Box-Toppers Toppers Box
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Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw will not pass Randy Johnson for the Box-Toppers-era career points record after failing to win Player of the Game honors in his next-to-last career start Friday.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in 2025 Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned in the regular season through Friday, Sept. 19.| 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 | Bryan Woo | pi sp | Mariners | 18.0 |
| 6 | Nick Pivetta | pi sp | Padres | 17.7 |
| 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 |
Also, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal all but secured 2025 Box-Toppers Player of the Year honors Friday after Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet, who was the only player with a realistic chance of passing him, failed to win Player of the Game honors in his next-to-last start of the season.
Also Friday: Orioles pitcher Trevor Rogers is Box-Toppers Player of the Day and Mariners pitcher Bryan Woo rises to fifth place in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
All-time leaders
Here are Box-Toppers top 20 players since record keeping began in 1995:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | Retired | 282.5 |
| 2 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | Dodgers | 279.8 |
| 3 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | Rangers | 256.7 |
| 4 | Justin Verlander | pi sp | Astros | 249.0 |
| 5 | Pedro Martinez | pi sp | Retired | 244.8 |
| 6 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | Free agent | 224.5 |
| 7 | Albert Pujols | 1b | Retired | 207.8 |
| 8 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | Retired | 203.4 |
| 9 | Curt Schilling | pi sp | Retired | 194.1 |
| 10 | Alex Rodriguez | 3b | Retired | 187.0 |
| 11 | Chris Sale | pi sp | Braves | 182.8 |
| 12 | Jon Lester | pi sp | Retired | 179.3 |
| 13 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | Retired | 175.1 |
| 14 | Cole Hamels | pi sp | Retired | 174.2 |
| 15 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | Retired | 170.7 |
| 16 | Johan Santana | pi sp | Retired | 166.6 |
| 17 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | Retired | 166.2 |
| 18 | Gerrit Cole | pi sp | Yankees | 165.0 |
| 19 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | Retired | 164.8 |
| 20 | John Smoltz | pi sp | Retired | 160.9 |
Other Player of the Game winners Friday include Marlins pitcher Janson Junk, Luke Maile of the Royals and Francisco Lindor of the Mets.
Kershaw
Clayton Kershaw’s rise to first place on the Box-Toppers-era career points list has seemed inevitable for at least 10 years.
But in recent seasons, age and injury caught up to him, diminishing his previous high single-season Box-Toppers point totals. But he entered 2025 with 272.4 career Box-Toppers points, just 10.1 points behind the 282.5 points Randy Johnson accumulated from 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began, until his 2009 retirement. (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.)
On Sept. 7, Kershaw won Player of the Game honors, giving him 7.4 for the season and 279.8 for his career, 2.7 points short of Johnson. Even when Kershaw announced his retirement this week, he still had two regular-season starts remaining, making it possible for him to finish his career by passing Johnson in his final start—but he’d have to win Player of the Game honors in both to have a chance.
He didn’t.
While the Dodgers won 6-3 over the Giants Friday, Kershaw recorded a -1.9 Box-Toppers game score (4.1IP 4H 2R 4BB 6K ND). Player of the Game honors went to reliever Edgardo Henriquez (1.1IP H 0R 0BB 3K W) with a +3.1 game score.
So Kershaw will fall short of Johnson’s record. Even if he earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points as overall Player of the Day in his final start (scheduled for next Friday), he will have 281.8 career points, just 0.7 fewer than Johnson’s 282.5.
Still, to reiterate, Box-Toppers tracking didn’t start until 1995. Johnson would likely have about 100 more points if his entire career were tracked. But Kershaw’s seemingly inevitable rise to pass Johnson’s 1995-2009 point total is something that has long been a focus for Box-Toppers.
In a Nov. 29, 2016, post, Box-Toppers projected that Kershaw, then with 183.7 career Box-Toppers points, sixth-most among players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, would pass Johnson by the end of the 2020 season. Over the previous six seasons, from 2011 to 2016, Kershaw averaged 25 Box-Toppers points per season and was en route to recording a record seven straight seasons with 20 or more points (2011-2017).
But after 2017, Kershaw did not reach 20 Box-Toppers points in a season again, although he had four 10.0-point seasons from 2019 to 2023. In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, he had 7.7 points, which was ninth among all players and fifth among National League pitchers. In 2024, he had just 2.0 points in an injury-riddled season. His 7.4 points in 2025 is 33rd among NL pitchers.
In 2018, the Box-Toppers projection for Kershaw passing Johnson moved from 2020 to 2021. In 2019, that projection moved to 2022. In 2020, it moved to 2023.
Kershaw has led active players in career points since April 14, 2017. He rose to third place on the “all-time” career points list on May 23, 2017, and rose to second place on June 27, 2021. Here’s a look at Kershaw’s rise to second place on the career points list.
Skubal secures Box-Toppers Player of the Year
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal all but secured 2025 Box-Toppers Player of the Year honors Friday after Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet, who was the only player with a realistic chance of passing him, failed to win Player of the Game honors Friday in his next-to-last start of the season.
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal all but secured 2025 Box-Toppers Player of the Year honors Friday after Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet, who was the only player with a realistic chance of passing him, failed to win Player of the Game honors Friday.
Crochet (6IP 4H 3R 3BB 9K W in the 11-7 win over the Rays) recorded a +2.0 Box-Toppers game score, but Player of the Game honors went to teammate Ceddanne Rafaela (2B 4-5 2R BI), with a +2.0 game score. (In cases of game score ties, batters beat pitchers.)
Crochet needed to win at least American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 Box-Toppers points, to have a chance to pass Skubal’s current 2025 Box-Toppers point total. Skubal leads all players with 22.1 Box-Toppers points and Crochet has 18.8, fourth overall and second among AL pitchers, 3.3 points behind Skubal.
While all other starting pitchers are unable to surpass Skubal’s total in the starts they have remaining, there is a remote, unlikely possibility, with about eight 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 points. Nothing like that has ever happened, but it is technically not out of the realm of possibility, just super unlikely.
Player of the Day
Orioles pitcher Trevor Rogers struck out seven over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 4-2 win over the Yankees.
Rogers earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 11.7 for the season, 27th among all players and 15th among AL pitchers.
Rogers becomes the 40th player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points. It is his first season with 10 or more points. His previous high was 2021 with the Marlins when he had 9.0 points, 33rd among NL pitchers. In 2024, he had 2.0 points with the Marlins and Orioles.
National League Player of the Day
Marlins pitcher Janson Junk struck out five over seven innings, allowing one run, three hits and no walks, in the 6-4, 12-inning win over the Rangers. Junk did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was tied when he exited.
Junk earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 4.7 for the season, 64th among NL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day
Luke Maile of the Royals doubled and went 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 20-1 win over the Blue Jays.
This is Maile’s first Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor in more than seven years. He last did it May 11, 2018, when he was with the Blue Jays, in his 120th career game. Friday was his 464th career game. Since then, he has played sparingly at times, in part, due to an oblique injury in 2019 and a finger injury, which kept him out of the 2020 season.
This was his fourth career Player of the Game honor since making his Box-Toppers debut in 2016 and he now has 5.0 career Box-Toppers points.
National League Batter of the Day
Francisco Lindor of the Mets doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring four times and driving in one run, in the 12-6 win over the Nationals.
Lindor earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.5 for the season, 82nd among all players and ninth among NL batters.
Rankings
Mariners pitcher Bryan Woo rises from sixth to fifth place in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Woo (5IP H 0R BB 7K W in the 4-0 win over the Astros) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 18.0 for the season. He passes Padres pitcher Nick Pivetta (17.7 points) and ranks third among AL pitchers, behind Tarik Skubal of the Tigers (22.1 points) and Garrett Crochet of the Red Sox (18.8 points).
Woo recorded a +10.0 Box-Toppers game score Friday, same as overall Player of the Day, Orioles pitcher Trevor Rogers, with Rogers beating Woo for Player of the Day on a tiebreaker with more innings pitched—six vs. five.
He exited the game with pectoral tightness.
Debut
Dodgers pitcher Edgardo Henriquez made his Box-Toppers debut Friday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Henriquez (1.1IP H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 6-3 win over the Giants) made his Major League debut Sept. 24, 2024, and was playing in his 22nd career game.
Scoring
Rogers earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.
Junk earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day.
Maile and Lindor each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day.
All of Friday’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).| 9/19 | BTG | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +10.0 | BAL 4, NYY 2 | Trevor Rogers (W, 9‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | |
| +10.0 | SEA 4, HOU 0 | Bryan Woo (W, 15‑7) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | ||
| NL | +7.0 | `MIA 6, TEX 4 (F/12) | Janson Junk | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | |
| +6.0 | ATL 10, DET 1 | Bryce Elder (W, 8‑10) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| +6.0 | CLE 6, MIN 2 | Jakob Junis (W, 4‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| BAT | +5.0 | KC 20, TOR 1 | Luke Maile PH‑C | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| BAT | +4.0 | NYM 12, WSH 6 | Francisco Lindor SS | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | CIN 7, CHC 4 | Spencer Steer 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.1 | LAD 6, SF 3 | Edgardo Henriquez (W, 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +3.0 | PHI 8, ARI 2 | Nick Castellanos PH‑RF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | CHW 4, SD 3 | Grant Taylor (S, 5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | BOS 11, TB 7 | Ceddanne Rafaela CF | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | COL 7, LAA 6 | Tyler Freeman RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | ATH 4, PIT 3 | Lawrence Butler CF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | STL 7, MIL 1 | Thomas Saggese SS | 2 | 2 | 1 | 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 | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woo, Bryan 4842 | pi sp | sea al | 18.0 | 29.7 | 38.4 | 38.4 | +6.3 |
| Rogers, Trevor 4311 | pi sp | bal al | 11.7 | 13.7 | 27.7 | 27.7 | +9.7 |
| Lindor, Francisco 3586 | ss | nym nl | 7.5 | 18.4 | 36.1 | 58.2 | -3.4 |
| Rafaela, Ceddane 4988 | cf | bos al | 6.5 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | +5.0 |
| Steer, Spencer 4726 | 1b | cin nl | 5.0 | 8.5 | 12.5 | 12.5 | +1.5 |
| Elder, Bryce 4709 | pi sp | atl nl | 5.0 | 7.0 | 19.7 | 19.7 | +3.0 |
| Junk, Janson 4697 | pi sp mr | fla nl | 4.7 | 4.7 | 6.4 | 6.4 | +4.7 |
| Taylor, Grant 5207 | pi cp mr | chi al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +3.0 |
| Freeman, Tyler 5028 | rf lf ph | col nl | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 |
| Castellanos, Nick 3349 | rf ph | phi nl | 2.0 | 3.5 | 23.0 | 52.7 | +0.5 |
| Butler, Lawrence 5052 | cf | oak al | 2.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | +0.5 |
| Saggese, Thomas 5259 | 2b ss | stl nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +2.0 |
| Maile, Luke 3709 | ca ph | kc al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 5.0 | +1.5 |
| Junis, Jakob (Jake) 3857 | pi mr sp | cle al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 11.7 | 22.7 | +1.0 |
| Henriquez, Edgardo 5293 | pi mr | lad 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 Saturday’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 | Wentz, Joey 4639 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| DET | Montero, Keider 5057 | 3.0 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 |
| CLE | Cecconi, Slade 4913 | 4.0 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| MIN | Ryan, Joe 4539 | 11.7 | 21.4 | 47.5 | 47.5 |
| WSH | Cavalli, Cade 5244 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| NYM | McLean, Nolan 5255 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 |
| CHC | Assad, Javier 4899 | 1.0 | 7.0 | 11.7 | 11.7 |
| CIN | Littell, Zack 4533 | 6.7 | 15.1 | 21.1 | 21.1 |
| ATH | Morales, Luis 5268 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| PIT | Chandler, Bubba 5269 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| BOS | Harrison, Kyle 4914 | 1.0 | 7.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 |
| TB | Houser, Adrian 4162 | 7.7 | 8.7 | 22.1 | 24.1 |
| NYY | Rodon, Carlos 3494 | 12.7 | 25.4 | 57.9 | 83.0 |
| BAL | Sugano, Tomoyuki 5163 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 6.7 |
| MIA | Mazur, Adam* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| TEX | Leiter, Jack 5132 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| SD | Darvish, Yu 3003 | 4.7 | 13.4 | 60.0 | 144.4 |
| CHW | Gómez, Yoendrys 5249 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| SEA | Kirby, George 4595 | 10.0 | 25.4 | 50.5 | 50.5 |
| HOU | Valdez, Framber 4048 | 10.7 | 26.1 | 61.8 | 67.5 |
| TOR | Bieber, Shane 4005 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 40.8 | 65.3 |
| KC | Cameron, Noah 5167 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 |
| CLE | Allen, Logan T. 4789 | 5.0 | 8.0 | 15.7 | 15.7 |
| MIN | Ober, Bailey 4441 | 2.0 | 15.4 | 33.8 | 33.8 |
| MIL | Patrick, Chad 5131 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| STL | Mikolas, Miles 3034 | 7.0 | 11.0 | 29.8 | 47.2 |
| LAA | Hendricks, Kyle 3386 | 6.0 | 11.7 | 31.4 | 85.3 |
| COL | Marquez, German 3788 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 26.8 | 53.9 |
| PHI | Nola, Aaron 3569 | 3.7 | 17.1 | 63.5 | 118.8 |
| ARI | Gallen, Zac 4171 | 11.7 | 24.1 | 69.5 | 75.2 |
| SF | Teng, Kai-Wei 5247 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| LAD | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | 5.0 | 16.7 | 49.8 | 65.5 |
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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