Box-Toppers: What it is, how it works
How it works
For every game played, the Box-Toppers metric determines the Player of the Game based on the objective analysis of that game’s box score.
Each Box-Toppers Player of the Game earns one Box-Toppers point.
All the day’s Players of the Games are compared and the player with the highest Box-Toppers score is named Player of the Day. This player receives two Box-Toppers points (one for being Player of the Game and a bonus point for being Player of the Day).
Other partial bonus points are awarded depending on the circumstances. If the Player of the Day is in the American League, for example, the National League’s top player earns an extra 0.7 points, earning 1.7 points for the day. (The converse is true: If the Player of the Day is an NL player, the top AL player would earn the extra 0.7 points.)
And if the top player or top league player is not a batter, then the top batters named Players of the Game in each league would earn an extra 0.5 points each, earning 1.5 points for the day.
For example, here are the Box-Topper results for Aug. 31, 2012:
| 831 | Score | Team | BATTERS | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | - | - | PITCHERS | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | 11.0 | Orioles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Miguel Gonzalez (W, 6-3) | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | ||
| NL | 9.0 | Nationals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Gio Gonzalez (W, 17-7) | 9.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | ||
| 8.0 | Mets | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | R.A. Dickey (W, 17-4) | 9.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | |||
| BAT | 7.0 | Athletics | Brandon Moss 1B | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 7.0 | Rangers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ryan Dempster (W, 4-1) | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | |||
| BAT | 5.0 | Brewers | Aramis Ramirez 3B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 4.0 | Angels | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Dan Haren (W, 9-10) | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |||
| 3.0 | Tigers | Miguel Cabrera 3B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 3.0 | Phillies | Ryan Howard 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 3.0 | Diamondbacks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Brad Bergesen (W, 1-0) | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | |||
| 3.0 | Cubs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Carlos Marmol (S, 17) | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||
| 2.0 | Reds | Zack Cozart SS | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1.0 | Padres | Carlos Quentin LF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1.0 | Blue Jays | Edwin Encarnacion DH | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Fourteen games were played. The top player, determined by the Box-Toppers metric for each winning team (shown in the table) earned one Box-Toppers point.
In addition:
• Pitcher Miguel Gonzalez of Baltimore had the high Box-Toppers score of 11.0. Since he had the high Box-Toppers score among all Players of the Games, he earned Player of the Day honors and was awarded an additional point, for a total of two points.
• Pitcher Gio Gonzalez of Washington had the highest Box-Toppers score among all National League Players of the Games with 9.0. As such, he was named NL Player of the Day and earned and extra 0.7 points, for a total of 1.7 points.
• First baseman Brandon Moss of Oakland had the highest Box-Toppers score (7.0) among all American League batters on this list. He earned an extra 0.5 Box-Toppers points, for a total of 1.5 points.
• Likewise, third baseman Aramis Ramirez of Milwaukee had the highest Box-Toppers score (5.0) among all National League batters on this list. He also earned an extra 0.5 Box-Toppers points, for a total of 1.5 points.
Box-Topper points accumulate through the season. The points can be used as a data point to compare player performance and contribution to team wins over the season.