Nationals' Stephen Strasburg tops players for Wednesday, June 28, rises to 6th in Box-Toppers player rankings

Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to sixth 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 June 28:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 16.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 14.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 12.4
4 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 12.1
5 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
6 Strasburg, Stephen 2736 pi sp dc nl 9.4
7 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 9.4
8 McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 9.4
9 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 9.0
10 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 8.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

Strasburg struck out 13 over seven innings, allowing three runs (two earned), four hits and one walk, in the 8-4 win over the Cubs.

Strasburg earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 9.4 for the season. He now ranks fourth among National League pitchers.

With Strasburg’s rise back into Box-Toppers’ top 10 players, Ryon Healy of the Athletics (8.7 Box-Toppers points) falls to 11th. He had been the only batter among the top 10 players.

American League Player of the Day—Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing five hits and one walk, in the 4-0 win over the Orioles.

American League Batter of the Day—Josh Reddick of the Athletics went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 11-8 win over the Astros.

National League Batter of the Day—Nick Hundley of the Giants homered and went 2-for-3, driving in two runs, in the 5-3 win over the Rockies.

Notable—Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright rises to 44th place among all players in career Box-Toppers points since 1995 (when Box-Toppers tracking began) after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Wainwright (6.1IP 8H 2R BB 8K W in the 4-3 win over the Diamondbacks) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 116.5 career points. He passes two players on Box-Toppers’ “all-time” points list—Torii Hunter (115.9) and Todd Helton (116.4) and now trails 43rd-ranked player Mark Buehrle (116.7). Wainwright has 4.5 Box-Toppers points on the season, 23rd among NL pitchers.

Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Wednesday, with their first career Player of the Game honors:

  • Miguel Andujar of the Yankees (3-4 0R 4BI in the 12-3 win over the White Sox) was also making his Major League debut. He is the 3,839th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Reds pitcher Luis Castillo (5.2IP 5H 2R 3BB 9K ND in the 4-3 win over the Brewers) made his Major League debut June 23 and was playing in his second career game. He is the 3,840th 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 Stroman earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Reddick and Hundley 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 

6/28 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 10.0 WSH 8, CHC 4 Stephen Strasburg (W, 9-2) - - - - 7.0 4 3 2 1 13
AL 9.2 TOR 4, BAL 0 Marcus Stroman (W, 8-4) - - - - 7.2 5 0 0 1 8
BAT 4.0 HOU 11, OAK 8 Josh Reddick (RF-LF) 4 2 3 3 - - - - - -
4.0 NYM 8, MIA 0 Steven Matz (W, 2-1) - - - - 7.0 6 0 0 1 4
4.0 `LAA 3, LAD 2 Alex Meyer - - - - 6.0 1 0 0 5 4
3.0 NYY 12, CHW 3 Miguel Andujar (DH) 4 0 3 4 - - - - - -
3.0 SD 7, ATL 4 Brandon Maurer (S, 15) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.2 MIN 4, BOS 1 Adalberto Mejia (W, 3-3) - - - - 5.2 5 0 0 1 3
2.2 `CIN 4, MIL 3 Luis Castillo - - - - 5.2 5 2 2 3 9
2.1 CLE 5, TEX 3 Trevor Bauer (W, 7-6) - - - - 6.1 4 1 1 1 3
2.0 KC 8, DET 2 Salvador Perez (C) 5 2 2 3 - - - - - -
BAT 2.0 SF 5, COL 3 Nick Hundley (C) 3 1 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 PHI 5, SEA 4 Hector Neris (S, 7) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
1.1 STL 4, ARI 3 Adam Wainwright (W, 8-5) - - - - 6.1 8 2 2 1 8
1.0 PIT 6, TB 2 Jose Osuna (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 9.4 24.5 83.6 92.3 -5.7
Perez, Salvador 2972 ca kc al 5.5 9.5 24.7 27.2 1.5
Meyer, Alex 3742 pi sp ana al 5.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 4.0
Wainwright, Adam 2150 pi sp stl nl 4.5 14.7 65.8 116.5 -5.7
Reddick, Josh 2936 rf lf hou al 4.5 8.0 27.9 28.9 1.0
Bauer, Trevor 3065 pi sp cle al 4.0 15.4 33.5 33.5 -7.4
Stroman, Marcus 3327 pi sp tor al 3.7 10.4 26.8 26.8 -3.0
Neris, Hector 3553 pi cp mr phi nl 3.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 1.0
Hundley, Nick 2497 ca sf nl 3.0 4.0 15.0 25.5 2.0
Mejia, Adalberto 3812 pi sp min al 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Maurer, Brandon 3157 pi cp sd nl 2.0 4.0 7.0 7.0 0.0
Osuna, Jose 3795 1b rf pit nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Matz, Steven 3516 pi sp nym nl 1.0 13.1 16.6 16.6 -11.1
Andujar, Miguel 3839 dh nyy al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Castillo, Luis 3840 pi sp cin nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Dodgers' Kenta Maeda tops players for Tuesday, June 27; Athletics' Healy rises to lead all batters in 2017 Box-Toppers points

Dodgers pitcher Kenta Maeda is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of June 27:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 16.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 14.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 12.4
4 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 12.1
5 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
6 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 9.4
7 McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 9.4
8 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 9.0
9 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 8.7
10 Healy, Ryon 3685 dh 1b 3b oak al 8.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Tuesday, Ryon Healy of the Athletics rises to lead all batters in 2017 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors. He rises to 10th in overall season player rankings. Plus, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer maintains his second-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Player of the Day—Maeda pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out six and allowing four hits and no walks, in the 4-0 win over the Angels.

American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Alex Cobb pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits, one walk and striking out four, in the 4-2, 10-inning win over the Pirates. Cobb picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the Pirates tied the game in the ninth inning, 2-2, after he exited.

Cobb had a Box-Toppers game score Tuesday of +9.0, tied with overall Player of the Day Maeda. Normally because Cobb had more innings pitched than Maeda (8 vs. 7), he would have won overall Player of the Day. But in this case, Maeda won the tiebreaker to earn Player of the Day because he earned the win in his game, while Cobb had a no-decision.

National League Batter of the Day—Christian Yelich of the Marlins doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 6-3 win over the Mets.

American League Batter of the Day—Ryon Healy of the Athletics hit a grand slam in the 6-4 win over the Astros.

Healy earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 8.7 for the season, rising to 10th place in season player rankings. He also rises to first among all batters, passing previous leader Aaron Judge of the Yankees (8.2). Healy replaces Judge in the 10th-place spot in Box-Toppers player rankings and is now the only batter among Box-Toppers’ top 10 players for 2017.

Rankings—Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer maintains his second-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Scherzer (6IP 2H R 0BB 6K W in the 6-1 win over the Cubs) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.0 for the season. He trails overall leader and NL pitching leader Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (16.4).

Scherzer also now has 145.7 career Box-Toppers points, 26th-most among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 25th-ranked player on the “all-time” list, David Ortiz (145.9).

Debut—Giants pitcher Cory Gearrin made his Box-Toppers debut Tuesday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Gearrin (3IP 2H 0R BB K W in the 4-3, 14-inning win over the Rockies) made his Major League debut April 25, 2011, and was playing in his 171st career game. He is the 3,838th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Maeda earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cobb earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Yelich and Healy 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 

6/27 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 9.0 LAD 4, LAA 0 Kenta Maeda (W, 6-3) - - - - 7.0 4 0 0 0 6
AL 9.0 `TB 4, PIT 2 (F/10) Alex Cobb - - - - 8.0 2 0 0 1 4
8.0 WSH 6, CHC 1 Max Scherzer (W, 9-5) - - - - 6.0 2 1 1 0 6
7.0 ATL 3, SD 0 Sean Newcomb (W, 1-2) - - - - 6.0 6 0 0 1 8
7.0 BOS 9, MIN 2 Drew Pomeranz (W, 7-4) - - - - 5.0 4 1 0 0 7
6.1 `CHW 4, NYY 3 Jose Quintana - - - - 6.1 2 0 0 4 6
5.0 `TEX 2, CLE 1 Tyson Ross - - - - 6.0 2 1 1 2 5
3.1 BAL 3, TOR 1 Kevin Gausman (W, 4-7) - - - - 5.1 4 0 0 2 4
3.0 PHI 8, SEA 2 Aaron Nola (W, 5-5) - - - - 7.0 5 2 2 4 9
3.0 DET 5, KC 3 Justin Wilson (S, 7) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
BAT 2.0 MIA 6, NYM 3 Christian Yelich (CF) 4 1 3 2 - - - - - -
2.0 CIN 8, MIL 6 Adam Duvall (LF) 4 2 2 2 - - - - - -
BAT 2.0 OAK 6, HOU 4 Ryon Healy (3B) 4 1 1 4 - - - - - -
2.0 ARI 6, STL 5 (F/10) Chris Herrmann (PH-CA) 1 0 1 2 - - - - - -
1.0 SF 4, COL 3 (F/14) Cory Gearrin (W, 2-2) - - - - 3.0 2 0 0 1 1
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).  

Player of the Game Pos Team ’17 ’16-17 ’12-17 Career +/-
Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 14.0 39.7 117.9 145.7 -11.7
Healy, Ryon 3685 dh 1b 3b oak al 8.7 11.7 11.7 11.7 5.7
Quintana, Jose 3040 pi sp chi al 8.0 18.4 43.2 43.2 -2.4
Maeda, Kenta 3609 pi sp lad nl 6.0 16.0 16.0 16.0 -4.0
Duvall, Adam 3573 lf cin nl 4.5 11.0 12.5 12.5 -2.0
Pomeranz, Drew 3061 pi sp bos al 3.7 16.1 27.1 27.1 -8.7
Nola, Aaron 3569 pi sp phi nl 3.7 10.4 12.4 12.4 -3.0
Wilson, Justin 3140 pi cp det al 3.0 4.0 9.0 9.0 2.0
Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp bal al 2.7 13.5 26.9 26.9 -8.1
Cobb, Alex 2916 pi sp tb al 2.7 2.7 33.1 34.1 2.7
Yelich, Christian 3334 cf fla nl 2.5 8.0 18.0 18.0 -3.0
Herrmann, Chris 3196 ca ph ari nl 2.0 3.0 7.5 7.5 1.0
Newcomb, Sean 3831 pi sp atl nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Ross, Tyson 2840 pi sp tex al 1.0 1.0 20.4 23.4 1.0
Gearrin, Cory 3838 pi cp sf nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

A look at Box-Toppers All-Star leaders and how they compare to All-Star vote-getters

A look at top players in Box-Toppers points by position in both leagues over both 2017 and the combined 2016-17 seasons.

Read More

Red Sox' Chris Sale tops players for Monday, June 26, ranks 4th in Box-Toppers player rankings

Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and ranks fourth in season player rankings.

Also Monday, Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Top 10 players

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


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 16.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 13.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 12.4
4 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 12.1
5 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
6 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 9.4
7 McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 9.4
8 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 9.0
9 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 8.7
10 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 8.2
What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Sale struck out nine over 6 1/3 innings, allowing one run, four hits and two walks, in the 4-1 win over the Twins.

Sale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 12.1 for the season. He maintains his rank of fourth place in season player rankings, second place among American League pitchers, behind Ervin Santana of the Twins (12.4).

National League Player of the Day—Jedd Gyorko of the Cardinals homered and went 2-for-3, driving in three runs, in the 8-2 win over the Reds.

American League Batter of the Day—Lonnie Chisenhall of the Indians went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 15-9 win over the Rangers.

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 200.1
4 Curt Schilling pi sp retired 194.1
5 CC Sabathia pi sp nyy al 190.0
6 Alex Rodriguez dh released 187.0
7 Albert Pujols 1b dh ana al 184.3
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 Zack Greinke pi sp ari nl 164.8
13 Roger Clemens pi sp retired 164.8
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.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Monday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Jedd Gyorko.

Rankings—Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Monday.

Greinke (5IP 3H R 3BB 5K W in the 6-1 win over the Phillies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.7 for the season. He ranks fifth among NL pitchers.

Greinke also now rises to 12th place in career Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Monday, Greinke has 164.8 career points and passes Roger Clemens (164.8) on the “all-time” list. (Though both Greinke and Clemens have identical career Box-Toppers point totals, Greinke ranks higher because he has more Box-Toppers points in 2017.) And it should be noted that Clemens’ entire career from 1984 was not tracked by Box-Toppers—only his career from 1995 on. If his entire career were tracked, rough projections put his career Box-Toppers point total at 320.

Greinke now trails 11th-ranked player Johan Santana (166.6) on the “all-time” Box-Toppers career points list.

Scoring—Sale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gyorko earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Chisenhall earns 1.5 points for being AL 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 

6/26 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 7.1 BOS 4, MIN 1 Chris Sale (W, 10-3) - - - - 6.1 4 1 1 2 9
7.0 NYY 6, CHW 5 Jordan Montgomery (W, 6-4) - - - - 7.0 5 1 1 1 8
4.1 LAA 4, LAD 0 Ricky Nolasco (W, 3-9) - - - - 6.1 5 0 0 2 5
BAT 3.0 CLE 15, TEX 9 Lonnie Chisenhall (RF) 5 2 3 3 - - - - - -
NL 3.0 STL 8, CIN 2 Jedd Gyorko (3B) 3 1 2 3 - - - - - -
2.0 SF 9, COL 2 Buster Posey (C) 4 0 3 3 - - - - - -
2.0 ARI 6, PHI 1 Zack Greinke (W, 9-4) - - - - 5.0 3 1 1 3 5
1.0 CHC 5, WSH 4 Albert Almora Jr. (CF) 1 0 1 1 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).  

Player of the Game Pos Team ’17 ’16-17 ’12-17 Career +/-
Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 12.1 25.5 93.5 98.5 -1.3
Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 8.7 18.4 87.7 164.8 -1.0
Posey, Buster 2745 ca 1b sf nl 5.5 9.0 34.0 38.5 2.0
Chisenhall, Lonnie 2959 rf cf cle al 3.5 7.0 15.0 17.0 0.0
Montgomery, Jordan 3814 pi sp nyy al 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Nolasco, Ricky 2125 pi sp ana al 2.0 13.4 30.1 89.2 -9.4
Almora, Albert Jr. 3764 cf chi nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Gyorko, Jedd 3164 3b stl nl 1.7 4.2 16.9 16.9 -0.8
What are those numbers after players' names?

Athletics' Sonny Gray tops players for Sunday, June 25; Twins' Santana maintains 3rd-place rank in Box-Toppers points

Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Sunday, Twins pitcher Ervin Santana earns Player of the Game honors, maintaining his rank of third place in season player rankings, first among American League pitchers.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of June 25:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 16.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 13.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 12.4
4 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 10.1
5 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
6 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 9.4
7 McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 9.4
8 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 9.0
9 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 8.2
10 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 8.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Gray struck out seven over seven innings, allowing two runs, four hits and one walk, in the 5-3 win over the White Sox.

National League Player of the Day—Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers hit two home runs and went 3-for-5, driving in four runs, in the 12-6 win over the Rockies.

Bellinger earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 6.2 for the season, rising to second among NL batters, behind Matt Adams of the Braves (6.5).

American League Batter of the Day—Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays homered and went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 8-2 win over the Royals.

Bautista has now earned Box-Toppers points in 12 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2017. He earned his first points in 2006 with the Pirates and has 64.4 career points, 10th among active AL batters. His best season was 2010 with the Blue Jays when he had 15.2 Box-Toppers points, first among AL batters. He’s had three seasons with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. He’s barely kept the streak alive in two seasons, earning just 1.0 Box-Toppers point in both 2009 and 2016, both with the Blue Jays.

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 is batter Cody Bellinger.

Rankings—Twins pitcher Ervin Santana, third in Box-Toppers season player rankings, earns Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Santana (6IP 9H 0R 0BB 7K W in the 4-0 win over the Indians) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.4 for the season. He maintains his rank of third among all players in 2017 points, behind Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (16.4) and Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (13.0). Santana ranks first among AL pitchers, ahead of Chris Sale of the Red Sox (10.1).

Santana also now has 109.7 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 55th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Sunday, he passes Jeff Kent (109.7) on the “all-time” list and now trails 54th-ranked player Tom Glavine (110.6).

Debut—Kaleb Cowart of the Angels made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Cowart (2B 2-3 R 2BI in the 4-2 win over the Red Sox) made his Major League debut Aug. 18, 2015, and was playing in his 66th career game. He is the 3,837th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Gray earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Bellinger earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Bautista 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 

6/25 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 6.0 OAK 5, CHW 3 Sonny Gray (W,3-3) - - - - 7.0 4 2 1 1 7
6.0 HOU 8, SEA 2 Michael Feliz (W,3-1) - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 0 4
NL 4.0 LAD 12, COL 6 Cody Bellinger, RF 5 2 3 4 - - - - - -
4.0 MIN 4, CLE 0 Ervin Santana (W,10-4) - - - - 6.0 9 0 0 0 7
4.0 `ARI 2, PHI 1 (F/11) Randall Delgado - - - - 5.0 4 0 0 1 4
3.2 NYM 8, SF 2 Rafael Montero (W,1-4) - - - - 5.2 5 1 1 2 7
3.0 CIN 6, WSH 2 Scooter Gennett, 2B 5 2 4 2 - - - - - -
BAT 3.0 TOR 8, KC 2 Jose Bautista, RF 5 2 2 4 - - - - - -
3.0 MIL 7, ATL 0 Keon Broxton, CF 4 1 3 3 - - - - - -
3.0 BAL 8, TB 5 Caleb Joseph, C 4 3 3 1 - - - - - -
3.0 STL 8, PIT 4 Yadier Molina, C 4 3 3 1 - - - - - -
3.0 DET 7, SD 5 Justin Wilson (S,6) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.1 MIA 4, CHC 2 AJ Ramos (S,12) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 1
2.0 LAA 4, BOS 2 Kaleb Cowart, 3B 3 1 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 TEX 7, NYY 6 Shin-Soo Choo, RF 3 1 1 3 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).  

Player of the Game Pos Team ’17 ’16-17 ’12-17 Career +/-
Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 12.4 16.4 49.2 109.7 8.4
Bellinger, Cody 3781 1b lad nl 6.2 6.2 6.2 6.2 6.2
Gennett, Scooter 3254 2b cin nl 4.5 7.0 16.0 16.0 2.0
Broxton, Keon 3785 cf mil nl 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5
Ramos, A.J. 3210 pi cp fla nl 4.0 6.0 16.0 16.0 2.0
Gray, Sonny 3259 pi sp oak al 4.0 5.0 36.8 36.8 3.0
Choo, Shin-Soo 2267 rf dh tex al 3.5 4.5 24.5 51.2 2.5
Molina, Yadier 1967 ca stl nl 2.0 6.0 15.5 36.7 -2.0
Wilson, Justin 3140 pi cp det al 2.0 3.0 8.0 8.0 1.0
Bautista, Jose 2169 rf tor al 1.5 2.5 25.5 64.4 0.5
Feliz, Michael 3632 pi mr cp hou al 1.0 4.7 4.7 4.7 -2.7
Joseph, Caleb 3368 ca bal al 1.0 1.0 6.5 6.5 1.0
Delgado, Randall 2939 pi sp ari nl 1.0 1.0 9.4 10.4 1.0
Montero, Rafael 3410 pi sp nym nl 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 1.0
Cowart, Kaleb 3837 3b ana al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Box-Toppers points leader Clayton Kershaw tops players for Saturday, June 24, reaches 200 career Box-Toppers points

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, bolstering his spot atop season player rankings and becoming only the third player to reach 200 career Box-Toppers points.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of June 24:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 16.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 13.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 11.4
4 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 10.1
5 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
6 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 9.4
7 McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 9.4
8 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 9.0
9 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 8.2
10 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 8.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Saturday, Astros pitcher Lance McCullers rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

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

Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 16.4 for the season. He leads second-place player, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, who has 13.0 points. Kershaw has now also earned 15 or more Box-Toppers points for eight straight seasons.

Kershaw also now has 200.1 career Box-Toppers points, only the third player to reach that total since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. Kershaw is the first player whose entire career has been tracked by Box-Toppers to reach 200 points. The other two players, Randy Johnson (278.8) and Pedro Martinez (244.4), both began their careers before 1995 and would likely have more Box-Toppers points if their entire careers were tracked.

American League Player of the Day—Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. struck out seven over eight innings, allowing one run, four hits and one walk, in the 5-2 win over the Mariners.

McCullers earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 9.4 for the season, rising to seventh among all players and fourth among AL pitchers.

American League Batter of the Day—Matt Olson of the Athletics hit two home runs and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 5-2 win over the Mariners.

This was Olson’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Olson made his Major League debut Sept. 12, 2016, and was playing in his 20th career game. He is the 3,836th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

National League Batter of the Day—Hector Sanchez of the Padres hit a go-ahead, two-run, eighth-inning homer in the 7-3 win over the Tigers.

Scoring—Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and McCullers earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Olson and Sanchez 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 

6/24 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 9.0 LAD 4, COL 0 Clayton Kershaw (W,11-2) - - - - 6.0 4 0 0 1 8
8.0 NYM 5, SF 2 Jacob deGrom (W,7-3) - - - - 8.0 4 1 1 1 7
AL 7.0 HOU 5, SEA 2 Lance McCullers Jr. (W,7-1) - - - - 5.0 4 1 1 0 8
BAT 5.0 OAK 10, CHW 2 Matt Olson, RF 3 2 2 4 - - - - - -
5.0 ATL 3, MIL 1 R.A. Dickey (W,6-5) - - - - 7.0 5 1 1 1 6
5.0 LAA 6, BOS 3 JC Ramirez (W,7-5) - - - - 6.0 4 1 1 0 5
3.0 BAL 8, TB 3 Trey Mancini, 1B 3 2 2 2 - - - - - -
BAT 3.0 SD 7, DET 3 Hector Sanchez, PH 1 1 1 2 - - - - - -
3.0 WSH 18, CIN 3 Joe Ross (W,4-3) - - - - 7.0 6 1 1 1 5
2.1 `MIN 4, CLE 2 Tyler Duffey - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 1
2.0 CHC 5, MIA 3 Javier Baez, 3B-2B 4 1 2 3 - - - - - -
2.0 ARI 9, PHI 2 Chris Herrmann, C 4 1 2 3 - - - - - -
2.0 KC 3, TOR 2 Alcides Escobar, SS 3 2 3 0 - - - - - -
2.0 TEX 8, NYY 1 Carlos Gomez, CF 3 2 1 2 - - - - - -
2.0 PIT 7, STL 3 Gerrit Cole (W,6-6) - - - - 6.0 5 1 1 2 5
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 16.4 40.8 140.5 200.1 -8.0
McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 9.4 15.5 22.2 22.2 3.3
Mancini, Trey 3766 lf 1b bal al 6.2 6.2 6.2 6.2 6.2
deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp nym nl 5.7 15.4 50.8 50.8 -4.0
Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp pit nl 5.0 11.5 40.9 40.9 -1.5
Ramirez, JC 3778 pi sp ana al 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
Baez, Javier 3395 2b 3b chi nl 4.2 6.2 8.7 8.7 2.2
Dickey, R.A. 1734 pi sp atl nl 3.7 10.7 50.9 81.6 -3.3
Ross, Joe 3499 pi sp dc nl 3.0 8.7 13.7 13.7 -2.7
Gomez, Carlos 2397 cf tex al 2.5 7.0 21.5 34.5 -2.0
Sanchez, Hector 3130 ca ph sd nl 1.5 1.5 4.0 4.0 1.5
Olson, Matt 3836 rf oak al 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Duffey, Tyler 3558 pi mr sp min al 1.0 8.0 12.0 12.0 -6.0
Herrmann, Chris 3196 ca ari nl 1.0 2.0 6.5 6.5 0.0
Escobar, Alcides 2663 ss kc al 1.0 1.0 18.0 22.5 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Yankees' Masahiro Tanaka tops players for Friday, June 23; Dodgers' Wood rises to 7th in Box-Toppers player rankings

Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka 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 June 23:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 14.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 13.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 11.4
4 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 10.1
5 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
6 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 9.4
7 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 9.0
8 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 8.2
9 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 8.0
10 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 7.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

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

Player of the Day—Tanaka struck out nine over eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 2-1, 10-inning win over the Rangers. Tanaka did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.

National League Player of the Day—Phillies pitcher Mark Leiter Jr. pitched six scoreless innings, striking out five and allowing three hits and one walk, in the 6-1 win over the Diamondbacks.

This was Leiter’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Leiter made his Major League debut April 28 and was playing in his 13th career game. He is the 3,834th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Leiter is the son of pitcher Mark Leiter Sr. who had 23.4 career Box-Toppers points from 1995 to 1998. Leiter would likely have more Box-Toppers point if his entire career beginning in 1990 were tracked (Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995).

American League Batter of the Day—Derek Norris of the Rays homered, doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 15-5 win over the Orioles.

National League Batter of the Day—Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets homered, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 11-4 win over the Giants.

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

Wood (6IP 3H R 2BB 7K W in the 6-1 win over the Rockies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.0 for the season. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.

With Wood earning a point Friday, it marks the first time this season that all of the Box-Toppers top 10 point leaders have different Box-Toppers point totals—there are for the first time in 2017 no ties among the top 10 players. However, 10th-ranked player, Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke, has 7.7 Box-Toppers points and beats out three other players with the same Box-Toppers point total on tiebreakers—Red Sox pitcher Craig Kimbrel, Marlins pitcher Dan Straily and Astros pitcher Lance McCullers.

Debut—Brian Goodwin of the Nationals made his Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.

Goodwin (2HR 3-4 2R 2BI in the 6-5, 10-inning win over the Reds) made his Major League debut Aug. 6, 2016, and was playing in his 54th career game. He is the 3,835th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Tanaka earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Leiter earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Norris and Cespedes 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 

6/23 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 12.0 `NYY 2, TEX 1 (F/10) Masahiro Tanaka - - - - 8.0 3 0 0 2 9
NL 7.0 PHI 6, ARI 1 Mark Leiter Jr. (W,1-0) - - - - 6.0 3 0 0 1 5
6.0 LAD 6, COL 1 Alex Wood (W,8-0) - - - - 6.0 3 1 1 2 7
BAT 5.0 TB 15, BAL 5 Derek Norris, C 3 3 3 2 - - - - - -
5.0 SD 1, DET 0 Luis Perdomo (W,2-4) - - - - 6.0 2 0 0 5 6
5.0 ATL 5, MIL 4 Mike Foltynewicz (W,5-5) - - - - 5.0 4 1 1 3 9
4.0 BOS 9, LAA 4 Sandy Leon, C 4 1 3 4 - - - - - -
4.0 OAK 3, CHW 0 Jharel Cotton (W,5-7) - - - - 5.0 3 0 0 1 3
3.0 SEA 13, HOU 3 Danny Valencia, 1B 5 2 4 2 - - - - - -
BAT 3.0 NYM 11, SF 4 Yoenis Cespedes, LF 5 2 3 3 - - - - - -
3.0 WSH 6, CIN 5 (F/10) Brian Goodwin, LF-CF 4 2 3 2 - - - - - -
3.0 `PIT 4, STL 3 Jameson Taillon - - - - 6.0 4 2 2 2 7
2.0 MIN 5, CLE 0 Adalberto Mejia (W,2-3) - - - - 5.0 2 0 0 5 4
1.0 MIA 2, CHC 0 Giancarlo Stanton, RF 3 1 2 1 - - - - - -
0.0 KC 5, TOR 4 Salvador Perez, C 4 1 2 1 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).  

Player of the Game Pos Team ’17 ’16-17 ’12-17 Career +/-
Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 9.0 10.0 28.4 28.4 8.0
Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 pi sp nyy al 4.7 18.8 39.5 39.5 -9.4
Perez, Salvador 2972 ca kc al 4.5 8.5 23.7 26.2 0.5
Cotton, Jharel 3733 pi sp oak al 3.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 1.0
Norris, Derek 3198 ca tb al 3.0 4.0 16.0 16.0 2.0
Valencia, Danny 2772 1b 3b sea al 2.7 7.2 11.7 15.7 -1.8
Cespedes, Yoenis 3008 lf nym nl 2.5 10.5 42.4 42.4 -5.5
Leon, Sandy 3676 ca bos al 2.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 -0.5
Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 rf fla nl 2.0 8.5 32.7 41.2 -4.5
Taillon, Jameson 3658 pi sp pit nl 2.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 -3.0
Perdomo, Luis D. 3715 pi sp sd nl 2.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 0.0
Mejia, Adalberto 3812 pi sp min al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Leiter, Mark Jr. 3834 pi sp phi nl 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7
Foltynewicz, Mike 3455 pi sp atl nl 1.0 5.0 7.7 7.7 -3.0
Goodwin, Brian 3835 lf cf dc 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 Thursday, June 22; Phillies' Nola tops NL players

White Sox pitcher Jose Quintana is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Quintana struck out nine over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing five hits and no walks, in the 9-0 win over the Twins.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of June 22:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 14.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 13.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 11.4
4 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 10.1
5 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
6 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 9.4
7 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 8.2
8 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 8.0
9 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 8.0
10 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 7.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

Quintana earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.0 for the season, most among the 12 who earned Player of the Game honors Thursday. Quintana ranks 19th among all players and eighth among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola struck out eight over 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run, four hits and two walks, in the 5-1 win over the Cardinals.

American League Batter of the Day—Carlos Gomez of the Rangers hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, in the 11-4 win over the Blue Jays. Gomez also went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five runs.

Gomez has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 straight seasons with his first Player of the Game honor of 2017. He earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2008 with the Twins and has 33.5 career points, 15th among active AL outfielders. His best season was 2015 with the Brewers and Astros, when he had 6.0 Box-Toppers points, seventh among AL outfielders. In 2016, he had 4.5 points with the Astros and Rangers.

National League Batter of the Day—Nick Markakis of the Braves homered and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 12-11 win over the Giants.

Scoring—Quintana earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Nola earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Gomez and Markakis 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 

6/22 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 10.2 CHW 9, MIN 0 Jose Quintana (W,4-8) - - - - 6.2 5 0 0 0 9
NL 7.1 PHI 5, STL 1 Aaron Nola (W,4-5) - - - - 7.1 4 1 1 2 8
BAT 7.0 TEX 11, TOR 4 Carlos Gomez, CF 4 3 3 5 - - - - - -
6.0 SEA 9, DET 6 Robinson Cano, 2B 4 2 2 6 - - - - - -
5.0 MIL 4, PIT 2 Chase Anderson (W,6-2) - - - - 6.0 2 2 2 2 7
5.0 LAA 10, NYY 5 Yusmeiro Petit (W,2-0) - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 0 3
BAT 4.0 ATL 12, SF 11 Nick Markakis, RF 5 2 4 3 - - - - - -
4.0 CHC 11, MIA 1 Addison Russell, SS 5 3 4 2 - - - - - -
4.0 ARI 10, COL 3 Paul Goldschmidt, 1B 5 2 3 4 - - - - - -
4.0 HOU 12, OAK 9 Josh Reddick, RF 4 4 3 1 - - - - -
2.0 CLE 6, BAL 3 Austin Jackson, CF-LF 5 1 3 3 - - - - - -
2.0 LAD 6, NYM 3 Joc Pederson, CF 2 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 +/-
Quintana, Jose 3040 pi sp chi al 7.0 17.4 42.2 42.2 -3.4
Anderson, Chase 3328 pi sp mil nl 5.7 12.7 21.7 21.7 -1.3
Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 1b ari nl 4.7 9.2 40.6 44.6 0.2
Cano, Robinson 2092 2b sea al 4.0 12.0 41.5 79.4 -4.0
Russell, Addison 3559 ss chi nl 3.5 7.0 9.5 9.5 0.0
Reddick, Josh 2936 rf lf hou al 3.0 6.5 26.4 27.4 -0.5
Nola, Aaron 3569 pi sp phi nl 2.7 9.4 11.4 11.4 -4.0
Markakis, Nick 2116 rf atl nl 2.5 7.5 20.5 49.6 -2.5
Gomez, Carlos 2397 cf tex al 1.5 6.0 20.5 33.5 -3.0
Pederson, Joc 3621 cf lad nl 1.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 -3.0
Petit, Yusmeiro 2337 pi mr ana al 1.0 3.0 10.0 19.7 -1.0
Jackson, Austin 2694 cf lf cle al 1.0 1.0 9.5 15.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Indians' Carlos Carrasco tops players for Wednesday, June 21, rises to 6th in Box-Toppers player rankings

Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to sixth 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 June 21:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 14.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 13.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 11.4
4 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 10.1
5 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
6 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 9.4
7 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 8.2
8 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 8.0
9 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 8.0
10 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 7.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

Carrasco struck out 10 over six scoreless innings, allowing seven hits and no walks, in the 5-1 win over the Orioles.

Carrasco earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 9.4 for the season, rising to sixth place among all players and third among American League pitchers, behind Ervin Santana of the Twins (11.4) and Chris Sale of the Red Sox (10.1).

National League Player of the Day—Marlins pitcher Dan Straily struck out six over six innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 2-1 win over the Nationals. Straily picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the Marlins trailed, 1-0, when he exited.

Straily earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 7.7 for the season, rising to sixth place among NL pitchers, 12th overall.

Opposing pitcher Max Scherzer of the Nationals had a no-hitter going into the eighth inning, but gave up two hits and two unearned runs that inning, picking up the loss. Had the Nationals won, Scherzer (8IP 2H 2R 0ER BB 11K L) would have been overall Player of the Day with a Box-Toppers game score of +14.0, beating out Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco’s Box-Toppers game score of +9.0. But Scherzer picks up no Box-Toppers points in the loss.

Scherzer ranks second in Box-Toppers points on the season with 13.0, behind overall leader Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (14.4).

National League Batter of the Day—Brandon Drury of the Diamondbacks doubled and went 4-for-6, scoring once and driving in six runs, in the 16-5 win over the Rockies.

American League Batter of the Day—Salvador Perez of the Royals hit a go-ahead, eighth-inning grand slam in the 6-4 win over the Red Sox. Perez also went 3-for-3.

Notable—Craig Stammen of the Padres (2B 1-1 R in the 3-2 win over the Cubs) became the fourth pitcher this season to earn Player of the Game honors for batting.

Debuts—Four players made their Box-Toppers debut Wednesday with their first career Player of the Game honors:

  • Jose Martinez of the Cardinals (HR 2B 2-2 2R BI in the 7-6, 10-inning win over the Phillies) made his Major League debut Sept. 6, 2016, and was playing in his 48th career game. He is the 3,830th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Braves pitcher Sean Newcomb (6IP 3H R BB 3K ND in the 5-3, 11-inning win over the Giants) made his Major League debut June 10 and was playing in his third career game. He is the 3,831st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Austin Romine of the Yankees (3-4 R 2BI in the 8-4 win over the Angels) made his Major League debut Sept. 11, 2011, and was playing in his 177th career game. He is the 3,832nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Mariners pitcher Tony Zych (1.2IP 0H 0R BB K W in the 7-5 win over the Tigers) made his Major League debut Sept. 4, 2015, and was playing in his 48th career game. He is the 3,833rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Carrasco earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Straily earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Drury and Perez 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 

6/21 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 9.0 CLE 5, BAL 1 Carlos Carrasco (W,8-3) - - - - 6.0 7 0 0 0 10
7.0 MIN 4, CHW 2 Jose Berrios (W,7-1) - - - - 8.0 4 2 2 1 8
NL 6.0 `MIA 2, WSH 1 Dan Straily - - - - 6.0 3 1 1 1 6
BAT 5.0 ARI 16, COL 5 Brandon Drury, 2B 6 1 4 6 - - - - - -
BAT 5.0 KC 6, BOS 4 Salvador Perez, C 3 1 3 4 - - - - - -
4.0 LAD 8, NYM 2 Rich Hill (W,4-3) - - - - 5.0 4 1 1 3 8
3.0 STL 7, PHI 6 (F/10) Jose Martinez, PH-RF 2 2 2 1 - - - - - -
3.0 HOU 5, OAK 1 Mike Fiers (W,5-2) - - - - 6.0 3 1 1 3 5
3.0 `ATL 5, SF 3 (F/11) Sean Newcomb - - - - 6.0 3 1 1 1 3
2.2 TB 8, CIN 3 Chase Whitley (S,2) - - - - 1.2 0 0 0 0 1
2.0 NYY 8, LAA 4 Austin Romine, C 4 1 3 2 - - - - - -
2.0 MIL 4, PIT 3 Domingo Santana, RF 4 1 2 3 - - - - - -
2.0 TOR 7, TEX 5 Steve Pearce, LF 3 1 3 1 - - - - - -
1.2 SEA 7, DET 5 Tony Zych (W,3-2) - - - - 1.2 0 0 0 1 1
1.0 SD 3, CHC 2 Craig Stammen, P 1 1 1 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 +/-
Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 9.4 21.8 50.5 55.9 -3.0
Straily, Dan 3080 pi sp fla nl 7.7 14.7 25.4 25.4 0.7
Berrios, Jose 3791 pi sp min al 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
Perez, Salvador 2972 ca kc al 3.5 7.5 22.7 25.2 -0.5
Drury, Brandon 3744 2b ari nl 3.5 5.0 5.0 5.0 2.0
Hill, Rich 2215 pi sp lad nl 3.0 17.4 21.4 41.1 -11.4
Whitley, Chase 3352 pi cp mr tb al 3.0 3.0 6.7 6.7 3.0
Fiers, Michael 3029 pi sp hou al 2.7 7.7 28.8 28.8 -2.3
Pearce, Steve 2371 lf tor al 2.0 4.0 16.0 18.0 0.0
Santana, Domingo 3507 rf mil nl 2.0 2.0 3.5 3.5 2.0
Stammen, Craig 2506 pi mr sd nl 1.0 1.0 9.0 13.0 1.0
Martinez, Jose 3830 rf ph stl nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Newcomb, Sean 3831 pi sp atl nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Romine, Austin 3832 ca nyy al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Zych, Tony 3833 pi mr sea al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Dodgers' Corey Seager tops players for Tuesday, June 20; Red Sox' Sale rises to 4th in Box-Toppers player rankings

Corey Seager of the Dodgers is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of June 20:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 14.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 13.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 11.4
4 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 10.1
5 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
6 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 8.2
7 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 8.0
8 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 8.0
9 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 7.7
10 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 7.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Tuesday, Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors, becoming the fifth player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points.

Player of the Day—Seager homered three times and doubled in the 12-0 win over the Mets. Seager also went 4-for-5 and drove in six runs.

American League Player of the Day—Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale struck out 10 over 8 1/3 innings, allowing three runs, four hits and one walk, in the 8-3 win over the Royals.

Sale earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 10.1 for the season, rising from fifth to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings. He ranks second among AL pitchers, behind Ervin Santana of the Twins (11.4).

Sale is the fifth player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. It is also the sixth straight season in which Sale has earned 10 or more points.

American League Batter of the Day—Manny Machado of the Orioles homered twice, doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 6-5 win over the Indians.

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

Scoring—Seager earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Sale earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Machado 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 

6/20 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 8.0 LAD 12, NYM 0 Corey Seager, SS 5 3 4 6 - - - - - -
AL 7.1 BOS 8, KC 3 Chris Sale (W,9-3) - - - - 8.1 4 3 3 1 10
BAT 7.0 BAL 6, CLE 5 Manny Machado, 3B 4 3 4 4 - - - - - -
5.0 PIT 7, MIL 3 Andrew McCutchen, CF 3 2 3 3 - - - - - -
5.0 CHC 4, SD 0 Mike Montgomery (W,1-3) - - - - 6.0 3 0 0 2 4
4.0 `STL 8, PHI 1 (F/11) Mike Leake - - - - 6.0 3 1 1 2 5
3.0 MIN 9, CHW 7 Miguel Sano, 3B 4 2 2 3 - - - - - -
3.0 WSH 12, MIA 3 Daniel Murphy, 2B 3 2 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 LAA 8, NYY 3 Cameron Maybin, CF 5 2 3 2 - - - - - -
2.0 TB 6, CIN 5 Corey Dickerson, LF 4 2 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 HOU 8, OAK 4 Alex Bregman, 3B 3 1 2 2 - - - - - -
1.1 TEX 6, TOR 1 Nick Martinez (W,2-3) - - - - 6.1 2 1 1 3 2
1.0 SEA 5, DET 4 (F/10) Ben Gamel, LF 5 2 3 1 - - - - - -
1.0 SF 6, ATL 3 Austin Slater, LF 4 1 1 3 - - - - - -
1.0 COL 4, ARI 3 Greg Holland (S,25) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 1 1
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).  

Player of the Game Pos Team ’17 ’16-17 ’12-17 Career +/-
Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 10.1 23.5 91.5 96.5 -3.3
Sano, Miguel 3527 3b min al 7.5 10.5 16.5 16.5 4.5
Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 7.0 7.0 37.0 40.0 7.0
McCutchen, Andrew 2637 cf pit nl 4.0 11.0 42.5 57.9 -3.0
Leake, Mike 2709 pi sp stl nl 4.0 9.0 39.4 48.6 -1.0
Seager, Corey 3587 ss lad nl 4.0 8.0 9.5 9.5 0.0
Maybin, Cameron 2672 lf cf ana al 4.0 7.0 12.5 19.5 1.0
Gamel, Ben 3784 rf lf sea al 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
Murphy, Daniel 2589 2b dc nl 3.0 10.5 31.5 35.5 -4.5
Martinez, Nick 3430 pi sp tex al 3.0 3.0 6.7 6.7 3.0
Machado, Manny 3087 3b ss bal al 2.5 15.2 26.2 26.2 -10.2
Montgomery, Mike 3513 pi cp sp chi nl 2.0 7.0 11.0 11.0 -3.0
Dickerson, Corey 3222 dh lf tb al 2.0 6.5 18.5 18.5 -2.5
Bregman, Alex 3721 3b hou al 2.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 0.0
Slater, Austin 3818 lf sf nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Indians' Corey Kluber tops players for Monday, June 19; Braves' Dickey tops NL players

Indians pitcher Corey Kluber is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Kluber pitched a complete-game, three-hit shutout, allowing no walks and striking out 11, in the 12-0 win over the Orioles.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of June 19:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 14.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 13.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 11.4
4 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
5 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
6 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 8.2
7 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 8.0
8 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 8.0
9 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 7.7
10 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 7.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

Kluber earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season, most among the 11 who earned Player of the Game honors Monday. Kluber ranks 22nd among all players in season Box-Toppers points, ninth among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Braves pitcher R.A. Dickey pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, striking out six, in the 9-0 win over the Giants.

National League Batter of the Day—Justin Turner of the Dodgers homered and went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 10-6 win over the Mets.

American League Batter of the Day—Mike Zunino of the Mariners hit two home runs and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 6-2 win over the Tigers.

Rankings—Box-Toppers season player rankings leader Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers struck out 10 and earned the win, but did not earn Player of the Game honors Monday.

Kershaw (6.1IP 6H 6R BB 10K W in the 10-6 win over the Mets) had a Box-Toppers game score of -2.9, mainly because he gave up six runs and six hits, despite striking out 10. Justin Turner, who had a Box-Toppers game score of +6.0, was Player of the Game in the Dodgers’ win and also earned NL Batter of the Day honors.

Kershaw has 14.4 Box-Toppers points on the season, leading second-place player Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (13.0), and has led all players since May 17.

Notable—Cubs pitcher Jon Lester now has 148.2 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Monday.

Lester (6IP 5H 2R BB 7K ND in the 3-2 win over the Padres) ranks 22nd in career Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 21st-ranked player Javier Vazquez (148.3). Lester ranks seventh among active players in career Box-Toppers points, sixth among active pitchers.

Lester has 5.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, 15th among NL pitchers.

Scoring—Kluber earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Dickey earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Turner and Zunino 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 

6/19 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 17.0 CLE 12, BAL 0 Corey Kluber (W,6-2) - - - - 9.0 3 0 0 0 11
AL 9.0 ATL 9, SF 0 R.A. Dickey (W,5-5) - - - - 7.0 3 0 0 1 6
BAT 6.0 LAD 10, NYM 6 Justin Turner, 3B 4 2 4 4 - - - - - -
5.2 HOU 4, OAK 1 Brad Peacock (W,4-1) - - - - 5.2 4 1 1 2 8
BAT 5.0 SEA 6, DET 2 Mike Zunino, C 3 2 2 4 - - - - - -
5.0 PIT 8, MIL 1 Gerrit Cole (W,5-6) - - - - 7.0 3 1 1 2 5
4.2 `TOR 7, TEX 6 Aaron Loup - - - - 1.2 0 0 0 0 3
3.0 MIA 8, WSH 7 Justin Bour, 1B 4 1 2 4 - - - - - -
3.0 `CHC 3, SD 2 Jon Lester - - - - 6.0 5 2 2 1 7
2.0 CIN 7, TB 3 Scooter Gennett, 2B 4 2 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 KC 4, BOS 2 Eric Hosmer, 1B 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 +/-
Kluber, Corey 3200 pi sp cle al 6.0 27.2 71.4 71.4 -15.2
Lester, Jon 2173 pi sp chi nl 5.0 27.1 72.6 148.2 -17.1
Peacock, Brad 2968 pi sp hou al 4.7 4.7 11.4 14.1 4.7
Bour, Justin 3433 1b fla nl 4.5 7.0 17.0 17.0 2.0
Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp pit nl 4.0 10.5 39.9 39.9 -2.5
Zunino, Mike 3390 ca sea al 4.0 4.0 7.5 7.5 4.0
Gennett, Scooter 3254 2b lf cin nl 3.5 6.0 15.0 15.0 1.0
Dickey, R.A. 1734 pi sp atl nl 2.7 9.7 49.9 80.6 -4.3
Hosmer, Eric 2886 1b kc al 1.0 9.5 29.5 32.0 -7.5
Turner, Justin 2865 3b lad nl 1.0 3.5 9.5 13.0 -1.5
Loup, Aaron 3146 pi mr tb al 1.0 1.0 8.0 8.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Brewers' Jimmy Nelson tops players for Sunday, June 18; Rays' Faria tops AL players

Brewers pitcher Jimmy Nelson is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Nelson pitched a complete game, allowing one run (no earned runs), six hits, two walks and striking out 10, in the 2-1 win over the Padres.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of June 18:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 14.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 13.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 11.4
4 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
5 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
6 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 8.2
7 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 8.0
8 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 8.0
9 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 7.7
10 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 7.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Jacob Faria struck out nine over seven innings, allowing one run, six hits and one walk, in the 9-1 win over the Tigers.

American League Batter of the Day—Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians hit two homers and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 5-2 win over the Twins.

Encarnacion earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.2 for the season, most among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday. Encarnacion ranks 21st among all players and fourth among AL batters.

National League Batter of the Day—Nolan Arenado of the Rockies hit a walk-off three-run homer to complete hitting for the cycle in the 7-5 win over the Giants. Arenado also tripled, doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring once and driving in four runs.

Debut—Johan Camargo of the Braves made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Camargo (2-2 2R BI in the 5-4 win over the Marlins) made his Major League debut April 11 and was playing in his 20th career game. He is the 3,829th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Nelson earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Faria earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Encarnacion and Arenado 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 

6/18 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 10.0 MIL 2, SD 1 Jimmy Nelson (W,5-3) - - - - 9.0 6 1 0 2 10
8.0 NYM 5, WSH 1 Jacob deGrom (W,6-3) - - - - 8.0 3 1 0 2 6
AL 7.0 TB 9, DET 1 Jacob Faria (W,3-0) - - - - 7.0 6 1 1 1 9
BAT 6.0 CLE 5, MIN 2 Edwin Encarnacion, DH 4 2 3 5 - - - - - -
- 5.0 BOS 6, HOU 5 Xander Bogaerts, SS 4 2 3 4 - - - - - -
BAT 4.0 COL 7, SF 5 Nolan Arenado, 3B 5 1 4 4 - - - - - -
4.0 LAD 8, CIN 7 Kenta Maeda (W,5-3) - - - - 5.0 3 1 1 1 5
4.0 ARI 5, PHI 4 (F/10) Fernando Rodney (S,20) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
3.0 SEA 7, TEX 3 Kyle Seager, 3B 5 2 3 3 - - - - - -
3.0 CHC 7, PIT 1 Anthony Rizzo, 1B 5 3 3 2 - - - - - -
3.0 ATL 5, MIA 4 Johan Camargo, 3B 2 2 2 1 - - - - - -
2.0 KC 7, LAA 3 Salvador Perez, C 5 1 3 3 - - - - - -
2.0 BAL 8, STL 5 Seth Smith, RF 5 3 3 1 - - - - - -
2.0 TOR 7, CHW 3 Steve Pearce, O 4 2 3 1 - - - - - -
2.0 OAK 4, NYY 3 Sean Doolittle (S,3) - - - - 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 +/-
Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 dh cle al 6.2 14.2 49.3 73.3 -1.8
Nelson, Jimmy 3299 pi sp mil nl 6.0 9.0 19.4 19.4 3.0
deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp nym nl 4.7 14.4 49.8 49.8 -5.0
Arenado, Nolan 3306 3b col nl 4.5 15.2 25.2 25.2 -6.2
Rizzo, Anthony 3063 1b chi nl 4.5 7.5 31.5 31.5 1.5
Maeda, Kenta 3609 pi sp lad nl 4.0 14.0 14.0 14.0 -6.0
Rodney, Fernando 1803 pi cp ari nl 4.0 9.0 27.0 39.0 -1.0
Faria, Jacob 3816 pi sp tb al 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.7
Smith, Seth 2489 rf lf bal al 3.0 8.0 20.5 41.2 -2.0
Bogaerts, Xander 3383 ss bos al 2.5 3.5 9.0 9.0 1.5
Seager, Kyle 3031 3b sea al 2.0 11.5 30.5 30.5 -7.5
Perez, Salvador 2972 ca kc al 2.0 6.0 21.2 23.7 -2.0
Pearce, Steve 2371 lf tor al 1.0 3.0 15.0 17.0 -1.0
Doolittle, Sean 3052 pi cp oak al 1.0 2.0 14.0 14.0 0.0
Camargo, John 3829 3b atl nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Angels' Alex Meyer tops players for Saturday, June 17; Braves' Adams rises to lead NL batters in Box-Toppers points

Angels pitcher Alex Meyer 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 June 17:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 14.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 13.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 11.4
4 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
5 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
6 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 8.2
7 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 8.0
8 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 8.0
9 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 7.7
10 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 7.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Saturday, Matt Adams of the Braves rises to lead National League batters in Box-Toppers points after earning NL Batter of the Day honors.

Player of the Day—Meyer struck out nine over six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 9-0 win over the Royals.

National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Dinelson Lamet struck out 12 over six innings, allowing three runs, four hits and no walks, in the 7-5, 11-inning win over the Brewers. Lamet earned a no-decision and did not pick up the win because the game was tied, 3-3, when he exited.

American League Batter of the Day—Jonathan Schoop of the Orioles hit two home runs and went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 15-7 win over the Cardinals.

National League Batter of the Day—Matt Adams of the Braves homered and doubled twice in the 8-7, 10-inning win over the Marlins. Adams went 3-for-4, driving in four runs.

Adams earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.5 for the season. He rises to lead NL batters in season Box-Toppers points, passing previous leader Jay Bruce of the Mets (6.0). Adams ranks 19th among all players in season player rankings.

Notable—Ryon Healy of the Athletics has the most 2017 Box-Toppers points of any of the 16 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Healy (2HR 3-4 2R 2BI in the 5-2 win over the Yankees) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.2 for the season. He ranks 16th among all players and second among AL batters, behind Aaron Judge of the Yankees (8.2).

Debut—Astros pitcher David Paulino made his Box-Toppers debut with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Paulino (6IP 3H R BB 4K W in the 7-1 win over the Red Sox) made his Major League debut Sept. 8, 2016, and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,828th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Meyer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lamet earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Schoop and Adams 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 

6/17 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 12.0 LAA 9, KC 0 Alex Meyer (W,3-3) - - - - 6.0 2 0 0 1 9
NL 8.0 `SD 7, MIL 5 (F/11) Dinelson Lamet - - - - 6.0 4 3 3 0 12
BAT 6.0 BAL 15, STL 7 Jonathan Schoop, 2B 5 3 4 4 - - - - - -
5.0 CHW 5, TOR 2 Mike Pelfrey (W,3-5) - - - - 6.0 4 1 1 0 5
4.0 CLE 9, MIN 3 Jose Ramirez, 3B 5 2 3 4 - - - - - -
BAT 4.0 ATL 8, MIA 7 (F/10) Matt Adams, 1B 4 1 3 4 - - - - - -
4.0 TEX 10, SEA 4 Mike Napoli, DH 4 2 2 4 - - - - - -
4.0 CLE 6, MIN 2 Lonnie Chisenhall, RF 4 2 2 4 - - - - - -
4.0 HOU 7, BOS 1 David Paulino (W,1-0) - - - - 6.0 3 1 1 1 4
3.2 `ARI 5, PHI 1 Zack Godley - - - - 5.2 5 1 1 3 8
3.0 LAD 10, CIN 2 Cody Bellinger, 1B 5 2 3 3 - - - - - -
3.0 OAK 5, NYY 2 Ryon Healy, DH 4 2 3 2 - - - - - -
3.0 TB 3, DET 2 Chris Archer (W,5-4) - - - - 6.0 6 2 2 1 8
2.0 PIT 4, CHC 3 Gregory Polanco, RF 3 1 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 WSH 7, NYM 4 Jose Lobaton, C 3 2 2 1 - - - - - -
1.0 COL 5, SF 1 Carlos Gonzalez, RF 2 2 1 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 +/-
Healy, Ryon 3685 dh 1b 3b oak al 7.2 10.2 10.2 10.2 4.2
Adams, Matt 3220 1b atl nl 6.5 7.5 16.0 16.0 5.5
Godley, Zack 3538 pi sp ari nl 6.0 7.0 10.7 10.7 5.0
Schoop, Jonathan 3307 2b bal al 4.5 9.0 14.0 14.0 0.0
Bellinger, Cody 3781 1b lad nl 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5
Archer, Chris 3194 pi sp tb al 4.0 13.0 53.1 53.1 -5.0
Meyer, Alex 3742 pi sp ana al 4.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 3.0
Ramirez, Jose 3436 3b cle al 3.5 5.0 8.5 8.5 2.0
Lamet, Dinelson 3808 pi sp sd nl 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7
Napoli, Mike 2161 dh 1b tex al 2.0 8.5 31.7 59.7 -4.5
Gonzalez, Carlos 2460 rf col nl 2.0 7.5 40.7 60.7 -3.5
Polanco, Gregory 3361 lf rf pit nl 2.0 7.5 14.5 14.5 -3.5
Chisenhall, Lonnie 2959 cf rf cle al 2.0 5.5 13.5 15.5 -1.5
Lobaton, Jose 3216 ca dc nl 1.0 2.0 7.5 7.5 0.0
Pelfrey, Mike 2364 pi sp chi al 1.0 1.0 8.0 31.8 1.0
Paulino, David 3828 pi sp hou al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Marlins' Dan Straily tops players for Friday, June 16; Scherzer, 2nd in player rankings, earns Player of the Game

Marlins pitcher Dan Straily 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 June 16:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 14.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 13.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 11.4
4 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
5 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
6 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 8.2
7 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 8.0
8 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 8.0
9 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 7.7
10 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 7.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Friday, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings, earned Player of the Game honors. Plus, two other players rose into Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings for the season—Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood rose to seventh and Red Sox closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel rose to 10th.

Player of the Day—Straily struck out eight over 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks, in the 5-0 win over the Braves.

American League Player of the Day—Melky Cabrera of the White Sox homered, doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five runs, in the 11-4 win over the Blue Jays.

National League Batter of the Day—Paul DeJong of the Cardinals homered and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 11-2 win over the Orioles.

This was DeJong’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. DeJong made his Major League debut May 28 and was playing in his 14th career game. He is the 3,827th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Friday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Melky Cabrera.

Scherzer—Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer maintains his second-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Scherzer (8IP 4H R 2BB 10K W in the 7-2 win over the Mets) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.0 for the season. He trails overall leader and NL pitching leader Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (14.4 Box-Toppers points).

Scherzer also rises to 26th place in career Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Friday he has 144.7 career points, passing Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels (144.0) on the “all-time” list. He now trails 25th-ranked player David Ortiz (145.9).

Passing Hamels, Scherzer now ranks ninth among active players in career Box-Toppers points, seventh among active pitchers. He trails the eighth-ranked active player Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (146.9) and the sixth-ranked active pitcher Jon Lester of the Cubs (147.2).

Scherzer narrowly missed out on earning overall Player of the Day honors Friday. His Box-Toppers game score of 10.0 was topped by Straily’s game score of 10.1.

Rankings—Two players rose into Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after earning Player of the Game honors Friday:

  • Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood (8IP 4H R 0BB 5K W in the 3-1 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.0 for the season, rising to seventh place in player rankings, fourth among NL pitchers.
  • Red Sox closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K Sv in the 2-1 win over the Astros) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.7 for the season, rising to 10th in player rankings, fourth among AL pitchers and most among all closing pitchers.

Notable—Adrian Beltre of the Rangers now has 112.3 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Beltre (1-2 2R 2BI in the 10-4 win over the Mariners) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, his first of the season, and ranks 53rd among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 52nd-ranked player Kevin Brown (112.8). Beltre ranks 16th among all batters since 1995 and third among all active batters in career points, behind Albert Pujols of the Angels (184.3) and Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (146.9).

Also notable—DJ LeMahieu of the Rockies earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Friday.

LeMahieu (2B 4-4 2R 2BI in the 10-8 win over the Giants) was also Box-Toppers NL Batter of the Day Thursday in the 10-9 win over the Giants. LeMahieu has 2.5 Box-Toppers points on the season, all earned in the past two days.

Scoring—Straily earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cabrera earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. DeJong earns 1.5 points for being NL 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 

6/16 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 10.1 MIA 5, ATL 0 Dan Straily (W,5-4) - - - - 6.1 4 0 0 0 8
10.0 WSH 7, NYM 2 Max Scherzer (W,8-4) - - - - 8.0 4 1 1 2 10
7.0 LAD 3, CIN 1 Alex Wood (W,7-0) - - - - 8.0 4 1 1 0 5
AL 6.0 CHW 11, TOR 4 Melky Cabrera, LF 4 3 2 5 - - - - - -
BAT 5.0 STL 11, BAL 2 Paul DeJong, 2B 4 3 3 3 - - - - - -
5.0 KC 3, LAA 1 Ian Kennedy (W,1-6) - - - - 6.0 2 1 1 1 4
4.1 CLE 8, MIN 1 Carlos Carrasco (W,7-3) - - - - 6.1 4 1 1 3 7
4.0 COL 10, SF 8 DJ LeMahieu, 2B 4 2 4 2 - - - - - -
4.0 DET 13, TB 4 Justin Upton, LF 4 3 2 3 - - - - - -
3.1 `ARI 5, PHI 4 Archie Bradley (H,11) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 2
3.0 CHC 9, PIT 5 Willson Contreras, C 3 1 2 3 - - - - - -
3.0 TEX 10, SEA 4 Adrian Beltre, 3B 2 2 1 2 - - - - - -
3.0 OAK 7, NYY 6 Santiago Casilla (S,11) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 1 3
2.0 BOS 2, HOU 1 Craig Kimbrel (S,19) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
1.0 MIL 6, SD 5 (F/10) Manny Pina, C 4 2 2 1 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).  

Player of the Game Pos Team ’17 ’16-17 ’12-17 Career +/-
Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 13.0 38.7 116.9 144.7 -12.7
Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 8.0 9.0 27.4 27.4 7.0
Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 7.7 15.7 60.4 66.4 -0.3
Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 7.4 19.8 48.5 53.9 -5.0
Straily, Dan 3080 pi sp fla nl 6.0 13.0 23.7 23.7 -1.0
Cabrera, Melky 2143 lf chi al 4.7 8.7 18.7 35.2 0.7
Upton, Justin 2411 lf det al 4.0 10.7 36.9 55.1 -2.7
Contreras, Willson 3776 ca ph chi nl 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5
Pina, Manny 3769 ca mil nl 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5
Kennedy, Ian 2723 pi sp kc al 3.0 13.0 44.1 69.5 -7.0
LeMahieu, DJ 3091 2b col nl 2.5 10.5 23.5 23.5 -5.5
Dejong, Paul 3827 2b stl nl 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Beltre, Adrian 1141 3b tex al 1.0 10.5 44.4 112.3 -8.5
Casilla, Santiago 2301 pi cp oak al 1.0 4.0 19.7 24.7 -2.0
Bradley, Archie 3438 pi mr sp ari nl 1.0 4.0 5.0 5.0 -2.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Phillies' Nick Pivetta tops players for Thursday, June 15; Indians' Encarnacion tops AL players

Phillies pitcher Nick Pivetta 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 June 15:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 14.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 12.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 11.4
4 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
5 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
6 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 8.2
7 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 8.0
8 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 7.7
9 McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 7.7
10 Martinez, Carlos 3371 pi sp stl nl 7.5
What are those numbers after players' names?

Pivetta struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks, in the 1-0 win over the Red Sox. Pivetta picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was tied 0-0 when he exited.

This was also Pivettta’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Pivetta made his Major League debut April 30 and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,825th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

American League Player of the Day—Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians homered and went 3-for-3, scoring four times, in the 12-5 win over the Dodgers.

Encarnacion earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 4.7 for the season, most of any of the 10 who earned Player of the Game honors Thursday. Encarnacion ranks 39th among all players in season player rankings, sixth among AL batters.

National League Batter of the Day—DJ LeMahieu of the Rockies went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 10-9 win over the Giants.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Edwin Encarnacion.

Debut—Brewers closing pitcher Oliver Drake made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Drake (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv in the 6-4 win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut May 23, 2015, and was playing in his 57th career game. He is the 3,826th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Pivetta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Encarnacion earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. LeMahieu earns 1.5 points for being NL 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 

6/15 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 10.0 `PHI 1, BOS 0 Nick Pivetta - - - - 7.0 4 0 0 2 9
AL 5.0 CLE 12, LAD 5 Edwin Encarnacion, DH 3 4 3 1 - - - - - -
BAT 4.0 COL 10, SF 9 DJ LeMahieu, 2B 5 3 4 2 - - - - - -
4.0 MIN 6, SEA 2 Chris Gimenez, C 4 2 2 4 - - - - - -
3.0 WSH 8, NYM 3 Gio Gonzalez (W,6-1) - - - - 7.0 5 2 2 0 5
3.0 KC 7, LAA 2 Matt Strahm (W,2-3) - - - - 5.0 3 1 0 1 3
3.0 MIL 6, STL 4 Oliver Drake (S,1) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.0 DET 5, TB 3 Justin Wilson (W,3-2) - - - - 1.0 1 0 0 0 2
1.0 CHW 5, BAL 2 Matt Davidson, DH 4 2 2 1 - - - - - -
0.0 OAK 8, NYY 7 (F/10) Jed Lowrie, 2B 5 1 3 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 +/-
Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 dh cle al 4.7 12.7 47.8 71.8 -3.3
Gonzalez, Gio 2626 pi sp dc nl 2.0 8.0 59.1 88.5 -4.0
Lowrie, Jed 2437 2b ss oak al 2.0 3.0 17.5 29.0 1.0
Davidson, Matt 3292 3b dh chi al 2.0 2.0 4.0 4.0 2.0
Pivetta, Nick 3825 pi sp phi nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
LeMahieu, DJ 3091 2b col nl 1.5 9.5 22.5 22.5 -6.5
Wilson, Justin 3140 pi cp det al 1.0 2.0 7.0 7.0 0.0
Gimenez, Chris 2870 ca min al 1.0 2.0 4.0 5.0 0.0
Strahm, Matt 3724 pi sp kc al 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0
Drake, Oliver 3826 pi cp mil nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Red Sox' Mookie Betts tops players for Wednesday, June 14; Mets' Blevins tops NL players

Mookie Betts of the Red Sox is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Betts homered twice and doubled in the 7-3 win over the Phillies. Betts also went 4-for-5, scoring four times and driving in three runs.

Top 10 players

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


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 14.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 12.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 11.4
4 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
5 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
6 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 8.2
7 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 8.0
8 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 7.7
9 McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 7.7
10 Martinez, Carlos 3371 pi sp stl nl 7.5
What are those numbers after players' names?

National League Player of the Day—Mets pitcher Jerry Blevins pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless middle relief, striking out three, allowing no hits and no walks and earning the win in the 9-4 win over the Cubs.

National League Batter of the Day—Brandon Phillips of the Braves hit two doubles and went 4-for-6, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 13-2 win over the Nationals.

Phillips has now earned Box-Toppers points for 12 straight seasons with his first Player of the Game honor for 2017. He earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2002 with the Indians, but began his current 12-season streak in 2006 with the Reds. He has 65.6 career Box-Toppers points, fifth among all second basemen since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He ranks third in career points among active second basemen, behind Robinson Cano of the Mariners (78.4) and Chase Utley of the Dodgers (75.1).

Phillips’ best season was 2012 with the Reds when he had 9.5 Box-Toppers points, seventh among NL batters. He had 2.0 Box-Toppers points in 2016 with the Reds.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Wednesday because the overall Player of the Day is AL batter Mookie Betts.

Notable—Trey Mancini of the Orioles has the most 2017 Box-Toppers points of any of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Mancini (2B 3-4 3R BI in the 10-6 win over the White Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.2 for the season and ranks 30th among all players in 2017 season player rankings, fifth among AL batters.

Also notable—Blue Jays pitcher Francisco Liriano now has 105.2 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Liriano (7IP 5H 3R 2ER 2BB 9K ND in the 7-6 win over the Rays) rises to 65th place among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995, when tracking began. He passes Dodgers pitcher Scott Kazmir (105.1) on the “all-time” list and now trails 64th-ranked player Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner (105.7).

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

  • Astros pitcher Francis Martes (5IP 3H R 2B 7K W in the 13-2 win over the Rangers) made his Major League debut June 9 and was playing in his second career game. He is the 3,822nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Angels pitcher Blake Parker (1.1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 7-5 win over the Yankees) made his Major League debut May 17, 2012, and was playing in his 124th career game. He is the 3,823rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Raimel Tapia of the Rockies (2B 4-4 3R 0BI in the 5-1 win over the Pirates) made his Major League debut Sept. 2, 2016, and was playing in his 36th career game. He is the 3,824th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Betts earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Blevins earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Phillips earns 1.5 points for being NL 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 

6/14 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 6.0 BOS 7, PHI 3 Mookie Betts, RF 5 4 4 3 - - - - - -
5.0 HOU 13, TEX 2 Francis Martes (W,1-0) - - - - 5.0 3 1 1 2 7
NL 4.1 NYM 9, CHC 4 Jerry Blevins (W,4-0) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 3
BAT 4.0 ATL 13, WSH 2 Brandon Phillips, 2B 6 3 4 3 - - - - - -
4.0 ARI 2, DET 1 Fernando Rodney (S,18) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
4.0 `TOR 7, TB 6 Francisco Liriano - - - - 7.0 5 3 2 2 9
3.1 LAA 7, NYY 5 Blake Parker (W,2-2) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 2
3.0 COL 5, PIT 1 Raimel Tapia, RF 4 3 4 0 - - - - - -
3.0 KC 7, SF 2 Lorenzo Cain, CF 4 2 3 2 - - - - - -
3.0 BAL 10, CHW 6 Trey Mancini, 1B 4 3 3 1 - - - - - -
2.0 MIL 7, STL 6 Eric Thames, 1B 5 2 2 3 - - - - - -
2.0 MIA 11, OAK 6 Dee Gordon, 2B 4 2 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 LAD 6, CLE 4 Enrique Hernandez, PH-2B 2 1 2 1 - - - - - -
2.0 SD 4, CIN 2 Brandon Maurer (S,12) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
1.2 `SEA 6, MIN 4 James Pazos (H,5) - - - - 1.2 1 0 0 1 2
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).  

Player of the Game Pos Team ’17 ’16-17 ’12-17 Career +/-
Mancini, Trey 3766 lf 1b ph bal al 5.2 5.2 5.2 5.2 5.2
Thames, Eric 2909 1b lf mil nl 4.0 4.0 5.0 6.5 4.0
Cain, Lorenzo 3171 cf kc al 3.5 10.0 24.2 24.2 -3.0
Betts, Mookie 3404 rf bos al 3.5 9.7 14.7 14.7 -2.7
Rodney, Fernando 1803 pi cp ari nl 3.0 8.0 26.0 38.0 -2.0
Liriano, Francisco 2104 pi sp tor al 2.0 10.0 59.7 105.2 -6.0
Pazos, James 3786 pi mr sea al 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Blevins, Jerry 2788 pi mr nym nl 1.7 1.7 6.7 7.7 1.7
Phillips, Brandon 1691 2b atl nl 1.5 3.5 25.2 65.6 -0.5
Maurer, Brandon 3157 pi cp sd nl 1.0 3.0 6.0 6.0 -1.0
Hernandez, Enrique 3541 2b ph lad nl 1.0 2.0 3.0 3.0 0.0
Gordon, Dee 2990 2b fla nl 1.0 1.0 8.5 8.5 1.0
Martes, Francis 3822 pi sp hou al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Parker, Blake 3823 pi mr ana al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Tapia, Raimel 3824 rf col nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?