Special cases: Earning Player of the Game honors in losses and ties
The only way a losing player can earn Box-Toppers points is if no player from the winning team has a positive Box-Toppers score. Then, and only then, can a losing player be considered the Player of the Game. This is extremely rare.
In fact, it happened only four times from 1995 to 2017, in which about 55,890 games have been played. That is 0.0072 percent of the time. It last happened April 25, 2010, when the New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 1-0. No Mets player had a positive Box-Toppers game score in the win and so Player of the Game went to the Braves player with the highest Box-Toppers game score, pitcher Tommy Hanson (5IP 5H R 0ER 2BB 8K L, Box-Toppers game score +5.0).
Also, if the game officially ends in a tie, the player with the most points from either team is declared Player of the Game. Pitchers in tie games must have at least three innings pitched to be considered Player of the Game.
Box-Toppers points have been awarded in eight games that ended in ties in the 23 seasons from 1995 to 2017. The last time it happened was Sept. 29, 2016, when the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs tied 1-1 after six innings, when rain suspended a late-season game. The game was officially declared a tie with player statistics counting. Pirates pitcher Ivan Nova (5.1IP 4H R 0BB 5K ND) was deemed Box-Toppers Player of the Game with the highest Box-Toppers game score of any player on either team (+4.1).
(Shawn Plank, updated April 2018)