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
▪️ Upcoming pitching matchups
▪️ Subscribe to newsletter
▪️ Support Box-Toppers
Mets pitcher Nolan McLean is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in 2025 Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned in the regular season through Wednesday, Aug. 27.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zack Wheeler | pi sp | Phillies | 20.1 |
| 2 | Tarik Skubal | pi sp | Tigers | 19.4 |
| 3 | Paul Skenes | pi sp | Pirates | 18.1 |
| 4 | Nick Pivetta | pi sp | Padres | 17.7 |
| 5 | Garrett Crochet | pi sp | Red Sox | 15.1 |
| 6 | Jesús Luzardo | pi sp | Phillies | 14.7 |
| 7 | Nathan Eovaldi | pi sp | Rangers | 14.4 |
| 8 | Sonny Gray | pi sp | Cardinals | 14.0 |
| 9 | Bryan Woo | pi sp | Mariners | 14.0 |
| 10 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | pi sp | Dodgers | 14.0 |
Other Player of the Game winners Wednesday include Athletics pitcher Luis Morales, Rafael Devers of the Giants, Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani, Astros pitcher Framber Valdez, Adolis Garcia of the Rangers and Yankees pitcher Max Fried.
Player of the Day
McLean struck out six over eight scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks, in the 6-0 win over the Phillies.
McLean earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season, 160th among all players and 51st among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day
Athletics pitcher Luis Morales struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 7-0 win over the Tigers.
Morales earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season, and is 134th among AL pitchers.
This was Morales’s Box-Toppers debut, his first career Player of the Game honor. Morales made his Major League debut Aug. 1 and was playing in his fifth career game.
Morales recorded a +10.0 Box-Toppers game score, the same as another Wednesday Player of the Game winner, Mets pitcher Nolan McLean. However, McLean edged Morales for overall Player of the Day honors on a tiebreaker with more innings pitched—eight vs. seven.
National League Batter of the Day
Rafael Devers of the Giants hit two home runs, including a three-run homer, in the 12-3 win over the Cubs. Devers also doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring four times and driving in five runs.
Devers earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 7.7 for the season, fifth among NL batters.
American League Batter of the Day
Adolis Garcia of the Rangers hit a three-run homer, two doubles and went 4-for-6, scoring three times and driving in five runs, in the 20-3 win over the Angels.
Garcia earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 4.5 for the season, 32nd among AL batters.
Notable
Two players with more than 10 Box-Toppers points in 2025 earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday:
Fried rises to 15th overall
Yankees pitcher Max Fried (7IP 4H R 2BB 6K W in the 11-2 win over the Nationals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.7 for the season, 15th among all players and seventh among AL pitchers.
Valdez is 28th to reach 10 points in 2025
Astros pitcher Framber Valdez (7IP 3H 0R 2BB 5K W in the 4-0 win over the Rockies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.7 for the season, 22nd among all players and 12th among AL pitchers.
Valdez becomes the 28th player to reach 10 Box-Toppers points in 2025. It is his fourth season and fourth straight season with 10 or more points, all with the Astros:
In 2022, he had 16.0 points, fifth among AL pitchers.
In 2023, he had 10.0 points, 26th among AL pitchers.
In 2024, he had 15.4 points, 10th overall and fifth among AL pitchers.
2025 Box-Toppers points—NL batters 1—Christian Yelich #Brewers 11.2 2—Seiya Suzuki #Cubs 9.5 3—Pete Crow-Armstrong #Cubs 9.5 4—Kyle Schwarber #Phillies 9.0 5—Rafael Devers #SFGiants 7.7* 6—James Wood #Nationals 7.7 *Earns 1.5 B-T points Wednesday www.box-toppers.com/blog/2025/8/...
— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Aug 28, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Also notable
Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani qualifies to rank among both pitchers and batters for the first time this season after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday for his pitching start.
Ohtani (5IP 2H R 2BB 9K W in the 5-1 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.5 for the season, which is 122nd among all players, 42nd among NL pitchers and 19th among NL batters.
To qualify to rank at a certain position, a player must earn more than 25 percent of their Player of the Game honors in a season at that position. Ohtani has now earned Player of the Game honors five times in 2025—three as a batter and twice as a pitcher. That means, for the first time this season, Ohtani qualifies to rank among pitchers, as well as batters, with 40 percent of his Player of the Game honors earned as a pitcher.
Ohtani is the rare player who has regularly ranked among both batters and pitchers at the same time, finishing two of his previous seven seasons ranked in both categories—in 2018 and 2023. He ranked among only batters (as a designated hitter) in 2019, 2020 and 2024 and ranked among only pitchers in 2021 and 2022.
In 2024, he was unable to pitch, recovering from elbow surgery, but led NL batters in Box-Toppers points for the season with 11.0.
While Ohtani is co-leader among NL players in home runs with 45 (along with Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies) his Box-Toppers point for the season is still relatively low because other Dodgers players were more often the key contributor in the team’s wins. At this point in 2024, he had 4.0 Box-Toppers points and ranked outside the top 10 NL batters. But he exploded in the final month of the season, adding 7.0 points, including 6.0 in a 13-day period, rising to first among NL batters.
Related: Shohei Ohtani Box-Toppers career breakdown from 2018-2023.
Debut
In addition to Morales, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut Wednesday, each with their first career Player of the Game honor:
Pirates pitcher Bubba Chandler (4IP H 0R BB 3K W in the 2-1 win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut Aug. 22 and was playing in his second career game.
Diamondbacks pitcher Andrew Saalfrank (1.2Ip H 0R 0BB 2K Sv in the 3-2 win over the Brewers) made his Major League debut Sept. 5, 2023, and was playing in his 31st career game.
Scoring
McLean earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.
Morales earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day.
Devers and Garcia each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day.
All of Wednesday’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).| 8/27 | BTG | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +10.0 | NYM 6, PHI 0 | Nolan McLean (W, 3‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 8.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| AL | +10.0 | ATH 7, DET 0 | Luis Morales (W, 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | |
| BAT | +9.0 | SF 12, CHC 3 | Rafael Devers DH | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +8.0 | LAD 5, CIN 1 | Shohei Ohtani (W, 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | ||
| +7.0 | HOU 4, COL 0 | Framber Valdez (W, 12‑7) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| BAT | +6.0 | TEX 20, LAA 3 | Adolis García RF | 6 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.0 | ATL 12, MIA 1 | Jurickson Profar LF | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +5.0 | NYY 11, WSH 2 | Max Fried (W, 14‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| +5.0 | PIT 2, STL 1 | Bubba Chandler (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| +4.0 | TOR 9, MIN 8 | Davis Schneider LF | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | BOS 3, BAL 2 | Aroldis Chapman (S, 26) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +3.0 | KC 12, CHW 1 | Mike Yastrzemski RF | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | SEA 4, SD 3 | Eugenio Suárez 3B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | `CLE 4, TB 3 (F/10) | Matt Festa | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.2 | ARI 3, MIL 2 | Andrew Saalfrank (S, 3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.2 | 1 | 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 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 | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fried, Max 4011 | pi sp | nyy al | 11.7 | 25.1 | 67.6 | 78.6 | -1.7 |
| Valdez, Framber 4048 | pi sp | hou al | 10.7 | 26.1 | 61.8 | 67.5 | -4.7 |
| Devers, Rafael 4038 | dh | sf nl | 7.7 | 12.7 | 34.2 | 46.2 | +2.7 |
| Suarez, Eugenio 3355 | 3b | sea al | 7.5 | 16.0 | 29.5 | 60.5 | -1.0 |
| Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | dh pi sp | lad nl | 5.5 | 16.5 | 76.7 | 91.2 | -5.5 |
| Chapman, Aroldis 2826 | pi cp | bos al | 5.0 | 8.0 | 19.0 | 74.1 | +2.0 |
| McLean, Nolan 5255 | pi sp | nym nl | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | +5.0 |
| Garcia, Adolis 4387 | rf | tex al | 4.5 | 6.0 | 22.0 | 22.0 | +3.0 |
| Yastrzemski, Mike 4203 | rf | kc al | 4.0 | 4.0 | 14.5 | 15.5 | +4.0 |
| Festa, Matt 4692 | pi mr cp | cle al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | +1.0 |
| Morales, Luis 5268 | pi sp | oak al | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | +1.7 |
| Profar, Jurickson 3665 | lf | atl nl | 1.0 | 5.5 | 10.5 | 19.7 | -3.5 |
| Schneider, Davis 4890 | lf 2b | tor al | 1.0 | 4.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | -2.0 |
| Chandler, Bubba 5269 | pi mr | pit nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
| Sallfrank, Andrew 5270 | pi cp | ari nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +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 Thursday’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOS | Crochet, Garrett 4434 | 15.1 | 25.8 | 26.8 | 26.8 |
| BAL | Povich, Cade 5029 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| ARI | Crismatt, Nabil 4449 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| MIL | Quintana, Jose 3040 | 2.0 | 12.0 | 24.4 | 95.1 |
| COL | Freeland, Kyle 3763 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 22.7 | 42.1 |
| HOU | Alexander, Jason 5241 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 |
| PIT | Ashcraft, Braxton 5208 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 |
| STL | Mikolas, Miles 3034 | 7.0 | 11.0 | 29.8 | 47.2 |
| CHC | Imanaga, Shota 4960 | 7.0 | 27.7 | 27.7 | 27.7 |
| SF | Webb, Logan 4258 | 8.0 | 19.0 | 57.6 | 59.3 |
| ATL | Quantrill, Cal 4195 | 6.7 | 11.7 | 27.4 | 29.4 |
| PHI | Nola, Aaron 3569 | 2.7 | 16.1 | 62.5 | 117.8 |
| MIA | Mazur, Adam* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| NYM | Holmes, Clay 4022 | 4.0 | 7.0 | 16.0 | 17.0 |
| NYY | Warren, Will 5143 | 9.4 | 9.4 | 9.4 | 9.4 |
| CHW | Martin, Davis 4657 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
* 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