Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fifth place in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2018 season through the games of April 15:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 5.7 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 5.0 |
| 3 | Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 4.0 |
| 4 | Ramirez, Hanley 2119 | 1b dh | bos al | 3.5 |
| 5 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 3.0 |
| 6 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 3.0 |
| 7 | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | ari nl | 3.0 |
| 8 | Sano, Miguel 3527 | 3b | min al | 3.0 |
| 9 | Pivetta, Nick 3825 | pi sp | phi nl | 3.0 |
| 10 | Taillon, Jameson 3658 | pi sp | pit nl | 2.7 |
Also Sunday, Rangers pitcher Bartolo Colon, flirting with a perfect game at age 44, becomes the first player to earn Box-Toppers points in 20 different seasons after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Player of the Day—Kershaw struck out 12 over seven innings, allowing one run, two hits and no walks, in the 7-2 win over the Diamondbacks.
Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season, rising into the top 10 in player rankings for the first time this season, into fifth place. Kershaw has finished among the top three in Box-Toppers points each of the past seven seasons.
Kershaw also now has 209.8 career Box-Toppers points, third among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails second-ranked player Pedro Martinez (244.8), by 35.0 points. Kershaw leads all active players in career points.
All-time leaders
Here are Box-Toppers top 20 players since record keeping began in 1995:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | retired | 278.8 |
| 2 | Pedro Martinez | pi sp | retired | 244.8 |
| 3 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | lad nl | 209.8 |
| 4 | Curt Schilling | pi sp | retired | 194.1 |
| 5 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 192.7 |
| 6 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 187.8 |
| 7 | Alex Rodriguez | dh | retired | 187.0 |
| 8 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 176.2 |
| 9 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 172.4 |
| 10 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 11 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 12 | Johan Santana | pi sp | free agent | 166.6 |
| 13 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | retired | 164.8 |
| 14 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | dc nl | 162.4 |
| 15 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 16 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 17 | Justin Verlander | pi sp | hou al | 156.0 |
| 18 | Mike Mussina | pi sp | retired | 155.6 |
| 19 | Bartolo Colon | pi sp | tex al | 154.9 |
| 20 | Jon Lester | pi sp | chi nl | 154.9 |
List of top 100 players since 1995 at the end of the 2017 season.
American League Player of the Day—Rangers pitcher Bartolo Colon struck out seven over 7 2/3 innings, allowing one hit, one run and one walk, in the 3-2, 10-inning win over the Astros. Colon picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was tied, 1-1, when he exited.
Colon retired the first 21 batters he faced before giving up a walk to open the eighth inning, ending the perfect game bid. He then gave up a double to end the no-hit bid.
Colon earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 154.9 career points, rising to 19th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Sunday, he passes two players on the “all-time” list—teammate pitcher Cole Hamels (154.4) and Cubs pitcher Jon Lester (154.9). (Though Colon and Lester have identical career totals, Colon ranks ahead because he has more 2018 Box-Toppers points—1.7 vs. 1.0). Colon now trails 18th-ranked player Mike Mussina (155.6). Colon, passing Hamels and Lester, also rises to become the eighth-ranked active player in career points.
With his points Sunday, Colon has now also earned Box-Toppers points in 20 different seasons, the most of any player since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. Previously, Colon was tied with four other players who had earned points in 19 different seasons—Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz, Jason Giambi and Carlos Beltran. (Both Giambi and Beltran earned their Box-Toppers points in consecutive seasons.)
Colon has earned points in each season from 1998 to 2009 and from 2011 to 2018. If he had not missed earning points in 2010, he would have points in 21 consecutive seasons. (The Box-Toppers record is 19 consecutive seasons.)
Colon is one of two players earning Box-Toppers points in 1998 who is still active. The other is his teammate third baseman Adrian Beltre, who has 115.8 Box-Toppers points, ranked 47th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began, 15th among batters. Beltre has earned Box-Toppers points in 18 different seasons. He missed earning points in 2005 and 2014 and is yet to earn points in 2018.
National League Batter of the Day—Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies homered, doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 6-5 win over the Nationals.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Sunday because no AL batters earned Player of the Game honors.
Notable—Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale now has 112.5 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Sale (5IP 2H R 2BB 8K ND in the 3-1 win over the Orioles) now has 1.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, ninth among AL pitchers. Sale led all players in 2017 with 25.1 Box-Toppers points.
Scoring—Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Colon earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Blackmon earns 1.5 points for being NL 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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG)| 4/16 | Score | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 15.0 | LAD 7, ARI 2 | Clayton Kershaw (W, 1‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12 | |
| 12.1 | `NYM 3, MIL 2 | Noah Syndergaard | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 11 | ||
| 12.0 | STL 3, CIN 2 | Carlos Martinez (W, 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 11 | ||
| AL | 10.2 | `TEX 3, HOU 1 (F/10) | Bartolo Colon | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |
| 8.0 | SD 10, SF 1 | Joey Lucchesi (W, 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | ||
| 7.0 | `BOS 3, BAL 1 | Chris Sale | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 5.0 | PIT 7, MIA 3 | Starling Marte (CF) | 5 | 4 | 5 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 5.0 | OAK 2, SEA 1 | Sean Manaea (W, 2‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | COL 6, WSH 5 | Charlie Blackmon (CF) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| 2.0 | PHI 10, TB 4 | Rhys Hoskins (LF) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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 (’18). also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’17-18), the period 2013-2018 (’13-18) and each players’ career point total. also shown is how their 2018 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2017 total (+/-).| Player of Game | Pos | Team | ’18 | ’17‑18 | ’13‑18 | Career | +/‑ |
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 3.0 | 26.1 | 129.4 | 209.8 | -20.1 |
| Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 2.7 | 10.1 | 16.8 | 16.8 | -4.7 |
| Blackmon, Charlie 2891 | cf | col nl | 2.5 | 8.2 | 18.7 | 20.2 | -3.2 |
| Martinez, Carlos 3371 | pi sp | stl nl | 2.0 | 11.5 | 38.6 | 38.6 | -7.5 |
| Lucchesi, Joey 3936 | pi sp | sd nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Colon, Bartolo | pi sp | tex al | 1.7 | 6.4 | 45.3 | 154.9 | -3.0 |
| Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 1.0 | 26.1 | 91.8 | 112.5 | -24.1 |
| Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 1.0 | 4.0 | 31.1 | 31.1 | -2.0 |
| Marte, Starling 3122 | cf | pit nl | 1.0 | 4.0 | 15.0 | 16.0 | -2.0 |
| Hoskins, Rhys 3909 | lf | phi nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | -1.0 |
Box-Toppers
Tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score stats. A method to measure & compare baseball's top players.
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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.