Astros end Nationals 4-week stint atop Box-Toppers team rankings. Nationals remain top NL team. Rangers were the hottest team of the past week.
Read MoreTwins' Jose Berrios tops players for Thursday, May 18; Rockies' Holland rises to 7th in Box-Toppers player rankings
Twins pitcher Jose Berrios 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 17:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 8.7 |
| 2 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 |
| 3 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 7.7 |
| 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 5 | Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 6 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 6.0 |
| 7 | Holland, Greg 2906 | pi cp | col nl | 6.0 |
| 8 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 5.4 |
| 9 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 5.4 |
| 10 | Triggs, Andrew 3723 | pi sp | oak al | 5.4 |
Also Thursday, Rockies closing pitcher Greg Holland rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Berrios struck out 11 over 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 2-0 win over the Rockies.
National League Player of the Day—Javier Baez of the Cubs hit a grand slam and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 9-5 win over the Reds.
American League Batter of the Day—Darrell Ceciliani of the Blue Jays hit a homer and doubled, going 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 9-0 win over the Braves.
This was Ceciliani’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Ceciliani made his Major League debut May 19, 2015, and was playing in his 55th career game. He is the 3,801st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Javier Baez.
Rankings—Rockies closing pitcher Greg Holland rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Holland (0.1IP 0H 0R 0BB K Sv in the 5-1 win over the Twins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.0 for the season, third among NL pitchers and most among all relief pitchers.
Debut—Mariners pitcher Sam Gaviglio made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Gaviglio (5IP 3H 0R BB 2K ND in the 5-4 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut May 11 and was playing in his second career game. He is the 3,802nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Berrios earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Baez earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Ceciliani earns 1.5 points for being AL 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| 5/18 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 15.2 | MIN 2, COL 0 | Jose Berrios (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | |
| 12.0 | KC 5, NYY 1 | Danny Duffy (W,3-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | ||
| NL | 7.0 | CHC 9, CIN 5 | Javier Baez, 2B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | TEX 8, PHI 4 | Martin Perez (W,2-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 5.1 | LAD 7, MIA 2 | Kenley Jansen (S,8) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | TOR 9, ATL 0 | Darrell Ceciliani, CF | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | DET 6, BAL 5 | J.D. Martinez, RF | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | PIT 10, WSH 4 | Adam Frazier, LF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | MIL 4, SD 2 | Eric Sogard, 2B | 4 | 0 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | `SEA 5, CHW 4 | Sam Gaviglio | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | OAK 8, BOS 3 | Trevor Plouffe, 3B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.1 | COL 5, MIN 1 | Greg Holland (S,18) | - | - | - | - | 0.1 | 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 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 36.0 | 39.0 | 6.0 |
| Baez, Javier 3395 | 2b 3b | chi nl | 3.2 | 5.2 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 1.2 |
| Sogard, Eric 3174 | ss 3b 2b | mil nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 3.0 |
| Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Martinez, J.D. 2922 | rf | det al | 2.5 | 8.0 | 17.7 | 19.7 | -3.0 |
| Duffy, Danny 2915 | pi sp | kc al | 2.0 | 12.7 | 30.7 | 31.7 | -8.7 |
| Jansen, Kenley 2871 | pi cp mr | lad nl | 2.0 | 8.0 | 33.7 | 38.4 | -4.0 |
| Frazier, Adam 3771 | lf | pit nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Ceciliani, Darrell 3801 | cf | tor al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Plouffe, Trevor 2869 | 3b | oak al | 1.0 | 5.5 | 21.5 | 24.5 | -3.5 |
| Perez, Martin 3213 | pi sp | tex al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 14.0 | 14.0 | -1.0 |
| Gaviglio, Sam 3802 | pi sp | sea al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Mariners' Christian Bergman tops players for Wednesday, May 17; Kershaw regains Box-Toppers points lead
Mariners pitcher Christian Bergman is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, making his Box-Toppers debut with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 17:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 8.7 |
| 2 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 |
| 3 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 7.7 |
| 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 5 | Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 6 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 6.0 |
| 6 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 5.4 |
| 8 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 5.4 |
| 9 | Triggs, Andrew 3723 | pi sp | oak al | 5.4 |
| 10 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | tex al | 5.0 |
Also Wednesday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw regains the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors.
Player of the Day—Bergman struck out nine over 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits, in the 4-0 win over the Athletics.
This was Bergman’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Bergman made his Major League debut June 9, 2014, and was playing in his 58th career game. He is the 3,799th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Player of the Day—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out five and allowing three hits, in the 6-1 win over the Giants.
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 |
| 5/12 | Ervin Santana | min al | 7.7 |
| 5/13 | Chris Sale | bos al | 8.4 |
| 5/17 | Clayton Kershaw | lad nl | 8.7 |
Kershaw earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 8.7 for the season, rising from third to first place in season player rankings, passing previous leader, Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale (8.4 Box-Toppers points). Kershaw maintains his lead in Box-Toppers points among NL pitchers. This is the fifth time this season Kershaw has led Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Kershaw also now has 192.4 career Box-Toppers points, fourth among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails third-ranked player Curt Schilling (194.1). Kershaw ranks first in career points among active players.
American League Batter of the Day—Jared Hoying of the Rangers homered, doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring three times an driving in two runs, in the 9-3 win over the Phillies.
Hoying had a Box-Toppers game score of +5.0, tied with Tyler Collins of the Tigers, Player of the Game in the 5-4 win over the Orioles (2HR 2B 3-4 2R 4BI). But Hoying won AL Batter of the Day over Collins on a tiebreaker—Hoying had more hits (four vs. three).
This was Hoying’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Hoying made his Major League debut May 23, 2016, and was playing in his 41st career game. He is the 3,800th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Batter of the Day—Kurt Suzuki of the Braves homered, doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 8-4 win over the Blue Jays.
Scoring—Bergman earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Kershaw earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Hoying and Suzuki 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| 5/17 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.1 | SEA 4, OAK 0 | Christian Bergman (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | |
| NL | 9.0 | LAD 6, SF 1 | Clayton Kershaw (W,7-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| BAT | 5.0 | TEX 9, PHI 3 | Jared Hoying, CF | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | DET 5, BAL 4 | Tyler Collins, CF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | ATL 8, TOR 4 | Kurt Suzuki, C | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | HOU 3, MIA 0 | Lance McCullers Jr. (W,4-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | LAA 12, CHW 8 | Danny Espinosa, 2B | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | PIT 6, WSH 1 | Gerrit Cole (W,2-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | `CHC 7, CIN 5 | Carl Edwards Jr. (H,5) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | NYY 11, KC 7 | Starlin Castro, 2B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | TB 7, CLE 4 | Jesus Sucre, C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | BOS 5, STL 4 (F/13) | Fernando Abad (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | MIL 3, SD 1 | Corey Knebel (S,2) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | ARI 5, NYM 4 (F/11) | Jake Lamb, 3B | 3 | 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 | +/- |
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 8.7 | 33.1 | 132.8 | 192.4 | -15.7 |
| McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | hou al | 5.0 | 11.1 | 17.8 | 17.8 | -1.1 |
| Castro, Starlin 2767 | 2b | nyy al | 3.0 | 10.0 | 18.5 | 28.5 | -4.0 |
| Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 3.0 | 9.5 | 38.9 | 38.9 | -3.5 |
| Suzuki, Kurt 2344 | ca | atl nl | 2.5 | 4.0 | 15.0 | 34.5 | 1.0 |
| Collins, Tyler 3302 | cf | det al | 2.5 | 2.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 2.5 |
| Knebel, Corey 3757 | pi mr cp | mil nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 |
| Bergman, Christian 3799 | pi sp | sea al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Edwards, Carl Jr. 3775 | pi mr | chi nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Sucre, Jesus 3794 | ca | tb al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Hoying, Jared 3800 | cf | tex al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Lamb, Jake 3517 | 3b | ari nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | -3.0 |
| Espinosa, Danny 2804 | 2b | ana al | 1.0 | 4.2 | 10.7 | 17.9 | -2.2 |
| Abad, Fernando 3653 | pi mr | bos al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | -1.0 |
Rangers' Darvish tops players for Tuesday, May 16; Harper, Darvish rise in Box-Toppers top 10
Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to 10th 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 16:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 |
| 2 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 7.7 |
| 3 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.0 |
| 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 5 | Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 6 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 6.0 |
| 6 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 5.4 |
| 8 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 5.4 |
| 9 | Triggs, Andrew 3723 | pi sp | oak al | 5.4 |
| 10 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | tex al | 5.0 |
Also Tuesday, Bryce Harper of the Nationals rises to fifth place in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Darvish struck out nine over seven innings, allowing one run and four hits, in the 5-1 win over the Phillies.
Darvish earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season, rising to 10th place in season player rankings, seventh among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies homered and went 3-for-5, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 7-3 win over the Twins.
American League Batter of the Day—Chris Davis of the Orioles homered twice and doubled, going 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 13-11, 13-inning win over the Tigers.
Davis had a Box-Toppers game score of +5.0, which was tied with Jake Marisnick of the Astros, who was Player of the Game in the 12-2 win over the Marlins. Marisnick had a very similar line score to Davis, homering twice, doubling and going 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in four runs. But Davis beat Marisnick to earn AL Batter of the Day on a tiebreaker—he had more walks Tuesday (two vs. zero).
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Tuesday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Charlie Blackmon.
Rankings—Bryce Harper of the Nationals rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Harper (HR 2-4 2R 2BI in the 8-4 win over the Pirates) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game, giving him 6.0 for the season. He maintains his rank as top-ranked batter and is the only batter among the top 10 in Box-Toppers player rankings.
Notable—Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia now has 188.0 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday (6.2IP 5H 0R 2BB 4K W in the 7-1 win over the Royals). Sabathia ranks fifth among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began, trailing fourth-place player and active career points leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (190.7).
Also notable—Matt Kemp of the Braves earned Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Tuesday. Kemp (2-5 R 4BI in the 9-5 win over the Blue Jays) also was Player of the Game Monday in the 10-6 win over the Blue Jays. He has 3.5 Box-Toppers points on the season, fifth among NL batters.
Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Rays pitcher Jose Alvarado (2IP 0H 0R 0BB K ND in the 6-4 win over the Indians) made his Major League debut May 3 and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,797th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Ian Happ of the Cubs (HR 1-3 2R 2BI in the 9-5 win over the Reds) made his Major League debut May 13 and was playing in his third career game. He is the 3,798th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Darvish earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Blackmon earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Davis earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
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| 5/16 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 8.0 | TEX 5, PHI 1 | Yu Darvish (W,4-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | |
| BAT | 5.0 | BAL 13, DET 11 (F/13) | Chris Davis, 1B | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | HOU 12, MIA 2 | Jake Marisnick, CF | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.2 | NYY 7, KC 1 | CC Sabathia (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 3.0 | LAA 7, CHW 6 (F/11) | Cameron Maybin, LF | 6 | 2 | 5 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | OAK 9, SEA 6 | Mark Canha, CF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | `TB 6, CLE 4 | Jose Alvarado (H,2) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| NL | 2.0 | COL 7, MIN 3 | Charlie Blackmon, CF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | ATL 9, TOR 5 | Matt Kemp, LF | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | MIL 6, SD 2 | Eric Sogard, 3B | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | WSH 8, PIT 4 | Bryce Harper, RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | BOS 6, STL 3 | Jackie Bradley Jr., CF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | CHC 9, CIN 5 | Ian Happ, CF-LF | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | SF 2, LAD 1 | Ty Blach (W,1-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 2.0 | ARI 5, NYM 4 | Fernando Rodney (S,10) | - | - | - | - | 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 | +/- |
| Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | dc nl | 6.0 | 9.0 | 33.4 | 33.4 | 3.0 |
| Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | tex al | 5.0 | 15.4 | 60.6 | 60.6 | -5.4 |
| Kemp, Matt 2151 | lf | atl nl | 3.5 | 11.0 | 34.0 | 62.6 | -4.0 |
| Sabathia, C.C. 1492 | pi sp | nyy al | 3.0 | 9.0 | 35.5 | 188.0 | -3.0 |
| Maybin, Cameron 2672 | lf | ana al | 2.0 | 5.0 | 10.5 | 17.5 | -1.0 |
| Sogard, Eric 3174 | ss 3b 2b | mil nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 2.0 |
| Blackmon, Charlie 2891 | cf | col nl | 1.7 | 5.7 | 12.2 | 13.7 | -2.3 |
| Davis, Chris 2478 | 1b | bal al | 1.5 | 9.0 | 50.9 | 59.4 | -6.0 |
| Bradley, Jackie Jr. 3293 | cf | bos al | 1.0 | 6.5 | 17.0 | 17.0 | -4.5 |
| Rodney, Fernando 1803 | pi cp | ari nl | 1.0 | 6.0 | 24.0 | 36.0 | -4.0 |
| Blach, Ty 3754 | pi sp | sf nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | -1.0 |
| Marisnick, Jake 3428 | cf | hou al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 0.0 |
| Canha, Mark 3454 | cf | oak al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 1.0 |
| Alvarado, Jose 3797 | pi mr | tb al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Happ, Ian 3798 | cf lf | chi nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Dbacks' Zack Godley tops players for Monday, May 15; Astros' Gurriel tops AL players
Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Godley is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 15:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 |
| 2 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 7.7 |
| 3 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.0 |
| 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 |
Godley allowed one run and one hit over 6 2/3 innings, striking out seven, in the 7-3 win over the Mets. Godley did not earn the win, picking up a no decision because the game was tied, 1-1, when he exited.
Godley also has the most Box-Toppers points among the eight who earned Player of the Game honors Monday. Godley earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season. He ranks 56th among all players for 2017, 15th among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Yuli Gurriel of the Astros hit a grand slam, doubled and went 2-for-4, in the 7-2 win over the Marlins.
This was Gurriel’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Gurriel made his Major League debut Aug. 21, 2016, and was playing in his 70th career game. He is the 3,796th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Batter of the Day—Hunter Renfroe of the Padres hit a walk-off, two-run, 10th-inning homer in the 6-5 win over the Brewers. Renfroe also doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Monday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Yuli Gurriel.
Streak—Nelson Cruz of the Mariners has now earned Box-Toppers points for 12 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of the season.
Cruz (HR 1-3 R 2BI in the 6-5 win over the Athletics) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2006 with the Rangers and has 54.7 career points, seventh among active AL designated hitters. His best year was 2014 with the Orioles when he had 8.5 points, sixth among AL batters. In 2016, he had 6.5 points with the Mariners, seventh among AL designated hitters.
Scoring—Godley earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gurriel earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Renfroe earns 1.5 points for being NL 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 scoreAL—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 | +/- |
| Godley, Zack 3538 | pi sp | ari nl | 3.0 | 4.0 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 2.0 |
| Kemp, Matt 2151 | lf | atl nl | 2.5 | 10.0 | 33.0 | 61.6 | -5.0 |
| Norris, Bud 2638 | pi cp sp | ana al | 2.0 | 7.7 | 32.4 | 48.1 | -3.7 |
| Gurriel, Yuli 3796 | 1b | hou al | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Renfroe, Hunter 3749 | rf | sd nl | 1.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | -1.0 |
| Cruz, Nelson Ramon 2224 | dh | sea al | 1.0 | 7.5 | 28.5 | 54.7 | -5.5 |
| Nunez, Eduardo 2795 | lf 3b | sf nl | 1.0 | 6.5 | 13.5 | 16.0 | -4.5 |
| Chisenhall, Lonnie 2959 | cf | cle al | 1.0 | 4.5 | 12.5 | 14.5 | -2.5 |
Angels' Alex Meyer tops players for Sunday, May 14; Rockies' Valaika tops NL players
Angels pitcher Alex Meyer is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Meyer struck out seven over 6 1/3 innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 4-1 win over the Tigers.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 14:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 |
| 2 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 7.7 |
| 3 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.0 |
| 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 |
National League Player of the Day—Patrick Valaika of the Rockies hit two homers and went 2-for-4, driving in four runs, in the 9-6 win over the Dodgers.
This was Valaika’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Valaika made his Major League debut Sept. 6, 2016, and was playing in his 33rd career game. He is the 3,793rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
American League Batter of the Day—Jason Kipnis of the Indians homered twice and went 4-for-5, driving in four runs, in the 8-3 win over the Twins.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Sunday because the overall NL Player of the Day was batter Patrick Valaika.
Notable—Aaron Altherr of the Phillies has the most season Box-Toppers points of any of the 17 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Altherr (HR 2-3 R BI in the 4-3 win over the Nationals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 4.5 for the season. He ranks 19th among all players and third among NL batters.
Debut—Besides Valaika, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut Sunday with their first career Player of the Game honor:
- Jesus Sucre of the Rays (2-3 R 3BI in the 11-2 win over the Red Sox) made his Major League debut May 24, 2013, and was playing in his 104th career game. He is the 3,794th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Jose Osuna of the Pirates (HR 1-2 R 2BI in the 6-4, 10-inning win over the Diamondbacks) made his Major League debut April 18 and was playing in his 24th career game. He is the 3,795th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Minor oddity—Of the 17 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday, a large majority of them—13—were batters, including five who were catchers, generally the position that generates the lowest Box-Toppers point totals.
Scoring—Meyer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Valaika earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Kipnis 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| 5/14 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 6.1 | LAA 4, DET 1 | Alex Meyer (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | |
| BAT | 5.0 | CLE 8, MIN 3 | Jason Kipnis, 2B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.2 | `NYY 11, HOU 6 | Chad Green | - | - | - | - | 3.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 4.1 | TOR 3, SEA 2 | Ryan Tepera (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | 2.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 4.0 | KC 9, BAL 8 | Drew Butera, C | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| NL | 4.0 | COL 9, LAD 6 | Patrick Valaika, SS | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | MIA 3, ATL 1 | Tyler Moore, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | TEX 6, OAK 4 | Elvis Andrus, SS | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | STL 5, CHC 0 | Yadier Molina, C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | HOU 10, NYY 7 | George Springer, CF | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | TB 11, BOS 2 | Jesus Sucre, C | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | SF 8, CIN 3 | Buster Posey, C | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CHW 9, SD 3 | Melky Cabrera, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | MIL 11, NYM 9 | Manny Pina, C | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | PIT 6, ARI 4 (F/10) | Jose Osuna, 1B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | WSH 6, PHI 5 | Matt Albers (S,2) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | PHI 4, WSH 3 | Aaron Altherr, CF | 3 | 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 | +/- |
| Altherr, Aaron 3563 | lf rf cf ph | phi nl | 4.5 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 2.0 |
| Tepera, Ryan 3774 | pi mr | tor al | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Posey, Buster 2745 | ca 1b | sf nl | 3.0 | 6.5 | 31.5 | 36.0 | -0.5 |
| Pina, Manny 3769 | ca | mil nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Meyer, Alex 3742 | pi sp | ana al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 |
| Valaika, Patrick 3793 | ss | col nl | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Kipnis, Jason 2933 | 2b | cle al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 20.5 | 23.5 | 1.5 |
| Andrus, Elvis 2582 | ss | tex al | 1.0 | 10.2 | 15.2 | 20.7 | -8.2 |
| Springer, George 3337 | rf | hou al | 1.0 | 7.5 | 11.5 | 11.5 | -5.5 |
| Cabrera, Melky 2143 | lf ph | chi al | 1.0 | 5.0 | 15.0 | 31.5 | -3.0 |
| Molina, Yadier 1967 | ca | stl nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 14.5 | 35.7 | -3.0 |
| Green, Chad 3675 | pi mr | nyy al | 1.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | -2.0 |
| Butera, Drew 2883 | ca | kc al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 |
| Moore, Tyler 3045 | lf 1b ph | fla nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 1.0 |
| Osuna, Jose 3795 | 1b | pit nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Sucre, Jesus 3794 | ca | tb al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Dodgers' Alex Wood tops players for Saturday, May 13; Red Sox' Sale rises to lead Box-Toppers player rankings
Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale rises to retake the lead in season Box-Toppers player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 13:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 |
| 2 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 7.7 |
| 3 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.0 |
| 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 |
Player of the Day—Wood struck out 10 over six scoreless innings, allowing five hits and one walk, in the 4-0 win over the Rockies.
American League Player of the Day—Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale struck out 12 over seven innings, allowing three runs on two hits, in the 6-3 win over the Rays.
Sale earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 8.4 for the season, rising from third to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings. He passes previous leader Twins pitcher Ervin Santana (7.7 Box-Toppers points), who only took the lead after Friday’s games. It is the second time this season Sale has led player rankings—he also led from May 2 to 5.
National League Batter of the Day—Travis Shaw of the Brewers homered and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 11-4 win over the Mets.
American League Batter of the Day—J.D. Martinez of the Tigers hit two homers and went 3-for-4, driving in three runs, in the 4-3 win over the Angels.
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 |
| 5/12 | Ervin Santana | min al | 7.7 |
| 5/13 | Chris Sale | bos al | 8.4 |
Notable—Bryce Harper of the Nationals leads batters in season Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday. Harper (HR 1-4 2R 2BI in the 6-4 win over the Phillies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.0 for the season, rising to 11th place among all players. He passes previous batting leader, Aaron Judge of the Yankees (5.0 Box-Toppers points). Though both Harper and Judge have 5.0 Box-Toppers points, Harper ranks higher because he had more 2016 Box-Toppers points (3.0 vs. 0.0).
Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Marlins pitcher Jose Berrios (7.2IP 2H R BB 4K W in the 4-1 win over the Indians) made his Major League debut April 27, 2016, and was playing in his 15th career game. He is the 3,791st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams (5IP 4H R BB 4K W in the 4-3 win over the Diamondbacks) made his Major League debut Sept. 7, 2016, and was playing in his 15th career game. He is the 3,792nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Wood earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Sale earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Shaw and Martinez 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| 5/13 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.0 | LAD 4, COL 0 | Alex Wood (W,4-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | |
| AL | 9.0 | BOS 6, TB 3 | Chris Sale (W,4-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 12 | |
| 7.0 | `KC 4, BAL 3 | Nate Karns | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 12 | ||
| 6.2 | MIN 4, CLE 1 | Jose Berrios (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 5.0 | ATL 3, MIA 1 | Julio Teheran (W,3-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 4.2 | `CHW 5, SD 4 | Anthony Swarzak | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | MIL 11, NYM 4 | Travis Shaw, 3B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 4.0 | DET 4, LAA 3 | J.D. Martinez, RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | STL 5, CHC 3 | Tommy Pham, LF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | TEX 6, OAK 5 | Matt Bush (S,3) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | TOR 7, SEA 2 | Kevin Pillar, CF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | PIT 4, ARI 3 | Trevor Williams (W,2-2) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 1.1 | SF 3, CIN 1 | Matt Moore (W,2-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | ||
| 1.0 | WSH 6, PHI 4 | Bryce Harper, RF | 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 | +/- |
| Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 | 21.8 | 89.8 | 94.8 | -5.0 |
| Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | dc nl | 5.0 | 8.0 | 32.4 | 32.4 | 2.0 |
| Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp mr | lad nl | 5.0 | 6.0 | 24.4 | 24.4 | 4.0 |
| Shaw, Travis 3544 | 3b | mil nl | 4.5 | 11.5 | 15.7 | 15.7 | -2.5 |
| Karns, Nathan 3414 | pi sp | kc al | 3.7 | 6.7 | 12.7 | 12.7 | 0.7 |
| Moore, Matt 2975 | pi sp | sf nl | 2.7 | 15.1 | 38.6 | 40.6 | -9.7 |
| Pham, Thomas 3596 | lf | stl nl | 2.5 | 4.0 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 1.0 |
| Swarzak, Anthony 2603 | pi mr | chi al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 9.7 | 2.0 |
| Martinez, J.D. 2922 | rf | det al | 1.5 | 7.0 | 16.7 | 18.7 | -4.0 |
| Teheran, Julio 3176 | pi sp | atl nl | 1.0 | 11.7 | 47.5 | 47.5 | -9.7 |
| Pillar, Kevin 3486 | cf | tor al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 6.5 | 6.5 | -1.0 |
| Bush, Matt 3673 | pi cp | tex al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | -1.0 |
| Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Williams, Trevor 3792 | pi sp | pit nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Angels' Matt Shoemaker tops players for Friday, May 12; Twins' Santana retakes Box-Toppers player rankings lead
Angels pitcher Matt Shoemaker is Friday’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 12:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 7.7 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos 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 Friday, Twins pitcher Ervin Santana regains the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Shoemaker pitched six scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing three hits, in the 7-0 win over the Tigers.
Shoemaker had a Box-Toppers game score of +9.0, tied with Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr., who was Player of the Game in the 5-1 win over the Yankees (6IP 4H 0R 0BB 7K W). But Shoemaker won overall Player of the Day honors on a tiebreaker—he allowed one fewer hit than McCullers (three vs. four). Yet, because of that one-hit difference, Shoemaker earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day while McCullers earns only 1.0 point for being Player of the Game.
National League Player of the Day—Cubs pitcher Eddie Butler pitched six scoreless innings, striking out five and allowing two hits, in the 3-2 win over the Cardinals.
National League Batter of the Day—Tyler Flowers of the Braves homered and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 8-4 win over the Marlins.
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 | 5/12 | Ervin Santana | min al | 7.7 |
American League Batter of the Day—There is no AL Batter of the Day for Friday because no AL batters earned Player of the Game honors.
Rankings—Twins pitcher Ervin Santana rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday in the 1-0 win over the Indians (7IP 2H 0R 4K W).
Santana earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.7 for the season, passing previous leader Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (7.0 Box-Toppers points). It is the second time this season Santana has led players in Box-Toppers points; he previously led from April 15 to 18. Santana also takes the lead in Box-Toppers points among AL pitchers, passing previous leader Chris Sale of the Red Sox (6.7).
Santana also now has 105.0 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 65th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Friday, he passes Blue Jays pitcher Francisco Liriano (104.2) on the “all-time” list and now trails 64th-ranked player, Dodgers pitcher Scott Kazmir (105.1).
Streak—Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto has now earned Box-Toppers points for 10 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of the 2017 season.
Cueto (8IP 5H 2R 3BB 6K ND in the 3-2, 17-inning win over the Reds) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2008 with the Reds and has 100.8 career Box-Toppers points, becoming the 78th player with 100 or more Box-Toppers points since tracking began in 1995.
Cueto ranks 74th among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995 and Friday passed four players on the “all-time” list—Larry Walker (100.1), Jeff Bagwell (100.4), Paul Konerko (100.7) and Giants pitcher Matt Cain (100.7). Cueto now trails 73rd-ranked player Matt Holliday of the Yankees (100.8). Though both Cueto and Holliday both have 100.8 career Box-Toppers points, Holliday ranks higher because he has more 2017 Box-Toppers points than Cueto (3.0 vs. 1.0).
Cueto’s best season was 2014 with the Reds, when he had 22.4 Box-Toppers points, fourth among all players. In 2016, he had 16.4 points with the Giants, eighth among all players.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debuts Friday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Rangers closer Kela Keone (2IP 0H 0R BB 2K W in the 5-2 win over the Athletics) made his Major League debut April 7, 2015, and was playing in his 115th career game. He is the 3,789th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Austin Hedges of the Padres (HR 2B 2-4 R 3BI in the 6-3 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut May 4, 2015, and was playing in his 98th career game. He is the 3,790th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Shoemaker earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Butler earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Flowers earns 1.5 points for being NL 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| 5/12 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | LAA 7, DET 0 | Matt Shoemaker (W,2-2) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| 9.0 | HOU 5, NYY 1 | Lance McCullers Jr. (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
| NL | 6.0 | CHC 3, STL 2 | Eddie Butler (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | |
| BAT | 4.0 | ATL 8, MIA 4 | Tyler Flowers, C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | MIN 1, CLE 0 | Ervin Santana (W,6-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | TOR 4, SEA 0 | Joe Biagini (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | MIL 7, NYM 4 | Eric Sogard, SS | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | TEX 5, OAK 2 | Keone Kela (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2.1 | TB 5, BOS 4 | Alex Colome (S,9) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | ARI 11, PIT 4 | Brandon Drury, 2B | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | SD 6, CHW 3 | Austin Hedges, C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | LAD 6, COL 2 | Chase Utley, 1B | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | `SF 3, CIN 2 (F/17) | Johnny Cueto | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 1.0 | KC 3, BAL 2 | Joakim Soria (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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 | +/- |
| Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 7.7 | 11.7 | 44.5 | 105.0 | 3.7 |
| McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | hou al | 4.0 | 10.1 | 16.8 | 16.8 | -2.1 |
| Colome, Alex 3189 | pi cp | tb al | 3.0 | 12.0 | 20.7 | 20.7 | -6.0 |
| Shoemaker, Matt 3290 | pi sp | ana al | 2.0 | 9.0 | 27.4 | 27.4 | -5.0 |
| Soria, Joakim 2258 | pi mr cp | kc al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 11.7 | 47.7 | 1.0 |
| Butler, Eddie 3483 | pi sp | chi nl | 1.7 | 2.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 0.7 |
| Flowers, Tyler 3101 | ca | atl nl | 1.5 | 4.0 | 12.5 | 12.5 | -1.0 |
| Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 1.0 | 17.4 | 71.0 | 100.8 | -15.4 |
| Biagini, Joe 3646 | pi sp | tor al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | -1.0 |
| Drury, Brandon 3744 | 2b lf | ari nl | 1.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | -0.5 |
| Utley, Chase 1861 | 1b 2b | lad nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 13.0 | 74.1 | 0.0 |
| Sogard, Eric 3174 | ss 2b | mil nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 1.0 |
| Hedges, Austin 3790 | ca | sd nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Kela, Keone 3789 | pi cp | tex al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Dodgers' Kershaw rises to regain Box-Toppers weekly player rankings report lead
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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Washington Nationals remain Box-Toppers top team in 4th straight rankings report
Nationals top Box-Toppers team rankings for fourth straight week, Yankees remain top AL team, Cardinals are hottest team of the past week.
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 |