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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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Reds pitcher Hunter Greene is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto rises to seventh place 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, Sept. 18.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tarik Skubal | pi sp | Tigers | 22.1 |
| 2 | Zack Wheeler | pi sp | Phillies | 20.1 |
| 3 | Paul Skenes | pi sp | Pirates | 20.1 |
| 4 | Garrett Crochet | pi sp | Red Sox | 18.8 |
| 5 | Nick Pivetta | pi sp | Padres | 17.7 |
| 6 | Bryan Woo | pi sp | Mariners | 17.0 |
| 7 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | pi sp | Dodgers | 16.7 |
| 8 | Ranger Suárez | pi sp | Phillies | 15.8 |
| 9 | Jesús Luzardo | pi sp | Phillies | 15.7 |
| 10 | Freddy Peralta | pi sp | Brewers | 14.7 |
In addition, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal had a chance Thursday to all but secure Box-Toppers Player of the Year honors in his start, but leaves the door open a crack to at least one other player after failing to win Player of the Game honors.
Other Player of the Game winners Thursday include Yankees pitcher Max Fried, Brewers pitcher Quinn Priester, Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo and Liam Hicks of the Marlins.
Player of the Day
Greene pitched a complete-game, one-hit shutout, striking out nine and walking one, in the 1-0 win over the Cubs.
Greene earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 13.4 for the season, 18th among all players and 10th among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day
Yankees pitcher Max Fried struck out 13 over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 7-0 win over the Orioles.
Fried earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 13.4 for the season, 16th among all players and seventh among AL pitchers.
Fried recorded a +16.0 Box-Toppers game score Thursday, the same as Greene. But Greene won overall Player of the Day honors over Fried on a tiebreaker with more innings pitched—nine vs. seven.
National League Batter of the Day
Liam Hicks of the Marlins homered and went 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 9-7 win over the Rockies.
This was Hicks’ Box-Toppers debut, his first career Player of the Game honor. Hicks made his Major League debut March 28 and was playing in his 112th career game.
American League Batter of the Day
There is no AL Batter of the Day for Thursday because no AL batters won Player of the Game honors in the 10 games completed.
Rankings
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto rises from eighth to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Yamamoto (5.1IP H 0R 6BB 7K ND in the 2-1 win over the Giants) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 16.7 for the season. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.
Box-Toppers Player of the Year race
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal had a chance Thursday to all but secure Box-Toppers Player of the Year honors in his start, but leaves the door open a crack to at least one other player after failing to win Player of the Game honors.
Skubal did not win Player of the Game honors because the Tigers lost, 3-1, to the Guardians. Skubal (6IP 7H R 2BB 9K ND) had a +4.0 Box-Toppers game score, but Player of the Game honors went to Guardians pitcher Tanner Bibee (6IP 4H R 2BB 9K W), with a +6.0 game score.
Skubal has 22.1 Box-Toppers points for the season, first place overall. With a little over a week remaining in the season, there is only one player with a realistic chance of passing him: Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet, who has 18.8 Box-Toppers points and ranks fourth among all players, second among American League pitchers.
Crochet likely has two starts remaining this season, including Friday. He would need to win Box-Toppers Player of the Day or AL Player of the Day in both starts to pass Skubal’s current total. If he earns two AL Player of the Day honors—at 1.7 points each—he would have 22.2 points, just ahead of Skubal’s current 22.1 points. He could max out his points for the season with two Player of the Day honors—worth 2.0 points each—giving him 22.8 points.
However, Skubal likely has one start remaining for the season and would only need to win Player of the Game honors—worth 1.0 point—to give him 23.1 points and put the race out of Crochet’s reach.
Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes (20.1 Box-Toppers points, third overall) could match Skubal’s 22.1 point total by winning overall Player of the Day honors in his likely final start Wednesday. However, in case of a tie, Skubal holds the tiebreaking advantage because he has more 2024 points than Skenes—21.1 vs. 13.0.
Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, currently in second place overall with 20.1 Box-Toppers points, is injured and out for the season and so cannot add to his Box-Toppers point total.
While all other starting pitchers are more than 4.0 points behind Skubal, there is a remote, unlikely possibility, with eight or nine games remaining, that any player could still play in every remaining game and earn overall Player of the Day honors in all of them, earning 2.0 points each time and suddenly accumulate an additional 16.0 to 18.0 points. Nothing like that has ever happened but it is technically not out of the realm of possibility, just super unlikely.
Notable
Two other players with more than 10 Box-Toppers points in 2025 earned Player of the Game honors Thursday:
Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo (6IP 3H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 2-0 win over the Royals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.1 for the season, 12th overall and fifth among AL pitchers.
Brewers pitcher Quinn Priester (5.2IP 3H 2R 2BB 10K ND in the 5-2 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.0 for the season, 29th overall and 12th among NL pitchers.
Debut
Mets pitcher Jonah Tong also made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Tong (5IP 4H R 0ER 0BB 8K W in the 6-1 win over the Padres) made his Major League debut Aug. 29 and was playing in his fourth career game.
Scoring
Greene earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.
Fried earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day.
Hicks earns 1.5 points for being NL 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.
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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).| 9/18 | BTG | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +16.0 | CIN 1, CHC 0 | Hunter Greene (W, 7‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 9.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |
| AL | +16.0 | NYY 7, BAL 0 | Max Fried (W, 18‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | |
| +8.0 | NYM 6, SD 1 | Jonah Tong (W, 2‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||
| +6.2 | `MIL 5, LAA 2 | Quinn Priester | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | ||
| +6.0 | CLE 3, DET 1 | Tanner Bibee (W, 11‑11) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| +6.0 | SEA 2, KC 0 | Luis M. Castillo (W, 10‑8) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +6.0 | TB 4, TOR 0 | Shane Baz (W, 10‑12) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| +5.1 | `LAD 2, SF 1 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | MIA 9, COL 7 | Liam Hicks DH | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +2.0 | ATH 5, BOS 3 | Hogan Harris (S, 4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 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 | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yamamoto, Yoshinobu 4964 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.7 | 23.1 | 23.1 | 23.1 | +10.3 |
| Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 | pi sp | sea al | 14.1 | 24.8 | 64.9 | 95.7 | +3.4 |
| Fried, Max 4011 | pi sp | nyy al | 13.4 | 26.8 | 69.3 | 80.3 | 0.0 |
| Greene, Hunter 4651 | pi sp | cin nl | 13.4 | 23.1 | 34.8 | 34.8 | +3.7 |
| Priester, Quinn 5059 | pi sp | mil nl | 11.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | +10.0 |
| Baz, Shane 4560 | pi sp | tb al | 9.7 | 13.7 | 15.4 | 15.4 | +5.7 |
| Bibee, Tanner 4792 | pi sp | cle al | 7.0 | 21.0 | 29.7 | 29.7 | -7.0 |
| Harris, Hogan 4846 | pi cp mr | oak al | 3.0 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | -1.0 |
| Hicks, Liam 5292 | dh | fla nl | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | +1.5 |
| Tong, Jonah 5291 | pi sp | nym 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ATL | Elder, Bryce 4709 | 4.0 | 6.0 | 18.7 | 18.7 |
| DET | Morton, Charlie 2503 | 7.0 | 16.4 | 51.5 | 120.5 |
| CHC | Imanaga, Shota 4960 | 7.0 | 27.7 | 27.7 | 27.7 |
| CIN | Lodolo, Nick 4586 | 7.7 | 16.7 | 23.7 | 23.7 |
| ATH | Severino, Luis 3567 | 3.0 | 9.7 | 22.1 | 67.9 |
| PIT | Keller, Mitch 4230 | 6.7 | 18.4 | 37.4 | 38.4 |
| NYY | Warren, Will 5143 | 9.4 | 9.4 | 9.4 | 9.4 |
| BAL | Rogers, Trevor 4311 | 9.7 | 11.7 | 25.7 | 25.7 |
| WSH | Alvarez, Andrew 5274 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| NYM | Sproat, Brandon* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| BOS | Crochet, Garrett 4434 | 18.8 | 29.5 | 30.5 | 30.5 |
| TB | Rasmussen, Drew 4547 | 9.7 | 11.4 | 31.2 | 31.2 |
| SD | Cease, Dylan 4231 | 8.7 | 29.8 | 74.6 | 76.6 |
| CHW | Martin, Davis 4657 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| TOR | Scherzer, Max 2588 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 59.5 | 256.7 |
| KC | Lorenzen, Michael 3479 | 4.0 | 9.0 | 23.7 | 32.2 |
| MIA | Junk, Janson 4697 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 4.7 | 4.7 |
| TEX | Mahle, Tyler 3929 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 28.1 | 38.1 |
| CLE | Messick Parker 5266 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| MIN | Lopez, Pablo 4028 | 6.0 | 17.7 | 57.2 | 64.9 |
| SEA | Woo, Bryan 4842 | 17.0 | 28.7 | 37.4 | 37.4 |
| HOU | Brown, Hunter 4729 | 13.4 | 25.4 | 36.5 | 36.5 |
| LAA | Farris, Mitch 5281 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| COL | Blalock, Bradley 5232 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| MIL | Misiorowski, Jacob 5200 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| STL | Gray, Sonny 3259 | 14.0 | 26.4 | 60.0 | 124.3 |
| PHI | Walker, Taijuan 3453 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 35.8 | 62.2 |
| ARI | Nelson, Ryne 4728 | 8.4 | 16.8 | 25.2 | 25.2 |
| SF | Ray, Robbie 3502 | 9.4 | 13.1 | 46.2 | 89.3 |
| LAD | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | 7.4 | 9.4 | 52.3 | 279.8 |
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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