Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. 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 2018 season through the games of June 28:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.4 |
| 2 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 15.7 |
| 3 | Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 13.4 |
| 4 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 12.0 |
| 5 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 12.0 |
| 6 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | hou al | 11.8 |
| 7 | Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 11.4 |
| 8 | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | ari nl | 11.0 |
| 9 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 10.7 |
| 10 | Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | tb al | 10.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Also Thursday, Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors.
Player of the Day—McCullers struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 1-0 win over the Rays.
McCullers earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 8.7 for the season, 16th among all players and 12th among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola struck out eight over 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run, five hits and two walks, in the 4-3 win over the Nationals.
Nola earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 11.4 for the season, rising to seventh place in season player rankings, second among NL pitchers.
Nola is the 10th player to reach 10 Box-Toppers points this season. It is his second straight season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points—in 2017, he had 15.8 points with the Phillies, sixth among NL pitchers.
In 2017, there were 38 players who earned 10 or more Box-Toppers points. At this point in the 2017 season, there were five.
National League Batter of the Day—DJ LeMahieu of the Rockies hit a ninth-inning, two-run, go-ahead homer in the 9-8 win over the Giants. LeMahieu went 3-for-4, scoring once and driving in five runs,.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Thursday because no AL batter earned Player of the Game honors.
Notable—Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke now has 183.2 career Box-Toppers points—eighth-most since 1995—after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Greinke (7IP 7H 0R 0BB 6K W in the 4-0 win over the Marlins) edges closer to the seventh-place player on the “all-time” career points list, Alex Rodriguez (187.0). (Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.)
Greinke has 7.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, eighth among NL pitchers.
Kershaw—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, the active leader in career Box-Toppers points, performed well in his second start since returning from the disabled list, but did not earn Box-Toppers points in his team’s loss.
Kershaw (5IP 4H R 0BB 6K ND in the 11-5 loss to the Cubs), had a Box-Toppers game score of +5.0, best among Dodgers players Thursday. Had the Dodgers won, Kershaw would have been Player of the Game. Instead, the honor went to Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs (2-2B 4-5 R 3BI), who had a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0.
Kershaw leads active players with 209.8 career Box-Toppers points, which is third-most among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He has 3.0 Box-Toppers points this season, but none since April 15.
Scoring—McCullers 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. 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 (BTG)| 6/28 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | HOU 1, TB 0 | Lance McCullers (W, 9‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | |
| 8.0 | `MIN 2, CHW 1 (F/13) | Jake Odorizzi | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | ||
| NL | 6.2 | PHI 4, WSH 3 | Aaron Nola (W, 10‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| 6.0 | ARI 4, MIA 0 | Zack Greinke (W, 8‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | COL 9, SF 8 | D.J. LeMahieu 2B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| 4.0 | BOS 4, LAA 2 | Hector Velazquez (W, 6‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | CHC 11, LAD 5 | Anthony Rizzo 1B | 5 | 1 | 4 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 3.0 | `SEA 4, BAL 2 (F/10) | Mike Leake | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | `OAK 4, DET 2 | Lou Trivino (H, 9) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | MIL 6, CIN 4 | Jesus Aguilar 1B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 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 Player of the Game winners. 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 the Game | Pos | Team | ’18 | ’17‑18 | ’13‑18 | Career | +/‑ |
| Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 11.4 | 27.2 | 35.9 | 35.9 | -4.4 |
| McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | hou al | 8.7 | 18.1 | 30.9 | 30.9 | -0.7 |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 7.0 | 27.1 | 93.4 | 183.2 | -13.1 |
| Trivino, Lou 3939 | pi mr cp | oak al | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | +6.0 |
| Leake, Mike 2709 | pi sp | sea al | 4.0 | 9.7 | 40.4 | 54.3 | -1.7 |
| Rizzo, Anthony 3063 | 1b | chi nl | 3.5 | 19.0 | 41.0 | 46.0 | -12.0 |
| Aguilar, Jesus 3787 | 1b | mil nl | 3.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 | -1.5 |
| Odorizzi, Jake 3291 | pi sp | min al | 3.0 | 14.1 | 40.2 | 40.2 | -8.1 |
| LeMahieu, DJ 3091 | 2b | col nl | 2.5 | 7.0 | 26.0 | 28.0 | -2.0 |
| Velazquez, Hector 3853 | pi cp mr | bos al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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.