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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
▪️ Upcoming pitching matchups
▪️ Thursday’s Sidelights Sidebar
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Brewers pitcher Nestor Cortes is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Aaron Judge of the Yankees rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Batter of the Day honors.
Player of the Day
Cortes struck out six over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 1-0 win over the Reds.
Cortes earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season and now is third in season player rankings.
Cortes earned 15.4 Box-Toppers points in 2024 with the Yankees, sixth among American League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day
Astros pitcher Hunter Brown struck out eight over six innings, allowing two runs, five hits and no walks, in the 5-2 win over the Twins.
Brown earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, his first points of the season and is 18th in season player rankings.
Brown earned 12.0 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 15th among AL pitchers.
Most 2025 Box-Toppers points 1—Aaron Judge #Yankees 3.5* 2—Zack Wheeler #Phillies 2.7 3—Nestor Cortes #Brewers 2.0† 4—Logan Gilbert #Mariners 2.0 5—Nathan Eovaldi #Rangers 2.0 *Earns 1.5 B-T pts as TH’s AL Batter of the Day †Earns 2.0 B-T pts as TH’s Player of Day www.box-toppers.com/blog/2025/4/...
— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Apr 4, 2025 at 7:10 AM
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American League Batter of the Day
Aaron Judge of the Yankees hit a three-run homer, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 9-7 win over the Diamondbacks.
Judge earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 3.5 for the season, rising to first place in season player rankings, passing previous leader, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, who only took the lead Wednesday with 2.7 Box-Toppers points. Wheeler falls to second place.
Thursday’s Sidelights Sidebar
Top Thursday pitchers
Two of the three pitchers with the most 2024 Box-Toppers points among Thursday’s starters earned Player of the Game honors:▪️Nestor Cortes, Brewers
15.4 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 12th overall
Won Player of the Game in win vs. CIN
(6IP H 0R 2BB 6K W), +9.0 B-T game score
▪️Hunter Brown, Astros
12.0 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 31st overall
Won Player of the Game in win vs. MIN
(6IP 5H 2R 0BB 8K W), +5.0 B-T game score
▪️Tanner Houck, Red Sox
13.4 Box-Toppers points in 2024, 19th overall
Was not Player of the Game in win vs. BAL
(4IP 5H 3R 2BB 6K ND), -3.0 B-T game score
Player of the Game—Teammate Alex Bregman (HR 2-2B 3-5 2R 3BI), +3.0 game score
High scores, no points
Highest Box-Toppers game scores for the day among players who did not earn Player of the Game honors:▪️+5.2—Nick Lodolo, Reds (6.2IP 4H R 0ER 0BB 4K L)
Was not Player of the Game in loss vs. MIL.
Player of the Game—Nestor Cortes, Brewers (6IP H 0R 2BB 6K W) with +9.0 game score.
▪️+3.0—Trent Grisham, Yankees (HR 2B 3-4 R 3BI)
Was not Player of the Game in win vs. ARI.
Player of the Game—Teammate Aaron Judge (HR 2B 3-5 2R 4BI) with +4.0 game score.
▪️+2.1—Luke Weaver, Yankees (1.1IP 0H 0R 0BB K Sv)
Was not Player of the Game in win vs. ARI.
Player of the Game—Teammate Aaron Judge (HR 2B 3-5 2R 4BI) with +4.0 game score.
Lowest Box-Toppers game scores
Out of 144 total players Thursday, 41 pitchers-24.8—Merrill Kelly, Diamondbacks (3.2IP 9H 9R 3BB 2K L vs. NYY)
-11.8—Ryan Yarbrough, Yankees
-5.0—Keegan Akin, Orioles
Lowest Box-Toppers game scores by batters
Out of 103 total batters Thursday-5.0—Jose Altuve, Astros 0-5 5K
-4.0—Ryan O'Hearn, Orioles 0-4 3K
-4.0—Yordan Alvarez, Astros 0-4 2K
-4.0—Nick Castellanos, Phillies 0-4 2K
-4.0—Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Reds 0-4 2K
-4.0—Trevor Story, Red Sox 0-4 2K
Box-Toppers uses Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com and other sources to compile this information.
This is Judge’s second Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor of 2025. Previously, Judge was Box-Toppers overall Player of the Day on Saturday, March 29 (3HR 2B 4-6 4R 8BI in the 20-9 win over the Brewers), earning 2.0 Box-Toppers points.
Judge earned 13.0 Box-Toppers points in 2024, leading all American League batters and ranking 21st among all players.
National League Batter of the Day
There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because no NL batter won Player of the Game honors in the five games played.
Streak
Alex Bregman of the Red Sox has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2025 Thursday.
Bregman (HR 2-2B 3-5 2R 2BI in the 8-4 win over the Orioles) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2016 with the Astros and now has 42.9 career points, 33rd among all third basemen since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He ranks second among active AL third basemen, behind José Ramírez of the Guardians (68.3).
Bregman’s best season was 2019 with the Astros when he had 10.0 Box-Toppers points, fifth among AL batters and first among AL third basemen. Bregman earned 1.5 points in 2024 with the Astros, 116th among AL batters.
Scoring
Cortes earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.
Brown earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day.
Judge 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 Bluesky or Twitter (X).
(This post was revised Monday, April 7, to include Alex Bregman extending his streak of consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points to 10.)
Los Angeles #Dodgers lead Box-Toppers 2025 team rankings after the first week of the season, with players accumulating 10.7 B-T points in 8-0 start: 1. LAD 10.7 2. #Padres 9.2 3. #Rangers 6.5 4. #Phillies 6.4 5. #Yankees 6.2 6. #Cubs 6.0 7. #BlueJays 5.5 8. #Dbacks 5.0 www.box-toppers.com
— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Apr 4, 2025 at 2:49 PM
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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).| 4/3 | BTG | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +9.0 | MIL 1, CIN 0 | Nestor Cortes (W, 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | |
| +6.0 | PHI 3, COL 1 | Taijuan Walker (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| AL | +5.0 | HOU 5, MIN 2 | Hunter Brown (W, 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | |
| BAT | +4.0 | NYY 9, ARI 7 | Aaron Judge DH | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | BOS 8, BAL 4 | Alex Bregman 3B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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 2025 (’25). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’24-’25), the period 2020-2025 (’20-25) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2025 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2024 total (+/-).Back to top
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’25 | ’24‑25 | ’20‑25 | Career | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf dh | nyy al | 3.5 | 16.5 | 54.7 | 71.9 | -9.5 |
| Cortes, Nestor 4160 | pi sp | mil nl | 2.0 | 17.4 | 39.8 | 41.8 | -13.4 |
| Brown, Hunter 4729 | pi sp | hou al | 1.7 | 13.7 | 24.8 | 24.8 | -10.3 |
| Bregman, Alex 3721 | 3b | bos al | 1.0 | 2.5 | 21.7 | 42.9 | -0.5 |
| Walker, Taijuan 3453 | pi sp | phi nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 32.8 | 59.2 | 0.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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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 2025 (’25), this year and last year (’24-25), over a six-year period (’20-25) and their career point total.Back to top
| Game | Starter | ’25 | ’24‑25 | ’20‑25 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHW | Cannon, Jonathan 5036 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| DET | Flaherty, Jack 3971 | 0.0 | 12.0 | 27.7 | 57.3 |
| STL | Fedde, Erick 4065 | 1.0 | 9.7 | 24.5 | 28.2 |
| BOS | Buehler, Walker 3943 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 28.1 | 59.6 |
| SD | Vasquez, Randy 4841 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| CHC | Imanaga, Shota 4960 | 1.0 | 21.7 | 21.7 | 21.7 |
| TOR | Gausman, Kevin 3191 | 0.0 | 10.0 | 56.1 | 98.1 |
| NYM | Megill, Tylor 4464 | 1.0 | 3.7 | 19.4 | 19.4 |
| ATH | Bido, Osvaldo 4882 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| COL | Feltner, Ryan 4635 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| NYY | Fried, Max 4011 | 0.0 | 13.4 | 55.9 | 66.9 |
| PIT | Keller, Mitch 4230 | 0.0 | 11.7 | 30.7 | 31.7 |
| SEA | Castillo, Luis Felipe* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| SF | Verlander, Justin 2112 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 41.4 | 247.0 |
| ARI | Pfaadt, Brandon 4812 | 0.0 | 12.4 | 16.1 | 16.1 |
| WSH | Irvin, Jake 4805 | 0.0 | 10.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 |
| LAD | Yamamoto, Yoshinobu 4964 | 2.0 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.4 |
| PHI | Luzardo, Jesus 4282 | 1.7 | 3.7 | 37.6 | 37.6 |
| MIA | Meyer, Max 4965 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| ATL | Schwellenbach, Spencer 5035 | 0.0 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 |
| BAL | Kremer, Dean 4330 | 0.0 | 8.7 | 29.8 | 29.8 |
| KC | Lugo, Seth 3729 | 0.0 | 14.1 | 25.5 | 38.5 |
| TB | Littell, Zack 4533 | 0.0 | 8.4 | 14.4 | 14.4 |
| TEX | Mahle, Tyler 3929 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 22.4 | 32.4 |
| CIN | Martinez, Nick 3430 | 0.0 | 9.7 | 22.1 | 28.8 |
| MIL | Undecided | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| CLE | Williams, Gavin 4865 | 0.0 | 3.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 |
| LAA | Soriano, Jose 4884 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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