Athletics pitcher JP Sears is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Sunday’s spring training games.
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Sears struck out seven over three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 5-2 win over the Rangers.
Sears would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day if this were a regular season game. Because it’s a preseason exhibition game, no Box-Toppers points are awarded.
Sears earned 4.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 68th among National League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day
Tim Locastro of the Padres doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 12-4 win over the Mariners.
Locastro would have earned 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day if this were a regular season game.
Locastro earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points in 2023 with the Mets, 139th among NL batters.
American League Batter of the Day
TT Bowens of the Orioles hit a three-run homer and went 1-for-1, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 5-2 win over the Pirates.
Bowens would have earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day if this were a regular season game.
Bowens, 25, has yet to make his regular season Major League debut and so has 0.0 career Box-Toppers points.
National League Batter of the Day
There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Sunday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Tim Locastro.
Sunday’s games
In Sunday’s 14 completed spring training games featuring matchups between two Major League teams, there were 10 Player of the Game winners who had previously earned Box-Toppers points in regular season games.
Most notably, Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers (3B 3-3 2R 2BI in the 7-4 win over the Rockies), had the most 2023 Box-Toppers points among Sunday’s Player of the Game winners. Ohtani earned 19.4 Box-Toppers points in 2023 with the Angels, third among all players, second among AL pitchers and first among AL batters.
While Ohtani split the points he earned evenly between pitching and batting in 2023 (9.7 as a pitcher and 9.7 as a batter), he qualified to rank in both categories, so his full 19.4 points are used when ranking him among both pitchers and batters. Considering Ohtani’s Box-Toppers points as a batter and as a pitcher separately, his 9.7 points as a batter would have ranked third among AL batters and his 9.7 points as a pitcher would have ranked 28th among AL pitchers.
Ohtani underwent elbow surgery in the offseason, ruling him out as a pitcher for 2024 but he will be serving the Dodgers as a designated hitter.
In four of Sunday’s games, the Player of the Game winner was a player who has yet to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in the regular season and so has 0.0 career Box-Toppers points.
Scoring
No Box-Toppers points are awarded in exhibition games. Were it a regular season day, Sears would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Locastro would have earned 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Bowens would have earned 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart) would have earned 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).| 3/3 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +9.0 | OAK 5, TEX 2 | JP Sears (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| NL | +5.0 | SD 12, SEA 4 | Tim Locastro LF | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.0 | `BOS 3, TOR 1 | Kutter Crawford | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| +4.0 | LAD 7, COL 4 | Shohei Ohtani DH | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| BAT | +4.0 | BAL 5, PIT 2 | TT Bowens 1B | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | SF 6, CLE 5 | Nick Avila (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +4.0 | LAA 3, CHW 1 | Walbert Urena (S, 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +4.0 | `DET 7, NYY 2 | Matt Manning | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
| +3.0 | CHC 5, CLE 3 | David Bote 2B | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | KC 7, CIN 3 | Salvador Perez C | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | MIL 10, ARI 4 | Garrett Mitchell RF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | HOU 5, NYM 2 (F/6) | Jake Meyers CF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | ATL 3, PHI 2 | Orlando Arcia SS | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| 0.0 | TB 4, MIN 4 | N/A | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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.
N/A—Not applicable. No Player of the Game was chosen because the game ended in a tie.
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. No points are awarded during spring training games, so all players have 0.0 Box-Toppers points for 2024. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total in 2023 (’23). Also shown is their point total for the period 2019-2023 (’19-23) and each players’ career point total. (Player of the Game winners not listed here have yet to earn Box-Toppers points during the regular season.)Back to top
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’24† | ’23 | ’19‑23 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | lad nl | 0.0 | 19.4 | 66.7 | 74.7 |
| Crawford, Kutter 4660 | pi sp | bos al | 0.0 | 5.7 | 9.7 | 9.7 |
| Manning, Matt 4550 | pi sp | det al | 0.0 | 4.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 |
| Perez, Salvador 2972 | ca | kc al | 0.0 | 4.5 | 13.0 | 45.2 |
| Sears, JP 4627 | pi sp | oak al | 0.0 | 4.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 |
| Arcia, Orlando 3717 | ss | atl nl | 0.0 | 4.0 | 12.2 | 15.7 |
| Meyers Jake 4510 | cf | hou al | 0.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Locastro, Tim 4360 | cf | sd nl | 0.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Bote, David 4032 | 1b 3b 2b | chi nl | 0.0 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 9.0 |
| Mitchell, Garrett 4723 | cf | mil nl | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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A Box-Toppers look at Monday’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 2024 (’24)†, last year (’23), over a six-year period (’19-23) and their career point total.Back to top
| Game | Starter | ’24† | ’23 | ’19‑23 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOS | Winckowski, Josh 4784 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| DET | Skubal, Tarik 4414 | 0.0 | 10.7 | 30.1 | 30.1 |
| STL | Mikolas, Miles 3034 | 0.0 | 6.7 | 21.8 | 36.2 |
| WSH | Williams, Trevor 3792 | 0.0 | 5.7 | 16.4 | 29.4 |
| PIT | Ortiz, Luis 4738 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| TB | Civale, Aaron 4173 | 0.0 | 6.0 | 28.4 | 28.4 |
| MIN | Sands, Cole* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| BAL | Kremer, Dean 4330 | 0.0 | 9.7 | 21.1 | 21.1 |
| ATL | Smith-Shawver, AJ 4951 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| MIN | Lopez, Pablo 4028 | 0.0 | 13.4 | 45.5 | 47.2 |
| PHI | Phillips, Tyler* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| TOR | Parsons, Wes* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| OAK | Medina, Luis 4876 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| CIN | Abbott, Andrew 4839 | 0.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 |
| LAA | Anderson, Tyler 3656 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 24.4 | 37.4 |
| TEX | Bradford, Cody 4938 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| ARI | Pfaadt, Brandon 4812 | 0.0 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| CHW | Soroka, Mike 3956 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 11.4 | 14.4 |
| CHC | Wicks, Jordan 4912 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| SD | Waldron, Matt 4946 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| SF | Howard, Spencer 4386 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| COL | Hudson, Dakota 4035 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 16.4 | 17.4 |
| NYY | Schmidt, Clarke 4581 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 6.4 | 6.4 |
| MIA | Puk, A.J. 4253 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
Games shown are spring training games between MLB teams. Doesn't include games vs. non-MLB teams.
† Players don’t earn Box-Toppers points in spring training games, only regular season games, so no pitcher has earned any points in 2024.
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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