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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
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Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to ninth place in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in 2025 Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned in the regular season through Wednesday, Sept. 24.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tarik Skubal | pi sp | Tigers | 22.1 |
| 2 | Paul Skenes | pi sp | Pirates | 21.1 |
| 3 | Zack Wheeler | pi sp | Phillies | 20.1 |
| 4 | Garrett Crochet | pi sp | Red Sox | 19.8 |
| 5 | Bryan Woo | pi sp | Mariners | 18.0 |
| 6 | Nick Pivetta | pi sp | Padres | 17.7 |
| 7 | Jesús Luzardo | pi sp | Phillies | 17.4 |
| 8 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | pi sp | Dodgers | 16.7 |
| 9 | Luis Castillo | pi sp | Mariners | 16.1 |
| 10 | Ranger Suárez | pi sp | Phillies | 15.8 |
Also Wednesday, Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes rises to first place among National League pitchers in 2025 Box-Toppers points, passing Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, after earning Player of the Game honors. Skenes, taking his first lead in the category in his final start of 2025, will finish first among NL pitchers for the season. He ranks second overall.
In addition Wednesday, two other players who rank in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list earn Player of the Game honors: Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet maintains his fourth place rank and Phillies pitcher Jesús Luzardo rises to seventh place.
Other Player of the Game winners Wednesday include Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom, Yankees pitcher Max Fried, Rays pitcher Shane Baz, Matt Shaw of the Cubs and Brayan Rocchio of the Guardians.
Player of the Day
Castillo struck out 10 over 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run, one hit and no walks, in the 9-2 win over the Rockies.
Castillo earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 16.1 for the season, ninth among all players and fourth among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day
Phillies pitcher Jesús Luzardo struck out 10 over seven innings, allowing one run (none earned), three hits and no walks, in the 11-1 win over the Marlins.
Luzardo earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 17.4 for the season, rising from ninth to seventh place among all players, fourth among NL pitchers.
National League Batter of the Day
Matt Shaw of the Cubs homered and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in one run, in the 10-3 win over the Mets.
American League Batter of the Day
Brayan Rocchio of the Guardians doubled and went 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in no runs, in the 5-1 win over the Tigers.
Skenes secures 1st among NL pitchers
Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes secured first place among National League pitchers in 2025 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday, rising to the top spot for the first time this year in his final start of the season.
In addition, Skenes only secured Player of the Game honors after the Pirates held on to beat the Reds in 11 innings, 4-3. Even though Skenes had the game’s top Box-Toppers game score, he wouldn’t have won Player of the Game honors if the Reds prevailed, which would have meant Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler would finish the season first among NL pitchers, even though he has been out injured since Aug. 15.
Skenes (6IP 4H 0R 0BB 7K ND) recorded a +9.0 Box-Toppers game score, best of the game, and earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 21.1 for the season, rising from third to second place overall, behind only Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (22.1 points). Skenes rises to first among NL pitchers, passing Wheeler (20.1 points), who falls to second place. (Wheeler was Box-Toppers’ top-ranked NL pitcher in 2024 with 21.4 points.)
Skenes did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Reds tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, forcing extra innings. Skenes only secured his status as Box-Toppers’ 2025 NL Player of the Year after the Pirates scored in the top of the 11th inning to give them a 4-3 lead and held the Reds scoreless in the bottom of the 11th.
While Skenes has been a considerable favorite for the NL Cy Young Award most of the season, he only now, after completing his final start of the season and only after the Pirates held on to win a game in extra innings, rises to first place among NL pitchers in 2025 Box-Toppers points, taking the lead by only 1.0 point. Wheeler has led NL pitchers since May 11 and maintained the lead more than a month after going on the injured list.
Wheeler last earned Player of the Game honors Aug. 10, went on the injured list Aug. 16 with a diagnosed blood clot and was ruled out for the season on Aug. 23 with a diagnosis of venous thoracic outlet syndrome.
With only four days remaining in the season, there are no active NL pitchers who have a realistic chance of passing Skenes’ 21.1 point total.
Top 10 rankings
Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet maintains his fourth-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Crochet (8IP 3H 0R 0BB 6K W in the 7-1 win over the Blue Jays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 19.8 for the season. He also maintains his second-place ranking among AL pitchers, 2.3 points behind Tarik Skubal of the Tigers (22.1), who has secured first place overall for the season.
Notable
There were seven players with more than 10 Box-Toppers points in 2025 who earned Player of the Game honors in Wednesday’s 15 games. The three who have not been mentioned so far are:
Fried ranks 12th overall, 5th among AL pitchers
Yankees pitcher Max Fried (7IP 4H R 2BB 7K W in the 8-1 win over the White Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.4 for the season, 12th overall and fifth among AL pitchers.
deGrom ranks 28th in career points since 1995
Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom (5IP 2H R BB 8K ND in the 4-2 win over the Twins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.0 for the season, 32nd overall and 19th among AL pitchers.
deGrom now has 151.2 career Box-Toppers points, 28th-most among all players since 1995. He trails 27th-ranked player Barry Bonds (152.2). (It should be noted that Bonds would have a projected 230 career Box-Toppers points if his entire career from 1986 were tracked.)
deGrom ranks sixth among active, signed players in career points, third among active AL pitchers, behind Max Scherzer of the Blue Jays (256.7) and Gerrit Cole of the Yankees (165.0).
Baz becomes 41st to reach 10 points in 2025
Rays pitcher Shane Baz (4IP 0H 0R 3BB 3K ND in the 6-2 win over the Orioles) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.7 for the season, 37th among all players and 22nd among AL pitchers.
Baz becomes the 41st player to reach 10 Box-Toppers points in 2025. It is his first season with 10 or more points. His previous high was 2024 with the Rays when he had 4.0 points.
Debut
Giants pitcher Carson Seymour made his Box-Toppers debut Wednesday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Seymour (3IP 0H 0R BB 4K ND in the 4-3 win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut June 29 and was playing in his 16th career game.
Scoring
Castillo earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.
Luzardo earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day.
Shaw and Rocchio each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day.
All of Wednesday’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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(Correction: An earlier version of this post listed the incorrect Player of the Game winner in the Giants 4-3 win over the Cardinals. Andrew Knizner was incorrectly listed, but Carson Seymour won Player of the Game.)
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).| 9/24 | BTG | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +14.1 | SEA 9, COL 2 | Luis M. Castillo (W, 11‑8) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | |
| NL | +13.0 | PHI 11, MIA 1 | Jesús Luzardo (W, 15‑7) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | |
| +11.0 | BOS 7, TOR 1 | Garrett Crochet (W, 18‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| +9.0 | `PIT 4, CIN 3 (F/11) | Paul Skenes | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
| +8.0 | `TEX 4, MIN 2 | Jacob deGrom | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| +7.1 | ATH 6, HOU 0 | Luis Severino (W, 8‑11) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| +7.0 | LAA 3, KC 2 | Yusei Kikuchi (W, 7‑11) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| +6.0 | NYY 8, CHW 1 | Max Fried (W, 19‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| +6.0 | `SF 4, STL 3 | Carson Seymour | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| +5.0 | `MIL 3, SD 1 | Chad Patrick | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||
| +4.1 | `WSH 4, ATL 3 | Andrew Alvarez | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | ||
| +4.0 | `TB 6, BAL 2 | Shane Baz | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | CHC 10, NYM 3 | Matt Shaw 3B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.0 | LAD 5, ARI 4 (F/11) | Justin Wrobleski (S, 2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | +2.0 | CLE 5, DET 1 | Brayan Rocchio 2B | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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 | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skenes, Paul 5005 | pi sp | pit nl | 21.1 | 34.1 | 34.1 | 34.1 | +8.1 |
| Crochet, Garrett 4434 | pi sp | bos al | 19.8 | 30.5 | 31.5 | 31.5 | +9.1 |
| Luzardo, Jesus 4282 | pi sp | phi nl | 17.4 | 19.4 | 53.3 | 53.3 | +15.4 |
| Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 | pi sp | sea al | 16.1 | 26.8 | 66.9 | 97.7 | +5.4 |
| Fried, Max 4011 | pi sp | nyy al | 14.4 | 27.8 | 70.3 | 81.3 | +1.0 |
| deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | tex al | 11.0 | 12.0 | 54.5 | 151.2 | +10.0 |
| Baz, Shane 4560 | pi sp | tb al | 10.7 | 14.7 | 16.4 | 16.4 | +6.7 |
| Kikuchi, Yusei 4136 | pi sp | ana al | 7.7 | 18.4 | 41.8 | 45.8 | -3.0 |
| Wrobleski, Justin 5062 | pi cp mr sp | lad nl | 5.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | +3.0 |
| Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | oak al | 4.0 | 10.7 | 23.1 | 68.9 | -2.7 |
| Patrick, Chad 5131 | pi sp | mil nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +3.0 |
| Shaw, Matt 5262 | 3b | chi nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | +2.5 |
| Alvarez, Andrew 5274 | pi sp | dc nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +2.0 |
| Rocchio, Brayan 5100 | 2b ss | cle al | 1.5 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 |
| Seymour, Carson 5296 | pi mr | sf 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 Thursday’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PIT | Ashcraft, Braxton 5208 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 |
| CIN | Lodolo, Nick 4586 | 7.7 | 16.7 | 23.7 | 23.7 |
| TB | Rasmussen, Drew 4547 | 9.7 | 11.4 | 31.2 | 31.2 |
| BAL | Povich, Cade 5029 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| MIN | Ober, Bailey 4441 | 2.0 | 15.4 | 33.8 | 33.8 |
| TEX | Mahle, Tyler 3929 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 28.1 | 38.1 |
| HOU | Valdez, Framber 4048 | 10.7 | 26.1 | 61.8 | 67.5 |
| ATH | Ginn, J.T. 5142 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 |
| LAD | Yamamoto, Yoshinobu 4964 | 16.7 | 23.1 | 23.1 | 23.1 |
| ARI | Gallen, Zac 4171 | 12.7 | 25.1 | 70.5 | 76.2 |
| MIA | Junk, Janson 4697 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 6.4 | 6.4 |
| PHI | Buehler, Walker 3943 | 5.0 | 6.7 | 33.1 | 64.6 |
| DET | Undecided | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| CLE | Messick Parker 5266 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| CHW | Martin, Davis 4657 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| NYY | Rodon, Carlos 3494 | 13.7 | 26.4 | 58.9 | 84.0 |
| BOS | Bello, Brayan 4727 | 7.4 | 15.1 | 18.1 | 18.1 |
| TOR | Varland, Louie 4758 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| NYM | McLean, Nolan 5255 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 |
| CHC | Imanaga, Shota 4960 | 7.0 | 27.7 | 27.7 | 27.7 |
| KC | Lorenzen, Michael 3479 | 4.0 | 9.0 | 23.7 | 32.2 |
| LAA | Farris, Mitch 5281 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| COL | Blalock, Bradley 5232 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| SEA | Undecided | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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