Padres pitcher Dylan Cease is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Sunday, Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto rises to fifth place in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Other Player of the Game winners Sunday include Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez, Spencer Horwitz of the Pirates, Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito and Tyler Tolbert of the Royals.

Player of the Day

Cease struck out nine over five scoreless innings, allowing one run and one walk, in the 7-3 win over the Cardinals.

Cease earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.7 for the season, 44th among all players and 17th among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day

Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito struck out four over eight innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 6-1 win over the Astros.

Giolito earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 8.4 for the season, 37th among all players and 18th among AL pitchers.

National League Batter of the Day

Spencer Horwitz of the Pirates hit two home runs, including a three-run homer, in the 9-5 win over the Rockies. Horwitz also doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in six runs.

American League Batter of the Day

Tyler Tolbert of the Royals went 1-for-1, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 7-4, 10-inning win over the Blue Jays.

This was Tolbert’s Box-Toppers debut, his first career Player of the Game honor. Tolbert made his Major League debut March 31 and was playing in his 33rd career game.

Rankings

Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto rises from sixth to fifth place in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Yamamoto (5.2IP 5H 0R 0BB 6K W in the 3-0 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.0 for the season. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.

Notable

Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez becomes the 17th player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Sánchez (8IP 5H 0R BB 6K W in the 2-0 win over the Tigers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season, 17th among all players and eighth among NL pitchers.

This is Sánchez’s second season and second straight season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. In 2024, he earned 11.4 points with the Phillies, 20th among NL pitchers.

Also notable

Alek Thomas of the Diamondbacks earns Box-Toppers points for the second straight day Sunday.

Thomas (3-4 R BI in the 6-4 win over the Athletics) was also Player of the Game Saturday in the 7-2 win over the Athletics (HR 2-3 2R BI). He earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point each day and now has 4.5 for the season, 28th among NL batters.

Scoring

• Cease earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.

• Giolito earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day.

• Horwitz and Tolbert each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day.

• All of Sunday’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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