Box-Toppers Toppers Box
Today’s key Box-Toppers numbers. Click links to jump to charts elsewhere on this page.▪️ Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners.
▪️ Box-Toppers points of the day’s top players.
▪️ A B-T look at upcoming pitching matchups.
Rays pitcher Jeffrey Springs is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s spring training games.
Springs struck out seven over 4 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, picking up the win, in the 5-1 win over the Braves.
Springs would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day if this were a regular season game. Because it’s a preseason exhibition game, no Box-Toppers points are awarded.
Springs earned 10.7 Box-Toppers points in 2022, most among Thursday’s Player of the Game winners, 50th among all players in 2022 and 24th among American League pitchers. Springs is one of four players Thursday to earn his second 2023 spring training Player of the Game honor. He also did it Feb. 28.
National League Player of the Day—Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt struck out seven over four innings, allowing one run, three hits and no walks, earning the save, in the 3-1 win over the Cubs.
Pfaadt would have earned 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day if this were a regular season game.
Pfaadt has yet to make his regular season Major League debut and so has 0.0 career Box-Toppers points.
National League Batter of the Day—Cade Fergus of the Phillies hit a grand slam and went 1-for-1, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 10-1 win over the Tigers.
Fergus has yet to make his regular season Major League debut and so has 0.0 career Box-Toppers points.
American League Batter of the Day—Josh Naylor of the Guardians hit a grand slam and went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 5-1 win over the White Sox.
Naylor earned 3.5 Box-Toppers points in 2022. Naylor is one of four players Thursday to earn his second 2023 spring training Player of the Game honor. He also did it March 2.
Notable—In addition to Springs and Naylor, two other players earned their second Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor of the 2023 spring training season:
Angels pitcher Reid Detmers (5IP 2H R 0BB 6K ND in the 3-2 win over the Brewers) was also Player of the Game Feb. 26.
Rays pitcher Josh Fleming (4IP H 0R BB 5K W in the 2-0 win over the Twins) was also Player of the Game March 6.
Box-Toppers tracks spring training games between two Major League teams and does not track World Baseball Classic games or other games that involve non-Major League teams. In Thursday’s 14 spring training games, one ended in a tie in which no Player of the Game honor was awarded (see chart below for game details). In the remaining 13, eight who earned Player of the Game honors have earned Box-Toppers points in the past (see those players here); the remaining five players have yet to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in a regular season game.
Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in exhibition games. Were it a regular season day, Springs would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Pfaadt would have earned 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Fergus and Naylor would have each earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) would have earned 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.
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Box‑Toppers Player of the Game winners
Here is the top player from each of the day’s games listed from highest to lowest Box‑Toppers game score (BTG).Back to top
| 3/16 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +7.1 | TB 5, ATL 1 | Jeffrey Springs, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| +7.0 | `LAA 3, MIL 2 | Reid Detmers | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| +7.0 | TB 2, MIN 0 | Josh Fleming, (W 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| NL | +6.0 | ARI 3, CHC 1 | Brandon Pfaadt, (S 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | |
| +5.1 | HOU 3, STL 0 | Ronel Blanco, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| BAT | +5.0 | PHI 10, DET 1 | Cade Fergus, RF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.0 | TEX 3, LAD 1 | Jon Gray, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| BAT | +4.0 | CLE 5, CHW 1 | Josh Naylor, DH | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | BAL 7, TOR 4 | Austin Hays, CF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | KC 2, OAK 0 | Ryan Weiss, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| +3.0 | SD 7, COL 1 | Ha Seong Kim, 2B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | PIT 9, NYY 6 | Carter Bins, C | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | WSH 3, NYM 0 | Wily Peralta, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 0.0 | SF 0, SEA 0 | N/A | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
MLB—Overall Box‑Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box‑Toppers points.
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box‑Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box‑Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box‑Toppers points.
N/A—Not applicable. No Player of the Game was chosen because the game ended in a tie.
All other players listed here would 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.
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Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s Player of the Game winners
Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Player of the Game winners. No points are awarded during spring training games, so all players have 0.0 Box-Toppers points for 2023. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total in 2022 (’22). Also shown is their point total for the period 2018-2022 (’18-22) and each players’ career point total. (Player of the Game winners not listed here have yet to earn Box-Toppers points during the regular season.)Back to top
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’23 | ’22 | ’18‑22 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Springs, Jeffrey 4372 | pi sp | tb al | 0.0 | 10.7 | 13.7 | 13.7 |
| Detmers, Reid 4513 | pi sp | ana al | 0.0 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| Gray, Jon 3634 | pi sp | tex al | 0.0 | 6.0 | 33.7 | 45.4 |
| Kim, Ha-Seong 4373 | ss | sd nl | 0.0 | 5.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| Hays, Austin 4538 | lf cf ph | bal al | 0.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Naylor, Josh 4154 | 1b | cle al | 0.0 | 3.5 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Fleming, Josh 4316 | pi sp mr | tb al | 0.0 | 1.0 | 9.7 | 9.7 |
| Peralta, Wily 3123 | pi sp | dc nl | 0.0 | 0.0 | 7.0 | 28.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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A Box-Toppers look at Friday’s pitching matchups
A Box-Toppers look at the upcoming day’s probable pitching matchups. Teams are paired below with visiting teams on top and home teams on the bottom. Each team’s starting pitcher is shown with their Box-Toppers point total from 2023 (’23), over a two-year period (’22-23), over a six-year period (’18-23) and their career point total.Back to top
| Game | Starter | ’23 | ’22‑23 | ’18‑23 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WSH | Gore, MacKenzie 4582 | 0.0 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 |
| HOU | Brown, Hunter 4729 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| TB | Patino, Luis 4308 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| PIT | Bido, Osvaldo* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| BAL | Kremer, Dean 4330 | 0.0 | 7.7 | 11.4 | 11.4 |
| MIN | Mahle, Tyler 3929 | 0.0 | 6.0 | 29.7 | 29.7 |
| TOR | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | 0.0 | 11.0 | 39.8 | 43.8 |
| PHI | Falter, Bailey 4473 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| ATL | Shuster, Jared* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| BOS | Houck, Tanner 4342 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 11.7 | 11.7 |
| NYY | German, Domingo 3957 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 24.4 | 24.4 |
| DET | Manning, Matt 4550 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| PHI | Strahm, Matt 3724 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 7.0 | 9.0 |
| TOR | Kikuchi, Yusei 4136 | 0.0 | 5.7 | 17.4 | 17.4 |
| STL | Matz, Steven 3516 | 0.0 | 5.4 | 27.8 | 44.4 |
| MIA | Rogers, Trevor 4311 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 |
| LAD | Pepiot, Ryan 4714 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| CHC | Wesneski, Hayden 4731 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| SF | Stripling, Ross 3629 | 0.0 | 12.0 | 32.4 | 38.1 |
| OAK | Sears, JP 4627 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| CHC | Neidert, Nick* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| CHW | Clevinger, Mike 3707 | 0.0 | 6.4 | 39.5 | 53.9 |
| MIL | Junk, Janson 4697 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| TEX | Eovaldi, Nathan 2928 | 0.0 | 6.0 | 33.8 | 59.6 |
| ARI | Nelson, Ryne 4728 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| COL | Urena, Jose 3492 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 13.7 | 23.4 |
| KC | Heasley, Jonathan 4655 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| LAA | Suarez, Jose 4425 | 0.0 | 9.0 | 15.4 | 15.4 |
| MIA | Perez, Eury* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| NYM | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | 0.0 | 9.7 | 41.5 | 109.8 |
| CLE | Civale, Aaron 4173 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 22.4 | 22.4 |
| CIN | Ashcraft, Graham 4645 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| SEA | Flexen, Chris 4368 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 13.7 | 13.7 |
| SD | Snell, Blake 3688 | 0.0 | 13.1 | 65.4 | 74.4 |
Games shown are spring training games between MLB teams. Doesn't include World Baseball Classic or games vs. non-MLB teams.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
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