Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to lead all players in season Box-Toppers points.
Syndergaard struck out nine over seven innings, allowing two runs and five hits, in the 5-2 win over the Marlins.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 9:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 3.0 |
| 2 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 2.7 |
| 3 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 2.0 |
| 4 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 2.0 |
| 5 | Martinez, Carlos 3371 | pi sp | stl nl | 2.0 |
| 6 | Finnegan, Brandon 3535 | pi sp | cin nl | 2.0 |
| 7 | Mazara, Nomar 3614 | rf | tex al | 2.0 |
| 8 | Chacin, Jhoulys 2711 | pi mr sp | sd nl | 2.0 |
| 9 | Devenski, Chris 3702 | pi mr cp | hou al | 2.0 |
| 10 | Puig, Yasiel 3193 | rf | lad nl | 2.0 |
Syndergaard earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season, passing previous leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (2.0).
American League Player of the Day—Twins pitcher Ervin Santana pitched six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out four, in the 4-1 win over the White Sox.
Santana earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 2.7 for the season and rising to second place in season Box-Toppers rankings.
Santana also becomes the 75th player since Box-Toppers inception in 1995 to reach 100 career Box-Toppers points. With his points Sunday, he has exactly 100.0 and ranks 75th among all players since 1995. He passes five players on the “all-time” list—Ryan Howard of the Braves (98.7), Jim Edmonds (98.8), White Sox pitcher James Shields (99.4), Giants pitcher Matt Cain (99.7) and Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto (99.8). Santana now trails 74th-ranked player Larry Walker (100.1).
American League Batter of the Day—Joey Gallo of the Rangers homered and went 2-for-4, driving in five runs, in the 8-1 win over the Athletics.
National League Batter of the Day—Starling Marte of the Pirates hit a walk-off 10th-inning home run in the 6-5 win over the Braves. Marte also went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in two runs.
Notable—Two other players who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday are among the top 10 players in season Box-Toppers rankings:
- Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta rises to fourth place with 2.0 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors in the 7-4 win against Brewers (7IP 3H 3R 2BB 10K W).
- Astros pitcher Chris Devenski rises to ninth place with 2.0 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors in the 5-4, 12-inning win over the Royals (4IP 3H R 0BB 7K W).
Currently, 12 players have 2.0 Box-Toppers points on the season. Ties are broken among those players based on how many Box-Toppers points the players had in 2016. For example, Kershaw ranks highest among those 13 players because he had 24.4 Box-Toppers points in 2016, while Arrieta, who ranks third, had 15.7.
Scoring—Syndergaard earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Santana earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Gallo and Marte 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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score| 4/9 | Score | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 8.0 | NYM 5, MIA 2 | Noah Syndergaard (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | |
| 7.0 | CIN 8, STL 0 | Scott Feldman (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 6.0 | CHC 7, MIL 4 | Jake Arrieta (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 10 | ||
| AL | 6.0 | MIN 4, CHW 1 | Ervin Santana (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | |
| 6.0 | HOU 5, KC 4 (F/12) | Chris Devenski (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 5.0 | `PHI 4, WSH 3 | Jeremy Hellickson | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | TEX 8, OAK 1 | Joey Gallo, 3B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | TB 7, TOR 2 | Steven Souza, RF | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | BOS 7, DET 5 | Matt Barnes (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | PIT 6, ATL 5 (F/10) | Starling Marte, CF | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | ARI 3, CLE 2 | Patrick Corbin (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | NYY 7, BAL 3 | Dellin Betances (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | LAD 10, COL 6 | Corey Seager, SS | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | SF 5, SD 3 | Buster Posey, C | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | LAA 10, SEA 9 | Jefry Marte, PH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 3.0 | 19.7 | 30.1 | 30.1 | -13.7 |
| Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 2.7 | 6.7 | 39.5 | 100.0 | -1.3 |
| Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 2.0 | 17.7 | 72.5 | 77.5 | -13.7 |
| Devenski, Chris 3702 | pi mr cp | hou al | 2.0 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | -1.7 |
| Marte, Starling 3122 | lf | pit nl | 1.5 | 4.0 | 13.5 | 13.5 | -1.0 |
| Gallo, Joey 3485 | 3b | tex al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.5 |
| Hellickson, Jeremy 2778 | pi sp | phi nl | 1.0 | 14.1 | 35.1 | 45.8 | -12.1 |
| Souza, Steven Jr. 3461 | rf | tb al | 1.0 | 6.7 | 12.2 | 12.2 | -4.7 |
| Betances, Dellin 3333 | pi mr | nyy al | 1.0 | 5.0 | 13.7 | 13.7 | -3.0 |
| Seager, Corey 3587 | ss | lad nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 6.5 | 6.5 | -3.0 |
| Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp cp | ari nl | 1.0 | 4.7 | 33.5 | 33.5 | -2.7 |
| Posey, Buster 2745 | ca 1b | sf nl | 1.0 | 4.5 | 29.5 | 34.0 | -2.5 |
| Marte, Jefry 3529 | 1b ph | ana al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 |
| Feldman, Scott 2632 | pi sp | cin nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 17.7 | 25.7 | 1.0 |
| Barnes, Matt 3466 | pi mr | bos al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 |