Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, regaining top spot in season player rankings and rising to 10th place in career points on Box-Toppers “all-time” points list.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2018 season through the games of June 5:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 15.4 |
| 2 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 13.7 |
| 3 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | hou al | 10.1 |
| 4 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 10.0 |
| 5 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 10.0 |
| 6 | Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 9.4 |
| 7 | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | ari nl | 9.0 |
| 8 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 7.7 |
| 9 | Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 7.7 |
| 10 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 7.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Also Tuesday, three others earning Player of the Game honors are among the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings—Mariners pitcher James Paxton, Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin and Indians pitcher Corey Kluber.
Player of the Day—Scherzer struck out 13 over eight innings, allowing two runs, five hits and no walks, in the 4-2 win over the Rays.
Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 15.4 for the season, rising from second to first place in season player rankings, passing Yankees pitcher Luis Severino (13.7 points), who only took the lead from Scherzer Monday.
2018 lead changes
Here are the season’s lead changes among players in Box-Toppers points. Chart shows the date and the player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total when they took the lead.| Date | Leader | Team | BTP |
| 3/29 | Luis Severino | nyy al | 2.0 |
| 3/30 | Max Scherzer | dc nl | 2.0 |
| 4/02 | Paul DeJong | stl nl | 2.5 |
| 4/04 | Luis Severino | nyy al | 3.0 |
| 4/09 | Max Scherzer | dc nl | 3.7 |
| 4/12 | Jose Berrios | min al | 4.0 |
| 4/13 | Gerrit Cole | hou al | 5.0 |
| 4/14 | Max Scherzer | dc nl | 5.7 |
| 4/18 | Jose Berrios | min al | 6.0 |
| 4/20 | Max Scherzer | dc nl | 6.7 |
| 4/22 | Patrick Corbin | ari nl | 7.0 |
| 4/27 | Luis Severinio | nyy al | 7.7 |
| 5/1 | Max Scherzer | dc nl | 7.7 |
| 5/2 | Luis Severinio | nyy al | 9.7 |
| 5/11 | Max Scherzer | dc nl | 11.4 |
| 6/4 | Luis Severinio | nyy al | 13.7 |
| 6/5 | Max Scherzer | dc nl | 15.4 |
Scherzer also now has 172.1 career Box-Toppers points and rises to 10th place in career points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Tuesday, he passes Roy Halladay (170.7) and now trails ninth-ranked player, Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez (174.1).
Scherzer is now one of six active players in Box-Toppers top 10 career points list. It is the most active players in the career points top 10 list since the end of the 2008 season, when there were eight active players on the list.
Scherzer is the first player to reach 15.0 Box-Toppers points this season. It is the seventh straight season he has earned 15.0 or more points in a season.
This is the 17th lead change in player rankings in 2018 and the second in two days, after Severino took the lead for one day Monday. The last time there were more lead changes in a season was 2013, when there was a new leader 26 times.
American League Player of the Day—Angels pitcher Andrew Heaney pitched a complete-game, one-hit shutout, striking out four and allowing one walk, in the 1-0 win over the Royals.
National League Batter of the Day—Freddie Freeman of the Braves homered and hit two doubles, going 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 14-1 win over the Padres.
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 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 196.7 |
| 5 | Curt Schilling | pi sp | retired | 194.1 |
| 6 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 187.8 |
| 7 | Alex Rodriguez | dh | retired | 187.0 |
| 8 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 180.2 |
| 9 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 174.1 |
| 10 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | dc nl | 172.1 |
| 11 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 12 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 13 | Johan Santana | pi sp | free agent | 166.6 |
| 14 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | retired | 164.8 |
| 15 | Justin Verlander | pi sp | hou al | 161.7 |
| 16 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 17 | Cole Hamels | pi sp | tex al | 158.8 |
| 18 | Jon Lester | pi sp | chi nl | 157.9 |
| 19 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 20 | Bartolo Colon | pi sp | tex al | 155.9 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
List of top 100 players since 1995 at the end of the 2017 season.
American League Batter of the Day—Eduardo Escobar of the Twins hit a three-run homer and doubled, going 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 4-2 win over the White Sox.
Rankings—In addition to Scherzer, three other players among the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings earned Player of the Game honors Tuesday:
Mariners pitcher James Paxton (7.2IP 9H R BB 6K W in the 7-1 win over the Astros) rises from sixth to fourth place in rankings with 10.0 Box-Toppers points. He is the fifth player this season to reach 10.0 Box-Toppers points.
Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin (6.1IP 4H R 2BB 7K W in the 3-2 win over the Giants) maintains his seventh place spot in rankings with 9.0 Box-Toppers points.
Indians pitcher Corey Kluber (7IP 7H 2R BB 6K W in the 3-2 win over the Brewers) rises to eighth place in rankings with 7.7 Box-Toppers points.
Notable—Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia now has 196.7 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Sabathia (7IP 3H 2R BB 6K W in the 7-2 win over the Blue Jays) ranks fourth in career points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails third-ranked player, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (209.8). Sabathia is second among active players in career points, behind Kershaw.
Sabathia has 4.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, 22nd among AL pitchers.
Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Heaney earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Freeman and Escobar 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 (BTG)| 6/5 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | WSH 4, TB 2 | Max Scherzer (W, 10‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 8.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 13 | |
| AL | 11.0 | LAA 1, KC 0 | Andrew Heaney (W, 3‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 9.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
| 8.0 | BOS 6, DET 0 | Steven Wright (W, 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 8.0 | BAL 2, NYM 1 | Alex Cobb (W, 2‑7) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 8.0 | LAD 5, PIT 0 | Ross Stripling (W, 4‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 5.1 | ARI 3, SF 2 | Patrick Corbin (W, 6‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | ATL 14, SD 1 | Freddie Freeman 1B | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| 5.0 | CLE 3, MIL 2 | Corey Kluber (W, 9‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 5.0 | NYY 7, TOR 2 | CC Sabathia (W, 3‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | COL 9, CIN 6 | Carlos Gonzalez RF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 4.0 | TEX 7, OAK 4 | Keone Kela (S, 14) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | CHW 6, MIN 3 | Tyler Duffey (W, 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | MIA 7, STL 4 | Brian Anderson RF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | MIN 4, CHW 2 | Eduardo Escobar 3B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| 1.2 | SEA 7, HOU 1 | James Paxton (W, 5‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.2 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 1.0 | PHI 6, CHC 1 | Aaron Altherr RF | 3 | 1 | 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 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 | +/‑ |
| Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 15.4 | 40.4 | 127.3 | 172.1 | -9.6 |
| Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 10.0 | 23.7 | 34.8 | 34.8 | -3.7 |
| Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | ari nl | 9.0 | 18.7 | 45.2 | 51.2 | -0.7 |
| Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 7.7 | 29.7 | 95.1 | 95.1 | -14.3 |
| Freeman, Freddie 2887 | 1b | atl nl | 6.5 | 9.5 | 39.2 | 48.2 | +3.5 |
| Stripling, Ross 3629 | pi sp | lad nl | 4.7 | 5.7 | 10.4 | 10.4 | +3.7 |
| Sabathia, C.C. 1492 | pi sp | nyy al | 4.0 | 11.7 | 29.1 | 196.7 | -3.7 |
| Kela, Keone 3789 | pi cp | tex al | 4.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | +2.0 |
| Heaney, Andrew 3515 | pi sp | ana al | 3.7 | 4.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | +2.7 |
| Escobar, Eduardo 3135 | 3b ss | min al | 3.5 | 7.2 | 18.9 | 18.9 | -0.2 |
| Anderson, Brian W. 3954 | rf | fla nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | +2.5 |
| Gonzalez, Carlos 2460 | rf | col nl | 2.0 | 7.5 | 37.0 | 66.2 | -3.5 |
| Cobb, Alex 2916 | pi sp | bal al | 1.0 | 9.4 | 30.8 | 40.8 | -7.4 |
| Altherr, Aaron 3563 | rf | phi nl | 1.0 | 8.5 | 12.0 | 12.0 | -6.5 |
| Duffey, Tyler 3558 | pi mr sp | min al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | 0.0 |
| Wright, Steven 3224 | pi sp | bos al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 14.1 | 14.1 | +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.