Dodgers' Alex Wood tops players for Monday, May 8; Cardinals' Martinez rises to 10th in player rankings

Shawn Plank May 9, 2017

Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Monday, Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez rises to 10th place in season Box-Toppers player rankings after becoming the second pitcher of the season to earn Player of the Game honors for batting.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 8:


	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	7.0
2	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	6.7
3	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	6.7
4	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	6.0
5	Kimbrel, Craig 2825	pi cp	bos al	5.0
6	Nova, Ivan 2796	pi sp	pit nl	5.0
7	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0
8	Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	5.0
9	Judge, Aaron 3767	rf	nyy al	5.0
10	Martinez, Carlos 3371	pi sp	stl nl	4.5

What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Wood struck out 11 over five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 12-1 win over the Pirates.

American League Player of the Day—Orioles pitcher Kevin Gausman struck out eight over seven innings, allowing two runs and five hits, in the 6-4 win over the Nationals.

National League Batter of the Day—Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 9-4 win over the Marlins.

Martinez earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 4.5 for the season, rising to 10th in Box-Toppers season player rankings and fifth among NL pitchers.

He also becomes the second pitcher this season to earn Player of the Game honors for batting. Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright did it on April 21. Not only has the feat been accomplished both times by Cardinals, but both pitchers also earned NL Batter of the Day honors when they did it.

This is the second time in his career Martinez has earned Player of the Game honors for batting. He also did it Sept. 19, 2016. During the 2016 season, pitchers won Player of the Game honors for batting eight times.

Martinez had a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0 for batting, highest among all Cardinals players Monday. He had a Box-Toppers game score of 0.0 for pitching (6IP 5H 3R 3ER 2BB 7K W).

American League Batter of the Day—Matt Holliday of the Yankees homered and went 2-for-4, scoring three times and driving in one run, in the 10-4 win over the Reds.

Holliday earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 100.8 for his career. He becomes the 77th player to earn 100 Box-Toppers points since 1995, when player tracking began. With his points Monday, he rises to 73rd on the “all-time” player list, passing six players—White Sox pitcher James Shields (99.4), Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto (99.8), Larry Walker (100.1), Jeff Bagwell (100.4), Paul Konerko (100.7) and Giants pitcher Matt Cain (100.7). Holliday now trails 72nd-ranked player Jason Schmidt (101.2).

Scoring—Wood earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cahill earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Martinez and Holliday each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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 





  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  

    5/8
    Score
    Game
    Player of the Game
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    13.0
    LAD 12, PIT 1
    Alex Wood (W,3-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    5.0
    2
    0
    0
    1
    11
  

    
    6.1
    SD 5, TEX 1
    Trevor Cahill (W,3-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    5.1
    1
    0
    0
    5
    7
  

    AL
    5.0
    BAL 6, WSH 4
    Kevin Gausman (W,2-3)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    5
    2
    2
    1
    8
  

    
    4.1
    KC 7, TB 3
    Nate Karns (W,2-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.1
    6
    2
    2
    2
    10
  

    BAT
    4.0
    STL 9, MIA 4
    Carlos Martinez, P
    3
    1
    2
    4
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    4.0
    `NYM 4, SF 3
    Jacob deGrom
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    4
    3
    3
    3
    11
  

    BAT
    2.0
    NYY 10, CIN 4
    Matt Holliday, 1B
    4
    3
    2
    1
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    2.0
    TOR 4, CLE 2
    Ryan Goins, SS
    2
    1
    1
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    1.0
    OAK 3, LAA 2 (F/11)
    Jed Lowrie, 2B
    5
    2
    2
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

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	+/-
Martinez, Carlos 3371	pi sp	stl nl	4.5	16.9	31.6	31.6	-7.9
Cahill, Trevor 2658	pi sp	sd nl	4.4	7.4	22.1	44.6	1.4
Holliday, Matt 1836	dh 1b lf	nyy al	3.0	9.0	36.2	100.8	-3.0
Wood, Alex 3246	pi sp mr	lad nl	3.0	4.0	22.4	22.4	2.0
Karns, Nathan 3414	pi sp	kc al	2.7	5.7	11.7	11.7	-0.3
Goins, Ryan 3478	ss 2b	tor al	2.0	3.5	8.0	8.0	0.5
Gausman, Kevin 3191	pi sp	bal al	1.7	12.5	25.9	25.9	-9.1
deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	1.0	10.7	46.1	46.1	-8.7
Lowrie, Jed 2437	2b ss	oak al	1.0	2.0	16.5	28.0	0.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Reds' Scott Feldman tops players for Sunday, May 7; Yankees' Severino tops AL players

Shawn Plank May 8, 2017

Reds pitcher Scott Feldman is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Feldman pitched a complete-game, four-hit shutout, striking out five, in the 4-0 win over the Giants.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 7:


	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	7.0
2	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	6.7
3	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	6.7
4	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	6.0
5	Kimbrel, Craig 2825	pi cp	bos al	5.0
6	Nova, Ivan 2796	pi sp	pit nl	5.0
7	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0
8	Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	5.0
9	Judge, Aaron 3767	rf	nyy al	5.0
10	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	4.4

What are those numbers after players' names?

American League Player of the Day—Yankees pitcher Luis Severino struck out nine over seven innings, allowing one run and four hits, in the 5-4, 18-inning win over the Cubs. Severino picked up the no-decision and did not earn the win because the Cubs tied the game after he exited.

Severino earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 3.7 for the season, most among the 14 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday. Severino ranks 20th among all players in season Box-Toppers points, 10th among AL pitchers.

National League Batter of the Day—Tommy Pham of the Cardinals hit two homers and went 4-for-5, driving in three runs, in the 6-4, 14-inning win over the Braves.

American League Batter of the Day—Sandy Leon of the Red Sox hit two homers and went 2-for-4, driving in four runs, in the 17-6 win over the Twins.

Debut—Jesus Aguilar of the Brewers made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Aguilar (HR 2B 2-2 R 2BI in the 6-2 win over the Pirates) made his Major League debut May 15, 2014, and was playing in his 63rd career game. He is the 3,787th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Feldman earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Severino earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Pham and Leon 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.

  
    Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 





  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  

    5/7
    Score
    Game
    Player of the Game
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    9.0
    CIN 4, SF 0
    Scott Feldman (W,2-3)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    9.0
    4
    0
    0
    1
    5
  

    AL
    9.0
     `NYY 5, CHC 4 (F/18)
    Luis Severino
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
     7.0
    4
    1
    1
    1
    9
  

    
    6.0
    MIA 7, NYM 0
    Jose Urena (W,1-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    1
    0
    0
    1
    2
  

    
    5.2
    CLE 1, KC 0
    Mike Clevinger (W,1-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    5.2
    1
    0
    0
    4
    5
  

    
    5.0
    COL 5, ARI 2
    Tyler Chatwood (W,3-4)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    2
    1
    1
    3
    5
  

    
    5.0
    TOR 2, TB 1
    Ryan Tepera (W,2-1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    2.0
    0
    0
    0
    1
    4
  

    BAT
    4.0
    STL 6, ATL 4 (F/14)
    Tommy Pham, LF
    5
    2
    4
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    BAT
    4.0
    BOS 17, MIN 6
    Sandy Leon, C
    4
    2
    2
    4
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    4.0
    PHI 6, WSH 5 (F/10)
    Aaron Altherr, RF
    1
    1
    1
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    OAK 8, DET 6
    Ryon Healy, DH
    3
    2
    2
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    MIL 6, PIT 2
    Jesus Aguilar, 1B
    2
    1
    2
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    BAL 4, CHW 0
    Chris Tillman (W,1-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    5.0
    3
    0
    0
    3
    4
  

    
    3.0
    HOU 5, LAA 3
    Ken Giles (S,8)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    2
  

    
    3.0
    SEA 4, TEX 3
    Edwin Diaz (S,6)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    2
  

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


Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Severino, Luis 3567	pi sp	nyy al	3.7	5.7	8.7	8.7	1.7
Healy, Ryon 3685	1b 3b dh	oak al	3.5	6.5	6.5	6.5	0.5
Altherr, Aaron 3563	lf rf ph	phi nl	3.5	6.0	7.0	7.0	1.0
Feldman, Scott 2632	pi sp	cin nl	3.0	3.0	19.7	27.7	3.0
Tepera, Ryan 3774	pi mr	tor al	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0
Chatwood, Tyler 2856	pi sp	col nl	2.7	9.7	16.4	19.4	-4.3
Giles, Ken 3402	pi cp mr	hou al	2.0	5.0	10.0	10.0	-1.0
Clevinger, Mike 3707	pi sp mr	cle al	1.7	4.7	4.7	4.7	-1.3
Leon, Sandy 3676	ca	bos al	1.5	4.5	4.5	4.5	-1.5
Pham, Thomas 3596	lf	stl nl	1.5	3.0	4.5	4.5	0.0
Tillman, Chris 2754	pi sp	bal al	1.0	9.0	40.8	44.8	-7.0
Diaz, Edwin 3690	pi cp	sea al	1.0	8.0	8.0	8.0	-6.0
Urena, Jose 3492	pi sp	fla nl	1.0	3.7	4.7	4.7	-1.7
Aguilar, Jesus 3787	1b	mil nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Pirates' Gerrit Cole tops players for Saturday, May 6; Kershaw rises to lead Box-Toppers player rankings

Shawn Plank May 7, 2017

Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Saturday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 6:


	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	7.0
2	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	6.7
3	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	6.7
4	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	6.0
5	Kimbrel, Craig 2825	pi cp	bos al	5.0
6	Nova, Ivan 2796	pi sp	pit nl	5.0
7	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0
8	Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	5.0
9	Judge, Aaron 3767	rf	nyy al	5.0
10	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	4.4

What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Cole struck out eight over seven innings, allowing one run and two hits, in the 2-1, 10-inning win over the Brewers. Cole picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was tied, 1-1, when he exited.

American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Jake Odorizzi struck out six over seven innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 6-1 win over the Blue Jays.

American League Batter of the Day—Aaron Hicks of the Yankees hit a three-run homer and doubled in the 11-6 win over the Cubs. Hicks went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs.

National League Batter of the Day—Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals homered, doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 6-2 win over the Phillies.

  
    2017 lead changes
Here are the season’s lead changes among players in Box-Toppers points. Chart shows the date and the player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total when they took the lead.
 
    Date
    Player
    Team
    BTP
  
    4/2
    Carlos Martinez
    stl nl
    2.0
  
    4/3
    Clayton Kershaw
    lad nl
    2.0
  
    4/9
    Noah Syndergaard
    nym nl
    3.0
  
    4/14
    Clayton Kershaw
    lad nl
    4.0
  
    4/15
    Ervin Santana
    min al
    4.7
  
    4/19
    Clayton Kershaw
    lad nl
    5.0
  
    5/2
    Chris Sale
    bos al
    6.7
  
    5/6
    Clayton Kershaw
    lad nl
    7.0

Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday (7.1IP 5H R 4BB 9K W in the 10-2 win over the Padres).

Kershaw earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.0 for the season, passing previous leader, Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale (6.7 points). This is the fourth time this season Kershaw has led players in Box-Toppers points.

Kershaw also now has 190.7 career Box-Toppers points, most among active players and fourth among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails third-place player Curt Schilling (194.1) on the “all-time” list.

Debut—Mariners pitcher James Pazos made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Pazos (1IP H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 8-2 win over the Rangers) made his Major League debut Sept. 5, 2015, and was playing in his 31st career game. He is the 3,786th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Cole earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Odorizzi earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Hicks and Zimmerman 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.

  
    Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 





  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  

    5/6
    Score
    Game
    Player of the Game
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    9.0
    `PIT 2, MIL 1 (F/10)
    Gerrit Cole
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    2
    1
    1
    2
    8
  

    AL
    8.0
    TB 6, TOR 1
    Jake Odorizzi (W,2-1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    3
    1
    1
    0
    6
  

    
    7.0
    COL 9, ARI 1
    Tyler Anderson (W,2-3)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    6
    1
    1
    1
    10
  

    
    5.1
    LAD 10, SD 2
    Clayton Kershaw (W,5-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.1
    5
    1
    1
    4
    9
  

    BAT
    5.0
    NYY 11, CHC 6
    Aaron Hicks, CF
    5
    3
    4
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    5.0
    `CLE 3, KC 1
    Josh Tomlin
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    3
    1
    1
    0
    3
  

    
    4.0
    BOS 11, MIN 1
    Rick Porcello (W,2-4)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    7
    1
    1
    0
    6
  

    
    4.0
    CIN 14, SF 2
    Robert Stephenson (S,1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    3.0
    0
    0
    0
    1
    2
  

    
    3.0
    OAK 6, DET 5
    Yonder Alonso, 1B
    4
    2
    2
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    BAT
    3.0
    WSH 6, PHI 2
    Ryan Zimmerman, 1B
    4
    2
    2
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    BAL 6, CHW 5
    Trey Mancini, LF
    3
    1
    2
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    SEA 8, TEX 2
    James Pazos (W,1-1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.0
    1
    0
    0
    0
    3
  

    
    2.0
    LAA 2, HOU 1
    Bud Norris (W,1-1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    1
  

    
    1.0
    NYM 11, MIA 3
    Jay Bruce, RF
    5
    1
    2
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    1.0
    STL 5, ATL 3
    Aledmys Diaz, SS-LF
    4
    0
    3
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

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


Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	7.0	31.4	131.1	190.7	-17.4
Odorizzi, Jake 3291	pi sp	tb al	3.4	9.8	29.5	29.5	-3.0
Bruce, Jay 2453	rf	nym nl	3.0	11.5	28.7	61.8	-5.5
Mancini, Trey 3766	lf	bal al	2.7	2.7	2.7	2.7	2.7
Zimmerman, Ryan 2180	1b	dc nl	2.5	4.0	23.7	58.8	1.0
Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	pit nl	2.0	8.5	37.9	37.9	-4.5
Hicks, Aaron 3170	cf	nyy al	1.5	2.5	6.5	6.5	0.5
Porcello, Rick 2573	pi sp	bos al	1.0	9.0	31.7	43.7	-7.0
Norris, Bud 2638	pi cp sp	ana al	1.0	6.7	31.4	47.1	-4.7
Diaz, Aledmys 3612	ss lf	stl nl	1.0	6.5	6.5	6.5	-4.5
Tomlin, Josh 2771	pi sp	cle al	1.0	6.0	19.4	25.4	-4.0
Alonso, Yonder 2945	1b	oak al	1.0	3.0	12.5	14.0	-1.0
Anderson, Tyler 3656	pi sp	col nl	1.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	-1.0
Stephenson, Robert 3617	pi cp	cin nl	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	0.0
Pazos, James 3786	pi mr	sea al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Blue Jays' Kendrys Morales tops players for Friday, May 5; Dbacks' Goldschmidt tops NL players

Shawn Plank May 6, 2017

Kendrys Morales of the Blue Jays is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Morales hit two homers and doubled, going 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five runs, in the 8-4 win over the Rays.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 5:


	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	6.7
2	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	6.7
3	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	6.0
4	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	6.0
5	Kimbrel, Craig 2825	pi cp	bos al	5.0
6	Nova, Ivan 2796	pi sp	pit nl	5.0
7	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0
8	Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	5.0
9	Judge, Aaron 3767	rf	nyy al	5.0
10	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	4.4

What are those numbers after players' names?

National League Player of the Day—Paul Goldschmidt of the Diamondbacks hit two homers and went 3-for-3, driving in five runs, in the 6-3 win over the Rockies.

Goldschmidt earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 3.7 points for the season, most among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Friday. Goldschmidt ranks 19th among all players and second among NL batters, behind Bryce Harper of the Nationals (4.0 Box-Toppers points).

Batters of the Day—There are no separate AL and NL Batters of the Day for Friday because the overall Player of the Day was AL batter Kendrys Morales and the overall NL Player of the Day was NL batter Paul Goldschmidt.

Streaks—Three players extended streaks of 10 or more consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points after all three earned Player of the Game honors Friday:

Joe Mauer of the Twins (HR 2-4 2R 2BI in the 4-3 win over the Red Sox) has now earned Box-Toppers points for 14 straight seasons. He earned his first points in 2004 with the Twins and has 71.6 career points, eighth among active AL batters. His best season was 2008 with the Twins when he had 9.5 points, eighth among AL batters. In 2016, he had 1.5 points with the Twins.
Royals pitcher Jason Hammel (6IP 3H R 2BB 6K W in the 3-1 win over the Indians) has now earned Box-Toppers points for 12 straight seasons. He earned his first points in 2006 with the Rays and has 60.2 career points, 21st among active AL pitchers. His best season was 2016 with the Cubs, when he had 13.0 Box-Toppers points, 13th among NL pitchers.
Brian McCann of the Astros (HR 2-4 R 4BI in the 7-6, 10-inning win over the Angels) has now earned Box-Toppers points for 12 straight seasons. He earned his first points in 2006 with the Braves and has 59.4 career points, first among active catchers and fifth among all catchers since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. His best season was 2009 with the Braves, when he had 8.5 points, first among NL catchers. In 2016, he had 3.2 points with the Yankees.

Scoring—Morales earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Goldschmidt earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. All of Friday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

  
    Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 





  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  

    5/5
    Score
    Game
    Player of the Game
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    7.0
    TOR 8, TB 4
    Kendrys Morales, DH
    4
    3
    3
    5
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    NL
    7.0
    ARI 6, COL 3
    Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
    3
    2
    3
    5
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    6.0
    STL 10, ATL 0
    Lance Lynn (W,4-1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    4
    0
    0
    2
    6
  

    
    5.0
    CIN 13, SF 3
    Billy Hamilton, CF
    4
    4
    3
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    5.0
    KC 3, CLE 1
    Jason Hammel (W,1-3)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    3
    1
    1
    2
    6
  

    
    5.0
    BAL 4, CHW 2
    Gabriel Ynoa (W,1-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    6
    0
    0
    0
    5
  

    
    5.0
    PIT 4, MIL 0
    Wade LeBlanc (W,2-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    3.0
    2
    0
    0
    0
    4
  

    
    4.1
    `WSH 4, PHI 2
    Enny Romero (H,2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.1
    0
    0
    0
    0
    3
  

    
    4.0
    LAD 8, SD 2
    Cody Bellinger, 1B
    5
    2
    3
    4
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    4.0
    DET 7, OAK 2
    Michael Fulmer (W,3-1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    8.0
    8
    2
    1
    2
    9
  

    
    4.0
    `NYY 3, CHC 2
    Michael Pineda
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    3
    2
    2
    1
    6
  

    
    3.0
    HOU 7, LAA 6 (F/10)
    Brian McCann, C
    4
    1
    2
    4
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    2.0
    NYM 8, MIA 7
    T.J. Rivera, 1B
    4
    1
    2
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    2.0
    MIN 4, BOS 3
    Joe Mauer, 1B
    4
    2
    2
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    2.0
    `TEX 3, SEA 1 (F/13)
    Tony Barnette
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    3.0
    2
    0
    0
    1
    2
  

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


Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Goldschmidt, Paul 2935	1b	ari nl	3.7	8.2	39.6	43.6	-0.8
Lynn, Lance 2992	pi sp	stl nl	3.7	3.7	59.6	59.6	3.7
Pineda, Michael 2841	pi sp	nyy al	3.0	9.0	25.4	37.1	-3.0
Fulmer, Michael 3640	pi sp	det al	2.0	14.7	14.7	14.7	-10.7
Morales, Kendrys 2142	dh	tor al	2.0	10.5	25.2	41.2	-6.5
LeBlanc, Wade 2669	pi cp mr sp	pit nl	2.0	5.0	5.0	12.0	-1.0
Bellinger, Cody 3781	lf 1b	lad nl	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Hammel, Jason 2235	pi sp	kc al	1.0	14.0	45.1	60.2	-12.0
McCann, Brian 2179	ca	hou al	1.0	4.2	30.2	59.4	-2.2
Hamilton, Billy 3287	cf	cin nl	1.0	3.0	9.5	9.5	-1.0
Barnette, Tony 3670	pi mr	tex al	1.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	-1.0
Mauer, Joe 1869	1b	min al	1.0	2.5	24.0	71.6	-0.5
Rivera, T.J. 3710	1b	nym nl	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	0.0
Romero, Enny 3726	pi mr	dc nl	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	0.0
Ynoa, Gabriel 3743	pi mr	bal al	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	0.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Red Sox' Chris Sale passes Kershaw to lead Box-Toppers weekly player rankings

Shawn Plank May 6, 2017

Sale rises to lead Box-Toppers weekly player rankings. Scherzer rises to lead NL pitchers, Judge rises to lead AL batters. Harper maintains lead among NL batters

Washington Nationals top Box-Toppers team rankings for third straight week

Shawn Plank May 6, 2017

Nationals lead all teams in Box-Toppers points for 3rd week. Yankees remain atop AL teams. Reds and Astros are the hottest teams of the week.

Nationals' Max Scherzer tops players for Thursday, May 4, rises to 3rd in Box-Toppers player rankings

Shawn Plank May 5, 2017

Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to third in season player rankings.

Scherzer struck out 11 over seven innings, allowing one run and two hits, in the 4-2 win over the Diamondbacks.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 4:


	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	6.7
2	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	6.7
3	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	6.0
4	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	6.0
5	Kimbrel, Craig 2825	pi cp	bos al	5.0
6	Nova, Ivan 2796	pi sp	pit nl	5.0
7	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0
8	Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	5.0
9	Judge, Aaron 3767	rf	nyy al	5.0
10	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	4.4

What are those numbers after players' names?

Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season, rising to third in player rankings, first among National League pitchers, passing previous leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw. Though Scherzer and Kershaw both have 6.0 points on the season, Scherzer ranks ahead because he had more 2016 Box-Toppers points—25.7 vs. 24.4. Scherzer led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2016; Kershaw was second.

Scherzer also now has 137.7 career Box-Toppers points, ranked 30th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 29th-ranked player Andy Pettitte (138.5).

American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Matt Andriese pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing five hits, in the 5-1 win over the Marlins.

American League Batter of the Day—Ben Gamel of the Mariners doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 11-3 win over the Angels.

This was Gamel’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Gamel made his Major League debut May 6, 2016, and was playing in his 41st career game. He is the 3,784th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

National League Batter of the Day—Joey Votto of the Reds doubled twice and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 4-2 win over the Pirates.

Debut—Keon Broxton of the Brewers made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday with his first career Player of the Game honor. Broxton (HR 2B 4-5 R 2BI in the 5-4 win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut Sept. 21, 2015, and was playing in his 107th career game. He is the 3,785th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Andriese earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Gamel and Votto each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

  
    Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 





  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  

    5/4
    Score
    Game
    Player of the Game
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    12.0
    WSH 4, ARI 2
    Max Scherzer (W,4-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    2
    1
    1
    2
    11
  

    AL
    7.0
    TB 5, MIA 1
    Matt Andriese (W,2-1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    5
    0
    0
    3
    8
  

    
    6.2
    CHW 8, KC 3
    Derek Holland (W,3-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.2
    3
    2
    1
    1
    7
  

    BAT
    5.0
    SEA 11, LAA 3
    Ben Gamel, RF
    3
    3
    3
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    4.0
    BAL 8, BOS 3
    Seth Smith, RF
    4
    2
    4
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    4.0
    OAK 8, MIN 5
    Jharel Cotton (W,3-3)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    3
    3
    2
    3
    9
  

    
    3.1
    `COL 3, SD 2 (F/11)
    Kyle Freeland
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.1
    3
    1
    1
    2
    4
  

    BAT
    3.0
    CIN 4, PIT 2
    Joey Votto, 1B
    3
    2
    2
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    2.0
    MIL 5, STL 4
    Keon Broxton, CF
    5
    1
    4
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    2.0
    TEX 10, HOU 4
    Joey Gallo, 3B
    5
    2
    2
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    2.0
    CHC 5, PHI 4 (F/13)
    Koji Uehara (W,1-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    1
  

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


Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	6.0	31.7	109.9	137.7	-19.7
Gallo, Joey 3485	3b	tex al	4.0	4.0	5.5	5.5	4.0
Holland, Derek 2634	pi sp	chi al	3.0	7.0	29.1	48.8	-1.0
Andriese, Matt 3505	pi sp mr	tb al	2.7	4.7	7.7	7.7	0.7
Smith, Seth 2489	rf	bal al	2.0	7.0	19.5	40.2	-3.0
Cotton, Jharel 3733	pi sp	oak al	2.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	0.0
Freeland, Kyle 3763	pi sp	col nl	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Votto, Joey 2366	1b	cin nl	1.5	12.0	26.7	65.7	-9.0
Gamel, Ben 3784	rf	sea al	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5
Uehara, Koji 2802	pi cp	chi nl	1.0	5.0	25.0	31.0	-3.0
Broxton, Keon 3785	cf	mil nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Giants' Jeff Samardzija tops players for Wednesday, May 3; Red Sox' Kimbrel rises to 4th in Box-Toppers player rankings

Shawn Plank May 4, 2017

Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Wednesday, Red Sox closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 3:


	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	6.7
2	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	6.7
3	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	6.0
4	Kimbrel, Craig 2825	pi cp	bos al	5.0
5	Nova, Ivan 2796	pi sp	pit nl	5.0
6	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0
7	Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	5.0
8	Judge, Aaron 3767	rf	nyy al	5.0
9	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	4.4
10	Triggs, Andrew 3723	pi sp	oak al	4.4

What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Samardzija struck out 11 over eight innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 4-3, 11-inning win over the Dodgers. Samardzija picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was tied, 1-1, when he exited.

American League Player of the Day—Royals pitcher Nate Karns pitched six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out seven, in the 6-1 win over the White Sox.

American League Batter of the Day—Kennys Vargas of the Twins homered and went 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 7-4 win over the Athletics.

National League Batter of the Day—Jose Reyes of the Mets doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 16-5 win over the Braves.

Rankings—Red Sox closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Kimbrel (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 3K Sv in the 4-2 win over the Orioles) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.0 for the season. He ranks third among AL pitchers and first among all closing pitchers.

Scoring—Samardzija earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Karns earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Vargas and Reyes each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

  
    Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 





  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  

    5/3
    Score
    Game
    Player of the Game
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    15.0
    `SF 4, LAD 1 (F/11)
    Jeff Samardzija
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    8.0
    3
    1
    0
    0
    11
  

    AL
    11.0
    KC 6, CHW 1
    Nate Karns (W,1-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    1
    0
    0
    1
    7
  

    
    6.0
    WSH 2, ARI 1
    Jacob Turner (W,1-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    4.0
    2
    0
    0
    0
    4
  

    
    5.0
    HOU 10, TEX 1
    Charlie Morton (W,3-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    5
    1
    1
    2
    8
  

    BAT
    4.0
    MIN 7, OAK 4
    Kennys Vargas, DH
    4
    1
    2
    5
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    BAT
    4.0
    NYM 16, ATL 5
    Jose Reyes, 3B-SS
    4
    1
    2
    5
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    4.0
    BOS 4, BAL 2
    Craig Kimbrel (S,10)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    3
  

    
    3.1
    NYY 8, TOR 6
    Dellin Betances (W,3-1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.1
    0
    0
    0
    0
    2
  

    
    3.0
    COL 11, SD 3
    Ian Desmond, 1B
    5
    2
    3
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    MIA 10, TB 6
    J.T. Realmuto, C
    5
    2
    2
    4
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    CHC 5, PHI 4
    Willson Contreras, PH-C
    1
    1
    1
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    2.0
    SEA 8, LAA 7
    Jean Segura, SS
    5
    1
    2
    4
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    2.0
    CIN 7, PIT 2
    Eugenio Suarez, 3B
    3
    1
    1
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    2.0
    CLE 3, DET 2
    Jose Ramirez, 3B
    2
    1
    1
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

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


Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Kimbrel, Craig 2825	pi cp	bos al	5.0	13.0	57.7	63.7	-3.0
Suarez, Eugenio 3355	3b	cin nl	2.5	11.0	16.5	16.5	-6.0
Ramirez, Jose 3436	3b	cle al	2.5	4.0	7.5	7.5	1.0
Contreras, Willson 3776	ca ph	chi nl	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5
Samardzija, Jeff 2495	pi sp	sf nl	2.0	12.7	48.8	51.8	-8.7
Realmuto, J.T. 3491	ca	fla nl	2.0	7.5	12.5	12.5	-3.5
Betances, Dellin 3333	pi mr	nyy al	2.0	6.0	14.7	14.7	-2.0
Morton, Charlie 2503	pi sp	hou al	2.0	5.0	18.7	29.7	-1.0
Karns, Nathan 3414	pi sp	kc al	1.7	4.7	10.7	10.7	-1.3
Vargas, Kennys 3511	dh 1b	min al	1.5	4.0	5.5	5.5	-1.0
Reyes, Jose 1759	3b ss	nym nl	1.5	3.5	12.5	31.5	-0.5
Segura, Jean 3173	ss 2b	sea al	1.0	5.5	12.0	12.0	-3.5
Desmond, Ian 2673	1b cf lf	col nl	1.0	5.0	16.7	28.2	-3.0
Turner, Jacob 3120	pi cp sp	dc nl	1.0	1.0	6.7	6.7	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Red Sox' Chris Sale top players for Tuesday, May 2, rises to lead Box-Toppers player rankings

Shawn Plank May 3, 2017

Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to take the lead in season player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 2:


	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	6.7
2	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	6.7
3	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	6.0
4	Nova, Ivan 2796	pi sp	pit nl	5.0
5	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0
6	Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	5.0
7	Judge, Aaron 3767	rf	nyy al	5.0
8	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	4.4
9	Triggs, Andrew 3723	pi sp	oak al	4.4
10	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	4.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Tuesday, Twins pitcher Ervin Santana maintains his second-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings and Aaron Judge of the Yankees rises to seventh place after both earned Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Sale struck out 11 over eight innings, allowing two runs and three hits, in the 5-2 win over the Orioles.

Sale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.7 for the season, rising from sixth to first place in season player rankings. He passes previous leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (5.0 Box-Toppers points), who had been leading since April 19. It is the second time in his career Sale has led Box-Toppers season player rankings—previously, he led May 17-18, 2013, when he had 8.7 points with the White Sox.

National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Trevor Cahill struck out seven over six innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 6-2 win over the Rockies.

American League Batter of the Day—Marwin Gonzalez of the Astros hit two home runs, including a grand slam, in the 8-7 win over the Rangers. Gonzalez went 2-for-3, driving in five runs.

National League Batter of the Day—Javier Baez of the Cubs homered, tripled and went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 8-3 win over the Phillies.

Rankings—In addition to Sale, two other players earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday are also among Box-Toppers top 10 players in season player rankings:

Twins pitcher Ervin Santana (6IP 3H 0R 3BB 7K W in the 9-1 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.7 for the season, maintaining his second-place spot in Box-Toppers player rankings. He passes previous leader, Kershaw (5.0 points), but is passed by Sale in rankings. Though Sale and Santana both have 6.7 points on the season, Sale ranks ahead because he has more 2016 points (13.4 vs. 4.0).

Santana also now has 104.0 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 66th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Tuesday, he passes Jamie Moyer (104.0) on the “all-time” list and now trails 65th-ranked player, Blue Jays pitcher Francisco Liriano (104.2).

Aaron Judge of the Yankees (2HR 2-3 3R 4BI in the 11-5 win over the Blue Jays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.0 for the season, rising to seventh place in season player rankings, first among all batters, just ahead of Bryce Harper of the Nationals (4.0 points, ranked 13th overall). Judge just missed out on earning AL Batter of the Day honors—his Box-Toppers game score of +6.0 was tied with Tuesday AL Batter of the Day Marwin Gonzalez of the Astros, but Gonzalez ranked ahead because he had more runs batted in than Judge (five vs. four).

Scoring—Sale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cahill earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Gonzalez and Baez each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

  
    Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 





  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  

    5/2
    Score
    Game
    Player of the Game
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    10.0
    BOS 5, BAL 2
    Chris Sale (W,2-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    8.0
    3
    2
    2
    2
    11
  

    
    9.0
    CHW 6, KC 0
    Jose Quintana (W,2-4)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    8.0
    4
    0
    0
    2
    7
  

    NL
    9.0
    SD 6, COL 2
    Trevor Cahill (W,2-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    3
    1
    0
    0
    7
  

    
    7.0
    MIN 9, OAK 1
    Ervin Santana (W,5-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    3
    0
    0
    3
    7
  

    BAT
    6.0
    HOU 8, TEX 7
    Marwin Gonzalez, LF
    3
    2
    2
    5
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    6.0
    NYY 11, TOR 5
    Aaron Judge, RF
    3
    3
    2
    4
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    5.1
    STL 2, MIL 1
    Carlos Martinez (W,1-3)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.1
    4
    1
    0
    1
    4
  

    BAT
    5.0
    CHC 8, PHI 3
    Javier Baez, 2B-3B
    4
    2
    4
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    4.0
    LAD 13, SF 5
    Yasiel Puig, RF
    5
    2
    3
    4
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    4.0
    PIT 12, CIN 3
    Wade LeBlanc (S,1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    3.0
    1
    0
    0
    1
    3
  

    
    4.0
    LAA 6, SEA 4 (F/11)
    Deolis Guerra (W,2-1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    2.0
    0
    0
    0
    1
    3
  

    
    3.0
    TB 3, MIA 1
    Alex Colome (S,7)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.0
    0
    0
    0
    1
    3
  

    
    2.1
    ARI 6, WSH 3
    T.J. McFarland (W,1-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.1
    0
    0
    0
    0
    1
  

    
    1.1
    ATL 9, NYM 7
    Jim Johnson (S,5)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    0.1
    0
    0
    0
    0
    1
  

    
    0.0
    DET 5, CLE 2
    Alex Avila, C
    4
    1
    2
    1
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

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


Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	6.7	20.1	88.1	93.1	-6.7
Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	6.7	10.7	43.5	104.0	2.7
Judge, Aaron 3767	rf	nyy al	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0
Cahill, Trevor 2658	pi sp mr	sd nl	3.4	6.4	21.1	43.6	0.4
Martinez, Carlos 3371	pi sp	stl nl	3.0	15.4	30.1	30.1	-9.4
Puig, Yasiel 3193	rf	lad nl	3.0	6.5	12.5	12.5	-0.5
Quintana, Jose 3040	pi sp	chi al	2.0	12.4	37.2	37.2	-8.4
Colome, Alex 3189	pi cp	tb al	2.0	11.0	19.7	19.7	-7.0
Johnson, Jim 2417	pi cp	atl nl	2.0	6.0	17.0	23.7	-2.0
Avila, Alex 2642	ca	det al	2.0	3.0	9.5	19.0	1.0
Baez, Javier 3395	2b 3b	chi nl	1.5	3.5	6.0	6.0	-0.5
Gonzalez, Marwin 3078	lf	hou al	1.5	2.5	7.0	7.0	0.5
LeBlanc, Wade 2669	pi cp sp	pit nl	1.0	4.0	4.0	11.0	-2.0
Guerra, Deolis 3521	pi cp mr	ana al	1.0	2.0	4.0	4.0	0.0
McFarland, T.J. 3585	pi mr	ari nl	1.0	1.0	3.0	3.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Reds' Michael Lorenzen tops players for Monday, May 1; Rays' Odorizzi tops AL players

Shawn Plank May 2, 2017

Reds pitcher Michael Lorenzen is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Lorenzen pitched two scoreless innings, striking out three and earning the win, in the 4-3, 10-inning win over the Pirates.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 1:


	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	6.0
2	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	5.7
3	Nova, Ivan 2796	pi sp	pit nl	5.0
4	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0
5	Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	5.0
6	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	4.7
7	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	4.4
8	Triggs, Andrew 3723	pi sp	oak al	4.4
9	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	4.0
10	Kimbrel, Craig 2825	pi cp	bos al	4.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Jake Odorizzi struck out six over five innings, allowing two hits and two runs, in the 4-2 win over the Marlins. Odorizzi picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was tied, 2-2, when he exited.

Lorenzen and Odorizzi had identical Box-Toppers game scores Monday (+5.0), but Lorenzen wins overall Player of the Day honors on a tiebreaker—he earned the win his game, while Odorizzi picked up a no-decision, even though Odorizzi pitched more innings than Lorenzen (5.0 vs. 2.0).

American League Batter of the Day—Tyler Collins of the Tigers hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-4, scoring twice, in the 7-1 win over the Indians.

National League Batter of the Day—Aaron Altherr of the Phillies hit two doubles and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 10-2 win over the Cubs.

Rankings—Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. has the most season Box-Toppers points of the 11 who earned Player of the Game honors Monday. McCullers (6.1IP 6H 2R 2BB 10K ND in the 6-2 win over the Rangers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 3.0 for the season. He ranks 24th among all players and 12th among AL pitchers.

Debut—Jorge Bonifacio of the Royals made his Box-Toppers debut Monday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Bonifacio (HR 2-3 R 2BI in the 6-1 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut April 21 and was playing in his eighth career game. He is the 3,783rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Comment—After Sunday’s record-breaking day in Box-Toppers, in which Anthony Rendon of the Nationals had what seems to be the highest Box-Toppers game score for a batter (+15.0) in Box-Toppers’ 23-season tracking history, Monday’s game scores were some of the lowest of the season. In fact, the +5.0 game score earned by Lorenzen was the lowest such score to earn Player of the Day honors all season. If Lorenzen had earned Player of the Game honors with that score Sunday, he would have ranked ninth among the 15 games played and earned only 1.0 Box-Toppers point, rather than the 2.0 he received Monday, and would have received barely a mention. But in a comparatively lackluster, ho-hum Monday, he is the top dog, the lead story.

Scoring—Lorenzen earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Odorizzi earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Collins and Altherr each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

  
    Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 





  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  

    5/1
    Score
    Game
    Player of the Game
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    5.0
    CIN 4, PIT 3 (F/10)
    Michael Lorenzen (W,2-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    2.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    3
  

    AL
    5.0
    `TB 4, MIA 2
    Jake Odorizzi
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    5.0
    2
    2
    1
    1
    6
  

    
    4.1
    `HOU 6, TEX 2
    Lance McCullers Jr.
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.1
    6
    2
    2
    2
    10
  

    BAT
    3.0
    DET 7, CLE 1
    Tyler Collins, CF
    4
    2
    2
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    BAT
    3.0
    PHI 10, CHC 2
    Aaron Altherr, LF
    4
    2
    2
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    MIL 7, STL 5 (F/10)
    Jonathan Villar, 2B
    3
    2
    2
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    TOR 7, NYY 1
    Ryan Goins, SS
    3
    1
    1
    4
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    2.2
    `SF 4, LAD 3
    Steven Okert (H,2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.2
    0
    0
    0
    0
    1
  

    
    2.0
    NYM 7, ATL 5
    Michael Conforto, LF
    4
    1
    2
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    2.0
    KC 6, CHW 1
    Jorge Bonifacio, RF
    3
    1
    2
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    1.0
    BAL 5, BOS 2
    Manny Machado, 3B
    4
    2
    1
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

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


Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
McCullers, Lance 3488	pi sp	hou al	3.0	9.1	15.8	15.8	-3.1
Altherr, Aaron 3563	lf ph	phi nl	2.5	5.0	6.0	6.0	0.0
Conforto, Michael 3622	cf	nym nl	2.0	7.0	7.0	7.0	-3.0
Lorenzen, Michael 3479	pi cp	cin nl	2.0	3.0	4.0	4.0	1.0
Odorizzi, Jake 3291	pi sp	tb al	1.7	8.1	27.8	27.8	-4.7
Collins, Tyler 3302	cf	det al	1.5	1.5	4.5	4.5	1.5
Machado, Manny 3087	3b ss	bal al	1.0	13.7	24.7	24.7	-11.7
Villar, Jonathan 3233	2b ss	mil nl	1.0	5.0	7.0	7.0	-3.0
Goins, Ryan 3478	ss 2b	tor al	1.0	2.5	7.0	7.0	-0.5
Okert, Steven 3745	pi mr	sf nl	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	0.0
Bonifacio, Jorge 3783	rf	kc al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Nationals' Anthony Rendon tops players for Sunday, April 30, recording possibly highest Box-Toppers game score by batter since 1995

Shawn Plank May 1, 2017

Anthony Rendon of the Nationals is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, recording what is possibly the highest Box-Toppers game score by a batter in Box-Toppers’ 23-season history.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 29:


	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	6.0
2	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	5.7
3	Nova, Ivan 2796	pi sp	pit nl	5.0
4	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0
5	Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	5.0
6	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	4.7
7	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	4.4
8	Triggs, Andrew 3723	pi sp	oak al	4.4
9	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	4.0
10	Kimbrel, Craig 2825	pi cp	bos al	4.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Sunday, Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Rendon hit three home runs, doubled, went 6-for-6, scored five times and drove in 10 runs, in the 23-5 win over the Mets.

Rendon had a Box-Toppers game score of +15.0, which appears to be the highest score by a batter since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.

While Box-Toppers has records for each Player of the Game since the start of 1995, the data from actual game score records from box scores only goes back to the start of 2011. The previous high game score for a batter since 2011 was +12.0, done twice:

On June 9, 2014, Lonnie Chisenhall of the Indians (3HR 5-5 3R 9BI in the 17-7 win over the Rangers) earned Player of the Day honors.
On May 8, 2012, Josh Hamilton of the Rangers (4HR 2B 5-5 4R 8BI in the 10-3 win over the Orioles) earned Player of the Day honors.

However, looking back at some of the most likely games to produce high Box-Toppers game scores for batters from 1995 to 2010, it appears no batter had a higher game score than Rendon had Sunday.

Rendon became the 13th player in Major League history to have a game with 10 runs batted in. That’s a club that’s even rarer than the four-home run club, which has been done 16 times in Major League history.

During the Box-Toppers era (since 1995), there have been three games in which a player has had 10 RBIs and no player had a Box-Toppers game score of more than +12.0:

On May 10, 1999, Nomar Garciaparra of the Red Sox (3HR 3-4 3R 10BI in the 12-4 win over the Mariners) had a Box-Toppers game score of +12.0.
On April 26, 2005, Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees (3HR 4-5 3R 10BI in the 12-4 win over the Angels) had a Box-Toppers game score of +12.0.
On Aug. 21, 2007, Garret Anderson of the Angels (2HR 2-2B 4-6 3R 10BI in the 18-9 win over the Yankees) had a Box-Toppers game score of +11.0.

Rendon also had a six-hit game, something that’s been done 101 times in Major League history (30 of those games happened in the 1800s). There have been 22 six-hit games in the Box-Toppers era (since 1995). The highest Box-Toppers game score of those games and what appears to be the previous high Box-Toppers game score for a batter (since 1995) was +13.0, achieved by Shawn Green of the Dodgers on May 23, 2002 (4HR 2B 6-6 6R 7BI in the 16-3 win over the Brewers).

Batters have hit four home runs in a game 16 times in Major League history, including four times during the Box-Toppers era (since 1995), however Green’s +13.0 score is the highest for those games. The other four-home run games during the Box-Toppers era:

On May 2, 2002, Mike Cameron of the Mariners (4HR 4-5 4R 4BI in the 15-4 win over the White Sox) had a Box-Toppers game score of +7.0.
On Sept. 25, 2002, Carlos Delgado of the Blue Jays (4HR 4-4 4R 6BI in the 10-8 win over the Devil Rays) had a Box-Toppers game score of +10.0.
On May 8, 2012, Josh Hamilton of the Rangers (4HR 2B 5-5 4R 8BI in the 10-3 win over the Orioles) had a Box-Toppers game score of +12.0.

While Rendon seems to have broken the “all-time” (since 1995) record for Box-Toppers game score for a batter, it is still only the second-best game score of 2017. On April 20, Chris Sale of the Red Sox had a Box-Toppers game score of +16.0 (8IP 4H 0R BB 13K ND in the 4-3, 10-inning win over the Blue Jays). Pitchers generally have more opportunity to earn high game scores than batters. In 2016, the highest overall game score was +22.0, earned by Vince Velasquez of the Phillies on April 14 (CG 3H 0R 0BB 16K W in the 3-0 win over the Padres).

(Related: Highest Box-Toppers game scores by batters in the 2016 season and 2015 season.)

American League Player of the Day—Blue Jays pitcher Ryan Tepera pitched 3 1/3 innings of scoreless middle relief, allowing one hit and striking out five, in the 3-1 win over the Rays. Tepera picked up a no decision and did not earn the win because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.

American League Batter of the Day—Miguel Sano of the Twins homered and went 3-for-5, driving in five runs, in the 7-5 win over the Royals.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Sunday because the overall Player of the Day was NL batter Anthony Rendon.

Rankings—Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel rises to seventh in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Keuchel (7.2IP 3H R 2BB 9K W in the 7-2 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 4.4 for the season. He ranks fourth among AL pitchers.

Streak—Justin Upton of the Tigers has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Upton (HR 2-3 2R BI in the 7-3 win over the White Sox) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2008 with the Diamondbacks and has 52.1 career points, fourth among active AL outfielders. His best season was 2011 with the Diamondbacks, when he had 9.7 points, 10th among NL batters. In 2016, he had 6.7 points with the Tigers, fourth among AL outfielders.

Debut—Reds pitcher Wandy Peralta made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.

Peralta (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 5-4 win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut Sept. 4, 2016, and was playing in his 22nd career game. He is the 3,782nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Rendon earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Tepera earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Sano earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

  
    Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 





  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  

    4/30
    Score
    Game
    Player of the Game
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    15.0
    WSH 23, NYM 5
    Anthony Rendon, 3B
    6
    5
    6
    10
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    9.2
    HOU 7, OAK 2
    Dallas Keuchel (W,5-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.2
    3
    1
    1
    2
    9
  

    
    8.1
    `ARI 2, COL 0 (F/13)
    Patrick Corbin
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.1
    2
    0
    0
    2
    6
  

    AL
    7.1
    `TOR 3, TB 1
    Ryan Tepera
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    3.1
    1
    0
    0
    0
    5
  

    
    6.1
    LAD 5, PHI 3
    Hyun-Jin Ryu (W,1-4)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    5.1
    3
    1
    1
    3
    9
  

    
    6.0
    MIA 10, PIT 3
    Justin Bour, 1B
    5
    1
    4
    6
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    6.0
    `BOS 6, CHC 2
    Eduardo Rodriguez
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    5
    1
    1
    2
    9
  

    
    5.0
    MIL 4, ATL 3
    Domingo Santana, RF
    3
    2
    2
    4
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    4.1
    LAA 5, TEX 2
    JC Ramirez (W,3-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    5.1
    4
    2
    2
    2
    9
  

    BAT
    4.0
    MIN 7, KC 5
    Miguel Sano, 3B
    5
    1
    3
    5
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    4.0
    SD 5, SF 2 (F/12)
    Ryan Buchter (W,2-1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    2.0
    1
    0
    0
    0
    3
  

    
    3.0
    CLE 12, SEA 4
    Abraham Almonte, RF
    4
    2
    3
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    BAL 7, NYY 4
    Logan Verrett (W,1-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    2.0
    1
    0
    0
    0
    2
  

    
    3.0
    CIN 5, STL 4
    Wandy Peralta (W,1-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    2
  

    
    2.0
    DET 7, CHW 3
    Justin Upton, LF
    3
    2
    2
    1
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

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


Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	4.4	11.4	47.2	47.2	-2.6
Sano, Miguel 3527	3b	min al	4.0	7.0	13.0	13.0	1.0
Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480	pi sp	bos al	3.7	8.4	14.4	14.4	-1.0
Ramirez, JC 3778	pi sp	ana al	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0
Rendon, Anthony 3258	3b	dc nl	2.0	7.5	14.0	14.0	-3.5
Corbin, Patrick 3027	pi sp cp	ari nl	2.0	5.7	34.5	34.5	-1.7
Tepera, Ryan 3774	pi mr	tor al	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Upton, Justin 2411	lf	det al	1.0	7.7	33.9	52.1	-5.7
Bour, Justin 3433	1b	fla nl	1.0	3.5	13.5	13.5	-1.5
Almonte, Abraham 3554	rf	cle al	1.0	3.0	4.5	4.5	-1.0
Verrett, Logan 3518	pi cp	bal al	1.0	2.0	5.0	5.0	0.0
Buchter, Ryan 3626	pi mr	sd nl	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	0.0
Santana, Domingo 3507	rf	mil nl	1.0	1.0	2.5	2.5	1.0
Ryu, Hyun-Jin 3139	pi sp	lad nl	1.0	1.0	22.1	22.1	1.0
Peralta, Wandy 3782	pi mr	cin nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Pirates' Ivan Nova tops players for Saturday, April 29, rises to 3rd Box-Toppers player rankings

Shawn Plank April 30, 2017

Pirates pitcher Ivan Nova is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to third place in season player rankings.

Nova pitched a three-hit, complete-game shutout, striking out seven and walking none, in the 4-0 win over the Marlins.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 29:


	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	6.0
2	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	5.7
3	Nova, Ivan 2796	pi sp	pit nl	5.0
4	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0
5	Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	5.0
6	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	4.7
7	Triggs, Andrew 3723	pi sp	oak al	4.4
8	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	4.0
9	Kimbrel, Craig 2825	pi cp	bos al	4.0
10	Paxton, James 3280	pi sp	sea al	4.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Nova earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season, rising to third in season player rankings, second among National League pitchers, behind Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (6.0 Box-Toppers points).

American League Player of the Day—Athletics pitcher Andrew Triggs pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out nine and allowing five hits, in the 2-1 win over the Astros.

Triggs earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 4.4 for the season and rising to seventh in Box-Toppers season player rankings, fourth among AL pitchers.

National League Batter of the Day—Matt Kemp of the Braves hit three homers, going 3-for-5, driving in five runs, in the 11-3 win over the Brewers.

With Saturday’s Player of the Game honor, Kemp has now earned Box-Toppers points in 12 straight seasons. He earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Dodgers and has 60.6 career points, fourth among active NL batters. His best season was 2012 with the Dodgers, when he had 10.0 Box-Toppers points, third among NL batters. In 2016, he had 7.5 points with the Padres and the Braves, sixth among NL outfielders.

American League Batter of the Day—Aaron Judge of the Yankees homered and went 2-for-2, scoring four times and driving in two runs, in the 12-4 win over the Orioles.

Judge earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 4.0 points for the season, rising to lead AL batters, passing previous leader, Logan Morrison of the Rays (3.2).

Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:

Allen Cordoba of the Padres (HR 1-2 2R 3BI in the 12-4 win over the Giants) made his Major League debut April 3 and was playing in his 17th career game. He is the 3,780th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers (2HR 2-4 2R 2BI in the 6-5 win over the Phillies) made his Major League debut April 25 and was playing in his fifth career game. He is the 3,781st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Nova earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Triggs earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Kemp and Judge 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.

  
    Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 





  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  

    4/29
    Score
    Game
    Player of the Game
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    13.0
    PIT 4, MIA 0
    Ivan Nova (W,3-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    9.0
    3
    0
    0
    0
    7
  

    AL
    11.0
    OAK 2, HOU 1
    Andrew Triggs (W,4-1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    5
    0
    0
    0
    9
  

    BAT
    6.0
    ATL 11, MIL 3
    Matt Kemp, LF
    5
    3
    3
    5
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    BAT
    6.0
    NYY 12, BAL 4
    Aaron Judge, RF
    2
    4
    2
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    6.0
    TEX 6, LAA 3
    Yu Darvish (W,3-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    3
    2
    1
    4
    10
  

    
    4.2
    NYM 5, WSH 3
    Hansel Robles (W,4-0; H,4)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.2
    0
    0
    0
    1
    4
  

    
    4.2
    `CLE 4, SEA 3
    Andrew Miller (H,5)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.2
    0
    0
    0
    1
    4
  

    
    4.0
    TOR 4, TB 1
    Justin Smoak, 1B
    3
    2
    3
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    4.0
    SD 12, SF 4
    Allen Cordoba, PR-LF
    2
    2
    1
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    CHW 6, DET 4 (F/10)
    Jose Abreu, 1B
    3
    2
    2
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    CHC 7, BOS 4
    Wade Davis (S,6)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.0
    1
    0
    0
    0
    3
  

    
    2.0
    LAD 6, PHI 5
    Cody Bellinger, LF
    4
    2
    2
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    2.0
    COL 7, ARI 6
    Alexi Amarista, PH
    1
    1
    1
    1
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

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


Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Nova, Ivan 2796	pi sp	pit nl	5.0	13.0	28.7	36.1	-3.0
Triggs, Andrew 3723	pi sp	oak al	4.4	5.4	5.4	5.4	3.4
Judge, Aaron 3767	rf	nyy al	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0
Darvish, Yu 3003	pi sp	tex al	3.0	13.4	58.6	58.6	-7.4
Miller, Andrew 2436	pi mr cp	cle al	2.0	10.0	17.0	25.0	-6.0
Kemp, Matt 2151	lf	atl nl	1.5	9.0	32.0	60.6	-6.0
Davis, Wade 2681	pi cp	chi nl	1.0	5.0	20.0	27.0	-3.0
Smoak, Justin 2731	1b	tor al	1.0	4.5	17.7	23.9	-2.5
Abreu, Jose 3308	1b	chi al	1.0	2.5	21.0	21.0	-0.5
Robles, Hansel 3580	pi mr cp	nym nl	1.0	2.0	4.7	4.7	0.0
Amarista, Alexi 3032	ss ph	col nl	1.0	1.0	10.0	10.0	1.0
Bellinger, Cody 3781	lf	lad nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Cordova, Allen 3780	lf pr	sd nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Mariners' Ariel Miranda tops players for Friday, April 28; Holland, Kimbrel rise in Box-Toppers top 10 rankings

Shawn Plank April 29, 2017

Mariners pitcher Ariel Miranda is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Friday, two closing pitchers rise in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings after both earned Player of the Game honors—Greg Holland of the Rockies rises to fourth place and Craig Kimbrel of the Red Sox rises to seventh.

Top 10 players

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


	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	6.0
2	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	5.7
3	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0
4	Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	5.0
5	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	4.7
6	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	4.0
7	Kimbrel, Craig 2825	pi cp	bos al	4.0
8	Paxton, James 3280	pi sp	sea al	4.0
9	Harper, Bryce 3011	rf	dc nl	4.0
10	Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	3.7

What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Miranda struck out seven over 5 1/3 innings, allowing one run and two hits, in the 3-1 win over the Indians.

National League Player of the Day—Travis d’Arnaud of the Mets hit two homers and went 3-for-3, driving in five runs, in the 7-5 win over the Nationals.

American League Batter of the Day—Matt Holliday of the Yankees hit a 10th-inning, three-run walk-off home run in the 14-11, 10th-inning win over the Orioles. Holliday also doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring three times.

Holliday also has now earned Box-Toppers points in 14 consecutive seasons. He earned his first points in 2004 with the Rockies and has 99.3 career points, fifth among active AL batters. His best season was 2007 with the Rockies when he had 16.2 points, first among NL batters. In 2016, he had 6.0 points with the Cardinals.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Friday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Travis d’Arnaud.

Rankings—Two closing pitchers rise in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings after both earned Player of the Game honors Friday:

Greg Holland of the Rockies (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K Sv in the 3-1 win over the Diamondbacks) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.0 for the season, rising to fourth place among all players, second among NL pitchers, behind Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (6.0).
Craig Kimbrel of the Red Sox (1IP H 0R 0BB 3K Sv in the 5-4 win over the Cubs) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers points, giving him 4.0 for the season, rising to seventh place among all players, fourth among AL pitchers.

Debut—Gift Ngoepe of the Pirates made his Box-Toppers debut Friday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Ngoepe (3B 3-3 2R BI in the 12-2 win over the Marlins) made his Major League debut April 26 and was playing in his second career game. He is the 3,779th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Miranda earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and d’Arnaud earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Holliday earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Friday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

  
    Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 





  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  

    4/28
    Score
    Game
    Player of the Game
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    6.1
    SEA 3, CLE 1
    Ariel Miranda (W,2-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    5.1
    2
    1
    1
    2
    7
  

    NL
    6.0
    NYM 7, WSH 5
    Travis d'Arnaud, C
    3
    2
    2
    5
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    6.0
    HOU 9, OAK 4
    Charlie Morton (W,2-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    5
    4
    4
    0
    12
  

    
    5.0
    LAD 5, PHI 3
    Kenta Maeda (W,2-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    5
    2
    2
    1
    8
  

    
    5.0
    `LAA 6, TEX 3
    Tyler Skaggs
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    5.0
    4
    1
    1
    0
    6
  

    BAT
    4.0
    NYY 14, BAL 11 (F/10)
    Matt Holliday, DH
    5
    3
    3
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    4.0
    MIN 6, KC 4
    Miguel Sano, 3B
    4
    2
    2
    4
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    4.0
    CHW 7, DET 3
    Anthony Swarzak (W,2-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    2.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    2
  

    
    3.0
    PIT 12, MIA 2
    Gift Ngoepe, 2B-SS
    3
    2
    3
    1
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    BOS 5, CHC 4
    Craig Kimbrel (S,8)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.0
    1
    0
    0
    0
    3
  

    
    3.0
    ATL 10, MIL 8
    Jose Ramirez (W,1-1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    2
  

    
    2.1
    STL 7, CIN 5
    Seung-Hwan Oh (S,6)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.1
    0
    0
    0
    0
    1
  

    
    2.0
    SF 4, SD 3
    Brandon Belt, LF-1B
    3
    2
    3
    0
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    2.0
    COL 3, ARI 1
    Greg Holland (S,10)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    1
  

    
    1.2
    TB 7, TOR 4
    Chase Whitley (S,1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    0.2
    0
    0
    0
    0
    1
  

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


Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	5.0	5.0	35.0	38.0	5.0
Kimbrel, Craig 2825	pi cp	bos al	4.0	12.0	56.7	62.7	-4.0
Miranda, Ariel 3738	pi sp	sea al	3.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	1.0
Sano, Miguel 3527	3b	min al	2.5	5.5	11.5	11.5	-0.5
Whitley, Chase 3352	pi mr sp	tb al	2.0	2.0	5.7	5.7	2.0
d’Arnaud, Travis 3384	ca	nym nl	1.7	2.7	9.2	9.2	0.7
Holliday, Matt 1836	dh lf	nyy al	1.5	7.5	34.7	99.3	-4.5
Maeda, Kenta 3609	pi sp	lad nl	1.0	11.0	11.0	11.0	-9.0
Belt, Brandon 2943	1b lf	sf nl	1.0	8.0	20.0	21.5	-6.0
Oh, Seung Hwan 3693	pi cp	stl nl	1.0	6.0	6.0	6.0	-4.0
Morton, Charlie 2503	pi sp	hou al	1.0	4.0	17.7	28.7	-2.0
Skaggs, Tyler 3183	pi sp	ana al	1.0	3.7	13.4	13.4	-1.7
Ramirez, Jose A. 3716	pi mr	atl nl	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	0.0
Swarzak, Anthony 2603	pi mr	chi al	1.0	1.0	5.0	8.7	1.0
Ngoepe, Gift 3779	2b ss	pit nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw leads Box-Toppers player rankings for 2nd straight week

Shawn Plank April 28, 2017

Kershaw leads player rankings for second straight week. Santana rises to lead AL players. Harper, Morrison lead league batters.

Washington Nationals remain atop Box-Toppers team rankings for 2nd week

Shawn Plank April 28, 2017

Nationals top teams in weekly team rankings report. Nationals and Diamondbacks were the hottest teams of the past week. Yankees rise to lead AL teams in rankings.

Dbacks' Taijuan Walker tops players for Thursday, April 27; Yankees' Tanaka tops AL players

Shawn Plank April 28, 2017

Diamondbacks pitcher Taijuan Walker is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Walker struck out 11 over eight innings, allowing two runs on four hits, in the 6-2 win over the Padres.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 27:


	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	6.0
2	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	5.7
3	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0
4	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	4.7
5	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	4.0
6	Paxton, James 3280	pi sp	sea al	4.0
7	Harper, Bryce 3011	rf	dc nl	4.0
8	Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	4.0
9	Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	3.7
10	Chacin, Jhoulys 2711	pi mr sp	sd nl	3.7

What are those numbers after players' names?

Walker earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season, most among the 11 Thursday who earned Player of the Game honors. Walker rises to 17th place in Box-Toppers player rankings.

American League Player of the Day—Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka pitched a complete-game, three-hit, shutout in the 3-0 win over the Red Sox. Tanaka struck out three and walked none.

National League Batter of the Day—Randal Grichuk of the Cardinals hit a two-run, ninth-inning homer to tie the game, in the 8-4, 11-inning win over the Blue Jays. Grichuk went 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in three runs.

American League Batter of the Day—Yan Gomes of the Indians doubled and went 1-for-1, scoring a run, in the 4-3 win over the Astros.

Streaks—Two players extended their streaks of 10 or more consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points after both earned Player of the Game honors Thursday:

Kurt Suzuki of the Braves (HR 1-3 2R 3BI in the 7-5 win over the Mets) has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons. He earned his first points in 2007 with the Athletics and has 33.0 career points, fourth among active NL catchers. His best season was 2009 with the Athletics when he had 6.0 Box-Toppers points, fourth among AL catchers. In 2016, he had 1.5 points with the Twins.
Angels pitcher Ricky Nolasco (5.2IP 3H R 2BB 4K W in the 2-1 win over the Athletics) has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 straight seasons. He earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Marlins, but his 10-year streak began in 2008 with the Marlins (he earned no points in 2007). Nolasco has 88.2 career points, 11th among active AL pitchers. His best seasons were 2008 and 2009, both the the Marlins—he earned 16.7 points each season. In 2008, he ranked fourth among NL pitchers and in 2009, he ranked third among NL pitchers. In 2016, he had 11.4 points with the Twins and the Angels, 14th among AL pitchers.

Scoring—Walker earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Tanaka earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Grichuk and Gomes each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

  
    Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 





  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  

    4/27
    Score
    Game
    Player of the Game
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    11.0
    ARI 6, SD 2
    Taijuan Walker (W,3-1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    8.0
    4
    2
    2
    0
    11
  

    AL
    9.0
    NYY 3, BOS 0
    Masahiro Tanaka (W,3-1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    9.0
    3
    0
    0
    0
    3
  

    BAT
    5.0
    STL 8, TOR 4 (F/11)
    Randal Grichuk, RF
    2
    2
    2
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.2
    `SEA 2, DET 1
    Hisashi Iwakuma
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    5.2
    3
    1
    0
    1
    3
  

    
    3.0
    WSH 16, COL 5
    Daniel Murphy, 2B
    6
    3
    3
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    ATL 7, NYM 5
    Kurt Suzuki, C
    3
    2
    1
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    LAD 5, SF 1 (F/10)
    Kenley Jansen (W,1-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.0
    1
    0
    0
    0
    3
  

    
    3.0
    `PHI 3, MIA 2
    Joaquin Benoit (H,6)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    2
  

    
    3.0
    STL 6, TOR 4
    Trevor Rosenthal (S,2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    2
  

    
    2.2
    LAA 2, OAK 1
    Ricky Nolasco (W,2-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    5.2
    3
    1
    1
    2
    4
  

    BAT
    1.0
    CLE 4, HOU 3
    Yan Gomes, C
    1
    1
    1
    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


Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Walker, Taijuan 3453	pi sp	ari nl	3.0	10.7	24.4	24.4	-4.7
Murphy, Daniel 2589	2b	dc nl	2.0	9.5	30.5	34.5	-5.5
Tanaka, Masahiro 3305	pi sp	nyy al	1.7	15.8	36.5	36.5	-12.4
Grichuk, Randal 3474	rf	stl nl	1.5	2.5	12.0	12.0	0.5
Gomes, Yan 3177	ca	cle al	1.5	2.5	10.7	10.7	0.5
Nolasco, Ricky 2125	pi sp	ana al	1.0	12.4	29.1	88.2	-10.4
Iwakuma, Hisashi 3048	pi sp	sea al	1.0	7.0	55.2	55.2	-5.0
Jansen, Kenley 2871	pi cp mr	lad nl	1.0	7.0	32.7	37.4	-5.0
Rosenthal, Trevor 3124	pi cp	stl nl	1.0	5.0	23.0	23.0	-3.0
Suzuki, Kurt 2344	ca	atl nl	1.0	2.5	13.5	33.0	-0.5
Benoit, Joaquin 1663	pi mr	phi nl	1.0	2.0	9.0	30.5	0.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Mariners' James Paxton tops players for Wednesday, April 26, rises to sixth in Box-Toppers player rankings

Shawn Plank April 27, 2017

Mariners pitcher James Paxton is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to sixth place in season player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 26:


	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	6.0
2	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	5.7
3	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0
4	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	4.7
5	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	4.0
6	Paxton, James 3280	pi sp	sea al	4.0
7	Harper, Bryce 3011	rf	dc nl	4.0
8	Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	4.0
9	Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	3.7
10	Chacin, Jhoulys 2711	pi mr sp	sd nl	3.7

What are those numbers after players' names?

Paxton struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 8-0 win over the Tigers.

Paxton earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.0 for the season, rising to sixth in season player rankings, fourth among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Maikel Franco of the Phillies hit a grand slam and went 3-for-4, in the 7-4 win over the Marlins.

American League Batter of the Day—Shin-Soo Choo of the Rangers hit a three-run homer and tripled, going 3-for-5, scoring three times, in the 14-3 win over the Twins.

Choo has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons. He earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2007 with the Indians and has 49.2 career points, sixth among active AL outfielders. His best season was 2010 with the Indians, when he had 9.0 points, seventh among AL batters. He had 1.0 point in 2016 with the Rangers.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Wednesday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Maikel Franco.

Streaks—Two players have now earned Box-Toppers points for 12 straight seasons after both earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday:

Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals (HR 3-5 2R 3BI in the 11-4 win over the Rockies) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Nationals and has 57.3 career points, sixth among NL first basemen. His best season was 2013 with the Nationals, when he had 9.2 points, sixth among NL batters. He had 1.5 points in 2016 with the Nationals.
Nick Markakis of the Braves (3-4 2R BI in the 8-2 win over the Mets) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Orioles and now has 48.1 career points, 11th among NL outfielders. His best season was 2009 with the Orioles, when he had 7.7 points, sixth among AL outfielders. In 2016, he had 5.0 points.

Scoring—Paxton earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Franco earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Choo earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

  
    Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 





  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  

    4/26
    Score
    Game
    Player of the Game
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    11.0
    SEA 8, DET 0
    James Paxton (W,3-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    4
    0
    0
    1
    9
  

    
    8.0
    NYY 3, BOS 1
    Luis Severino (W,2-1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    3
    0
    0
    2
    6
  

    
    6.0
    CHW 5, KC 2
    Jose Quintana (W,1-4)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    5
    2
    1
    2
    10
  

    BAT
    4.0
    TEX 14, MIN 3
    Shin-Soo Choo, RF
    5
    3
    3
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    NL
    4.0
    PHI 7, MIA 4
    Maikel Franco, 3B
    4
    1
    3
    4
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.1
    CLE 7, HOU 6
    Cody Allen (S,4)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.1
    0
    0
    0
    0
    2
  

    
    3.0
    WSH 11, COL 4
    Ryan Zimmerman, 1B
    5
    2
    3
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    LAA 8, OAK 5
    Cameron Maybin, LF
    4
    1
    3
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    MIL 9, CIN 4
    Jett Bandy, C
    4
    2
    3
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    SD 8, ARI 5
    Ryan Schimpf, 3B
    2
    1
    1
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    2.0
    ATL 8, NYM 2
    Nick Markakis, RF
    4
    2
    3
    1
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    2.0
    PIT 6, CHC 5
    Josh Harrison, 3B
    3
    2
    2
    1
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    2.0
    SF 4, LAD 3 (F/10)
    Michael Morse, PH
    1
    1
    1
    1
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    1.0
    BAL 5, TB 4 (F/11)
    Craig Gentry, PR
    0
    1
    0
    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


Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Paxton, James 3280	pi sp	sea al	4.0	8.4	15.1	15.1	-0.4
Schimpf, Ryan 3686	3b 2b	sd nl	2.0	7.2	7.2	7.2	-3.2
Severino, Luis 3567	pi sp mr	nyy al	2.0	4.0	7.0	7.0	0.0
Franco, Maikel 3510	3b	phi nl	1.7	6.2	9.4	9.4	-2.8
Choo, Shin-Soo 2267	rf	tex al	1.5	2.5	22.5	49.2	0.5
Quintana, Jose 3040	pi sp	chi al	1.0	11.4	36.2	36.2	-9.4
Allen, Cody 3265	pi cp mr	cle al	1.0	8.0	17.0	17.0	-6.0
Markakis, Nick 2116	rf	atl nl	1.0	6.0	19.0	48.1	-4.0
Maybin, Cameron 2672	lf	ana al	1.0	4.0	9.5	16.5	-2.0
Harrison, Josh 2947	3b 2b	pit nl	1.0	3.0	7.5	9.0	-1.0
Zimmerman, Ryan 2180	1b	dc nl	1.0	2.5	22.2	57.3	-0.5
Bandy, Jett 3711	ca	mil nl	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	0.0
Morse, Michael 2020	lf 1b ph	sf nl	1.0	1.0	11.0	24.0	1.0
Gentry, Craig 2977	lf cf pr	bal al	1.0	1.0	5.0	6.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Angels' JC Ramirez tops players for Tuesday, April 25; Dodgers' Kershaw maintains top ranking in Box-Toppers points

Shawn Plank April 26, 2017

Angels pitcher JC Ramirez is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, making his Box-Toppers debut.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 25:


	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	6.0
2	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	5.7
3	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0
4	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	4.7
5	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc al	4.0
6	Harper, Bryce 3011	rf	dc nl	4.0
7	Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	4.0
8	Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	3.7
9	Chacin, Jhoulys 2711	pi mr sp	sd nl	3.7
10	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	3.4

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Wednesday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershawmaintains his first-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. And Twins pitcher Ervin Santana rises to second place—first among American League players—after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Ramirez pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing two hits, in the 2-1, 11-inning win over the Athletics. Ramirez picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.

This was also Ramirez’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Ramirez made his Major League debut June 23, 2013, and was playing in his 114th career game. He is the 3,778th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

National League Player of the Day—Trea Turner of the Nationals hit for the cycle and went 4-for-6, scoring four times and driving in seven runs, in the 15-12 win over the Rockies.

American League Batter of the Day—Ian Kinsler of the Tigers doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring four times and driving in two runs, in the 19-9 win over the Mariners.

Kinsler has now earned Box-Toppers points in 12 straight seasons. He earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Rangers and has 63.6 career points, second Among active AL second basemen (trailing Robinson Cano of the Mariners, who has 75.4). Kinsler’s best season was 2009 with the Rangers, when he had 11.2 points, eighth among AL batters. He had 6.0 points in 2016 with the Tigers, fifth among AL second basemen.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Tuesday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Trea Turner.

Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw maintained his spot atop Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Kershaw (7IP 6H R BB 7K W in the 2-1 win over the Giants) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.0 for the season. Kershaw also now has 189.7 career Box-Toppers points, fourth-most among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails third-ranked player Curt Schilling (194.1). Kershaw leads active players in career Box-Toppers points.

Also, Twins pitcher Ervin Santana rises to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Santana (7IP 4H R 2BB 6K W in the 8-1 win over the Rangers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.7 for the season, rising from fourth to second place among all players and first among AL players, passing Royals pitcher Jason Vargas (5.0).

Santana also now has 103.0 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 67th-place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Tuesday, he passes two players on the “all-time” list—Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2) and Miguel Tejada (102.3). (It should be noted that if Griffey’s entire career from 1989 were tracked, rough estimates would give him about 150 Box-Toppers points.) Santana now trails 66th-ranked player Jamie Moyer (104.0).

Scoring—Ramirez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Turner earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Kinsler earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

  
    Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 





  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  

    4/25
    Score
    Game
    Player of the Game
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    10.0
    `LAA 2, OAK 1 (F/11)
    JC Ramirez
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    2
    0
    0
    2
    7
  

    NL
    9.0
    WSH 15, COL 12
    Trea Turner, SS
    6
    4
    4
    7
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    6.0
    TB 2, BAL 0
    Chase Whitley (W,1-0; H,2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    3.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    3
  

    BAT
    5.0
    DET 19, SEA 9
    Ian Kinsler, 2B
    5
    4
    4
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    5.0
    ARI 9, SD 3
    Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
    4
    2
    4
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    5.0
    MIL 9, CIN 1
    Hernan Perez, SS-CF
    3
    2
    3
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    5.0
    LAD 2, SF 1
    Clayton Kershaw (W,4-1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    6
    1
    1
    1
    7
  

    
    5.0
    MIN 8, TEX 1
    Ervin Santana (W,4-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    4
    1
    1
    2
    6
  

    
    4.0
    TOR 6, STL 5 (F/11)
    Jason Grilli (W,1-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1
    0
    0
    0
    0
    3
  

    
    3.2
    CHW 10, KC 5
    Dan Jennings (W,2-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.2
    0
    0
    0
    0
    2
  

    
    3.0
    CHC 1, PIT 0
    Kyle Hendricks (W,2-1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    4
    0
    0
    2
    3
  

    
    1.0
    HOU 4, CLE 2
    Norichika Aoki, RF-LF
    4
    1
    3
    1
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

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


Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	6.0	30.4	130.1	189.7	-18.4
Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	5.7	9.7	42.5	103.0	1.7
Goldschmidt, Paul 2935	1b	ari nl	2.0	6.5	37.9	41.9	-2.5
Grilli, Jason 2209	pi cp mr	tor al	2.0	3.0	16.7	27.4	1.0
Ramirez, JC 3778	pi sp	ana al	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Turner, Trea 3730	ss	dc nl	1.7	4.2	4.2	4.2	-0.8
Kinsler, Ian 2144	2b	det al	1.5	7.5	29.5	63.6	-4.5
Hendricks, Kyle 3386	pi sp	chi nl	1.0	14.4	29.1	29.1	-12.4
Perez, Hernan 3577	ss cf 3b 2b	mil nl	1.0	6.0	7.0	7.0	-4.0
Jennings, Dan 3591	pi mr cp	chi al	1.0	2.0	3.0	3.0	0.0
Aoki, Norichika 3110	rf lf	hou al	1.0	1.0	9.0	9.0	1.0
Whitley, Chase 3352	pi mr sp	tb al	1.0	1.0	4.7	4.7	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

White Sox' Miguel Gonzalez tops players for Monday, April 24; Dbacks' Greinke tops NL players

Shawn Plank April 25, 2017

White Sox pitcher Miguel Gonzalez is Monday’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 April 24:


	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	5.0
2	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0
3	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	4.7
4	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	4.7
5	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc al	4.0
6	Harper, Bryce 3011	rf	dc nl	4.0
7	Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	4.0
8	Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	3.7
9	Chacin, Jhoulys 2711	pi mr sp	sd nl	3.7
10	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	3.4

What are those numbers after players' names?

Gonzalez allowed one run and two hits over eight innings, striking out five, in the 12-1 win over the Royals. He earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season, most of any of Monday’s top players and rises to 13th in season player rankings.

National League Player of the Day—Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke struck out 11 over six innings, allowing one run and six hits, in the 7-6 win over the Padres. Greinke had a Box-Toppers game score of +9.0, same as overall Player of the Day Gonzalez, but Gonzalez ranks ahead on a tiebreaker because he had more innings pitched than Greinke, eight vs. six.

Greinke earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 158.8 for his career, 14th-most among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He trails 13th-ranked player John Smoltz (160.9).

National League Batter of the Day—Eric Thames of the Brewers hit two home runs and went 2-for-3, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 11-7 win over the Reds.

This was Thames’ first Box-Toppers point in more than four years. He last earned Player of the Game honors on Aug. 1, 2012, when he was with the Mariners. It is only his third career Player of the Game honor—he was also Player of the Game on July 10, 2011, with the Blue Jays and now has 4.0 career Box-Toppers points.

Thames spent 2014, 2015 and 2016 playing in Korea, winning the the Korea Baseball Organization Most Valuable Player award in 2015. He currently leads Major League Baseball in season runs (24) and home runs (10).

American League Batter of the Day—Adam Jones of the Orioles homered, doubled and went 3-for-3, driving in two runs, in the 6-3 win over the Rays.

Jones has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons with his first Player of the Game honor of 2017. He earned his first points in 2007 with the Mariners and has 51.0 career points, fifth among active AL outfielders. His best season was 2014 with the Orioles when he had 11.5 points, third among AL batters. In 2016 with the Orioles, he barely kept the streak alive, earning only 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

Streak—Giants pitcher Matt Cain has now earned Box-Toppers points in 13 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Monday.

Cain (6IP 2H 0R BB 3K W in the 2-1 win over the Dodgers) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2005 with the Giants and now has 100.7 career Box-Toppers points, 11th among active NL pitchers. His best season was 2010 with the Giants when he had 16.1 points, seventh among NL pitchers. During the last three seasons he barely kept the streak alive earning Player of the Game honors two or fewer times each season. In 2014, he had just 1.0 Box-Toppers point, in 2015, he had 2.0 and in 2016 he had 2.7.

Cain also becomes the 76th player since 1995 to reach 100 career Box-Toppers points (100.7). With his point Monday, he rises to 73rd on Box-Toppers “all-time” career points list, passing four players—Johnny Cueto of the Giants (99.8), Larry Walker (100.1), Jeff Bagwell (100.4) and Paul Konerko (100.7).

Scoring—Gonzalez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Greinke earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Thames and Jones each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

  
    Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 





  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  

    4/24
    Score
    Game
    Player of the Game
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    9.0
    CHW 12, KC 1
    Miguel Gonzalez (W,3-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    8.0
    2
    1
    0
    1
    5
  

    NL
    9.0
    ARI 7, SD 6
    Zack Greinke (W,2-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    6
    1
    1
    0
    11
  

    
    6.0
    SF 2, LAD 1
    Matt Cain (W,2-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    2
    0
    0
    1
    3
  

    BAT
    5.0
    MIL 11, CIN 7
    Eric Thames, 1B-LF
    3
    3
    2
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.1
    COL 8, WSH 4
    Carlos Estevez (W,2-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.1
    0
    0
    0
    0
    2
  

    BAT
    3.0
    BAL 6, TB 3
    Adam Jones, CF
    3
    1
    3
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    LAA 2, TOR 1
    Jesse Chavez (W,2-3)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    4
    1
    1
    4
    7
  

    
    2.0
    CHC 14, PIT 3
    Addison Russell, SS
    6
    3
    4
    1
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    1.0
    MIN 3, TEX 2
    Brandon Kintzler (S,5)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    1.0
    0
    0
    0
    1
    1
  

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


Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Gonzalez, Miguel 3062	pi sp	chi al	3.0	12.1	40.9	40.9	-6.1
Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	ari nl	2.7	12.4	81.7	158.8	-7.0
Russell, Addison 3559	ss	chi nl	2.0	5.5	8.0	8.0	-1.5
Chavez, Jesse 2780	pi sp	ana al	2.0	2.0	21.1	22.1	2.0
Kintzler, Brandon 3150	pi cp	min al	2.0	2.0	4.0	4.0	2.0
Jones, Adam 2347	cf	bal al	1.5	2.5	33.5	51.0	0.5
Thames, Eric 2909	1b lf	mil nl	1.5	1.5	2.5	4.0	1.5
Estevez, Carlos 3641	pi cp mr	col nl	1.0	6.0	6.0	6.0	-4.0
Cain, Matt 2081	pi sp	sf nl	1.0	3.7	27.4	100.7	-1.7

What are those numbers after players' names?

Pirates' Ivan Nova tops players for Sunday, April 23; Red Sox' Rodriguez tops AL players

Shawn Plank April 24, 2017

Pirates pitcher Ivan Nova is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Nova struck out seven over seven innings, allowing one run and four hits, in the 2-1 win over the Yankees.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 23:


	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	5.0
2	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0
3	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	4.7
4	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	4.7
5	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc al	4.0
6	Harper, Bryce 3011	rf	dc nl	4.0
7	Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	4.0
8	Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	3.7
9	Chacin, Jhoulys 2711	pi mr sp	sd nl	3.7
10	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	3.4

What are those numbers after players' names?

American League Player of the Day—Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez struck out seven over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit, in the 6-2 win over the Orioles.

American League Batter of the Day—John Hicks of the Tigers homered and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 13-4 win over the Twins.

This was Hicks’ Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Hicks made his Major League debut Aug. 29, 2015, and was playing in his 20th career game. He is the 3,777th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

National League Batter of the Day—Gerardo Parra of the Rockies homered and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 8-0 win over the Giants.

Rankings—Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Scherzer (8IP 5H 3R BB 9K W in the 6-3 win over the Mets) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 4.0 for the season. Scherzer led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2016 with 25.7.

Scherzer now has 135.7 career Box-Toppers points, 30th-most among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 29th-ranked player Andy Pettitte (138.5).

Streak—Mariners pitcher Yovani Gallardo has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Gallardo (6.1IP 4H R BB 7K W in the 11-1 win over the Athletics) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2007 with the Brewers and has 90.7 career points, 10th among active AL pitchers. His best season was 2011 with the Brewers when he had 19.9 points, fourth among NL pitchers.

Notable—Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo earns his first Box-Toppers points in nearly three years after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Arroyo (6IP 3H 2R 0BB 7K W in the 7-5 win over the Cubs) last earned Player of the Game honors on May 13, 2014, when he was with the Diamondbacks. He was out in 2015 recovering from Tommy John surgery and did not appear in 2016.

Scoring—Nova earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Rodriguez earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Hicks and Parra 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.

  
    Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 





  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  

    4/23
    Score
    Game
    Player of the Game
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    7.0
    PIT 2, NYY 1
    Ivan Nova (W,2-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    4
    1
    1
    1
    7
  

    AL
    7.0
    BOS 6, BAL 2
    Eduardo Rodriguez (W,1-1)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    1
    0
    0
    5
    7
  

    
    6.1
    SEA 11, OAK 1
    Yovani Gallardo (W,1-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.1
    4
    1
    1
    1
    7
  

    
    6.0
    TEX 5, KC 2
    Yu Darvish (W,2-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    8.0
    5
    2
    2
    1
    8
  

    
    6.0
    CIN 7, CHC 5
    Bronson Arroyo (W,2-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    3
    2
    2
    0
    7
  

    BAT
    5.0
    DET 13, MIN 4
    John Hicks, 1B
    5
    2
    3
    5
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    5.0
    WSH 6, NYM 3
    Max Scherzer (W,3-1) 
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    8.0
    5
    3
    3
    1
    9
  

    
    5.0
    `PHI 5, ATL 2
    Zach Eflin
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    3
    1
    1
    0
    3
  

    
    4.0
    CHW 6, CLE 2
    Derek Holland (W,2-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    3
    1
    1
    3
    6
  

    
    4.0
    `HOU 6, TB 4 (F/10)
    Brad Peacock
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    2.0
    0
    0
    0
    2
    4
  

    BAT
    3.0
    COL 8, SF 0
    Gerardo Parra, LF
    4
    2
    2
    3
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    STL 6, MIL 4
    Kolten Wong, 2B
    2
    2
    2
    1
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    TOR 6, LAA 2
    Marcus Stroman (W,2-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    9.0
    7
    2
    1
    1
    5
  

    
    3.0
    LAD 6, ARI 2
    Brandon McCarthy (W,3-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    5
    2
    2
    1
    6
  

    
    2.0
    MIA 7, SD 3
    Christian Yelich, CF
    2
    1
    2
    1
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

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


Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	4.0	29.7	107.9	135.7	-21.7
Nova, Ivan 2796	pi sp	pit nl	3.0	11.0	26.7	34.1	-5.0
Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480	pi sp	bos al	2.7	7.4	13.4	13.4	-2.0
Darvish, Yu 3003	pi sp	tex al	2.0	12.4	57.6	57.6	-8.4
Holland, Derek 2634	pi sp	chi al	2.0	6.0	28.1	47.8	-2.0
McCarthy, Brandon 2082	pi sp	lad nl	2.0	4.7	24.4	38.5	-0.7
Parra, Gerardo 2746	rf	col nl	1.5	4.0	16.0	22.5	-1.0
Hicks, John 3777	1b	det al	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5
Stroman, Marcus 3327	pi sp	tor al	1.0	7.7	24.1	24.1	-5.7
Yelich, Christian 3334	cf	fla nl	1.0	6.5	16.5	16.5	-4.5
Eflin, Zach 3679	pi sp	phi nl	1.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	-3.0
Gallardo, Yovani 2333	pi sp	sea al	1.0	3.0	39.4	90.7	-1.0
Wong, Kolten 3377	2b	stl nl	1.0	2.0	11.5	11.5	0.0
Arroyo, Bronson 1375	pi sp	cin nl	1.0	1.0	21.4	85.9	1.0
Peacock, Brad 2968	pi sp	hou al	1.0	1.0	7.7	10.4	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

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Box-Toppers

Tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score stats. A method to measure & compare baseball's top players.