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
▪️ Subscribe to newsletter
▪️ Support Box-Toppers
Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in 2025 Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned in the regular season through Saturday, Sept. 6.| 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 | Nick Pivetta | pi sp | Padres | 17.7 |
| 5 | Garrett Crochet | pi sp | Red Sox | 16.1 |
| 6 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | pi sp | Dodgers | 15.7 |
| 7 | Jesús Luzardo | pi sp | Phillies | 14.7 |
| 8 | Nathan Eovaldi | pi sp | Rangers | 14.4 |
| 9 | Sonny Gray | pi sp | Cardinals | 14.0 |
| 10 | Bryan Woo | pi sp | Mariners | 14.0 |
Also Saturday, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal extends his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Other Player of the Game winners Saturday include Astros pitcher Hunter Brown, Julio Rodríguez of the Mariners and Freddy Fermin of the Padres.
Player of the Day
Woodruff struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks, in the 4-1 win over the Pirates.
Woodruff earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 8.7 for the season, 55th among all players and 21st among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal struck out six over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 6-0 win over the White Sox.
Skubal earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 22.1 for the season, extending his lead in season player rankings and among AL pitchers.
He ranks ahead of second-place player, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler (20.1 points), who is now out for the season with venous thoracic outlet syndrome. He ranks ahead of the second-place AL pitcher Garrett Crochet of the Red Sox (16.1 points).
Skubal is now 6.0 points ahead of Crochet and would hold the tiebreaking edge between the two, meaning it would take Crochet at least four starts, earning the maximum of 2.0 points each time, to pass Skubal. With Crochet projected to start Monday, he would likely have four starts at the most remaining this season.
The player with the greatest chance to pass Skubal is Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes, whose 20.1 Box-Toppers points ranks third overall and second among NL pitchers. Skubal is 2.0 points ahead of Skenes and also holds the tiebreaking edge, meaning it would take Skenes at least two starts, earning a maximum of 2.0 points each time, to pass Skubal. Skenes likely has three starts remaining in 2025.
With 22.1 points, Skubal has surpassed his previous high total in single-season points. In 2024, he earned 21.1 Box-Toppers points, second overall and and first among AL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day
Julio Rodríguez of the Mariners hit two home runs and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 10-2 win over the Braves.
Rodríguez earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 5.5 for the season, 21st among AL batters.
National League Batter of the Day
Freddy Fermin of the Padres doubled and went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 10-8 win over the Rockies.
Notable
Astros pitcher Hunter Brown now has 13.4 Box-Toppers points in 2025 after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Brown (6IP 4H 0R 3BB 8K W in the 11-0 win over the Rangers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers points and his 13.4 points is now 14th among all players, fifth among AL batters.
Debut
Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, each with their first career Player of the Game honor:
Carlos Cortes of the Athletics (HR 2B 2-2 2R 3BI in the 17-4 win over the Angels) made his Major League debut July 23 and was playing in his 29th career game.
Cardinals pitcher Riley O'Brien (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K W in the 4-3 win over the Dodgers) made his Major League debut Sept. 28, 2021, and was playing in his 42nd career game.
Scoring
Woodruff earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.
Skubal earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day.
Rodríguez and Fermin 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.
For additional updates, follow Box-Toppers on Bluesky or Twitter (X).
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).| 9/6 | BTG | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +12.0 | MIL 4, PIT 1 | Brandon Woodruff (W, 6‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| AL | +10.0 | DET 6, CHW 0 | Tarik Skubal (W, 13‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| +7.0 | HOU 11, TEX 0 | Hunter Brown (W, 11‑7) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | ||
| BAT | +5.0 | SEA 10, ATL 2 | Julio Rodríguez CF | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.0 | ATH 17, LAA 4 | Carlos Cortes PH‑LF | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +5.0 | ARI 5, BOS 1 | Brandon Pfaadt (W, 13‑8) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | ||
| +4.2 | WSH 2, CHC 1 | Brad Lord (W, 5‑8) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | ||
| +4.1 | NYY 3, TOR 1 | David Bednar (S, 21) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +3.0 | `PHI 4, MIA 2 | Matt Strahm (H, 18) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +3.0 | CLE 3, TB 2 | Cade Smith (S, 10) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | +2.0 | SD 10, COL 8 | Freddy Fermin C | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +2.0 | KC 11, MIN 2 | Salvador Perez C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | CIN 6, NYM 3 | Matt McLain 2B | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | STL 3, SF 2 | Riley O’Brien (W, 3‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| +1.0 | BAL 4, LAD 3 | Jorge Mateo PR | 0 | 1 | 0 | 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.
Back to top
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 | 22.1 | 43.2 | 73.3 | 73.3 | +1.0 |
| Brown, Hunter 4729 | pi sp | hou al | 13.4 | 25.4 | 36.5 | 36.5 | +1.4 |
| Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 8.7 | 8.7 | 60.6 | 70.3 | +8.7 |
| Perez, Salvador 2972 | ca | kc al | 8.5 | 12.0 | 25.0 | 57.2 | +5.0 |
| Pfaadt, Brandon 4812 | pi sp | ari nl | 7.7 | 20.1 | 23.8 | 23.8 | -4.7 |
| Bednar, David 4499 | pi cp | nyy al | 6.0 | 8.0 | 23.0 | 23.0 | +4.0 |
| Rodriguez, Julio 4590 | cf | sea al | 5.5 | 12.0 | 23.5 | 23.5 | -1.0 |
| Smith, Cade 5066 | pi cp mr | cle al | 3.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | +1.0 |
| Lord, Brad 5234 | pi sp | dc nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +3.0 |
| McLain, Matt 4847 | 2b ss | cin nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 6.0 | 6.0 | +2.5 |
| Strahm, Matt 3724 | pi cp mr | phi nl | 2.0 | 5.0 | 11.0 | 19.0 | -1.0 |
| Mateo, Jorge 4669 | cf 2b pr | bal al | 2.0 | 3.5 | 12.0 | 12.0 | +0.5 |
| Fermin, Freddy 4862 | ca dh | sd nl | 1.5 | 3.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | -0.5 |
| Cortes, Carlos 5279 | lf ph | oak al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
| O’Brien, Riley 5280 | pi cp | stl nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default view.
Back to top
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEA | Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 | 10.4 | 21.1 | 61.2 | 92.0 |
| ATL | Strider, Spencer 4626 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 39.5 | 39.5 |
| CLE | Messick Parker 5266 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| TB | Rasmussen, Drew 4547 | 9.7 | 11.4 | 31.2 | 31.2 |
| LAD | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | 6.4 | 8.4 | 51.3 | 278.8 |
| BAL | Sugano, Tomoyuki 5163 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 6.7 |
| MIL | Misiorowski, Jacob 5200 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| PIT | Chandler, Bubba 5269 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| TOR | Scherzer, Max 2588 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 59.5 | 256.7 |
| NYY | Fried, Max 4011 | 11.7 | 25.1 | 67.6 | 78.6 |
| CHW | Martin, Davis 4657 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| DET | Morton, Charlie 2503 | 7.0 | 16.4 | 51.5 | 120.5 |
| NYM | Sproat, Brandon* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| CIN | Greene, Hunter 4651 | 9.4 | 19.1 | 30.8 | 30.8 |
| PHI | Walker, Taijuan 3453 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 35.8 | 62.2 |
| MIA | Undecided | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| MIN | Ober, Bailey 4441 | 1.0 | 14.4 | 32.8 | 32.8 |
| KC | Lorenzen, Michael 3479 | 4.0 | 9.0 | 23.7 | 32.2 |
| SF | Teng, Kai-Wei 5247 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| STL | Gray, Sonny 3259 | 14.0 | 26.4 | 60.0 | 124.3 |
| WSH | Alvarez, Andrew 5274 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| CHC | Pomeranz, Drew 3061 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 35.8 |
| HOU | Garcia, Luis 4423 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 23.7 | 23.7 |
| TEX | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | 6.0 | 11.0 | 28.8 | 103.4 |
| SD | Cease, Dylan 4231 | 8.7 | 29.8 | 74.6 | 76.6 |
| COL | Gordon, Tanner 5230 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| ATH | Severino, Luis 3567 | 3.0 | 9.7 | 22.1 | 67.9 |
| LAA | Farris, Mitch* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| BOS | Bello, Brayan 4727 | 7.4 | 15.1 | 18.1 | 18.1 |
| ARI | Nelson, Ryne 4728 | 8.4 | 16.8 | 25.2 | 25.2 |
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default, game-by-game view.
Back to top