchers.

Notable—Cubs pitcher Jon Lester now has 145.2 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday (CG 4H R 0BB 10K W in the 4-1 win over the Giants). Lester had a Box-Toppers game score of +13.0, but lost out on earning Player of the Game honors to Kershaw, who had a game score of +14.0. So Lester only earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game.

That point boosts him to 24th place in career Box-Toppers points since 1995, when tracking began. He passes Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (144.9) on the “all-time” list and now trails 23rd-ranked player David Ortiz (145.9). Lester now ranks seventh among active players in career points, trailing Braves pitcher Bartolo Colon (151.2).

Debut—Blue Jays pitcher Danny Barnes made his Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.

Barnes (1.2IP 0H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 4-3 win over the Brewers) made his Major League debut Aug. 2, 2016, and was playing in his 26th career game. He is the 3,807th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Santana earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Rendon and Bogaerts 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 

5/23 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 14.0 `LAD 2, STL 1 (F/13) Clayton Kershaw - - - - 9.0 3 1 1 0 10
13.0 CHC 4, SF 1 Jon Lester (W,3-2) - - - - 9.0 4 1 1 0 10
AL 11.0 MIN 2, BAL 0 Ervin Santana (W,7-2) - - - - 9.0 2 0 0 2 6
BAT 7.0 WSH 10, SEA 1 Anthony Rendon, 3B 4 3 3 5 - - - - - -
7.0 HOU 6, DET 2 Lance McCullers Jr. (W,5-1) - - - - 5.0 1 0 0 2 5
5.1 LAA 4, TB 0 Matt Shoemaker (W,4-2) - - - - 6.1 3 0 0 3 5
5.0 MIA 11, OAK 9 Justin Bour, 1B 5 4 4 2 - - - - - -
BAT 5.0 BOS 11, TEX 6 Xander Bogaerts, SS 5 4 3 3 - - - - - -
5.0 NYM 9, SD 3 Michael Conforto, LF 4 2 3 4 - - - - - -
4.2 TOR 4, MIL 3 Danny Barnes (W,1-2) - - - - 1.2 0 0 0 0 3
4.0 COL 8, PHI 2 Charlie Blackmon, CF 4 2 2 4 - - - - - -
4.0 CLE 8, CIN 7 Edwin Encarnacion, 1B 4 3 2 3 - - - - - -
2.0 ATL 6, PIT 5 Matt Adams, 1B 5 2 3 2 - - - - - -
1.0 KC 6, NYY 2 Danny Duffy (W,4-3) - - - - 7.0 6 2 2 3 7
1.0 ARI 5, CHW 4 Fernando Rodney (S,11) - - - - 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 +/-
Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 10.7 35.1 134.8 194.4 -13.7
Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 9.4 13.4 46.2 106.7 5.4
McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 6.0 12.1 18.8 18.8 -0.1
Conforto, Michael 3622 cf lf nym nl 4.0 9.0 9.0 9.0 -1.0
Rendon, Anthony 3258 3b dc nl 3.5 9.0 15.5 15.5 -2.0
Duffy, Danny 2915 pi sp kc al 3.0 13.7 31.7 32.7 -7.7
Shoemaker, Matt 3290 pi sp ana al 3.0 10.0 28.4 28.4 -4.0
Blackmon, Charlie 2891 cf col nl 2.7 6.7 13.2 14.7 -1.3
Lester, Jon 2173 pi sp chi nl 2.0 24.1 69.6 145.2 -20.1
Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 dh 1b cle al 2.0 10.0 45.1 69.1 -6.0
Rodney, Fernando 1803 pi cp ari nl 2.0 7.0 25.0 37.0 -3.0
Bour, Justin 3433 1b fla nl 2.0 4.5 14.5 14.5 -0.5
Adams, Matt 3220 1b ph atl nl 2.0 3.0 11.5 11.5 1.0
Bogaerts, Xander 3383 ss bos al 1.5 2.5 8.0 8.0 0.5
Barnes, Danny 3807 pi mr tor al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Dbacks' Zack Greinke tops players for Monday, May 22, rises to 4th in Box-Toppers season player rankings

Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fourth place 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 22:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 8.7
2 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 7.7
4 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 6.7
5 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
6 Harper, Bryce 3011 rf dc nl 6.0
7 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 6.0
8 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 6.0
9 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 6.0
10 Sano, Miguel 3527 3b min al 5.5
What are those numbers after players' names?

Greinke also rises to 13th place in career points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began.

Also Monday, Miguel Sano of the Twins rises to 10th place in season player rankings, first among American League batters, after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Greinke struck out 12 over 8 2/3 innings, allowing one run and four hits, in the 5-1 win over the White Sox.

Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.7 for the season, rising to fourth in season player rankings, second among National League pitchers, behind overall leader Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (8.7 Box-Toppers points).

All-time leaders

Here are Box-Toppers top 20 players since record keeping began in 1995:


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Randy Johnson pi sp retired 278.8
2 Pedro Martinez pi sp retired 244.8
3 Curt Schilling pi sp retired 194.1
4 Clayton Kershaw pi sp lad nl 192.4
5 CC Sabathia pi sp nyy al 188.0
6 Alex Rodriguez dh released 187.0
7 Albert Pujols 1b dh ana al 182.3
8 Roy Halladay pi sp retired 170.7
9 Felix Hernandez pi sp sea al 169.7
10 Manny Ramirez lf dh retired 167.2
11 Johan Santana pi sp free agent 166.6
12 Roger Clemens pi sp retired 164.8
13 Zack Greinke pi sp ari nl 162.8
14 John Smoltz pi sp retired 160.9
15 Tim Hudson pi sp retired 157.0
16 Mike Mussina pi sp retired 155.6
17 Barry Bonds lf retired 153.2
18 Greg Maddux pi sp retired 151.7
19 Bartolo Colon pi sp atl nl 151.2
20 Chipper Jones 3b retired 149.0
BTP: Box-Toppers points
List of top 100 players since 1995 at the close of the 2016 season.

Greinke also now has 162.8 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 13th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes John Smoltz (160.9) on the “all-time” list and now trails 12th-ranked player Roger Clemens (164.8). It should be noted that both Smoltz and Clemens began their careers before Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995 and so their career totals would likely be higher. Rough Box-Toppers projected estimates put Smoltz’s actual career total at 255 and Clemens’s at 320. (A look at projected Box-Toppers points totals for pitchers who began their careers before 1995.)

American League Player of the Day—Astros pitcher Brad Peacock struck out eight over 4 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit, in the 1-0 win over the Tigers. Peacock did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because he did not pitch the requisite five innings to earn the win. But he did pitch at least three innings to automatically qualify to be considered as Player of the Game.

American League Batter of the Day—Miguel Sano of the Twins homered and went 4-for-6, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 14-7 win over the Orioles.

Sano earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 5.5 for the season. He rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers seasonplayer rankings and first among AL batters, passing previous leader Aaron Judge of the Yankees (5.0 Box-Toppers points).

National League Batter of the Day—Joe Panik of the Giants homered and doubled twice in the 6-4 win over the Cubs. Panik went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs.

Debut—Rockies pitcher Jeff Hoffman made his Box-Toppers debut Monday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.

Hoffman (7IP 3H R 0BB 7K W in the 8-1 win over the Phillies) made his Major League debut Aug. 20, 2016, and was playing in his 11th career game. He is the 3,806th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Peacock earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Sano and Panik 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 

5/22 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 13.2 ARI 5, CHW 1 Zack Greinke (W,6-2) - - - - 8.2 4 1 1 1 12
AL 9.1 `HOU 1, DET 0 Brad Peacock - - - - 4.1 1 0 0 2 8
9.0 COL 8, PHI 1 Jeff Hoffman (W,2-0) - - - - 7.0 3 1 1 0 7
7.0 CIN 5, CLE 1 Scott Feldman (W,3-4) - - - - 6.0 4 1 1 2 9
BAT 4.0 MIN 14, BAL 7 Miguel Sano, 3B 6 3 4 3 - - - - - -
BAT 3.0 SF 6, CHC 4 Joe Panik, 2B 4 2 3 2 - - - - - -
2.1 LAA 3, TB 2 Bud Norris (S,9) - - - - 1.1 1 0 0 1 3
2.0 ATL 5, PIT 2 Ender Inciarte, CF 5 1 5 1 - - - - - -
2.0 NYY 4, KC 2 Didi Gregorius, SS 3 1 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 +/-
Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 6.7 16.4 85.7 162.8 -3.0
Sano, Miguel 3527 3b min al 5.5 8.5 14.5 14.5 2.5
Feldman, Scott 2632 pi sp cin nl 4.0 4.0 20.7 28.7 4.0
Norris, Bud 2638 pi cp ana al 3.0 8.7 33.4 49.1 -2.7
Inciarte, Ender 3360 cf atl nl 3.0 5.0 9.0 9.0 1.0
Peacock, Brad 2968 pi sp hou al 2.7 2.7 9.4 12.1 2.7
Panik, Joe 3401 2b sf nl 1.5 7.0 12.0 12.0 -4.0
Gregorius, Didi 3184 ss nyy al 1.0 3.0 7.5 7.5 -1.0
Hoffman, Jeff 3806 pi sp col nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Blue Jays' Marco Estrada tops players for Sunday, May 21; Nationals' Strasburg tops NL players

Blue Jays pitcher Marco Estrada is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Estrada struck out 12 over 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run and five hits, in the 3-1 win over the Orioles.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 21:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 8.7
2 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 7.7
4 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
5 Harper, Bryce 3011 rf dc nl 6.0
6 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 6.0
7 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 6.0
8 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 6.0
9 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 5.4
10 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 5.4
What are those numbers after players' names?

National League Player of the Day—Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg struck out 11 over 7 2/3 innings, allowing two runs and five hits, in the 3-2 win over the Braves.

Strasburg earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 4.4 for the season, most among the 16 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday. Strasburg ranks 22nd among all players and eighth among NL pitchers.

Strasburg also has the most career Box-Toppers points among the 16 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday with 87.3. That ranks 14th among active NL pitchers and 107th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began.

National League Batter of the Day—Kris Bryant of the Cubs homered twice and went 3-for-3, scoring four times and driving in two runs, in the 13-6 win over the Brewers.

American League Batter of the Day—Yan Gomes of the Indians homered, doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 8-6 win over the Astros.

Notable—Kyle Freeland of the Rockies became the third pitcher this season to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for batting.

Freeland (HR 2B 2-2 2R BI in the 6-4 win over the Reds) had a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 for batting, best among Rockies players Sunday. He had a Box-Toppers game score of -5.8 for pitching (5.2IP 5H 4R 2BB 3K W).

Previously this season, two Cardinals have earned Player of the Game honors for batting—Adam Wainwright on April 21 and Carlos Martinez on May 8. In 2016, pitchers earned Player of the Game honors for batting eight times.

Scoring—Estrada earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Strasburg earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Bryant and Gomes 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 

5/21 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 11.2 TOR 3, BAL 1 Marco Estrada (W,3-2) - - - - 7.2 5 1 1 1 12
NL 8.2 WSH 3, ATL 2 Stephen Strasburg (W,5-1) - - - - 7.2 5 2 2 1 11
8.0 SD 5, ARI 1 Clayton Richard (W,3-5) - - - - 9.0 5 1 1 0 6
7.0 `PIT 1, PHI 0 Chad Kuhl - - - - 5.0 1 0 0 2 5
BAT 6.0 CHC 13, MIL 6 Kris Bryant, 3B 3 4 3 2 - - - - - -
BAT 6.0 CLE 8, HOU 6 Yan Gomes, C 3 2 2 5 - - - - - -
5.0 LAD 6, MIA 3 Brandon McCarthy (W,4-1) - - - - 6.0 3 1 1 1 5
4.1 NYY 3, TB 2 Dellin Betances (S,2) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 3
4.0 LAA 12, NYM 5 Mike Trout, CF 3 2 2 3 - - - - - -
4.0 CHW 8, SEA 1 Derek Holland (W,4-3) - - - - 8.0 6 1 1 2 6
3.2 `TEX 5, DET 2 Sam Dyson (H,3) - - - - 1.2 1 0 0 0 3
3.0 KC 6, MIN 4 Brandon Moss, DH 4 2 3 2 - - - - - -
3.0 BOS 12, OAK 3 Hanley Ramirez, DH 4 2 3 2 - - - - - -
3.0 STL 8, SF 3 Randal Grichuk, RF 4 1 2 4 - - - - - -
3.0 COL 6, CIN 4 Kyle Freeland, P 2 2 2 1 - - - - - -
1.0 MIN 8, KC 4 Robbie Grossman, RF 4 1 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 +/-
Strasburg, Stephen 2736 pi sp dc nl 4.4 19.5 78.6 87.3 -10.7
Holland, Derek 2634 pi sp chi al 4.0 8.0 30.1 49.8 0.0
Richard, Clayton 2584 pi sp sd nl 4.0 6.0 14.2 33.6 2.0
Estrada, Marco 2847 pi sp tor al 3.0 14.0 43.1 46.1 -8.0
Betances, Dellin 3333 pi mr cp nyy al 3.0 7.0 15.7 15.7 -1.0
McCarthy, Brandon 2082 pi sp lad nl 3.0 5.7 25.4 39.5 0.3
Gomes, Yan 3177 ca cle al 3.0 4.0 12.2 12.2 2.0
Freeland, Kyle 3763 pi sp col nl 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Grichuk, Randal 3474 rf stl nl 2.5 3.5 13.0 13.0 1.5
Bryant, Kris 3465 3b lf chi nl 1.5 12.0 20.5 20.5 -9.0
Trout, Mike 2949 cf ana al 1.0 13.5 48.5 50.0 -11.5
Ramirez, Hanley 2119 dh 1b bos al 1.0 8.0 23.5 58.6 -6.0
Moss, Brandon 2520 dh rf lf 1b kc al 1.0 5.0 26.0 28.0 -3.0
Grossman, Robbie 3267 rf min al 1.0 3.0 10.0 10.0 -1.0
Kuhl, Chad 3687 pi sp pit nl 1.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 -1.0
Dyson, Sam 3399 pi mr tex al 1.0 1.0 4.0 4.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Giants' Jeff Samardzija tops players for Saturday, May 20; Indians' Clevinger tops AL players

Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija is Saturday’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 20:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 8.7
2 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 7.7
4 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
5 Harper, Bryce 3011 rf dc nl 6.0
6 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 6.0
7 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 6.0
8 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 6.0
9 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 5.4
10 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 5.4
What are those numbers after players' names?

Samardzija pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing five hits and no walks, in the 3-1, 13-inning win over the Cardinals. Samardzija picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.

Samardzija has the most 2017 Box-Toppers points of any of the 13 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday. Samardzija earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.0 for the season and ranks 23rd among all players, ninth among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Mike Clevinger pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing two hits, in the 3-0 win over the Astros.

Clevinger had a Box-Toppers game score Saturday of +11.0, tied with overall Player of the Day Jeff Samardzija. But Samardzija won Player of the Day on a tiebreaker—he had more innings pitched (eight vs. seven).

American League Batter of the Day—Avisail Garcia of the White Sox homered twice and doubled twice, going 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in six runs, in the 16-1 win over the Mariners.

National League Batter of the Day—JT Riddle of the Marlins homered, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 10-6 win over the Dodgers.

This was Riddle’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Riddle made his Major League debut April 11 and was playing in his 19th career game. He is the 3,805th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Debuts—In addition to Riddle, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:

  • Athletics pitcher Frankie Montas (3IP 2H 0R 0BB 5K ND in the 8-3 win over the Red Sox) made his Major League debut Sept. 2, 2015, and was playing in his 23rd career game. He is the 3,803rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Reds pitcher Asher Wojciechowski (3.2IP H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 12-8 win over the Rockies) made his Major League debut Apr 9, 2015, and was playing in his sixth career game. He is the 3,804th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Samardzjia earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Clevinger earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Garcia and Riddle 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 

5/20 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 11.0 `SF 3, STL 1 (F/13) Jeff Samardzija - - - - 8.0 5 0 0 0 8
AL 11.0 CLE 3, HOU 0 Mike Clevinger (W,2-1) - - - - 7.0 2 0 0 2 8
8.2 ARI 9, SD 1 Robbie Ray (W,3-3) - - - - 7.2 2 0 0 3 6
BAT 8.0 CHW 16, SEA 1 Avisail Garcia, RF 5 3 4 6 - - - - - -
6.0 TB 9, NYY 5 Corey Dickerson, DH 3 3 2 4 - - - - - -
6.0 `OAK 8, BOS 3 Frankie Montas - - - - 3.0 2 0 0 0 5
5.2 CIN 12, COL 8 Asher Wojciechowski (W,1-0) - - - - 3.2 1 0 0 0 3
5.0 DET 9, TEX 3 Alex Avila, 1B 3 2 3 3 - - - - - -
BAT 4.0 MIA 10, LAD 6 JT Riddle, SS 5 2 3 4 - - - - - -
4.0 BAL 7, TOR 5 Mark Trumbo, DH 4 2 3 3 - - - - - -
2.0 PIT 6, PHI 3 David Freese, 3B 3 2 2 1 - - - - - -
2.0 NYM 7, LAA 5 Michael Conforto, LF 2 3 1 0 - - - - - -
2.0 `ATL 5, WSH 2 Jose Ramirez (H,6) - - - - 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 +/-
Samardzija, Jeff 2495 pi sp sf nl 4.0 14.7 50.8 53.8 -6.7
Garcia, Avisail 3256 rf chi al 4.0 6.5 15.0 15.0 1.5
Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 3.0 9.7 13.7 13.7 -3.7
Conforto, Michael 3622 cf lf nym nl 3.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 -2.0
Avila, Alex 2642 ca 1b det al 3.0 4.0 10.5 20.0 2.0
Clevinger, Mike 3707 pi sp mr cle al 2.7 5.7 5.7 5.7 -0.3
Freese, David 2710 3b pit nl 2.0 4.0 20.2 26.2 0.0
Ramirez, Jose A. 3716 pi mr atl nl 2.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 1.0
Riddle, JT 3805 ss fla nl 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Trumbo, Mark 2851 dh rf bal al 1.0 9.2 28.9 34.9 -7.2
Dickerson, Corey 3222 dh lf tb al 1.0 5.5 17.5 17.5 -3.5
Montas, Frankie 3803 pi mr oak al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Wojciechowski, Asher 3804 pi mr cin nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

White Sox' Jose Quintana tops players for Friday, May 19; Dodgers' Wood rises to 6th in Box-Toppers rankings

White Sox pitcher Jose Quintana 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 19:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 8.7
2 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 7.7
4 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
5 Harper, Bryce 3011 rf dc nl 6.0
6 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 6.0
7 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 6.0
8 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 6.0
9 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 5.4
10 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 5.4
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Friday, Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Quintana allowed one run and one hit over eight innings, striking out seven and walking one, in the 2-1, 10-inning win over the Mariners. Quintana picked up the no-decision and did not earn the win because he exited with the score tied, 1-1.

National League Player of the Day—Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits, in the 3-0 win over the Angels.

American League Batter of the Day—Wellington Castillo of the Orioles hit two homers, including the game-winning, walk-off, two-run homer in the 10th inning, in the 5-3 win over the Blue Jays. Castillo went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs.

National League Batter of the Day—Jake Lamb of the Diamondbacks hit two homers, going 2-for-5 and driving in five runs, in the 10-1 win over the Padres.

Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Wood (7.1IP 6H 0R 2BB 4K W in the 7-2 win over the Marlins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.0 for the season. He ranks third among NL pitchers.

Streak—Evan Longoria of the Rays has now earned Box-Toppers points for 10 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor for 2017 on Friday.

Longoria (2B 4-5 2R BI in the 5-4 win over the Yankees) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2008 with the Rays and has 48.0 career points, second among active AL third basemen (behind Adrian Beltre of the Rangers who has 111.3). Longoria’s best season was 2009 with the Rays when he had 8.5 points, second among AL third basemen. In 2016, he had 6.5 points with the Rays, sixth among AL third basemen.

Scoring—Quintana earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and deGrom earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Castillo and Lamb each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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 

5/19 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 11.0 `CHW 2, SEA 1 (F/10) Jose Quintana - - - - 8.0 1 1 1 1 7
NL 9.0 NYM 3, LAA 0 Jacob deGrom (W,3-1) - - - - 7.0 4 0 0 3 9
6.0 MIL 6, CHC 3 Wily Peralta (W,5-2) - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 1 5
BAT 4.0 BAL 5, TOR 3 (F/10) Welington Castillo, C 5 2 3 4 - - - - - -
BAT 4.0 ARI 10, SD 1 Jake Lamb, 3B 5 2 2 5 - - - - - -
3.1 LAD 7, MIA 2 Alex Wood (W,5-0) - - - - 7.1 6 0 0 2 4
3.0 COL 12, CIN 6 Alexi Amarista, SS 5 1 3 4 - - - - - -
3.0 ATL 7, WSH 4 Dansby Swanson, SS 2 1 2 2 - - - - - -
3.0 MIN 4, KC 3 (F/10) Kennys Vargas, PH 1 1 1 2 - - - - - -
3.0 TEX 5, DET 3 Nick Martinez (W,1-2) - - - - 5.0 4 1 0 1 4
3.0 SF 6, STL 5 Bryan Morris (W,2-0) - - - - 1.- - - - - 2
2.2 CLE 5, HOU 3 Trevor Bauer (W,4-4) - - - - 5.2 5 3 3 1 9
2.0 TB 5, NYY 4 Evan Longoria, 3B 5 2 4 1 - - - - - -
2.0 OAK 3, BOS 2 (F/10) Mark Canha, RF 4 1 3 2 - - - - - -
2.0 PHI 7, PIT 2 Jeremy Hellickson (W,5-1) - - - - 6.0 2 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 +/-
Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 6.0 7.0 25.4 25.4 5.0
Quintana, Jose 3040 pi sp chi al 4.0 14.4 39.2 39.2 -6.4
Hellickson, Jeremy 2778 pi sp phi nl 3.0 16.1 37.1 47.8 -10.1
deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp nym nl 2.7 12.4 47.8 47.8 -7.0
Lamb, Jake 3517 3b ari nl 2.5 6.5 7.5 7.5 -1.5
Vargas, Kennys 3511 dh 1b ph min al 2.5 5.0 6.5 6.5 0.0
Bauer, Trevor 3065 pi sp cle al 2.0 13.4 31.5 31.5 -9.4
Peralta, Wily 3123 pi sp mil nl 2.0 3.0 21.0 21.0 1.0
Canha, Mark 3454 cf rf oak al 2.0 2.0 4.5 4.5 2.0
Martinez, Nick 3430 pi sp tex al 2.0 2.0 5.7 5.7 2.0
Amarista, Alexi 3032 ss ph col nl 2.0 2.0 11.0 11.0 2.0
Castillo, Wellington 3251 ca bal al 1.5 6.5 13.0 13.0 -3.5
Longoria, Evan 2423 3b tb al 1.0 7.5 20.0 48.0 -5.5
Swanson, Dansby 3751 ss atl nl 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0
Morris, Bryan 3369 pi mr sf nl 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Twins' Jose Berrios tops players for Thursday, May 18; Rockies' Holland rises to 7th in Box-Toppers player rankings

Twins pitcher Jose Berrios 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 17:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 8.7
2 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 7.7
4 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
5 Harper, Bryce 3011 rf dc nl 6.0
6 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 6.0
7 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 6.0
8 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 5.4
9 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 5.4
10 Triggs, Andrew 3723 pi sp oak al 5.4
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Thursday, Rockies closing pitcher Greg Holland rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Berrios struck out 11 over 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 2-0 win over the Rockies.

National League Player of the Day—Javier Baez of the Cubs hit a grand slam and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 9-5 win over the Reds.

American League Batter of the Day—Darrell Ceciliani of the Blue Jays hit a homer and doubled, going 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 9-0 win over the Braves.

This was Ceciliani’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Ceciliani made his Major League debut May 19, 2015, and was playing in his 55th career game. He is the 3,801st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Javier Baez.

Rankings—Rockies closing pitcher Greg Holland rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.

Holland (0.1IP 0H 0R 0BB K Sv in the 5-1 win over the Twins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.0 for the season, third among NL pitchers and most among all relief pitchers.

Debut—Mariners pitcher Sam Gaviglio made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Gaviglio (5IP 3H 0R BB 2K ND in the 5-4 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut May 11 and was playing in his second career game. He is the 3,802nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Berrios earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Baez earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Ceciliani earns 1.5 points for being AL 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 

5/18 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 15.2 MIN 2, COL 0 Jose Berrios (W,2-0) - - - - 7.2 2 0 0 1 11
12.0 KC 5, NYY 1 Danny Duffy (W,3-3) - - - - 7.0 3 0 0 2 10
NL 7.0 CHC 9, CIN 5 Javier Baez, 2B 3 2 3 5 - - - - - -
6.0 TEX 8, PHI 4 Martin Perez (W,2-5) - - - - 7.0 5 2 2 0 8
5.1 LAD 7, MIA 2 Kenley Jansen (S,8) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 4
BAT 5.0 TOR 9, ATL 0 Darrell Ceciliani, CF 2 2 2 3 - - - - - -
5.0 DET 6, BAL 5 J.D. Martinez, RF 1 2 1 3 - - - - - -
4.0 PIT 10, WSH 4 Adam Frazier, LF 5 2 3 4 - - - - - -
3.0 MIL 4, SD 2 Eric Sogard, 2B 4 0 4 3 - - - - - -
3.0 `SEA 5, CHW 4 Sam Gaviglio - - - - 5.0 3 0 0 1 2
2.0 OAK 8, BOS 3 Trevor Plouffe, 3B 4 2 3 1 - - - - - -
1.1 COL 5, MIN 1 Greg Holland (S,18) - - - - 0.1 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 6.0 6.0 36.0 39.0 6.0
Baez, Javier 3395 2b 3b chi nl 3.2 5.2 7.7 7.7 1.2
Sogard, Eric 3174 ss 3b 2b mil nl 3.0 3.0 7.0 7.0 3.0
Berrios, Jose 3791 pi sp min al 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Martinez, J.D. 2922 rf det al 2.5 8.0 17.7 19.7 -3.0
Duffy, Danny 2915 pi sp kc al 2.0 12.7 30.7 31.7 -8.7
Jansen, Kenley 2871 pi cp mr lad nl 2.0 8.0 33.7 38.4 -4.0
Frazier, Adam 3771 lf pit nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Ceciliani, Darrell 3801 cf tor al 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Plouffe, Trevor 2869 3b oak al 1.0 5.5 21.5 24.5 -3.5
Perez, Martin 3213 pi sp tex al 1.0 3.0 14.0 14.0 -1.0
Gaviglio, Sam 3802 pi sp sea al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Mariners' Christian Bergman tops players for Wednesday, May 17; Kershaw regains Box-Toppers points lead

Mariners pitcher Christian Bergman is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, making his Box-Toppers debut with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 17:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 8.7
2 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 7.7
4 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 6.0
5 Harper, Bryce 3011 rf dc nl 6.0
6 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 6.0
6 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 5.4
8 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 5.4
9 Triggs, Andrew 3723 pi sp oak al 5.4
10 Darvish, Yu 3003 pi sp tex al 5.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Wednesday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw regains the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors.

Player of the Day—Bergman struck out nine over 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits, in the 4-0 win over the Athletics.

This was Bergman’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Bergman made his Major League debut June 9, 2014, and was playing in his 58th career game. He is the 3,799th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

National League Player of the Day—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out five and allowing three hits, in the 6-1 win over the Giants.

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
5/17 Clayton Kershaw lad nl 8.7

Kershaw earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 8.7 for the season, rising from third to first place in season player rankings, passing previous leader, Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale (8.4 Box-Toppers points). Kershaw maintains his lead in Box-Toppers points among NL pitchers. This is the fifth time this season Kershaw has led Box-Toppers season player rankings.

Kershaw also now has 192.4 career Box-Toppers points, fourth among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails third-ranked player Curt Schilling (194.1). Kershaw ranks first in career points among active players.

American League Batter of the Day—Jared Hoying of the Rangers homered, doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring three times an driving in two runs, in the 9-3 win over the Phillies.

Hoying had a Box-Toppers game score of +5.0, tied with Tyler Collins of the Tigers, Player of the Game in the 5-4 win over the Orioles (2HR 2B 3-4 2R 4BI). But Hoying won AL Batter of the Day over Collins on a tiebreaker—Hoying had more hits (four vs. three).

This was Hoying’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Hoying made his Major League debut May 23, 2016, and was playing in his 41st career game. He is the 3,800th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

National League Batter of the Day—Kurt Suzuki of the Braves homered, doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 8-4 win over the Blue Jays.

Scoring—Bergman earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Kershaw earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Hoying and Suzuki 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 

5/17 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 12.1 SEA 4, OAK 0 Christian Bergman (W,1-1) - - - - 7.1 2 0 0 2 9
NL 9.0 LAD 6, SF 1 Clayton Kershaw (W,7-2) - - - - 7.0 3 0 0 0 5
BAT 5.0 TEX 9, PHI 3 Jared Hoying, CF 4 3 4 2 - - - - - -
5.0 DET 5, BAL 4 Tyler Collins, CF 4 2 3 4 - - - - - -
BAT 4.0 ATL 8, TOR 4 Kurt Suzuki, C 3 2 2 3 - - - - - -
4.0 HOU 3, MIA 0 Lance McCullers Jr. (W,4-1) - - - - 6.0 3 0 0 2 3
3.0 LAA 12, CHW 8 Danny Espinosa, 2B 3 3 2 1 - - - - - -
3.0 PIT 6, WSH 1 Gerrit Cole (W,2-4) - - - - 7.0 3 1 1 2 3
3.0 `CHC 7, CIN 5 Carl Edwards Jr. (H,5) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.0 NYY 11, KC 7 Starlin Castro, 2B 4 2 3 1 - - - - - -
2.0 TB 7, CLE 4 Jesus Sucre, C 4 2 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 BOS 5, STL 4 (F/13) Fernando Abad (W,1-0) - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 1 1
2.0 MIL 3, SD 1 Corey Knebel (S,2) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 1 2
1.0 ARI 5, NYM 4 (F/11) Jake Lamb, 3B 3 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 +/-
Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 8.7 33.1 132.8 192.4 -15.7
McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 5.0 11.1 17.8 17.8 -1.1
Castro, Starlin 2767 2b nyy al 3.0 10.0 18.5 28.5 -4.0
Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp pit nl 3.0 9.5 38.9 38.9 -3.5
Suzuki, Kurt 2344 ca atl nl 2.5 4.0 15.0 34.5 1.0
Collins, Tyler 3302 cf det al 2.5 2.5 5.5 5.5 2.5
Knebel, Corey 3757 pi mr cp mil nl 2.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 1.0
Bergman, Christian 3799 pi sp sea al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Edwards, Carl Jr. 3775 pi mr chi nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Sucre, Jesus 3794 ca tb al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Hoying, Jared 3800 cf tex al 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Lamb, Jake 3517 3b ari nl 1.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 -3.0
Espinosa, Danny 2804 2b ana al 1.0 4.2 10.7 17.9 -2.2
Abad, Fernando 3653 pi mr bos al 1.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 -1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Rangers' Darvish tops players for Tuesday, May 16; Harper, Darvish rise in Box-Toppers top 10

Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to 10th 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 16:  


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 Harper, Bryce 3011 rf dc nl 6.0
6 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 6.0
6 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 5.4
8 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 5.4
9 Triggs, Andrew 3723 pi sp oak al 5.4
10 Darvish, Yu 3003 pi sp tex al 5.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Tuesday, Bryce Harper of the Nationals rises to fifth place in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Darvish struck out nine over seven innings, allowing one run and four hits, in the 5-1 win over the Phillies.

Darvish earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season, rising to 10th place in season player rankings, seventh among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies homered and went 3-for-5, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 7-3 win over the Twins.

American League Batter of the Day—Chris Davis of the Orioles homered twice and doubled, going 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 13-11, 13-inning win over the Tigers.

Davis had a Box-Toppers game score of +5.0, which was tied with Jake Marisnick of the Astros, who was Player of the Game in the 12-2 win over the Marlins. Marisnick had a very similar line score to Davis, homering twice, doubling and going 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in four runs. But Davis beat Marisnick to earn AL Batter of the Day on a tiebreaker—he had more walks Tuesday (two vs. zero).

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Tuesday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Charlie Blackmon.

Rankings—Bryce Harper of the Nationals rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Harper (HR 2-4 2R 2BI in the 8-4 win over the Pirates) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game, giving him 6.0 for the season. He maintains his rank as top-ranked batter and is the only batter among the top 10 in Box-Toppers player rankings.

Notable—Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia now has 188.0 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday (6.2IP 5H 0R 2BB 4K W in the 7-1 win over the Royals). Sabathia ranks fifth among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began, trailing fourth-place player and active career points leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (190.7).

Also notable—Matt Kemp of the Braves earned Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Tuesday. Kemp (2-5 R 4BI in the 9-5 win over the Blue Jays) also was Player of the Game Monday in the 10-6 win over the Blue Jays. He has 3.5 Box-Toppers points on the season, fifth among NL batters.

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

  • Rays pitcher Jose Alvarado (2IP 0H 0R 0BB K ND in the 6-4 win over the Indians) made his Major League debut May 3 and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,797th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Ian Happ of the Cubs (HR 1-3 2R 2BI in the 9-5 win over the Reds) made his Major League debut May 13 and was playing in his third career game. He is the 3,798th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Darvish earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Blackmon earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Davis earns 1.5 points for being AL 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 

5/16 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 8.0 TEX 5, PHI 1 Yu Darvish (W,4-2) - - - - 7.0 4 1 1 2 9
BAT 5.0 BAL 13, DET 11 (F/13) Chris Davis, 1B 5 3 3 4 - - - - - -
5.0 HOU 12, MIA 2 Jake Marisnick, CF 5 3 3 4 - - - - - -
3.2 NYY 7, KC 1 CC Sabathia (W,3-2) - - - - 6.2 5 0 0 2 4
3.0 LAA 7, CHW 6 (F/11) Cameron Maybin, LF 6 2 5 2 - - - - - -
3.0 OAK 9, SEA 6 Mark Canha, CF 5 2 3 3 - - - - - -
3.0 `TB 6, CLE 4 Jose Alvarado (H,2) - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 0 1
NL 2.0 COL 7, MIN 3 Charlie Blackmon, CF 5 1 3 3 - - - - - -
2.0 ATL 9, TOR 5 Matt Kemp, LF 5 1 2 4 - - - - - -
2.0 MIL 6, SD 2 Eric Sogard, 3B 4 1 4 1 - - - - - -
2.0 WSH 8, PIT 4 Bryce Harper, RF 4 2 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 BOS 6, STL 3 Jackie Bradley Jr., CF 3 2 2 1 - - - - - -
2.0 CHC 9, CIN 5 Ian Happ, CF-LF 3 2 1 2 - - - - - -
2.0 SF 2, LAD 1 Ty Blach (W,1-2) - - - - 7.0 5 1 1 2 4
2.0 ARI 5, NYM 4 Fernando Rodney (S,10) - - - - 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 +/-
Harper, Bryce 3011 rf dc nl 6.0 9.0 33.4 33.4 3.0
Darvish, Yu 3003 pi sp tex al 5.0 15.4 60.6 60.6 -5.4
Kemp, Matt 2151 lf atl nl 3.5 11.0 34.0 62.6 -4.0
Sabathia, C.C. 1492 pi sp nyy al 3.0 9.0 35.5 188.0 -3.0
Maybin, Cameron 2672 lf ana al 2.0 5.0 10.5 17.5 -1.0
Sogard, Eric 3174 ss 3b 2b mil nl 2.0 2.0 6.0 6.0 2.0
Blackmon, Charlie 2891 cf col nl 1.7 5.7 12.2 13.7 -2.3
Davis, Chris 2478 1b bal al 1.5 9.0 50.9 59.4 -6.0
Bradley, Jackie Jr. 3293 cf bos al 1.0 6.5 17.0 17.0 -4.5
Rodney, Fernando 1803 pi cp ari nl 1.0 6.0 24.0 36.0 -4.0
Blach, Ty 3754 pi sp sf nl 1.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 -1.0
Marisnick, Jake 3428 cf hou al 1.0 2.0 5.0 5.0 0.0
Canha, Mark 3454 cf oak al 1.0 1.0 3.5 3.5 1.0
Alvarado, Jose 3797 pi mr tb al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Happ, Ian 3798 cf lf chi nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Dbacks' Zack Godley tops players for Monday, May 15; Astros' Gurriel tops AL players

Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Godley is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 15:  


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?

Godley allowed one run and one hit over 6 2/3 innings, striking out seven, in the 7-3 win over the Mets. Godley did not earn the win, picking up a no decision because the game was tied, 1-1, when he exited.

Godley also has the most Box-Toppers points among the eight who earned Player of the Game honors Monday. Godley earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season. He ranks 56th among all players for 2017, 15th among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Yuli Gurriel of the Astros hit a grand slam, doubled and went 2-for-4, in the 7-2 win over the Marlins.

This was Gurriel’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Gurriel made his Major League debut Aug. 21, 2016, and was playing in his 70th career game. He is the 3,796th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

National League Batter of the Day—Hunter Renfroe of the Padres hit a walk-off, two-run, 10th-inning homer in the 6-5 win over the Brewers. Renfroe also doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Monday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Yuli Gurriel.

Streak—Nelson Cruz of the Mariners has now earned Box-Toppers points for 12 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of the season.

Cruz (HR 1-3 R 2BI in the 6-5 win over the Athletics) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2006 with the Rangers and has 54.7 career points, seventh among active AL designated hitters. His best year was 2014 with the Orioles when he had 8.5 points, sixth among AL batters. In 2016, he had 6.5 points with the Mariners, seventh among AL designated hitters.

Scoring—Godley earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gurriel earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Renfroe earns 1.5 points for being NL 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 

5/15ScoreGamePlayer of the GameABRHBIIPHRERBBK
MLB5.2`ARI 7, NYM 3Zack Godley----6.211157
BAT4.0SD 6, MIL 5 (F/10)Hunter Renfroe, RF4224------
3.0ATL 10, TOR 6Matt Kemp, LF4340------
AL3.0HOU 7, MIA 2Yuli Gurriel, 1B4124------
3.0CLE 8, TB 7Lonnie Chisenhall, CF2113------
2.1LAA 5, CHW 3Bud Norris (S,8)----1.100012
2.0SF 8, LAD 4Eduardo Nunez, LF4123------
1.0SEA 6, OAK 5Nelson Cruz, DH3112------
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 +/-
Godley, Zack 3538 pi sp ari nl 3.0 4.0 7.7 7.7 2.0
Kemp, Matt 2151 lf atl nl 2.5 10.0 33.0 61.6 -5.0
Norris, Bud 2638 pi cp sp ana al 2.0 7.7 32.4 48.1 -3.7
Gurriel, Yuli 3796 1b hou al 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7
Renfroe, Hunter 3749 rf sd nl 1.5 4.0 4.0 4.0 -1.0
Cruz, Nelson Ramon 2224 dh sea al 1.0 7.5 28.5 54.7 -5.5
Nunez, Eduardo 2795 lf 3b sf nl 1.0 6.5 13.5 16.0 -4.5
Chisenhall, Lonnie 2959 cf cle al 1.0 4.5 12.5 14.5 -2.5
What are those numbers after players' names?

Angels' Alex Meyer tops players for Sunday, May 14; Rockies' Valaika tops NL players

Angels pitcher Alex Meyer is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Meyer struck out seven over 6 1/3 innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 4-1 win over the Tigers.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 14:  


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?

National League Player of the Day—Patrick Valaika of the Rockies hit two homers and went 2-for-4, driving in four runs, in the 9-6 win over the Dodgers.

This was Valaika’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Valaika made his Major League debut Sept. 6, 2016, and was playing in his 33rd career game. He is the 3,793rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

American League Batter of the Day—Jason Kipnis of the Indians homered twice and went 4-for-5, driving in four runs, in the 8-3 win over the Twins.

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

Notable—Aaron Altherr of the Phillies has the most season Box-Toppers points of any of the 17 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Altherr (HR 2-3 R BI in the 4-3 win over the Nationals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 4.5 for the season. He ranks 19th among all players and third among NL batters.

Debut—Besides Valaika, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut Sunday with their first career Player of the Game honor:

  • Jesus Sucre of the Rays (2-3 R 3BI in the 11-2 win over the Red Sox) made his Major League debut May 24, 2013, and was playing in his 104th career game. He is the 3,794th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Jose Osuna of the Pirates (HR 1-2 R 2BI in the 6-4, 10-inning win over the Diamondbacks) made his Major League debut April 18 and was playing in his 24th career game. He is the 3,795th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Minor oddity—Of the 17 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday, a large majority of them—13—were batters, including five who were catchers, generally the position that generates the lowest Box-Toppers point totals.

Scoring—Meyer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Valaika earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Kipnis 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 

5/14 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 6.1 LAA 4, DET 1 Alex Meyer (W,2-1) - - - - 6.1 3 1 1 2 7
BAT 5.0 CLE 8, MIN 3 Jason Kipnis, 2B 5 2 4 4 - - - - - -
4.2 `NYY 11, HOU 6 Chad Green - - - - 3.2 1 0 0 1 3
4.1 TOR 3, SEA 2 Ryan Tepera (W,3-1) - - - - 2.1 0 0 0 0 2
4.0 KC 9, BAL 8 Drew Butera, C 4 3 3 2 - - - - - -
NL 4.0 COL 9, LAD 6 Patrick Valaika, SS 4 2 2 4 - - - - - -
4.0 MIA 3, ATL 1 Tyler Moore, PH 1 1 1 3 - - - - - -
3.0 TEX 6, OAK 4 Elvis Andrus, SS 4 2 3 2 - - - - - -
3.0 STL 5, CHC 0 Yadier Molina, C 4 2 2 3 - - - - - -
3.0 HOU 10, NYY 7 George Springer, CF 4 3 2 2 - - - - - -
3.0 TB 11, BOS 2 Jesus Sucre, C 3 1 2 3 - - - - - -
3.0 SF 8, CIN 3 Buster Posey, C 2 2 2 1 - - - - - -
3.0 CHW 9, SD 3 Melky Cabrera, PH 1 1 1 2 - - - - - -
2.0 MIL 11, NYM 9 Manny Pina, C 5 2 2 3 - - - - - -
2.0 PIT 6, ARI 4 (F/10) Jose Osuna, 1B 2 1 1 2 - - - - - -
2.0 WSH 6, PHI 5 Matt Albers (S,2) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
1.0 PHI 4, WSH 3 Aaron Altherr, CF 3 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 +/-
Altherr, Aaron 3563 lf rf cf ph phi nl 4.5 7.0 8.0 8.0 2.0
Tepera, Ryan 3774 pi mr tor al 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
Posey, Buster 2745 ca 1b sf nl 3.0 6.5 31.5 36.0 -0.5
Pina, Manny 3769 ca mil nl 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5
Meyer, Alex 3742 pi sp ana al 2.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 1.0
Valaika, Patrick 3793 ss col nl 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7
Kipnis, Jason 2933 2b cle al 1.5 1.5 20.5 23.5 1.5
Andrus, Elvis 2582 ss tex al 1.0 10.2 15.2 20.7 -8.2
Springer, George 3337 rf hou al 1.0 7.5 11.5 11.5 -5.5
Cabrera, Melky 2143 lf ph chi al 1.0 5.0 15.0 31.5 -3.0
Molina, Yadier 1967 ca stl nl 1.0 5.0 14.5 35.7 -3.0
Green, Chad 3675 pi mr nyy al 1.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 -2.0
Butera, Drew 2883 ca kc al 1.0 2.0 2.0 3.0 0.0
Moore, Tyler 3045 lf 1b ph fla nl 1.0 1.0 5.5 5.5 1.0
Osuna, Jose 3795 1b pit nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Sucre, Jesus 3794 ca tb al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?