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.
▪️ Subscribe to Box-Toppers Email Newsletter.
▪️ Buy me a coffee & support Box-Toppers.
Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Thursday’s spring training games.
Imanaga struck out nine over 4 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 3-1 win over the Athletics.
Imanaga 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.
Imanaga, 30, has played eight seasons in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league, but has yet to make his regular season Major League debut and so has 0.0 career Box-Toppers points.
American League Player of the Day
Rays pitcher Zack Littell struck out six over five scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 3-1 win over the Braves.
Littell would have earned 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day if this were a regular season game.
Littell earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 117th among AL pitchers.
This is Littell’s second Player of the Game honor of the 2024 spring training season. He also did it Feb. 27 (2IP H 0R 0BB 3K ND in the 4-2 win over the Yankees).
American League Batter of the Day
Kerry Carpenter of the Tigers homered, doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 7-0 win over the Yankees.
Carpenter would have earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day if this were a regular season game.
Carpenter earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 120th among AL batters.
National League Batter of the Day
There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because no NL batter earned Player of the Game honors.
Notable
In addition to Littell, two other players earned their second Player of the Game honor of spring training Thursday:
Mariners pitcher Bryan Woo (4IP 0H 0R 0BB 5K ND in the 4-2 win over the Brewers) also earned Player of the Game honors March 7 (2.2IP 0H 0R BB 3K W in the 5-0 win over the Angels).
Phillies pitcher Ranger Suarez (3.2IP H 0R 4BB 5K W in the 6-1 win over the Red Sox) also earned Player of the Game honors March 8 (3.1IP 2H 0R 0BB 5K W in the 6-3 win over the Astros) when he was overall Player of the Day.
Thursday’s games
In Wednesday’s 13 completed spring training games featuring matchups between two Major League teams, there were 10 Player of the Game winners who had previously earned Box-Toppers points in regular season games.
Most notably, Royals pitcher Michael Wacha (3.2IP 2H 0R 2BB 4K W in the 6-0 win over the Diamondbacks) had the most 2023 Box-Toppers points among Thursday’s Player of the Game winners. Wacha earned 11.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023 with the Padres, 17th among NL pitchers.
In three of Sunday’s games, the Player of the Game winner was a player who has yet to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in the regular season and so has 0.0 career Box-Toppers points.
One game ended in a tie (Mets vs. Cardinals) and so no Player of the Game honor was awarded.
Scoring
No Box-Toppers points are awarded in exhibition games. Were it a regular season day, Imanaga would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Littell would have earned 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Carpenter would have earned 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart) 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.
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.
For additional updates, follow Box-Toppers on Twitter.
Buy me a coffee to support Box-Toppers. And thanks!
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).| 3/14 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +10.1 | CHC 3, OAK 1 | Shota Imanaga (W, 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | |
| AL | +10.0 | TB 3, ATL 1 | Zack Littell (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| +9.0 | `SEA 4, MIL 2 | Bryan Woo | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| +6.0 | BAL 5, PIT 2 | Nick Vespi (S, 1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| +5.0 | TEX 7, CIN 4 | Jon Gray (W, 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +5.0 | CHW 5, LAA 1 | Michael Soroka (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| BAT | +4.0 | DET 7, NYY 0 | Kerry Carpenter LF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +3.2 | PHI 6, BOS 1 | Ranger Suárez (W, 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | ||
| +3.2 | KC 6, ARI 0 | Michael Wacha (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| +3.0 | TOR 5, MIN 1 | Bowden Francis (W, 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | CLE 13, COL 7 | Myles Straw CF | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | WSH 5, HOU 3 | Joe La Sorsa (S, 4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 0.0 | NYM 0, STL 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.
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. No points are awarded during spring training games, so all players have 0.0 Box-Toppers points for 2024. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total in 2023 (’23). Also shown is their point total for the period 2019-2023 (’19-23) 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 | ’24 | ’23 | ’19‑23 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wacha, Michael 3276 | pi sp | kc al | 0.0 | 11.0 | 30.5 | 61.2 |
| Woo, Bryan 4842 | pi sp | sea al | 0.0 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 |
| Gray, Jon 3634 | pi sp | tex al | 0.0 | 7.7 | 29.7 | 53.1 |
| Suarez, Ranger 4228 | pi sp | phi nl | 0.0 | 3.7 | 18.7 | 18.7 |
| Littell, Zack 4533 | pi sp mr | tb al | 0.0 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| Carpenter, Kerry 4711 | rf dh | det al | 0.0 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Straw, Myles 4152 | cf | cle al | 0.0 | 1.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| La Sorsa, Joe 4901 | pi cp | dc nl | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Vespi, Nick 4619 | pi mr | bal al | 0.0 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Soroka, Mike 3956 | pi sp | chi al | 0.0 | 0.0 | 11.4 | 14.4 |
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 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 2024 (’24)†, last year (’23), over a five-year period (’19-23) and their career point total.Back to top
| Game | Starter | ’24† | ’23 | ’19‑23 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BAL | Kremer, Dean 4330 | 0.0 | 9.7 | 21.1 | 21.1 |
| TB | Uwasawa, Naoyuki* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| ATL | Smith-Shawver, AJ 4951 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| DET | Manning, Matt 4550 | 0.0 | 4.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 |
| DET | Montero, Keider* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| TOR | Tiedemann, Ricky* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| KC | Marsh, Alec* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| CIN | Lodolo, Nick 4586 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| CLE | Beede, Tyler 4166 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 5.7 | 5.7 |
| KC | Singer, Brady 4337 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 23.7 | 23.7 |
| SF | Hicks, Jordan 3991 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 7.0 | 9.0 |
| OAK | Blackburn, Paul 3869 | 0.0 | 4.7 | 8.7 | 11.7 |
| CHC | Wicks, Jordan 4912 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| CHW | Flexen, Chris 4368 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 13.7 | 13.7 |
| SEA | Hancock, Emerson* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| LAA | Soriano, Jose 4884 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| TEX | Dunning, Dane 4317 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 13.4 | 13.4 |
| COL | Feltner, Ryan 4635 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| ARI | Pfaadt, Brandon 4812 | 0.0 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| MIL | Ross, Joe 3499 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 11.0 | 24.7 |
| MIN | Balazovic, Jordan* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| BOS | Whitlock, Garrett 4431 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 |
| PHI | Sanchez, Cristopher 4850 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| HOU | Blanco, Ronel* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| MIA | Weathers, Ryan 4388 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| STL | Matz, Steven 3516 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 26.1 | 48.4 |
| WSH | Williams, Trevor 3792 | 0.0 | 5.7 | 16.4 | 29.4 |
| NYM | Houser, Adrian 4162 | 0.0 | 2.7 | 15.4 | 15.4 |
| PIT | Priester, Quinn* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| NYY | Schmidt, Clarke 4581 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 6.4 | 6.4 |
Games shown are spring training games between MLB teams. Doesn't include games vs. non-MLB teams.
† Players don’t earn Box-Toppers points in spring training games, only regular season games, so no pitcher has earned any points in 2024.
* Player has yet to earn any career 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