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All 30 teams open their seasons over three days—Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Here is each team’s opening day starter and the pitching matchups for each team’s first game of the season.
Welcome to Opening Day of the 2026 Major League Baseball season.
This marks the 32nd season of Box-Toppers tracking the players who most help their teams win, based on box score statistics.
Read MoreMariners pitcher Logan Gilbert is Thursday’s Opening Day Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Other notable Player of the Game winners Thursday include two 2024 Box-Toppers points leaders—Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, who led all players (21.4 points) and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers, who led all National League batters (11.0).
Read MoreWelcome to Opening Day of the 2025 Major League Baseball season.
This marks the start of Box-Toppers’ 31st season tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score statistics. Here is an introduction to Box-Toppers.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Tuesday’s regular season opening game in Tokyo, Japan.
Yamamoto struck out four over five innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 4-1 win over the Cubs, the first official game of the 2025 season.
Read MoreWelcome to Opening Day of the 2024 Major League Baseball season.
This marks the start of Box-Toppers’ 30th season tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score statistics.
Read MoreDodgers closing pitcher Evan Phillips is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Wednesday’s regular season opening game in Seoul, South Korea.
Phillips struck out one in one scoreless, hitless inning, walking none and picking up the save, in the 5-2 win over the Padres, the first official game of the 2024 season.
Read MoreWelcome to Opening Day of the 2023 Major League Baseball season.
This marks the start of Box-Toppers’ 29th season tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score statistics. Here is an introduction to Box-Toppers.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Framber Valdez is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s Opening Day games.
Also Thursday, Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreStarting a new baseball season means putting your best foot forward, which for teams usually means putting your best pitcher on the mound to start the first game of the season.
However, only four of Box-Toppers’ top-ranked pitchers in 2021 are starting their team’s first game of 2022.
Read MoreWelcome to Opening Day of the 2022 Major League Baseball season.
This marks the start of Box-Toppers’ 28th season tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score statistics. Here is an introduction to Box-Toppers.
Read MoreRays pitcher Tyler Glasnow is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s opening day games.
Also Thursday, Astros pitcher Zack Greinke has now earned Box-Toppers points in 15 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreA look at how opening day starters have fared in Box-Toppers points and an opening day introduction to Box-Toppers.
Read MoreA Box-Toppers preview of the 2021 baseball season.
First, a commentary on baseball and COVID-19. Though case rates are declining and vaccines are slowly arriving, coronavirus cases are higher now than during most of the shortened 2020 baseball season. Yet baseball is on the fast track to return to normalcy.
Second, an introduction to the Box-Toppers metric, used to track and compare players since 1995.
Read MoreEnrique Hernandez of the Dodgers is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s pair of season opening games.
Hernandez homered and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 8-1 win over the Giants.
Read MoreTo get a reward, you need to complete a task. As other nations sacrificed to bring coronavirus case counts down, to flatten the curve, we didn’t. Cases increased. It seems crazy to reward ourselves now with baseball, putting many at risk, simply because we want it. We are not worthy.
And yet, here we are: So here’s an opening day introduction to Box-Toppers, tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score statistics. We begin our 26th season of tracking and our eighth season on the web.
Read MoreTwins pitcher Jose Berrios is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s Opening Day games.
Berrios struck out 10 over 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 2-0 win over the Indians.
Read MoreAs the 2019 Major League Baseball season opens, Box-Toppers begins its 25th season tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score statistics. Here is an introduction to Box-Toppers.
Read MoreTim Beckham of the Mariners is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day in baseball’s 2019 opening game in Japan.
Beckham homered and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 9-7 win over the Athletics.
Read MoreWhat’s the most important thing in baseball?
Winning the game, right?
But what baseball statistic provides the fan an indication of the player who most contributed to the win? Logically, you might answer “the win” statistic, but it only applies to pitchers. Plus, in some circumstances, the win is not awarded to the pitcher most responsible for earning the win, but simply the pitcher who was in the game when the team took the lead.
What is needed is a metric that will select the player—from among pitchers and batters—who most contributed to his team’s win. And that’s where Box-Toppers comes in.
Read More
Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez is Sunday’s opening day Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Martinez pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing six hits, no walks and striking out 10 in the 4-3 win over the Cubs. Martinez did not earn the win because after he exited, the Cubs tied the game in the top of the ninth inning before the Cardinals won the game in the bottom of the ninth.
While it is relatively rare for a pitcher to earn overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day without earning a win or a save, it did happen nine times in 2016, including once by Martinez on Aug. 29.
American League Player of the Day—Logan Morrison of the Rays homered and went 3-for-4, driving in three runs, in the 7-3 win over the Yankees.
National League Batter of the Day—A.J. Pollock of the Diamondbacks hit a two-run homer and went 3-for-5, scoring twice, in the 6-5 win over the Giants.
Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner had a magnificent day, hitting two home runs and pitching a perfect game through five innings (his final line was 7IP 6H 3R 0BB 11K ND), but earns no Box-Toppers points for his effort (despite having a Box-Toppers game score of +6.0 for pitching, highest of any player on either team) simply because the Giants did not win.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Sunday because the overall AL Player of the Day was batter Logan Morrison. Also, only one AL game was played Sunday.
Scoring—Martinez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and becomes the de facto early leader in season Box-Toppers points. Morrison earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Pollock earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day.
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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 4/2 | Score | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.1 | `STL 4, CHC 3 | Carlos Martinez | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | |
| AL | 3.0 | TB 7, NYY 3 | Logan Morrison, 1B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 2.0 | ARI 6, SF 5 | A.J. Pollock, CF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| ` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||
| Player of Game | Pos | Team | '17 | '16-17 | '12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Martinez, Carlos 3371 | pi sp | stl nl | 2.0 | 14.4 | 29.1 | 29.1 | -10.4 |
| Morrison, Logan 2794 | 1b | tb al | 1.7 | 3.7 | 13.7 | 19.2 | -0.3 |
| Pollock, A.J. 3142 | cf | ari nl | 1.5 | 1.5 | 16.2 | 16.2 | 1.5 |
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.
