Box-Toppers Toppers Box
Today’s key Box-Toppers numbers. Click links to jump to charts elsewhere on this page.▪️ Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners.
▪️ Box-Toppers points of the day’s top players.
▪️ Top 10 players in 2023 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at upcoming pitching matchups.
▪️ Subscribe to Box-Toppers Email Newsletter.
Mets pitcher Kodai Senga is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen regains the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Senga struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 2-0 win over the Phillies.
Senga earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season, 19th among all players and seventh among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Rangers pitcher Grant Anderson struck out seven over 2 2/3 scoreless innings of middle relief, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 10-6 win over the Tigers.
Anderson earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, his first points of the season, and is 66th among AL pitchers.
This is Anderson’s Box-Toppers debut, his first career Player of the Game honor and it is also his Major League debut.
American League Batter of the Day—Isiah Kiner-Falefa went 4-for-5, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 10-2 win over the Mariners.
National League Batter of the Day—Jason Heyward of the Dodgers homered and went 2-for-2, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 9-3 win over the Nationals.
Heyward earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 4.5 for the season, sixth among NL batters.
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Rankings—Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen rises from fourth to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Gallen (6IP 5H 0R 2BB 7K W in the 5-1 win over the Rockies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.7 for the season, passing previous leader, Rays pitcher Shane McClanahan (8.7). Though both Gallen and McClanahan have the same point total, Gallen ranks higher because he has more 2022 points—18.7 vs. 16.4.
This is the third time Gallen has led Box-Toppers season player rankings in 2023. He also took the lead April 26, before losing it April 28. And he rose to the lead May 8 before being passed May 21.
Notable—Reds pitcher Ben Lively earned his first Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor in more than five years Tuesday.
Lively (5.2IP 4H 0R 2BB 6K W in the 9-8 win over the Red Sox) last earned Player of the Game honors Sept. 5, 2017, when he was with the Phillies.
Lively played in Korea in 2019 and 2020.
Interestingly, Lively has two previous career Player of the Game honors, both earned within a week of each other (the other was Aug. 31, 2017) and he earned both of them for batting as a pitcher. In 2017, pitchers won Player of the Game honors as a batter seven times and Lively was the only one with more than one such honor. (With the designated hitter in place in the NL, no pitcher has won Player of the Game honors for batting since 2021.)
Tuesday then was Lively’s first career Player of the Game honor earned for his box score statistics as a pitcher.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2023. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Tuesday, May 30.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gallen, Zac 4171 | pi sp | ari nl | 8.7 |
| 2 | McClanahan, Shane 4399 | pi sp | tb al | 8.7 |
| 3 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 8.4 |
| 4 | Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | tor al | 8.0 |
| 5 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | tex al | 7.7 |
| 6 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf cf dh | nyy al | 7.5 |
| 7 | Rasmussen, Drew 4547 | pi sp | tb al | 6.7 |
| 8 | Eovaldi, Nathan 2928 | pi sp | tex al | 6.7 |
| 9 | Stroman, Marcus 3327 | pi sp | chi nl | 6.7 |
| 10 | Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 | pi sp | sea al | 6.4 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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Scoring—Senga earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Anderson earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Kiner-Falefa and Heyward each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’s other Player of the Game winners (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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Box‑Toppers Player of the Game winners
Here is the top player from each of the day’s games listed from highest to lowest Box‑Toppers game score (BTG).Back to top
| 5/30 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +15.0 | NYM 2, PHI 0 | Kodai Senga, (W 5‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | |
| +14.0 | STL 2, KC 1 | Miles Mikolas, (W 4‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | ||
| AL | +8.2 | TEX 10, DET 6 | Grant Anderson, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| +6.0 | ARI 5, COL 1 | Zac Gallen, (W 7‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | ||
| +6.0 | CHC 2, TB 1 | Adbert Alzolay, (S 2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| +5.2 | CIN 9, BOS 8 | Ben Lively, (W 3‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||
| BAT | +4.0 | NYY 10, SEA 2 | Isiah Kiner‑Falefa, LF | 5 | 1 | 4 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | BAL 8, CLE 5 | Anthony Santander, RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.2 | HOU 5, MIN 1 | Brandon Bielak, (W 2‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | ||
| +3.0 | CHW 7, LAA 3 | Andrew Vaughn, 1B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | LAD 9, WSH 3 | Jason Heyward, RF | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | PIT 2, SF 1 | David Bednar, (S 10) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | SD 9, MIA 4 | Juan Soto, LF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | TOR 7, MIL 2 | Whit Merrifield, LF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | `OAK 2, ATL 1 | JP Sears | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 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 would 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.
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Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s Player of the Game winners
Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Player of the Game winners. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total in 2023 (’23). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’22-23), the period 2018-2023 (’18-23) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2023 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2022 total (+/-).Back to top
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’23 | ’22‑23 | ’18‑23 | Career | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gallen, Zac 4171 | pi sp | ari nl | 8.7 | 27.4 | 43.1 | 43.1 | -10.0 |
| Senga, Kodai 4762 | pi sp | nym nl | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | +6.0 |
| Mikolas, Miles 3034 | pi sp | stl nl | 4.7 | 16.8 | 31.5 | 34.2 | -7.4 |
| Heyward, Jason 2695 | cf rf | lad nl | 4.5 | 4.5 | 16.2 | 36.7 | +4.5 |
| Soto, Juan 3994 | lf | sd nl | 4.0 | 6.5 | 28.0 | 28.0 | +1.5 |
| Santander, Anthony 3935 | rf | bal al | 2.0 | 7.0 | 15.5 | 15.5 | -3.0 |
| Vaughn, Andrew 4445 | 1b dh | chi al | 2.0 | 5.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 | -1.5 |
| Bielak, Brandon 4297 | pi sp cp mr | hou al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | +2.0 |
| Anderson, Grant 4828 | pi mr | tex al | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | +1.7 |
| Kiner-Falefa, Isiah 4130 | lf ss 3b | nyy al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | +1.5 |
| Bednar, David 4499 | pi cp | pit nl | 1.0 | 7.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | -5.0 |
| Sears, JP 4627 | pi sp | oak al | 1.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | -4.0 |
| Merrifield, Whit 3855 | lf 2b | tor al | 1.0 | 4.0 | 15.0 | 19.0 | -2.0 |
| Alzolay, Adbert 4170 | pi cp mr | chi nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 11.7 | 11.7 | -1.0 |
| Lively, Ben 3903 | pi sp | cin nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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A Box-Toppers look at Wednesday’s pitching matchups
A Box-Toppers look at the upcoming day’s probable pitching matchups. Teams are paired below with visiting teams on top and home teams on the bottom. Each team’s starting pitcher is shown with their Box-Toppers point total from 2023 (’23), over a two-year period (’22-23), over a six-year period (’18-23) and their career point total.Back to top
| Game | Starter | ’23 | ’22‑23 | ’18‑23 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEX | Dunning, Dane 4317 | 0.0 | 4.4 | 9.4 | 9.4 |
| DET | Undecided | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| LAA | Barria, Jaime 3964 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 |
| CHW | Lynn, Lance 2992 | 1.0 | 10.7 | 50.2 | 114.8 |
| TB | Eflin, Zach 3679 | 3.0 | 6.7 | 29.5 | 34.5 |
| CHC | Steele, Justin 4415 | 4.0 | 9.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 |
| CLE | Bieber, Shane 4005 | 1.0 | 14.7 | 57.3 | 57.3 |
| BAL | Undecided | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| ATL | Shuster, Jared 4816 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| OAK | Kaprielian, James 4416 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 12.4 | 12.4 |
| PIT | Keller, Mitch 4230 | 6.0 | 8.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 |
| SF | Wood, Alex 3246 | 1.0 | 8.0 | 26.0 | 61.1 |
| WSH | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | 1.7 | 5.7 | 44.8 | 87.0 |
| LAD | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 22.4 | 52.5 |
| SD | Snell, Blake 3688 | 0.0 | 13.1 | 65.4 | 74.4 |
| MIA | Garrett, Braxton 4341 | 5.0 | 10.7 | 12.7 | 12.7 |
| MIL | Teheran, Julio 3176 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 20.7 | 72.2 |
| TOR | Manoah, Alek 4424 | 1.0 | 14.1 | 24.8 | 24.8 |
| CIN | Weaver, Luke 3719 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 16.0 | 25.7 |
| BOS | Paxton, James 3280 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 31.1 | 55.9 |
| PHI | Nola, Aaron 3569 | 3.0 | 19.0 | 68.2 | 92.7 |
| NYM | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | 0.0 | 9.7 | 41.5 | 109.8 |
| MIN | Varland, Louie 4758 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| HOU | Brown, Hunter 4729 | 6.4 | 7.4 | 7.4 | 7.4 |
| COL | Lamet, Dinelson 3808 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 15.7 | 22.4 |
| ARI | Henry, Tommy* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| NYY | Schmidt, Clarke 4581 | 0.0 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 |
| SEA | Kirby, George 4595 | 2.0 | 13.4 | 13.4 | 13.4 |
| WSH | Irvin, Jake 4805 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| LAD | Gonsolin, Tony 4211 | 2.0 | 13.4 | 25.8 | 25.8 |
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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