Clayton Kershaw regains lead in Box-Toppers points in weekly player rankings report. Sale leads AL pitchers, Judge leads AL batters, Harper leads NL batters.
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Read MoreDbacks' Zack Greinke tops players for Thursday, May 11; Vargas, Keuchel rise in Box-Toppers top 10
Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Grienke is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 11:| 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 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 6.0 |
| 6 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 5.4 |
| 7 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 5.4 |
| 8 | Triggs, Andrew 3723 | pi sp | oak al | 5.4 |
| 9 | Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | bos al | 5.0 |
| 10 | Nova, Ivan 2796 | pi sp | pit nl | 5.0 |
Also Thursday, two players rise in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors—Royals pitcher Jason Vargas rises to fifth place and Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel rises to seventh place.
Player of the Day—Greinke struck out 11 over eight innings, allowing one hit—an eighth-inning home run—in the 2-1 win over the Pirates. Greinke allowed just the one run and walked only one.
Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 160.8 for his career, 14th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 13th-place player John Smoltz (160.9) on the “all-time” list. Greinke ranks fifth among all active players.
American League Player of the Day—Tigers pitcher Michael Fulmer struck out nine over six innings, allowing one run and five hits, in the 7-1 win over the Angels.
American League Batter of the Day—Justin Smoak of the Blue Jays homered and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 7-2 win over the Mariners.
National League Batter of the Day—Nolan Arenado of the Rockies hit two doubles and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 10-7 win over the Dodgers.
Rankings—Two players rise in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday:
- Royals pitcher Jason Vargas (7IP 3H 0R BB 4K W in the 6-0 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.0 for the season, rising to fifth place, third among AL pitchers.
- Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel (6IP 5H R BB 9K W in the 3-2 win over the Yankees) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.4 for the season, rising to seventh place, fifth among AL pitchers.
Streak—Mike Napoli of the Rangers has now earned Box-Toppers points for 12 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday (2HR 2-3 2R 4BI in the 5-2 win over the Padres).
Napoli earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Angels and has 58.7 career points, sixth among active AL first basemen. His best season was 2011 with the Rangers when he had 9.0 Box-Toppers points, ninth among AL batters. In 2016, he had 6.5 points with the Indians, ninth among AL first basemen.
Scoring—Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Fulmer earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Smoak and Arenado 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.
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| 5/11 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 15.0 | ARI 2, PIT 1 | Zack Greinke (W,4-2) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | |
| 8.0 | HOU 3, NYY 2 | Dallas Keuchel (W,6-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9 | ||
| AL | 7.0 | DET 7, LAA 1 | Michael Fulmer (W,4-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | |
| 7.0 | KC 6, TB 0 | Jason Vargas (W,5-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | TOR 7, SEA 2 | Justin Smoak, 1B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | `BOS 4, MIL 1 | Eduardo Rodriguez | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 5.0 | TEX 5, SD 2 | Mike Napoli, DH | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.2 | MIN 7, CHW 6 | Brandon Kintzler (S,8) | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | COL 10, LAD 7 | Nolan Arenado, 3B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.1 | CIN 3, SF 2 | Wandy Peralta (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
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 | +/- |
| Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 6.0 | 7.0 | 32.4 | 53.2 | 5.0 |
| Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 5.4 | 12.4 | 48.2 | 48.2 | -1.6 |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 4.7 | 14.4 | 83.7 | 160.8 | -5.0 |
| Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 | pi sp | bos al | 4.7 | 9.4 | 15.4 | 15.4 | 0.0 |
| Fulmer, Michael 3640 | pi sp | det al | 3.7 | 16.4 | 16.4 | 16.4 | -9.0 |
| Arenado, Nolan 3306 | 3b | col nl | 3.0 | 13.7 | 23.7 | 23.7 | -7.7 |
| Kintzler, Brandon 3150 | pi cp | min al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 3.0 |
| Smoak, Justin 2731 | 1b | tor al | 2.5 | 6.0 | 19.2 | 25.4 | -1.0 |
| Peralta, Wandy 3782 | pi mr | cin nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Napoli, Mike 2161 | dh 1b | tex al | 1.0 | 7.5 | 30.7 | 58.7 | -5.5 |
Rays' Chris Archer tops players for Wednesday, May 10; Athletics' Triggs rises to 6th in Box-Toppers player rankings
Rays pitcher Chris Archer is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 10:| 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 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 5.4 |
| 6 | Triggs, Andrew 3723 | pi sp | oak al | 5.4 |
| 7 | Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | bos al | 5.0 |
| 8 | Nova, Ivan 2796 | pi sp | pit nl | 5.0 |
| 9 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 5.0 |
| 10 | Holland, Greg 2906 | pi cp | col nl | 5.0 |
Also Wednesday, Athletics pitcher Andrew Triggs rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Archer struck out 11 over eight scoreless innings, allowing five hits and no walks, in the 12-1 win over the Royals.
National League Player of the Day—Rockies pitcher German Marquez struck out eight over eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk-in the 3-0 win over the Cubs.
This was Marquez’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Marquez made his Major League debut Sept. 8, 2016, and was playing in his 10th career game. He is the 3,788th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
American League Batter of the Day—Robinson Cano of the Mariners homered and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 11-6 win over the Phillies.
Cano has now earned Box-Toppers points in 13 consecutive seasons. He earned his first points in 2005 with the Yankees and has 76.9 career points, sixth among active AL batters. His best season was 2013 with the Yankees, when he had 12.5 points, fourth among AL batters. In 2016, Cano had 8.0 points with the Mariners, second among AL second basemen.
National League Batter of the Day—Dexter Fowler of the Cardinals hit a pinch-hit, go-ahead triple in the 7-5 win over the Marlins. Fowler went 1-for-1, scoring once and driving in two runs.
Rankings—Athletics pitcher Andrew Triggs rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Triggs (6IP 3H R 3BB 4K W in the 3-1 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.4 for the season. Triggs ranks fourth among AL pitchers.
Scoring—Archer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Marquez earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Cano and Fowler 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.
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| 5/10 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 14.0 | TB 12, KC 1 | Chris Archer (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | |
| NL | 12.0 | COL 3, CHC 0 | German Marquez (W,1-2) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| 6.0 | ARI 7, DET 1 | Zack Godley (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 4.1 | LAD 5, PIT 2 | Kenta Maeda (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | 8.1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | SEA 11, PHI 6 | Robinson Cano, 2B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | WSH 7, BAL 6 | Matt Albers (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | TOR 8, CLE 7 | Ezequiel Carrera, RF | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | STL 7, MIA 5 | Dexter Fowler, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | SF 6, NYM 5 | Buster Posey, 1B-C | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | TEX 4, SD 3 | Shin-Soo Choo, DH | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | HOU 4, ATL 2 | Carlos Correa, SS | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | OAK 3, LAA 1 | Andrew Triggs (W,5-2) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||
| 1.0 | MIL 7, BOS 4 | Travis Shaw, 3B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| Triggs, Andrew 3723 | pi sp | oak al | 5.4 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 4.4 |
| Shaw, Travis 3544 | 3b 1b | mil nl | 2.5 | 9.5 | 13.7 | 13.7 | -4.5 |
| Fowler, Dexter 2698 | cf ph | stl nl | 2.5 | 4.0 | 18.0 | 20.5 | 1.0 |
| Choo, Shin-Soo 2267 | rf dh | tex al | 2.5 | 3.5 | 23.5 | 50.2 | 1.5 |
| Maeda, Kenta 3609 | pi sp | lad nl | 2.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | -8.0 |
| Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 2.0 | 11.0 | 51.1 | 51.1 | -7.0 |
| Posey, Buster 2745 | ca 1b | sf nl | 2.0 | 5.5 | 30.5 | 35.0 | -1.5 |
| Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Cano, Robinson 2092 | 2b | sea al | 1.5 | 9.5 | 39.0 | 76.9 | -6.5 |
| Correa, Carlos 3506 | ss | hou al | 1.0 | 8.7 | 15.9 | 15.9 | -6.7 |
| Godley, Zack 3538 | pi sp | ari nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 0.0 |
| Albers, Matt 2274 | pi cp | dc nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 6.0 | 0.0 |
| Carrera, Ezequiel 2873 | rf | tor al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.5 | 5.5 | 1.0 |
Cubs' Lackey tops players for Tuesday, May 9; Astros' Beltran ties Box-Toppers record, earning points in 19 straight seasons
Cubs pitcher John Lackey is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 9:| 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 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 5.4 |
| 6 | Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | bos al | 5.0 |
| 7 | Nova, Ivan 2796 | pi sp | pit nl | 5.0 |
| 8 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 5.0 |
| 9 | Holland, Greg 2906 | pi cp | col nl | 5.0 |
| 10 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf | nyy al | 5.0 |
Also Tuesday, Carlos Beltran of the Astros has now earned Box-Toppers points for 19 straight seasons, tying the “all-time” record set by Jason Giambi, after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday. Plus, Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Lackey struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks, in the 8-1 win over the Rockies.
Lackey earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 123.2 career points, ranked 39th among all player since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 38th-ranked player Gary Sheffield (124.1).
American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 6-0 win over the Blue Jays.
Box-Toppers season streaks
Here are the players who have earned Box-Toppers points in the most consecutive seasons. Carlos Beltran has tied Jason Giambi for the longest streak—19 straight seasons. Beltran has earned points each season from 1999 to 2017; Giambi earned points each season from 1995 to 2013. (Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.) Players are listed by length of their streak. Also shown is the duration of their streak and their career Box-Toppers point (BTP) total.Streak |
Player |
Pos |
Duration |
Career BTP |
|
| 1 | 19 | Jason Giambi | 1b | 1995-2013 | 133.4 |
| 1 | 19 | Carlos Beltran* | rf | 1999-2017 | 105.9 |
| 3 | 18 | Jim Thome | 1b dh | 1995-2012 | 146.7 |
| 3 | 18 | Chipper Jones | 3b | 1995-2012 | 149.0 |
| 3 | 18 | Johnny Damon | lf | 1995-2012 | 63.0 |
| 3 | 18 | Alex Rodriguez | 3b | 1996-2013 | 187.0 |
| 7 | 17 | Mariano Rivera | pi cp | 1995-2011 | 126.4 |
| 7 | 17 | Derek Jeter | ss | 1996-2012 | 76.4 |
| 7 | 17 | Paul Konerko | 1b | 1998-2014 | 100.7 |
| 7 | 17 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | 1999-2015 | 157.0 |
| 7 | 17 | Torii Hunter | cf | 1999-2015 | 115.9 |
| 7 | 17 | David Ortiz | dh | 2000-2016 | 145.9 |
| 7 | 17 | CC Sabathia* | pi sp | 2001-2017 | 187.0 |
| 14 | 16 | Manny Ramirez | lf | 1995-2010 | 167.2 |
| 14 | 16 | Andy Pettitte | pi sp | 1995-2010 | 138.5 |
| 14 | 16 | Jamie Moyer | pi sp | 1995-2010 | 104.0 |
| 14 | 16 | Scott Rolen | 3b | 1996-2011 | 97.6 |
| 14 | 16 | Kevin Millwood | pi sp | 1997-2012 | 108.3 |
| 14 | 16 | Derek Lowe | pi sp | 1998-2013 | 91.5 |
| 14 | 16 | Aramis Ramirez | 3b | 2000-2015 | 105.8 |
| 14 | 16 | Mark Buehrle | pi sp | 2000-2015 | 116.7 |
| 14 | 16 | Albert Pujols* | dh 1b | 2001-2016 | 182.3 |
| 14 | 16 | Ichiro Suzuki* | rf | 2001-2016 | 53.7 |
| 24 | 15 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | 1995-2009 | 278.8 |
| 24 | 15 | Garret Anderson | lf | 1995-2009 | 86.5 |
| 24 | 15 | Ivan Rodriguez | ca | 1995-2009 | 79.0 |
| 24 | 15 | Tony Clark | 1b | 1995-2009 | 63.8 |
| 24 | 15 | Gary Sheffield | lf | 1995-2009 | 124.1 |
| 24 | 15 | Jason Kendall | ca | 1996-2010 | 40.9 |
| 24 | 15 | Vladimir Guerrero | rf | 1997-2011 | 128.3 |
| 24 | 15 | Bobby Abreu | rf | 1997-2011 | 95.5 |
| 24 | 15 | Mike Cameron | cf | 1997-2011 | 70.3 |
| 24 | 15 | Miguel Tejada | ss | 1997-2011 | 102.3 |
| 24 | 15 | Jorge Posada | ca | 1997-2011 | 79.5 |
| 24 | 15 | Livan Hernandez | pi sp | 1997-2011 | 76.7 |
| 24 | 15 | Kyle Lohse | pi sp | 2001-2015 | 89.0 |
| 24 | 15 | Jake Peavy | pi sp | 2002-2016 | 141.8 |
* Active streak of a player active in 2017
Updated Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Details
Carrasco earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 5.4 for the season, rising to fifth place in season player rankings and third among AL pitchers, behind Chris Sale of the Red Sox (6.7) and Ervin Santana of the Twins (6.7).
National League Batter of the Day—Keon Broxton of the Brewers homered, tripled and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 11-7 win over the Red Sox.
American League Batter of the Day—Ben Gamel of the Mariners hit a three-run homer and doubled in the 10-9 win over the Phillies. Gamel went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in four runs.
Streak—Carlos Beltran of the Astros tied Box-Toppers’ record for the longest consecutive season streak in which a player has earned Player of the Game honors.
Beltran was Player of the Game Tuesday in the 8-3 win over the Braves (HR 2-4 2R BI), marking the 19th straight season in which he has earned Box-Toppers points (1999 to 2017). That ties the record of Jason Giambi, who earned Box-Toppers points for 19 straight seasons from 1995 to 2013. (Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, the same year Giambi began his Major League career. Giambi earned points in each season he played except for his last season in 2014.)
Beltran earned his first Box-Toppers points in 1999 with the Royals and has 105.9 career points, rising to 61st place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. Beltran earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point Tuesday, passing three players on the “all-time” list—Dodgers pitcher Scott Kazmir (105.1), Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner (105.7) and Aramis Ramirez (105.8). Beltran now trails 60th-ranked player Frank Thomas (106.2).
Beltran’s 105.9 career Box-Toppers points also ranks fourth among active AL batters.
Beltran’s best season was 2003 with the Royals when he had 13.9 Box-Toppers points, second among AL batters, behind Carlos Delgado of the Blue Jays (17.7). In 2016, Beltran had 6.0 points with the Yankees and Rangers, eighth among AL designated hitters.
Beltran barely kept the streak alive earning only 1.0 Box-Toppers points in two different seasons—in 2010 with the Mets and in 2014 with the Yankees.
Besides Beltran, there are only three other Major League players who earned Box-Toppers points in 1999 or earlier who are still listed as active players today:
- Braves pitcher Bartolo Colon, who has 2.7 points this season, but he earned no points in 2010, so his consecutive season streak stands only at seven.
- Adrian Beltre of the Rangers, though he hasn’t earned Box-Toppers points yet this season. Also, Beltre did not earn points in 2005 or 2014, so his longest consecutive season streak earning Box-Toppers points is eight. His current streak is two seasons (2015 and 2016).
- Pitcher Joe Nathan of the Nationals, though he hasn’t earned Box-Toppers points since Sept. 25, 2014.
Scoring—Lackey earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Carrasco earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Broxton and Gamel 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.
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| 5/9 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.0 | CHC 8, COL 1 | John Lackey (W,3-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | |
| AL | 11.0 | CLE 6, TOR 0 | Carlos Carrasco (W,4-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| 8.0 | TEX 11, SD 0 | A.J. Griffin (W,4-0) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 7.0 | MIL 11, BOS 7 | Keon Broxton, CF | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.1 | `LAD 4, PIT 3 (F/10) | Julio Urias | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | SEA 10, PHI 9 | Ben Gamel, RF | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | COL 10, CHC 4 | Mark Reynolds, 1B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | KC 7, TB 6 (F/12) | Salvador Perez, C | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | STL 6, MIA 5 | Matt Adams, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | NYM 6, SF 1 | Zack Wheeler (W,2-2) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | ||
| 2.0 | BAL 5, WSH 4 (F/12) | Logan Verrett (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | LAA 7, OAK 3 | Yunel Escobar, 3B | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | MIN 7, CHW 2 | Byron Buxton, CF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | HOU 8, ATL 3 | Carlos Beltran, DH | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | CIN 5, NYY 3 | Joey Votto, 1B | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.0 | DET 7, ARI 3 | Nicholas Castellanos, 3B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 5.4 | 17.8 | 46.5 | 51.9 | -7.0 |
| Reynolds, Mark 2297 | 1b | col nl | 3.5 | 7.5 | 22.2 | 54.9 | -0.5 |
| Griffin, A.J. 3074 | pi sp | tex al | 3.0 | 8.7 | 23.4 | 23.4 | -2.7 |
| Gamel, Ben 3784 | rf | sea al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Votto, Joey 2366 | 1b | cin nl | 2.5 | 13.0 | 27.7 | 66.7 | -8.0 |
| Broxton, Keon 3785 | cf | mil nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | chi nl | 2.0 | 15.4 | 41.8 | 123.2 | -11.4 |
| Castellanos, Nick 3349 | 3b | det al | 2.0 | 7.5 | 15.7 | 15.7 | -3.5 |
| Verrett, Logan 3518 | pi cp | bal al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 1.0 |
| Beltran, Carlos 1194 | dh rf | hou al | 1.0 | 7.0 | 19.2 | 105.9 | -5.0 |
| Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 1.0 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 6.7 | -4.7 |
| Buxton, Byron 3604 | cf | min al | 1.0 | 5.7 | 6.7 | 6.7 | -3.7 |
| Perez, Salvador 2972 | ca | kc al | 1.0 | 5.0 | 20.2 | 22.7 | -3.0 |
| Escobar, Yunel 2331 | 3b | ana al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 17.5 | 42.0 | 0.0 |
| Adams, Matt 3220 | 1b ph | stl nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 0.0 |
| Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | nym nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 12.7 | 12.7 | 1.0 |
Dodgers' Alex Wood tops players for Monday, May 8; Cardinals' Martinez rises to 10th in player rankings
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 |
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 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 |
Reds' Scott Feldman tops players for Sunday, May 7; Yankees' Severino tops AL players
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 |
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.
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| 5/7 | 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 |
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 | +/- |
| 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 |
Pirates' Gerrit Cole tops players for Saturday, May 6; Kershaw rises to lead Box-Toppers player rankings
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 |
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.
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| 5/6 | 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 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| 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 |
Blue Jays' Kendrys Morales tops players for Friday, May 5; Dbacks' Goldschmidt tops NL players
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 |
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.
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| 5/5 | 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 |
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 | +/- |
| 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 |
Red Sox' Chris Sale passes Kershaw to lead Box-Toppers weekly player rankings
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
Read MoreWashington Nationals top Box-Toppers team rankings for third straight week
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.
Read MoreNationals' Max Scherzer tops players for Thursday, May 4, rises to 3rd in Box-Toppers player rankings
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 |
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.
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| 5/4 | 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 |
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 | +/- |
| 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 |
Giants' Jeff Samardzija tops players for Wednesday, May 3; Red Sox' Kimbrel rises to 4th in Box-Toppers player rankings
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 |
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.
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| 5/3 | 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 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| 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 |
Red Sox' Chris Sale top players for Tuesday, May 2, rises to lead Box-Toppers player rankings
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 |
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.
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| 5/2 | 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 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| 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 |
Reds' Michael Lorenzen tops players for Monday, May 1; Rays' Odorizzi tops AL players
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 |
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.
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| 5/1 | 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 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| 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 |
Nationals' Anthony Rendon tops players for Sunday, April 30, recording possibly highest Box-Toppers game score by batter since 1995
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 |
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.
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| 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 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| 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 |
Pirates' Ivan Nova tops players for Saturday, April 29, rises to 3rd Box-Toppers player rankings
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 |
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.
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| 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 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| 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 |
Mariners' Ariel Miranda tops players for Friday, April 28; Holland, Kimbrel rise in Box-Toppers top 10 rankings
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 |
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.
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| 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 |
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 | +/- |
| 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 |
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