Editor’s note: It’s a much abbreviated Box-Toppers Daily Scorecard today. My mother died Wednesday morning. While she was 85 and had overcome some health struggles and was dealing with others, her passing was still sudden and unexpected, which is how she would have wanted it.
I want to share some of her writing. She wrote stories about growing up on a southwest Iowa farm in the 1940s and 1950s that are both hilarious and poignant. She had a voice.
For today, Box-Toppers will present the Player of the Game winners chart and the chart with the Box-Toppers point totals of Player of the Game winners with a more limited narrative.
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 2025
▪️ Subscribe to newsletter
▪️ Support Box-Toppers
Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Other Player of the Game winners Thursday include White Sox pitcher Sean Burke, Seiya Suzuki of the Cubs and Dillon Dingler of the Tigers.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in 2025 Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned in the regular season through Thursday, May 1.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nick Pivetta | pi sp | Padres | 6.0 |
| 2 | Pete Alonso | 1b | Mets | 5.5 |
| 3 | Hunter Brown | pi sp | Astros | 5.4 |
| 4 | Garrett Crochet | pi sp | Red Sox | 5.4 |
| 5 | Andrew Heaney | pi sp | Pirates | 5.0 |
| 6 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | pi sp | Dodgers | 5.0 |
| 7 | Zack Wheeler | pi sp | Phillies | 4.7 |
| 8 | Logan Gilbert | pi sp | Mariners | 4.7 |
| 9 | Carlos Rodón | pi sp | Yankees | 4.7 |
| 10 | Tyler Mahle | pi sp | Rangers | 4.7 |
Player of the Day
Gallen struck out eight over six innings, allowing one run, two hits and three walks in the 4-2 win over the Mets.
Gallen earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.0 for the season, 13th among all players and sixth among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day
White Sox pitcher Sean Burke (6IP 2H 0R 3BB 5K W in the 8-0 win over the Brewers) earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points, giving him 2.7 for the season, 23rd among AL pitchers.
National League Batter of the Day
Seiya Suzuki of the Cubs (2HR 2-4 2R 3BI in the 8-3 win over the Pirates) earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points, giving him 3.5 for the season, fourth among NL batters.
American League Batter of the Day
Dillon Dingler of the Tigers (HR 3-5 R 3BI in the 10-4 win over the Angels) earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points, giving him 2.5 for the season, ninth among AL batters.
Scoring
Gallen earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.
Burke earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day.
Suzuki and Dingler each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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).
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).| 5/1 | BTG | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +7.0 | ARI 4, NYM 2 | Zac Gallen (W, 2‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | |
| +7.0 | CIN 9, STL 1 | Graham Ashcraft (W, 2‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| AL | +6.0 | CHW 8, MIL 0 | Sean Burke (W, 2‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | |
| +4.0 | ATH 3, TEX 0 | Jeffrey Springs (W, 4‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | CHC 8, PIT 3 | Seiya Suzuki DH | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | TOR 4, BOS 2 | Yimi García (S, 2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.2 | `CLE 4, MIN 3 (F/10) | Ben Lively | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | +2.0 | DET 10, LAA 4 | Dillon Dingler C | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +2.0 | KC 8, TB 2 | Bobby Witt Jr. SS | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +0.1 | COL 4, SF 3 | Angel Chivilli (W, 1‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 0.0 | WSH 4, PHI 2 | Luis García Jr. 2B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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 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 | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gallen, Zac 4171 | pi sp | ari nl | 4.0 | 16.4 | 61.8 | 67.5 | -8.4 |
| Suzuki, Seiya 4924 | dh rf | chi nl | 3.5 | 9.5 | 10.5 | 10.5 | -2.5 |
| Springs, Jeffrey 4372 | pi sp | oak al | 3.0 | 8.0 | 25.4 | 25.4 | -2.0 |
| Lively, Ben 3903 | pi sp | cle al | 3.0 | 8.0 | 9.0 | 11.0 | -2.0 |
| Burke, Sean 5124 | pi sp | chi al | 2.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | +1.7 |
| Dingler, Dillon 5081 | ca | det al | 2.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | +1.5 |
| Witt, Bobby Jr. 4592 | ss | kc al | 1.0 | 9.9 | 19.6 | 19.6 | -7.9 |
| Garcia, Luis Jr. 4671 | 2b | dc nl | 1.0 | 7.2 | 11.2 | 11.2 | -5.2 |
| Garcia, Yimi 3440 | pi cp | tor al | 1.0 | 5.0 | 11.0 | 13.0 | -3.0 |
| Ashcraft, Graham 4645 | pi sp | cin nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 0.0 |
| Chivilli, Angel 5085 | pi mr | col nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
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