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.
▪️ Top 10 players in 2023 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at upcoming pitching matchups.
Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to regain the lead in season player rankings.
Also Sunday, two other players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after earning Player of the Game honors—Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom rises to second place and Shohei Ohtani of the Angels rises to fifth place.
Player of the Day—Gausman struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks in the 5-1 win over the Yankees.
Gausman earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season, rising from sixth to first place, passing previous leader, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole (5.0 points), who only took the lead Saturday. Cole falls to third place.
Gausman previously took the lead among players this season on April 12 before losing it April 16 to Cole. This is the third time this season Gausman has earned overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day honors. He also did it April 6 and April 12.
National League Player of the Day—Pirates pitcher Vince Velasquez struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 2-0 win over the Reds.
Velasquez earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 3.4 for the season, 14th among all players and fourth among NL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day—Masataka Yoshida of the Red Sox hit two home runs, including a grand slam, in the 12-5 win over the Brewers. Yoshida went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in six runs.
Yoshida earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 2.5 for the season, ninth among AL batters.
National League Batter of the Day—Matt Carpenter of the Padres homered and hit two doubles, going 3-for-3, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 7-5 win over the Diamondbacks.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2023. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Sunday, April 23.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | tor al | 6.0 |
| 2 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | tex al | 6.0 |
| 3 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 5.0 |
| 4 | Rasmussen, Drew 4547 | pi sp | tb al | 5.0 |
| 5 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp | ana al | 4.7 |
| 6 | Gallen, Zac 4171 | pi sp | ari nl | 4.7 |
| 7 | McClanahan, Shane 4399 | pi sp | tb al | 4.0 |
| 8 | Springs, Jeffrey 4372 | pi sp | tb al | 3.7 |
| 9 | Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 | pi sp | sea al | 3.7 |
| 10 | Stroman, Marcus 3327 | pi sp | chi nl | 3.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Back to top
Rankings—Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom rises from third to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
deGrom (6IP 3H 2R ER 0BB 11K W in the 5-2 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.0 for the season. He ranks second overall and among AL pitchers, behind Player of the Day winner Kevin Gausman of the Blue Jays. While Gausman and deGrom both have 6.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, Gausman ranks higher because he has more 2022 Box-Toppers points—12.7 vs. 9.4.
deGrom also now has 137.5 career Box-Toppers points, 35th among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He trails 34th-ranked player Andy Pettitte (138.5). deGrom ranks 10th among active, signed players in career Box-Toppers points, fourth among active AL pitchers.
Ohtani—Shohei Ohtani of the Angels rises from seventh to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Ohtani (HR 2-3 R 2BI in the 4-3 win over the Royals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 4.7 for the season. This is Ohtani’s fourth Player of the Game honor of 2023, but his first as a designated hitter—the other three came as a starting pitcher.
Ohtani ranks fifth among AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points but does not qualify to rank among batters. To rank in a certain category, a player must have more than 25 percent of his Player of the Game honors at that position. Ohtani now has exactly 25 percent of his Player of the Game honors as a batter.
Similarly, Ohtani did not qualify to rank among batters in 2022 Box-Toppers points because he earned such an overwhelming majority of his Player of the Game honors as a pitcher. He earned 17 Player of the Game honors in 2022, four times as a batter (only 23.5 percent) and 13 as a pitcher. This despite the fact that he appeared in 157 games as a batter and was a starting pitcher in far fewer—28.
Notable—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw now has 262.0 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Kershaw (6IP 3H 3R ER BB 6K W in the 7-3 win over the Cubs) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 2.7 for the season, sixth among NL pitchers.
His 262.0 career Box-Toppers points is second among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, behind Randy Johnson (282.5). (It should be noted Johnson would have more Box-Toppers points if his entire career from 1988 were tracked—projections put his point total at about 385.) Kershaw leads active players in career points, ahead of second-place player, Mets pitcher Max Scherzer (237.3).
Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Sunday, each with their first career Player of the Game honor:
Guardians pitcher Logan Allen (6IP 5H R BB 8K W in the 7-4 win over the Marlins) was also making his Major League debut. He is the second Logan Allen pitcher currently in the Major Leagues. He is Logan Taylor Allen. The other is Rockies pitcher Logan Shane Allen, who also played for Cleveland from 2019 to 2021 and has 2.0 career Box-Toppers points, last earned April 11, 2021.
Orioles pitcher Grayson Rodriguez (5IP 5H 0R 3BB 6K ND in the 2-1, 10-inning win over the Tigers) made his Major League debut April 5 and was playing in his fourth career game.
Scoring—Gausman earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Velasquez earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Yoshida and Carpenter each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’s other Player of the Game winners (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.
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
| 4/23 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +15.0 | TOR 5, NYY 1 | Kevin Gausman, (W 2‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | |
| NL | +13.0 | PIT 2, CIN 0 | Vince Velasquez, (W 3‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | |
| +11.0 | TEX 5, OAK 2 | Jacob deGrom, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 11 | ||
| +8.0 | `HOU 5, ATL 2 | Cristian Javier | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | ||
| BAT | +6.0 | BOS 12, MIL 5 | Masataka Yoshida, LF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| BAT | +6.0 | SD 7, ARI 5 | Matt Carpenter, DH | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +6.0 | CLE 7, MIA 4 | Logan Allen, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| +5.0 | PHI 9, COL 3 | Zack Wheeler, (W 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 11 | ||
| +4.0 | LAD 7, CHC 3 | Clayton Kershaw, (W 4‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| +4.0 | TB 4, CHW 1 | Zach Eflin, (W 3‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
| +3.0 | `BAL 2, DET 1 (F/10) | Grayson Rodriguez | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | ||
| +3.0 | SF 5, NYM 4 | Camilo Doval, (S, 2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | MIN 3, WSH 1 | Jorge Polanco, 2B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | STL 7, SEA 3 | Nolan Gorman, 2B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | LAA 4, KC 3 | Shohei Ohtani, DH | 3 | 1 | 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 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.
Back to top
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. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total in 2023 (’23). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’22-23), the period 2018-2023 (’18-23) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2023 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2022 total (+/-).Back to top
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’23 | ’22‑23 | ’18‑23 | Career | +/‑ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | tor al | 6.0 | 18.7 | 40.1 | 75.4 | -6.7 |
| deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | tex al | 6.0 | 15.4 | 76.7 | 137.5 | -3.4 |
| Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp | ana al | 4.7 | 29.4 | 60.0 | 60.0 | -20.0 |
| Velasquez, Vince 3611 | pi sp | pit nl | 3.4 | 4.4 | 22.5 | 31.5 | +2.4 |
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 2.7 | 13.4 | 55.2 | 262.0 | -8.0 |
| Gorman, Nolan 4633 | dh 2b | stl nl | 2.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 | -2.5 |
| Yoshida, Masataka 4763 | dh lf | bos al | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | +2.5 |
| Javier, Cristian 4290 | pi sp | hou al | 2.0 | 17.7 | 25.7 | 25.7 | -13.7 |
| Carpenter, Matt 2987 | dh 3b 1b rf | sd nl | 1.5 | 6.0 | 17.0 | 46.5 | -3.0 |
| Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 1.0 | 15.4 | 57.2 | 69.9 | -13.4 |
| Doval, Camilo 4658 | pi cp | sf nl | 1.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | -4.0 |
| Eflin, Zach 3679 | pi sp | tb al | 1.0 | 4.7 | 27.5 | 32.5 | -2.7 |
| Polanco, Jorge 3739 | 2b | min al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 13.2 | 18.7 | -1.0 |
| Allen, Logan T. 4789 | pi sp | cle al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
| Rodriguez, Grayson 4790 | pi sp | bal al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default view.
Back to top
A Box-Toppers look at Monday’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COL | Gomber, Austin 3985 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 17.7 | 17.7 |
| CLE | Quantrill, Cal 4195 | 1.0 | 7.0 | 16.7 | 16.7 |
| BOS | Sale, Chris 2806 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 34.1 | 145.6 |
| BAL | Kremer, Dean 4330 | 1.0 | 8.7 | 12.4 | 12.4 |
| HOU | Urquidy, Jose 4194 | 1.0 | 9.0 | 22.1 | 22.1 |
| TB | Bradley, Taj 4780 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| TEX | Eovaldi, Nathan 2928 | 0.0 | 6.0 | 33.8 | 59.6 |
| CIN | Lodolo, Nick 4586 | 0.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| CHW | Lynn, Lance 2992 | 0.0 | 9.7 | 49.2 | 113.8 |
| TOR | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | 1.0 | 12.0 | 40.8 | 44.8 |
| MIA | Cabrera, Edward 4641 | 0.0 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 6.4 |
| ATL | Strider, Spencer 4626 | 2.0 | 15.4 | 15.4 | 15.4 |
| DET | Boyd, Matthew 3550 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 18.7 | 28.8 |
| MIL | Rea, Colin 3582 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 4.7 |
| NYY | Brito, Jhony 4761 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| MIN | Gray, Sonny 3259 | 3.0 | 15.1 | 49.3 | 90.5 |
| OAK | Waldichuk, Ken 4757 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| LAA | Suarez, Jose 4425 | 0.0 | 9.0 | 15.4 | 15.4 |
| KC | Keller, Brad 4008 | 1.0 | 7.4 | 25.4 | 25.4 |
| ARI | Henry, Tommy* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| STL | Montgomery, Jordan 3814 | 1.0 | 10.4 | 21.1 | 27.1 |
| SF | Cobb, Alex 2916 | 1.0 | 7.7 | 19.1 | 58.9 |
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default, game-by-game view.
Back to top