Red Sox’ Tolle tops players for Friday, June 26; Brewers’ Misiorowski rises to 1st place

Red Sox pitcher Payton Tolle is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Friday, Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski takes the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

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Giants’ Webb tops players for Wednesday, June 3; Sánchez, Ohtani rise in top 10

Giants pitcher Logan Webb is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Wednesday, Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez bolsters his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. In addition, Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani rises to second place in season player rankings, earning Player of the Game honors for a second straight day. He did it Tuesday as a designated hitter and Wednesday as a starting pitcher.

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Phillies’ Wheeler tops players for Sunday, May 17; Rangers’ Eovaldi tops AL players

Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Other Player of the Game winners Sunday include Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi, Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman, Gavin Sheets of the Padres and Edgar Quero of the White Sox.

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Reds’ Lodolo tops players for Wednesday, July 23; Royals’ Pasquantino tops AL players

Reds pitcher Nick Lodolo is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Other Player of the Game winners Wednesday include Vinnie Pasquantino of the Royals, Rangers pitcher Patrick Corbin, Rafael Devers of the Giants and Mets pitcher Sean Manaea.

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Yankees’ Yarbrough tops players for Monday, May 26; Dodgers’ Yamamoto rises to 2nd

Yankees pitcher Ryan Yarbrough is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Monday, Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto rises to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

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Astros’ Kikuchi tops players Saturday, Aug. 31; Phillies’ Wheeler rises to lead rankings

Astros pitcher Yusei Kikuchi is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Saturday, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors. In addition, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal extends his lead among American League pitchers in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.

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Rockies’ Quantrill tops players for Friday, May 3; Padres’ Cease rises to 5th in rankings

Rockies pitcher Cal Quantrill is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Friday, Padres pitcher Dylan Cease rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

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Rangers’ Bradford tops players for Friday, April 5; Royals’ Singer rises to 1st in rankings

Rangers pitcher Cody Bradford is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Friday, Royals pitcher Brady Singer rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, two players extend significant streaks of consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Friday—Orioles closer Craig Kimbrel (15 seasons) and Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola (10 seasons).

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Twins’ Ober tops players for Tuesday, Sept. 26; Padres’ Lugo tops NL players

Twins pitcher Bailey Ober is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Ober struck out eight over five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks, in the 11-3 win over the Athletics.

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Brewers’ Woodruff tops players for Tuesday, May 3, rising to 5th in player rankings

Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fifth place in season player rankings.

Woodruff struck out 12 over 5 2/3 innings, allowing three runs, four hits and no walks, in the 6-3 win over the Reds.

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Phillies’ Nola tops players for Sunday, July 25; Royals’ Lynch tops AL players

Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Nola struck out nine over 8 2/3 innings, allowing one run, four hits and no walks, in the 2-1 win over the Braves.

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Padres’ Darvish tops players for Monday, May 17, rises to 3rd in player rankings

Padres pitcher Yu Darvish is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to third place in season player rankings, taking the 2021 Box-Toppers point lead among National League pitchers.

Darvish struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks, in the 7-0 win over the Rockies.

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Yankees’ Cole tops players for Tuesday, April 6; Dodgers’ Kershaw tops NL players

Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Tuesday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, the active leader in career Box-Toppers points earned his first points of the 2021 season as National League Player of the Day.

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Mets’ Jacob deGrom tops players for Wednesday, Aug. 26, rises to 5th in player rankings

Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fifth place in season player rankings.

Also Wednesday, Braves pitcher Max Fried rises to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

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Red Sox’ Rick Porcello tops players for Tuesday, Aug. 14; Corbin, Kluber rise in player rankings top 10

Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Tuesday, two players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 after earning Player of the Game honors—Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin rises to eighth place and Indians pitcher Corey Kluber rises to ninth place.

Porcello, Corbin and Kluber are among five players with 10 or more Box-Toppers points this season who earned Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

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Giants’ Andrew Suarez tops players for Saturday, June 2; Rangers’ Hamels tops AL players

Giants pitcher Andrew Suarez is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Suarez struck out five over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 2-0 win over the Phillies.

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Dodgers' Yu Darvish tops players for Monday, Sept. 25; Astros' Gonzalez tops AL players

Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Darvish struck out nine over seven innings, allowing one run, two hits and no walks, in the 9-3 win over the Padres.

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Nationals' Stephen Strasburg tops players for Sunday, Sept. 10, rises to 4th in Box-Toppers rankings

Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fourth place in season player rankings.

Also Sunday, Diamondbacks pitcher Robbie Ray rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

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Red Sox' Chris Sale tops players for Friday, July 21, maintains Box-Toppers points lead among AL pitchers

Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, maintaining his player rankings lead among American League pitchers and becoming the 79th player since 1995 with 100 or more career Box-Toppers points.

Also Friday, Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians rises to first place in Box-Toppers points among AL batters after earning AL Batter of the Day honors.

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Brewers' Jimmy Nelson tops players for Sunday, May 28; Yankees' Judge rises to 7th in Box-Toppers rankings

Brewers pitcher Jimmy Nelson is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 28:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 10.7
2 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 9.4
3 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
4 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 8.0
5 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 7.0
6 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 6.7
7 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 6.5
8 Strasburg, Stephen 2736 pi sp dc nl 6.4
9 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 6.4
10 McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 6.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Sunday, Aaron Judge of the Yankees rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings—first among all batters—after earning American League Batter of the Day honors.

Player of the Day—Nelson struck out 10 over seven innings, allowing one run, seven hits and no walks, in the 9-5 win over the Diamondbacks.

American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Tommy Hunter pitched two scoreless innings—the ninth and the 10th—striking out three and allowing no hits, in the 8-6, 15-inning win over the Twins. Hunter picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the score was tied 5-5 when he exited.

Normally, middle relievers who pitch fewer than three innings and do not earn the win or save don’t earn Player of the Game honors. But Hunter did because he had a higher Box-Toppers game score and the same or more innings pitched than the player who otherwise would have won. Closer Erasmo Ramirez (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv) with a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 was in line for Player of the Game honors. But Hunter edged him out because he had both a higher Box-Toppers game score (+5.0) and more innings pitched (2.0 vs. 1.0).

Additionally, Hunter, with only two innings pitched, was able to win AL Player of the Day honors because of lower Box-Toppers game scores of AL players who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday, including his runner-up, Indians pitcher Josh Tomlin, who despite a complete game win (CG 6H R 0BB 3K W in the 10-1 win over the Royals) only had a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0.

National League Batter of the Day—Adam Duvall of the Reds homered twice and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 8-4 win over the Phillies.

American League Batter of the Day—Aaron Judge of the Yankees hit a grand slam and went 2-for-4 in the 9-5 win over the Athletics.

Judge earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.5 for the season, rising to seventh in season player rankings. He also rises to first among all batters, moving ahead of Bryce Harper of the Nationals (6.0), who falls out of the overall top 10 to 11th place.

Notable—Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto rises to 70th place among all players in career Box-Toppers points (since 1995 when tracking began) after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Cueto (6IP 6H R BB 8K W in the 7-1 win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 101.8 for his career. With his point Sunday, he passes three players on Box-Toppers “all-time” career points list—Jason Schmidt (101.2), Mark Teixeira (101.3) and Tim Wakefield (101.4). Cueto now trails 69th-place player Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2).

Scoring—Nelson earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Hunter earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Duvall and Judge each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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.

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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

5/28 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 8.0 MIL 9, ARI 5 Jimmy Nelson (W,3-3) - - - - 7.0 7 1 1 0 10
BAT 6.0 CIN 8, PHI 4 Adam Duvall, LF 4 2 3 5 - - - - - -
5.0 COL 8, STL 4 Gerardo Parra, RF 4 3 3 3 - - - - - -
5.0 SF 7, ATL 1 Johnny Cueto (W,5-4) - - - - 6.0 6 1 1 1 8
AL 5.0 `TB 8, MIN 6 (F/15) Tommy Hunter - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 0 3
4.0 CLE 10, KC 1 Josh Tomlin (W,3-6) - - - - 9.0 6 1 1 0 3
3.2 SD 5, WSH 3 Kirby Yates (W,1-0) - - - - 1.2 0 0 0 0 2
3.2 LAD 9, CHC 4 Josh Fields (W,2-0) - - - - 1.2 0 0 0 0 2
BAT 3.0 NYY 9, OAK 5 Aaron Judge, RF 4 1 2 4 - - - - - -
3.0 MIA 9, LAA 2 JT Riddle, SS 4 2 2 3 - - - - - -
3.0 SEA 5, BOS 0 Christian Bergman (W,2-2) - - - - 7.0 4 0 0 2 2
2.0 HOU 8, BAL 4 Yuli Gurriel, 1B 4 2 2 2 - - - - - -
1.2 CHW 7, DET 3 Miguel Gonzalez (W,4-5) - - - - 7.2 6 3 3 0 6
1.0 NYM 7, PIT 2 Jay Bruce, RF 5 1 3 2 - - - - - -
0.0 TEX 3, TOR 1 Elvis Andrus, SS 5 2 3 0 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).  

Player of the Game Pos Team ’17 ’16-17 ’12-17 Career +/-
Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5
Gonzalez, Miguel 3062 pi sp chi al 4.0 13.1 41.9 41.9 -5.1
Bruce, Jay 2453 rf nym nl 4.0 12.5 29.7 62.8 -4.5
Nelson, Jimmy 3299 pi sp mil nl 4.0 7.0 17.4 17.4 1.0
Duvall, Adam 3573 lf cin nl 3.5 10.0 11.5 11.5 -3.0
Bergman, Christian 3799 pi sp sea al 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Gurriel, Yuli 3796 1b hou al 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7
Parra, Gerardo 2746 rf col nl 2.5 5.0 17.0 23.5 0.0
Riddle, JT 3805 ss fla nl 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5
Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp sf nl 2.0 18.4 72.0 101.8 -14.4
Andrus, Elvis 2582 ss tex al 2.0 11.2 16.2 21.7 -7.2
Tomlin, Josh 2771 pi sp cle al 2.0 7.0 20.4 26.4 -3.0
Hunter, Tommy 2623 pi mr tb al 1.7 2.7 9.7 17.7 0.7
Yates, Kirby 3628 pi mr sd nl 1.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 -1.0
Fields, Josh 3247 pi mr lad nl 1.0 1.0 5.0 5.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?