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Reds pitcher Anthony DeSclafani is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors, passing previous leader, teammate Justin Verlander.
Read MoreWhite Sox pitcher Reynaldo Lopez is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Lopez struck out six over 7 2/3 innings, allowing two runs (one earned), two hits and two walks, in the 5-2 win over the Indians.
Read More
Twins pitcher Ervin Santana is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to take the lead in season Box-Toppers player rankings.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 4.7 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 4.0 |
| 3 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 3.4 |
| 4 | Morrison, Logan 2794 | 1b | tb al | 3.2 |
| 5 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 3.0 |
| 6 | Marte, Starling 3122 | lf cf | pit nl | 3.0 |
| 7 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 3.0 |
| 8 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | det al | 2.7 |
| 9 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 2.7 |
| 10 | Garcia, Avisail 3256 | rf | chi al | 2.5 |
Also Saturday, Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia rises to fifth place on the “all-time” Box-Toppers points list (since record keeping began in 1995), moving ahead of Alex Rodriguez.
Player of the Day—Santana pitched a one-hit shutout, striking out eight and walking one, in the 6-0 win over the White Sox.
Santana earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.7 for the season and rising to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings. He passes previous leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (4.0).
Santana also now has 102.0 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 69th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Saturday, he passes six players on the “all-time” list: Larry Walker (100.1), Jeff Bagwell (100.4), Paul Konerko (100.7), Jason Schmidt (101.2), Mark Teixiera (101.3) and Tim Wakefield (101.4). Santana now trails 68th-ranked player Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2).
National League Player of the Day—Rockies pitcher Tyler Chatwood pitched a two-hit shutout, striking out four and walking one, in the 5-0 win over the Giants.
American League Batter of the Day—Jose Ramirez of the Indians hit a pair of three-run homers and went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in six, in the 13-6 win over the Tigers.
National League Batter of the Day—Starling Marte of the Pirates homered and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 8-7 win over the Cubs.
Marte earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season and rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings, first among NL batters.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | retired | 278.8 |
| 2 | Pedro Martinez | pi sp | retired | 244.8 |
| 3 | Curt Schilling | pi sp | retired | 194.1 |
| 4 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | lad nl | 187.7 |
| 5 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 187.0 |
| 6 | Alex Rodriguez | dh | released | 187.0 |
| 7 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 182.3 |
| 8 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 9 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 169.7 |
| 10 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 11 | Johan Santana | pi sp | free agent | 166.6 |
| 12 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | retired | 164.8 |
| 13 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 14 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 157.1 |
| 15 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 16 | Mike Mussina | pi sp | retired | 155.6 |
| 17 | Barry Bonds | lf | retired | 153.2 |
| 18 | Greg Maddux | pi sp | retired | 151.7 |
| 19 | Bartolo Colon | pi sp | atl nl | 149.5 |
| 20 | Chipper Jones | 3b | retired | 149.0 |
Notable—Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers points since 1995 (when tracking began) after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday. Santana (7.1IP 3H R BB 6K W in the 3-2 win over the Cardinals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 187.0 for his career. With the point, he passes former teammate Alex Rodriguez, who also has 187.0 career points, but Sabathia ranks ahead because he has more 2017 points—2.0 vs. 0.0.
Sabathia now trails fourth-ranked player on the “all-time” list, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (187.7), who only passed Sabathia on Friday. Sabathia had briefly been the highest-ranked active player in career Box-Toppers points until being passed by Kershaw Friday. He now only trails Kershaw by 0.7 points.
In two days, Rodriguez has moved from fourth place to sixth place on the “all-time” list after being passed by Kershaw on Friday and Sabathia on Saturday. He had been in fourth place since April 2, 2011.
Rankings—Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday. Sale (7IP 3H R 3BB 12K W in the 2-1 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 2.7 for the season.
For the first time this season, all players in the season top 10 list have earned Player of the Game honors more than once in 2017.
Debut—Cesar Hernandez of the Phillies made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Hernandez (HR 2-4 2R 2BI in the 4-2 win over the Nationals) made his Major League debut May 29, 2013, and was playing in his 393rd career game. He is the 3,770th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Hernandez and Marte both had Box-Toppers game scores Saturday of +2.0, but Marte won NL Batter of the Day honors over Hernandez on a tiebreaker—he had one stolen base in his game and Hernandez had none.
Scoring—Santana earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Chatwood earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Ramirez and Marte each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) 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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| 4/15 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 15.0 | MIN 6, CHW 0 | Ervin Santana (W,3-0) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| 14.0 | SEA 5, TEX 0 | James Paxton (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 11.0 | BOS 2, TB 1 | Chris Sale (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 12 | ||
| NL | 10.0 | COL 5, SF 0 | Tyler Chatwood (W,1-2) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
| BAT | 9.0 | CLE 13, DET 6 | Jose Ramirez, 2B | 4 | 3 | 4 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 8.0 | `TOR 2, BAL 1 | Marco Estrada | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | ||
| 7.1 | NYY 3, STL 2 | CC Sabathia (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 6.1 | LAD 8, ARI 4 | Alex Wood (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 3.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | HOU 10, OAK 6 | Will Harris (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | ATL 4, SD 2 | Jim Johnson (S,3) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | MIA 5, NYM 4 | AJ Ramos (S,2) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.2 | KC 3, LAA 2 | Joakim Soria (W,1-0; BS,1) | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | PIT 8, CHC 7 | Starling Marte, CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | PHI 4, WSH 2 | Cesar Hernandez, 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | CIN 7, MIL 5 | Zack Cozart, SS | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 4.7 | 8.7 | 41.5 | 102.0 | 0.7 |
| Marte, Starling 3122 | lf cf | pit nl | 3.0 | 5.5 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 0.5 |
| Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 2.7 | 16.1 | 84.1 | 89.1 | -10.7 |
| Sabathia, C.C. 1492 | pi sp | nyy al | 2.0 | 8.0 | 34.5 | 187.0 | -4.0 |
| Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 2.0 | 6.4 | 13.1 | 13.1 | -2.4 |
| Chatwood, Tyler 2856 | pi sp | col nl | 1.7 | 8.7 | 15.4 | 18.4 | -5.3 |
| Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 1.5 | 3.0 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 0.0 |
| Estrada, Marco 2847 | pi sp | tor al | 1.0 | 12.0 | 41.1 | 44.1 | -10.0 |
| Johnson, Jim 2417 | pi cp | atl nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 16.0 | 22.7 | -3.0 |
| Ramos, A.J. 3210 | pi cp | fla nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | -1.0 |
| Cozart, Zack 3012 | ss | cin nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | -1.0 |
| Wood, Alex 3246 | pi mr sp | lad nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 20.4 | 20.4 | 0.0 |
| Soria, Joakim 2258 | pi mr cp | kc al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 10.7 | 46.7 | 0.0 |
| Harris, Will 3093 | pi mr cp | hou al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 0.0 |
| Hernandez, Cesar 3770 | 2b | phi nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Sam Fuld of the Athletics is Box-Toppers spring training Player of the Day for Friday.
Fuld homered and tripled, going 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 9-4 win over the Reds. Fuld had no Box-Toppers points in 2015 and last earned Box-Toppers points when he was Player of the Game on Aug. 10, 2011, with the Rays. Fuld has 3.5 career Box-Toppers points.
National League Player of the Day—Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis pitched three perfect innings, allowing no hits, runs or baserunners, striking out three, in the 6-1 win over the Indians. Bettis had 5.4 Box-Toppers points with the Rockies in 2015.
National League Batter of the Day—Cesar Hernandez of the Phillies went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 9-2 win over the Braves. Hernandez has no career Box-Toppers points. While he has played in 227 regular season Major League games, he has yet to make his Box-Toppers debut by earning his first regular season Player of the Game honor.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Friday because the overall AL Player of the Day was a batter, Sam Fuld.
Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in spring training games, but if it were the regular season, Fuld would earn 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, Bettis would earn 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day and Hernandez would earn 1.5 points as NL Batter of the Day. All of Friday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) would 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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 3/11 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 6.0 | Athletics | Sam Fuld RF-CF | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| NL | 6.0 | Rockies | Chad Bettis (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| 5.2 | `Blue Jays | Marcus Stroman | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 5.0 | White Sox | Carlos Rodon (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 5.0 | Mariners | Hisashi Iwakuma (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 5.0 | Yankees | Masahiro Tanaka (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 5.0 | Angels | Yunesky Maya (SV, 1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | Astros | Colby Rasmus LF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Rangers | Joey Gallo 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Cubs | Spencer Patton (SV, 1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Phillies | Cesar Hernandez 2B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Nationals | Tony Campana CF | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Dbacks | Chris Herrmann C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | `Pirates | Juan Nicasio | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 1.0 | Marlins | Adeiny Hechavarria SS | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Cardinals | Jacob Wilson 3B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| ` Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||
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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.