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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
▪️ Top 10 players in 2025
▪️ Upcoming pitching matchups
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Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day with his four-home run game.
Also Thursday, Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet maintains his fifth-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in 2025 Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned in the regular season through Thursday, Aug. 28.| 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 | 16.1 |
| 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 |
Player of the Day
Schwarber hit four home runs, including two three-run homers, in the 19-4 win over the Braves. Schwarber went 4-for-6, scoring four times and driving in nine runs.
Schwarber earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 11.0 for the season, 22nd among all players and rising to second among National League batters, behind Christian Yelich of the Brewers (11.2 points).
Schwarber became the 21st player in Major League history to hit four home runs in a game and the third to do in the 2025 season:
Eugenio Suárez of the Diamondbacks did it April 26 (4HR 4-4 4R 5BI) but did not win Player of the Game honors because the Diamondbacks lost to the Braves, 8-7 in 10 innings.
Nick Kurtz of the Athletics did it July 25 (4HR 2B 6-6 6R 8BI in the 15-3 win over the Astros, winning both Player of the Game and Player of the Day honors.
Schwarber recorded a +11.0 Box-Toppers game score, second-highest among all batters earning Player of the Game honors in 2025, behind the +14.0 game score recorded by Kurtz in his four-home-run game. A look at the top five game scores recorded by Player of the Game-winning batters in 2025:
+14.0—Kurtz on July 25.
+11.0—Schwarber on Aug. 28.
+11.0—Brandon Nimmo of the Mets on April 28 in the 19-5 win over the Nationals (2HR 2B 4-6 4R 9BI). (Though Schwarber and Nimmo both have +11.0 game scores, Schwarber’s ranks higher on a tiebreaker with more home runs—four vs. two.)
+10.0—Aaron Judge of the Yankees on March 29 in the 20-9 win over the Brewers (3HR 2B 4-6 4R 8BI).
+10.0—Kyle Stowers of the Marlins on July 13 in the 11-1 win over the Orioles (3HR 5-5 4R 6BI).
While Schwarber’s +11.0 game score is second-best among all Player of the Game-winning batters in 2025, it ranks 96th among all Player of the Game winners, with 94 Player of the Game-winning pitchers ranking ahead of him, led by Tarik Skubal of the Tigers, who recorded the season’s-best +20.0 game score on May 25 (CG 2H 0R 0BB 13K W in the 5-0 win over the Guardians).
Schwarber becomes the 10th batter in 2025 to win overall Player of the Day honors. Pitchers have won all other days of the season. In 2024, only five batters won overall Player of the Day honors.
Schwarber also becomes the 29th player and second batter to reach 10 Box-Toppers points in 2025. (NL batting leader Yelich is the only other batter with 10 points—11.2.) It is Schwarber’s first season with 10 or more points. His previous best season was 2024 with the Phillies, when he had 8.5 points, seventh among NL batters.
In 2024, there were 59 players to reach 10 Box-Toppers points, including six batters.
American League Player of the Day
Cody Bellinger of the Yankees homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 10-4 win over the White Sox.
Bellinger earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 5.9 for the season, 15th among AL batters.
AL and NL Batters of the Day
There are no separate AL and NL Batter of the Day winners Thursday because the overall Player of the Day is NL batter Kyle Schwarber and the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Cody Bellinger.
Rankings
Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet maintains his fifth-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Crochet (6IP 6H 2R 0BB 7K ND in the 3-2 win over the Orioles) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 16.1 for the season. He ranks second among AL pitchers, 3.3 points behind Tarik Skubal of the Tigers (19.4 points). It would take Crochet at least two starts to pass Skubal in player rankings, earning the maximum of 2.0 points in each game.
Debut
Diamondbacks pitcher Taylor Rashi made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Rashi (3IP 2H 0R 2BB K Sv in the 6-4 win over the Brewers) was also making his Major League debut.
Scoring
Schwarber earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.
Bellinger earns 1.7 points for being AL Player 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.
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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).| 8/28 | BTG | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +11.0 | PHI 19, ATL 4 | Kyle Schwarber DH | 6 | 4 | 4 | 9 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | STL 4, PIT 1 | Kyle Leahy (W, 4‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| AL | +3.0 | NYY 10, CHW 4 | Cody Bellinger LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | SF 4, CHC 3 | Willy Adames SS | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| +3.0 | `BOS 3, BAL 2 | Garrett Crochet | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | ||
| +2.2 | MIA 7, NYM 4 | Ronny Henriquez (H, 20) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | HOU 4, COL 3 | Christian Walker 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | ARI 6, MIL 4 | Taylor Rashi (S, 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 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 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 | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crochet, Garrett 4434 | pi sp | bos al | 16.1 | 26.8 | 27.8 | 27.8 | +5.4 |
| Schwarber, Kyle 3536 | dh | phi nl | 11.0 | 19.5 | 33.0 | 51.5 | +2.5 |
| Adames, Willy 4041 | ss | sf nl | 7.5 | 18.0 | 34.1 | 37.1 | -3.0 |
| Bellinger, Cody 3781 | lf | nyy al | 5.9 | 8.4 | 18.6 | 38.5 | +3.4 |
| Walker, Christian 3958 | 1b | hou al | 3.5 | 6.0 | 18.5 | 25.0 | +1.0 |
| Leahy, Kyle 5001 | pi mr cp | stl nl | 3.0 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 | +1.3 |
| Henriquez, Ronny 5218 | pi mr | fla nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +2.0 |
| Rashi, Taylor 5271 | pi cp | ari nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STL | Liberatore, Matthew 4662 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 |
| CIN | Littell, Zack 4533 | 5.7 | 14.1 | 20.1 | 20.1 |
| ATL | Elder, Bryce 4709 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 15.7 | 15.7 |
| PHI | Suarez, Ranger 4228 | 12.8 | 23.2 | 40.9 | 41.9 |
| TB | Houser, Adrian 4162 | 5.7 | 6.7 | 20.1 | 22.1 |
| WSH | Parker, Mitchell 4982 | 2.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| MIL | Peralta, Freddy 3965 | 11.7 | 25.1 | 64.9 | 81.6 |
| TOR | Bieber, Shane 4005 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 39.8 | 64.3 |
| MIA | Perez, Eury 4814 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 |
| NYM | Tong, Jonah* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| PIT | Skenes, Paul 5005 | 18.1 | 31.1 | 31.1 | 31.1 |
| BOS | Tolle, Payton* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| SEA | Kirby, George 4595 | 8.0 | 23.4 | 48.5 | 48.5 |
| CLE | Allen, Logan T. 4789 | 5.0 | 8.0 | 15.7 | 15.7 |
| NYY | Rodon, Carlos 3494 | 12.7 | 25.4 | 57.9 | 83.0 |
| CHW | Gómez, Yoendrys 5249 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| LAA | Anderson, Tyler 3656 | 4.0 | 12.0 | 36.4 | 49.4 |
| HOU | Javier, Cristian 4290 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 31.7 | 31.7 |
| DET | Paddack, Chris 4093 | 4.0 | 9.7 | 19.7 | 35.5 |
| KC | Lugo, Seth 3729 | 5.0 | 19.1 | 30.5 | 43.5 |
| SD | Cortes, Nestor 4160 | 3.0 | 18.4 | 40.8 | 42.8 |
| MIN | Matthews, Zebby 5186 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| CHC | Horton, Cade 5216 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 |
| COL | Marquez, German 3788 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 26.8 | 53.9 |
| TEX | Leiter, Jack 5132 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| ATH | Springs, Jeffrey 4372 | 8.7 | 13.7 | 31.1 | 31.1 |
| ARI | Gallen, Zac 4171 | 8.0 | 20.4 | 65.8 | 71.5 |
| LAD | Snell, Blake 3688 | 3.0 | 18.7 | 61.6 | 107.8 |
| BAL | Kremer, Dean 4330 | 4.7 | 13.4 | 34.5 | 34.5 |
| SF | Ray, Robbie 3502 | 9.4 | 13.1 | 46.2 | 89.3 |
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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