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

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

Top 10 players

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


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

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

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

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

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

Box-Toppers season streaks

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



Streak

Player

Pos

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scoring—Lackey earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Carrasco earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Broxton and Gamel each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.

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

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

5/9 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 11.0 CHC 8, COL 1 John Lackey (W,3-3) - - - - 7.0 4 0 0 2 10
AL 11.0 CLE 6, TOR 0 Carlos Carrasco (W,4-2) - - - - 7.0 3 0 0 0 7
8.0 TEX 11, SD 0 A.J. Griffin (W,4-0) - - - - 9.0 4 0 0 1 4
BAT 7.0 MIL 11, BOS 7 Keon Broxton, CF 3 3 3 4 - - - - - -
6.1 `LAD 4, PIT 3 (F/10) Julio Urias - - - - 6.1 1 1 1 2 5
BAT 6.0 SEA 10, PHI 9 Ben Gamel, RF 5 3 4 4 - - - - - -
5.0 COL 10, CHC 4 Mark Reynolds, 1B 4 3 3 3 - - - - - -
3.0 KC 7, TB 6 (F/12) Salvador Perez, C 4 2 3 2 - - - - - -
2.0 STL 6, MIA 5 Matt Adams, PH 1 1 1 1 - - - - - -
2.0 NYM 6, SF 1 Zack Wheeler (W,2-2) - - - - 6.0 2 1 1 4 4
2.0 BAL 5, WSH 4 (F/12) Logan Verrett (W,2-0) - - - - 3.0 2 0 0 1 2
1.0 LAA 7, OAK 3 Yunel Escobar, 3B 5 1 1 4 - - - - - -
1.0 MIN 7, CHW 2 Byron Buxton, CF 4 1 3 1 - - - - - -
1.0 HOU 8, ATL 3 Carlos Beltran, DH 4 2 2 1 - - - - - -
1.0 CIN 5, NYY 3 Joey Votto, 1B 2 0 1 2 - - - - - -
0.0 DET 7, ARI 3 Nicholas Castellanos, 3B 3 0 1 2 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

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

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

Player of the Game Pos Team ’17 ’16-17 ’12-17 Career +/-
Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 5.4 17.8 46.5 51.9 -7.0
Reynolds, Mark 2297 1b col nl 3.5 7.5 22.2 54.9 -0.5
Griffin, A.J. 3074 pi sp tex al 3.0 8.7 23.4 23.4 -2.7
Gamel, Ben 3784 rf sea al 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Votto, Joey 2366 1b cin nl 2.5 13.0 27.7 66.7 -8.0
Broxton, Keon 3785 cf mil nl 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5
Lackey, John 1640 pi sp chi nl 2.0 15.4 41.8 123.2 -11.4
Castellanos, Nick 3349 3b det al 2.0 7.5 15.7 15.7 -3.5
Verrett, Logan 3518 pi cp bal al 2.0 3.0 6.0 6.0 1.0
Beltran, Carlos 1194 dh rf hou al 1.0 7.0 19.2 105.9 -5.0
Urias, Julio 3652 pi sp lad nl 1.0 6.7 6.7 6.7 -4.7
Buxton, Byron 3604 cf min al 1.0 5.7 6.7 6.7 -3.7
Perez, Salvador 2972 ca kc al 1.0 5.0 20.2 22.7 -3.0
Escobar, Yunel 2331 3b ana al 1.0 2.0 17.5 42.0 0.0
Adams, Matt 3220 1b ph stl nl 1.0 2.0 10.5 10.5 0.0
Wheeler, Zack 3204 pi sp nym nl 1.0 1.0 12.7 12.7 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?