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
▪️ Sunday’s Sidelights Sidebar
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▪️ Support Box-Toppers
Padres pitcher Dylan Cease is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto rises to fifth place in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Other Player of the Game winners Sunday include Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez, Spencer Horwitz of the Pirates, Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito and Tyler Tolbert of the Royals.
Player of the Day
Cease struck out nine over five scoreless innings, allowing one run and one walk, in the 7-3 win over the Cardinals.
Cease earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.7 for the season, 44th among all players and 17th among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day
Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito struck out four over eight innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 6-1 win over the Astros.
Giolito earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 8.4 for the season, 37th among all players and 18th among AL pitchers.
National League Batter of the Day
Spencer Horwitz of the Pirates hit two home runs, including a three-run homer, in the 9-5 win over the Rockies. Horwitz also doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in six runs.
American League Batter of the Day
Tyler Tolbert of the Royals went 1-for-1, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 7-4, 10-inning win over the Blue Jays.
This was Tolbert’s Box-Toppers debut, his first career Player of the Game honor. Tolbert made his Major League debut March 31 and was playing in his 33rd career game.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in 2025 Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned in the regular season through Sunday, Aug. 3.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zack Wheeler | pi sp | Phillies | 19.1 |
| 2 | Tarik Skubal | pi sp | Tigers | 17.4 |
| 3 | Nick Pivetta | pi sp | Padres | 15.7 |
| 4 | Paul Skenes | pi sp | Pirates | 14.4 |
| 5 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | pi sp | Dodgers | 14.0 |
| 6 | Garrett Crochet | pi sp | Red Sox | 13.1 |
| 7 | Jesús Luzardo | pi sp | Phillies | 12.7 |
| 8 | Hunter Brown | pi sp | Astros | 12.4 |
| 9 | Bryan Woo | pi sp | Mariners | 12.0 |
| 10 | Carlos Rodón | pi sp | Yankees | 11.7 |
Rankings
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto rises from sixth to fifth place in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Yamamoto (5.2IP 5H 0R 0BB 6K W in the 3-0 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.0 for the season. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.
Notable
Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez becomes the 17th player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Sánchez (8IP 5H 0R BB 6K W in the 2-0 win over the Tigers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season, 17th among all players and eighth among NL pitchers.
This is Sánchez’s second season and second straight season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. In 2024, he earned 11.4 points with the Phillies, 20th among NL pitchers.
Also notable
Alek Thomas of the Diamondbacks earns Box-Toppers points for the second straight day Sunday.
Thomas (3-4 R BI in the 6-4 win over the Athletics) was also Player of the Game Saturday in the 7-2 win over the Athletics (HR 2-3 2R BI). He earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point each day and now has 4.5 for the season, 28th among NL batters.
Sunday’s Sidelights Sidebar
Top pitching matchup
Result—SD 7, STL 3A Box-Toppers look at Sunday’s pitching matchups Notable—STL at SD Andre Pallante #STLCards 14.4 B-T points over 2024-25, 31st* Dylan Cease #Padres 26.8 B-T points over 2024-25, 3rd* *Rank among NL pitchers, 2024-25 All Sunday pitching matchups:
— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Aug 3, 2025 at 12:31 PM
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Dylan Cease, Padres, was Player of the Game (5IP H 0R BB 9K W) with +12.0 B-T game score.
Andre Pallante, Cardinals had -3.0 B-T game score in loss (5IP 5H 2R 3BB 4K L).
Cease earns 2.0 B-T points as overall Player of the Day, giving him 28.8 over 2024-25, rising 2nd place over that span.
Box-Toppers uses Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com and other sources to compile this information.
Scoring
Cease earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.
Giolito earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day.
Horwitz and Tolbert each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day.
All of Sunday’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.
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2025 Box-Toppers points—NL pitchers 1—Zack Wheeler #Phillies 19.1 2—Nick Pivetta #Padres 15.7 3—Paul Skenes #Pirates 14.4 4—Yoshinobu Yamamoto #Dodgers 14.0* 5—Jesús Luzardo #Phillies 12.7 6—Sonny Gray #STLCards 11.0 *Earns 1.0 B-T pt as Player of the Game Sunday www.box-toppers.com/blog/2025/8/...
— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Aug 4, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Noah Syndergaard, 32, released by #WhiteSox. He hasn't pitched in #MLB since 2023 with #Guardians. He has 52.5 career Box-Toppers points, but only 3.0 since 2019, earned in 2022 w/ #Angels & #Phillies. Best season—2016 w/ #Mets, 16.7 B-T points, 7th overall, 4th among NL pitchers.
— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Aug 4, 2025 at 7:22 AM
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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).| 8/3 | BTG | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +12.0 | SD 7, STL 3 | Dylan Cease (W, 4‑10) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |
| +8.0 | PHI 2, DET 0 | Cristopher Sánchez (W, 10‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 8.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| +8.0 | MIA 7, NYY 3 | Edward Cabrera (W, 5‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| BAT | +7.0 | PIT 9, COL 5 | Spencer Horwitz 1B | 5 | 3 | 3 | 6 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +6.2 | LAD 3, TB 0 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto (W, 10‑7) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| AL | +6.0 | BOS 6, HOU 1 | Lucas Giolito (W, 8‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 8.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| +5.0 | SF 12, NYM 4 | Rafael Devers DH | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | ATL 4, CIN 2 | Eli White RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.2 | MIL 14, WSH 3 | Aaron Ashby (W, 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | KC 7, TOR 4 (F/10) | Tyler Tolbert PR‑LF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | CHC 5, BAL 3 | Justin Turner PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | LAA 8, CHW 5 | Taylor Ward LF | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | ARI 6, ATH 4 | Alek Thomas CF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | SEA 5, TEX 4 | Julio Rodríguez CF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | MIN 5, CLE 4 | Matt Wallner RF | 3 | 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.
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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 | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yamamoto, Yoshinobu 4964 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.0 | 20.4 | 20.4 | 20.4 | +7.6 |
| Sanchez, Cristopher 4850 | pi sp | phi nl | 10.0 | 21.4 | 25.4 | 25.4 | -1.4 |
| Giolito, Lucas 3900 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 | 8.4 | 35.8 | 56.5 | +8.4 |
| Cease, Dylan 4231 | pi sp | sd nl | 7.7 | 28.8 | 73.6 | 75.6 | -13.4 |
| Cabrera, Edward 4641 | pi sp | fla nl | 6.7 | 8.7 | 18.8 | 18.8 | +4.7 |
| Ward, Taylor 4345 | lf | ana al | 6.5 | 8.5 | 22.4 | 22.4 | +4.5 |
| Devers, Rafael 4038 | dh | sf nl | 6.2 | 11.2 | 32.7 | 44.7 | +1.2 |
| Thomas, Alek 4648 | cf | ari nl | 4.5 | 4.5 | 7.0 | 7.0 | +4.5 |
| Horwitz, Spencer 4922 | 1b | pit nl | 4.0 | 6.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 | +1.5 |
| Rodriguez, Julio 4590 | cf | sea al | 3.0 | 9.5 | 21.0 | 21.0 | -3.5 |
| White, Eli 4462 | rf | atl nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 5.0 | 5.0 | +2.5 |
| Wallner, Matt 4824 | rf | min al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 5.5 | 5.5 | +2.0 |
| Ashby, Aaron 4511 | pi mr sp | mil nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 9.4 | 9.4 | +2.0 |
| Tolbert, Tyler 5241 | lf pr | kc al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | +1.5 |
| Turner, Justin 2865 | 1b ph | chi nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 15.7 | 36.7 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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A Box-Toppers look at Monday’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOU | Alexander, Jason* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| MIA | Alcantara, Sandy 4061 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 45.8 | 52.2 |
| MIN | Undecided | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| DET | Mize, Casey 4377 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 13.7 | 13.7 |
| SF | Verlander, Justin 2112 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 41.4 | 247.0 |
| pit nl | Oviedo, Johan 4442 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 12.7 | 12.7 |
| BAL | Povich, Cade 5029 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| PHI | Luzardo, Jesus 4282 | 12.7 | 14.7 | 48.6 | 48.6 |
| CLE | Cecconi, Slade 4913 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| NYM | Manaea, Sean 3637 | 1.0 | 16.4 | 43.8 | 70.3 |
| KC | Falter, Bailey 4473 | 5.7 | 9.4 | 19.1 | 19.1 |
| BOS | Bello, Brayan 4727 | 5.4 | 13.1 | 16.1 | 16.1 |
| MIL | Priester, Quinn 5059 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| ATL | Strider, Spencer 4626 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 39.5 | 39.5 |
| CIN | Lodolo, Nick 4586 | 7.7 | 16.7 | 23.7 | 23.7 |
| CHC | Soroka, Michael 3956 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 16.4 |
| NYY | Fried, Max 4011 | 10.7 | 24.1 | 66.6 | 77.6 |
| TEX | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | 4.0 | 9.0 | 26.8 | 101.4 |
| TOR | Lauer, Eric 4017 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 25.4 | 38.8 |
| COL | Gordon, Tanner 5230 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| TB | Houser, Adrian 4162 | 4.7 | 5.7 | 19.1 | 21.1 |
| LAA | Kikuchi, Yusei 4136 | 5.7 | 16.4 | 39.8 | 43.8 |
| SD | Sears, JP 4627 | 4.0 | 11.7 | 20.7 | 20.7 |
| ARI | Pfaadt, Brandon 4812 | 5.7 | 18.1 | 21.8 | 21.8 |
| STL | Gray, Sonny 3259 | 11.0 | 23.4 | 57.0 | 121.3 |
| LAD | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | 3.0 | 14.7 | 47.8 | 63.5 |
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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