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
▪️ Saturday’s Sidelights Sidebar
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▪️ Support Box-Toppers
White Sox pitcher Aaron Civale is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal earns Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors, maintaining second place overall and extending his lead among American League pitchers. Other Player of the Game winners Saturday include Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff, Francisco Lindor of the Mets, Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer, Rangers pitcher Merrill Kelly and Trevor Story of the Red Sox.
Player of the Day
Civale struck out eight over 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 1-0 win over the Angels.
Civale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season, 220th among all players and 70th among AL pitchers.
National League Player of the Day
Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff struck out eight over six innings, allowing two runs, one hit and one walk, in the 8-2 win over the Nationals.
Woodruff earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 5.7 for the season, 34th among NL pitchers.
National League Batter of the Day
Francisco Lindor of the Mets doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 12-6 win over the Giants.
Lindor earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season, ninth among NL batters.
American League Batter of the Day
Trevor Story of the Red Sox homered, doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 7-3 win over the Astros.
Story earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 7.0 for the season, sixth among AL batters.
Rankings
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in 2025 Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned in the regular season through Saturday, Aug. 2.| 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 | Garrett Crochet | pi sp | Red Sox | 13.1 |
| 6 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | pi sp | Dodgers | 13.0 |
| 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 |
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal maintains second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings and extends his lead among AL pitchers after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Skubal (7IP 5H 3R 0BB 10K W in the 7-5 win over the Phillies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 17.4 for the season. He trails overall leader, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler (19.1 points), against whom he matched up in Saturday’s game. Wheeler (6IP 9H 4R 3ER 0BB 10K L) recorded a 0.0 Box-Toppers game score in the loss, while Skubal had a +6.0 game score in the victory.
Skubal is now less than 2.0 points behind Wheeler (1.7), meaning he could catch or pass Wheeler for the 2025 Box-Toppers points lead in his next start. Wheeler has led Box-Toppers season player rankings since May 11.
Skubal extends his lead among AL pitchers, 4.3 points ahead of second-place Garrett Crochet of the Red Sox (13.1). Crochet would need at least three starts to reach Skubal’s current 2025 Box-Toppers point total.
Notable
Rangers pitcher Merrill Kelly becomes the 16th player to reach 10 Box-Toppers points in 2025 after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Kelly (5.2IP 4H 2R 0BB 6K ND in the 6-4, 11-inning win over the Mariners) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.7 for the season, 14th among all players and seventh among AL pitchers.
It is his third season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. His best season was 2023 with the Diamondbacks when he had 13.0 points, seventh among NL pitchers. In 2024, he had 2.0 points with the Diamondbacks.
This was Kelly’s first start with the Rangers since being traded from the Diamondbacks on Thursday. Kelly had the most 2025 Box-Toppers points among players changing teams prior to the July 31 trade deadline (a look at the top 20 trade deadline movers).
Also notable
Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer now has 256.7 career Box-Toppers points—third-most since 1995—after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Scherzer (6IP 5H R 0BB 5K W in the 4-2 win over the Royals) trails overall leader Randy Johnson (282.5) and Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (276.1) in “all-time” career points rankings. (It should be noted that Johnson began his career in 1988, before the advent of Box-Toppers tracking. If his entire career were tracked, rough projections put his Box-Toppers point total at 380.)
Scherzer ranks second among active players in career points, behind Kershaw (276.1) and ranks first among active AL pitchers, ahead of second-place Gerrit Cole of the Yankees (165.0).
Scherzer now has 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2025, 76th among AL pitchers.
Saturday’s Sidelights Sidebar
Top pitching matchup
Result—DET 7, PHI 5A Box-Toppers look at Saturday’s pitching matchups Notable—DET at PHI 🔥PITCHING MATCHUP OF THE YEAR Tarik Skubal #Tigers 16.4 B-T points in 2025, 2nd* Zack Wheeler #Phillies 19.1 B-T points in 2025, 1st* *Overall rank 2025 All Saturday pitching matchups: www.box-toppers.com/blog/2025/8/...
— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Aug 2, 2025 at 11:27 AM
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Tarik Skubal, Tigers, was Player of the Game (7IP 5H 3R 0BB 10K W) with +6.0 B-T game score.
Zack Wheeler, Phillies had 0.0 B-T game score in loss (6IP 9H 4R 3ER 0BB 10K L).
Skubal earns 1.0 B-T points as Player of the Game, giving him 17.4 in 2025, maintaining 2nd place overall.
Box-Toppers uses Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com and other sources to compile this information.
Scoring
Civale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.
Woodruff earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day.
Lindor and Story each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day.
All of Saturday’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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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).| 8/2 | BTG | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +11.1 | CHW 1, LAA 0 | Aaron Civale (W, 3‑6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | |
| NL | +8.0 | MIL 8, WSH 2 | Brandon Woodruff (W, 3‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | |
| +7.1 | TB 4, LAD 0 | Drew Rasmussen (W, 9‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| +6.0 | DET 7, PHI 5 | Tarik Skubal (W, 11‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 10 | ||
| +6.0 | MIA 2, NYY 0 | Eury Pérez (W, 4‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | ||
| BAT | +4.0 | NYM 12, SF 6 | Francisco Lindor SS | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | TOR 4, KC 2 | Max Scherzer (W, 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| +3.2 | `TEX 6, SEA 4 (F/11) | Merrill Kelly | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | ||
| +3.0 | COL 8, PIT 5 | Jordan Beck LF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | BOS 7, HOU 3 | Trevor Story SS | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | CLE 5, MIN 4 | José Ramírez 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | BAL 4, CHC 3 | Gunnar Henderson DH | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | ARI 7, ATH 2 | Alek Thomas CF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | STL 8, SD 5 | Masyn Winn SS | 4 | 1 | 2 | 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.
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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 | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skubal, Tarik 4414 | pi sp | det al | 17.4 | 38.5 | 68.6 | 68.6 | -3.7 |
| Kelly, Merrill 4143 | pi sp | tex al | 10.7 | 12.7 | 43.7 | 51.7 | +8.7 |
| Rasmussen, Drew 4547 | pi sp | tb al | 8.7 | 10.4 | 30.2 | 30.2 | +7.0 |
| Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 7.0 | 16.9 | 51.3 | 73.8 | -2.9 |
| Story, Trevor 3607 | ss | bos al | 7.0 | 8.0 | 22.7 | 44.7 | +6.0 |
| Lindor, Francisco 3586 | ss | nym nl | 6.0 | 16.9 | 34.6 | 56.7 | -4.9 |
| Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 5.7 | 5.7 | 57.6 | 67.3 | +5.7 |
| Henderson, Gunnar 4739 | ss | bal al | 4.7 | 10.7 | 21.4 | 21.4 | -1.3 |
| Winn, Masyn 5117 | ss | stl nl | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | +3.0 |
| Perez, Eury 4814 | pi sp | fla nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | +4.0 |
| Thomas, Alek 4648 | cf | ari nl | 3.5 | 3.5 | 6.0 | 6.0 | +3.5 |
| Beck, Jordan 5183 | lf | col nl | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | +3.5 |
| Civale, Aaron 4173 | pi sp | chi al | 3.0 | 10.1 | 35.5 | 38.5 | -4.1 |
| Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | tor al | 3.0 | 5.0 | 59.5 | 256.7 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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A Box-Toppers look at Sunday’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 | Valdez, Framber 4048 | 9.7 | 25.1 | 60.8 | 66.5 |
| BOS | Giolito, Lucas 3900 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 34.1 | 54.8 |
| LAD | Yamamoto, Yoshinobu 4964 | 13.0 | 19.4 | 19.4 | 19.4 |
| TB | Boyle, Joe 4948 | 2.0 | 3.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 |
| MIL | Henderson, Logan 5150 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| WSH | Lord, Brad 5234 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| KC | Lugo, Seth 3729 | 4.0 | 18.1 | 29.5 | 42.5 |
| TOR | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | 5.0 | 12.7 | 63.9 | 76.6 |
| MIN | Urena, Jose 3492 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 25.4 |
| CLE | Cantillo, Joey 5106 | 2.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| NYY | Gil, Luis 4498 | 0.0 | 17.4 | 18.4 | 18.4 |
| MIA | Cabrera, Edward 4641 | 5.7 | 7.7 | 17.8 | 17.8 |
| SF | Whisenhunt, Carson* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| NYM | Montas, Frankie 3803 | 1.0 | 7.0 | 30.1 | 42.5 |
| BAL | Young, Brandon* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| CHC | Rea, Colin 3582 | 1.0 | 11.4 | 16.4 | 20.1 |
| PIT | Keller, Mitch 4230 | 5.7 | 17.4 | 36.4 | 37.4 |
| COL | Blalock, Bradley 5232 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| ARI | Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 | 1.7 | 2.7 | 25.7 | 69.9 |
| ATH | Perkins, Jack 5225 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| CHW | Burke, Sean 5124 | 3.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 |
| LAA | Kochanowicz, Jack 5094 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| STL | Pallante, Andre 4656 | 5.7 | 14.4 | 16.4 | 16.4 |
| SD | Cease, Dylan 4231 | 5.7 | 26.8 | 71.6 | 73.6 |
| TEX | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | 9.0 | 10.0 | 52.5 | 149.2 |
| SEA | Evans, Logan 5192 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| DET | Morton, Charlie 2503 | 5.0 | 14.4 | 49.5 | 118.5 |
| PHI | Sanchez, Cristopher 4850 | 9.0 | 20.4 | 24.4 | 24.4 |
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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