Box-Toppers Toppers Box
Today’s key Box-Toppers numbers. Click links to jump to charts elsewhere on this page.▪️ Players of the Game
▪️ B-T points of day’s top players
▪️ Top 10 players in 2024
▪️ Thursday’s highlights & lowlights
▪️ Upcoming pitching matchups
▪️ Subscribe to newsletter
▪️ Support Box-Toppers
Twins pitcher Pablo Lopez is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Brenton Doyle of the Rockies rises to first place among National League batters in 2024 Box-Toppers points after earning NL Player of the Day honors.
Player of the Day
Lopez struck out 10 over 6 1/3 innings, allowing one run, four hits and no walks, in the 11-1 win over the Mariners.
Lopez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.0 for the season, 23rd among all players and 10th among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day
Brenton Doyle of the Rockies hit a three-run homer, doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 9-1 win over the Giants.
Doyle earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 4.2 for the season, 22nd among all players and rising to first place among NL batters, passing previous leader Francisco Lindor of the Mets (3.2 points), who falls to second place.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in 2024 Box-Toppers points (BTP) through Thursday, May 9:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dylan Cease | pi sp | Padres | 7.7 |
| 2 | Shota Imanaga | pi sp | Cubs | 7.7 |
| 3 | Zack Wheeler | pi sp | Phillies | 6.7 |
| 4 | Ranger Suárez | pi sp | Phillies | 6.7 |
| 5 | Freddy Peralta | pi sp | Brewers | 6.0 |
| 6 | Logan Gilbert | pi sp | Mariners | 6.0 |
| 7 | Tyler Glasnow | pi sp | Dodgers | 6.0 |
| 8 | Tanner Houck | pi sp | Red Sox | 6.0 |
| 9 | Seth Lugo | pi sp | Royals | 5.4 |
| 10 | Luis Castillo | pi sp | Mariners | 5.0 |
American League Batter of the Day
Dairon Blanco of the Royals homered, doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring four times and driving in two runs, in the 10-4 win over the Angels.
National League Batter of the Day
There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Brenton Doyle.
Scoring
Thursday’s highlights & lowlights
Top pitching matchup
▪️Logan Gilbert, Mariners19.4 Box-Toppers points over 2023-24, 4th among AL pitchers
▪️Pablo López, Twins
15.4 Box-Toppers points over 2023-24, 10th among AL pitchers
Result—MIN 11, SEA 1
López was Player of the Game (6.1IP 4H R 0BB 10K W) with +10.1 B-T game score, also winning overall Player of the Day honors.
Gilbert had -19.0 B-T game score (4IP 9H 8R 2BB 4K L), lowest score of the day.
López now has 17.4 B-T points over 2023-24, rising to 6th among AL pitchers.
High scores, no points
Highest Box-Toppers game scores for the day among players who did not earn Player of the Game honors:▪️+3.0—Vinnie Pasquantino, Royals (HR 2B SF 2-4 2R 3BI)
Was not Player of the Game in win vs. LAA.
Player of the Game—Teammate Dairon Blanco (HR 2B 3-3 4R 2BI) with +6.0 game score.
▪️+3.0—Manuel Margot, Twins (2B 1-4 R 5BI)
Was not Player of the Game in win vs. SEA.
Player of the Game—Teammate Pablo López (6.1IP 4H R 0BB 10K W) with +10.1 game score.
▪️+2.0—Maikel Garcia, Royals (2B 3-5 2R 2BI)
Was not Player of the Game in win vs. LAA.
Player of the Game—Teammate Dairon Blanco (HR 2B 3-3 4R 2BI) with +6.0 game score.
Lowest Box-Toppers game scores
Out of 191 total players Thursday, 51 pitchers-19.0—Logan Gilbert, Mariners (4IP 9H 8R 2BB 4K L vs. MIN)
-17.8—Keaton Winn, Giants
-11.0—Reid Detmers, Angels
-9.8—Ben Lively, Guardians
-9.0—Sonny Gray, Cardinals
Lowest Box-Toppers game scores by batters
Out of 140 total batters Thursday-5.0—Nelson Velázquez, Royals 0-5 4K
-4.0—Giancarlo Stanton, Yankees 0-4 4K
-4.0—Gary Sánchez, Brewers 0-4 3K
-4.0—Jordan Beck, Rockies 0-4 2K
-4.0—Jonathan India, Reds 0-4 2K
-4.0—Jorge Polanco, Mariners 0-4 2K
Box-Toppers uses Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com and other sources to compile this information.
Lopez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.
Doyle earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day.
Blanco earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day.
All of Thursday’s other Player of the Game winners (listed in the chart) 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.
For additional updates, follow Box-Toppers on Twitter (X).
Your support via Buy Me a Coffee keeps Box-Toppers percolating. Thanks for your contributions!
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).| 5/9 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +10.1 | MIN 11, SEA 1 | Pablo López (W, 4‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | |
| BAT | +6.0 | KC 10, LAA 4 | Dairon Blanco LF | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.1 | `HOU 4, NYY 3 | Bryan Abreu (H, 5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| NL | +3.0 | COL 9, SF 1 | Brenton Doyle CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | CHW 3, CLE 2 | Erick Fedde (W, 3‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +3.0 | MIL 7, STL 1 | Jared Koenig (W, 4‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.0 | ARI 5, CIN 4 | Paul Sewald (S, 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 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.
Back to top
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 2024 (’24). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’23-24), the period 2019-2024 (’19-24) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2024 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2023 total (+/-).Back to top
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’24 | ’23‑24 | ’19‑24 | Career | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doyle, Brenton 4803 | cf | col nl | 4.2 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.2 | +0.2 |
| Lopez, Pablo 4028 | pi sp | min al | 4.0 | 17.4 | 49.5 | 51.2 | -9.4 |
| Fedde, Erick 4065 | pi sp | chi al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 19.8 | 21.5 | +3.0 |
| Blanco, Dairon 4877 | lf | kc al | 1.5 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 |
| Sewald, Paul 3940 | pi cp | ari nl | 1.0 | 6.0 | 12.0 | 13.0 | -4.0 |
| Abreu, Bryan 4663 | pi mr cp | hou al | 1.0 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | -3.0 |
| Koenig, Jared 4755 | pi mr | mil nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default view.
Back to top
A Box-Toppers look at Friday’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), this year and last year (’23-24), over a six-year period (’19-24) and their career point total.Back to top
| Game | Starter | ’24 | ’23-24 | ’19‑24 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHC | Assad, Javier 4899 | 4.0 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 |
| PIT | Jones, Jared 4956 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| HOU | Valdez, Framber 4048 | 0.0 | 10.0 | 39.4 | 41.4 |
| DET | Mize, Casey 4377 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 7.7 | 7.7 |
| NYY | Schmidt, Clarke 4581 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 7.4 | 7.4 |
| TB | Bradley, Taj 4780 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| ARI | Pfaadt, Brandon 4812 | 2.7 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 6.4 |
| BAL | Irvin, Cole 4140 | 2.0 | 5.0 | 20.4 | 20.4 |
| MIN | Ryan, Joe 4539 | 3.7 | 12.4 | 29.8 | 29.8 |
| TOR | Kikuchi, Yusei 4136 | 2.7 | 12.7 | 30.1 | 30.1 |
| ATL | Morton, Charlie 2503 | 1.0 | 11.0 | 54.9 | 105.1 |
| NYM | Quintana, Jose 3040 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 23.8 | 84.1 |
| PHI | Suarez, Ranger 4228 | 6.7 | 10.4 | 25.4 | 25.4 |
| MIA | Rogers, Trevor 4311 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 14.0 | 14.0 |
| WSH | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | 0.0 | 7.1 | 34.2 | 92.4 |
| BOS | Houck, Tanner 4342 | 6.0 | 8.0 | 19.7 | 19.7 |
| CLE | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 24.1 | 111.5 |
| CHW | Crochet, Garrett 4434 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| STL | Lynn, Lance 2992 | 1.0 | 5.7 | 51.9 | 119.5 |
| MIL | Gasser, Robert* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| TEX | Gray, Jon 3634 | 3.0 | 10.7 | 32.7 | 56.1 |
| COL | Gomber, Austin 3985 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 14.0 | 18.7 |
| KC | Marsh, Alec 4961 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| LAA | Canning, Griffin 4134 | 0.0 | 6.0 | 17.7 | 17.7 |
| LAD | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | 6.0 | 18.4 | 48.8 | 54.8 |
| SD | King, Michael 4549 | 1.0 | 10.0 | 15.7 | 15.7 |
| OAK | Blackburn, Paul 3869 | 3.0 | 7.7 | 11.7 | 14.7 |
| SEA | Woo, Bryan 4842 | 0.0 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 |
| CIN | Abbott, Andrew 4839 | 1.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 |
| SF | Webb, Logan 4258 | 3.0 | 15.4 | 43.3 | 43.3 |
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default, game-by-game view.
Back to top