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

What are those numbers after players' names?

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

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.
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

What are those numbers after players' names?

Reds' Anthony DeSclafani tops players for Saturday, Aug. 27; Mets' Syndergaard rises to 9th in Box-Toppers rankings

Reds pitcher Anthony DeSclafani is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Aug. 27:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	20.7
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	20.0
3	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	18.4
4	Kluber, Corey 3200	pi sp	cle al	17.2
5	Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	16.8
6	Lester, Jon 2173	pi sp	chi nl	15.4
7	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	14.4
8	Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	14.1
9	Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	14.0
10	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	13.7

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Saturday, Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—DeSclafani pitched a complete-game, four-hit shutout, striking out nine and walking one, in the 13-0 win over the Diamondbacks.

American League Player of the Day—White Sox pitcher Jose Quintana struck out eight over 7 2/3 innings, allowing two runs, five hits and one walk, in the 9-3 win over the Mariners.

American League Batter of the Day—Starlin Castro of the Yankees homered and went 4-for-6, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 13-5 win over the Orioles.

National League Batter of the Day—Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies hit two homers and went 3-for-6, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 9-4, 11-inning win over the Nationals.

Rankings—Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Syndergaard (7IP 2H R 2BB 7K W in the 12-1 win over the Phillies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.0 for the season, rising from 10th to ninth place for the season. He ranks seventh among NL pitchers.

Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:

• Athletics pitcher Daniel Coulombe (1.1IP 0H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 3-2 win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut Sept. 16, 2014, and was playing in his 43rd career game. He is the 3,720th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Alex Bregman of the Astros (HR 2-4 2R 3BI in the 6-2 win over the Rays) made his Major League debut July 25 and was playing in his 30th career game. He is the 3,721st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—DeSclafani earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Quintana earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Castro and Blackmon 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

8/27	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	13.0	CIN 13, ARI 0	Anthony DeSclafani (W,8-2)	-	-	-	-		9.0	4	0	0	1	9
	8.0	NYM 12, PHI 1	Noah Syndergaard (W,12-7)	-	-	-	-		7.0	2	1	1	2	7
	7.0	`PIT 9, MIL 6	Juan Nicasio (H,4)	-	-	-	-		3.0	1	0	0	0	5
AL	6.2	CHW 9, SEA 3	Jose Quintana (W,11-9)	-	-	-	-		7.2	5	2	1	1	8
	6.0	TEX 7, CLE 0	A.J. Griffin (W,6-3)	-	-	-	-		6.0	5	0	0	1	6
	5.2	ATL 3, SF 1	Mike Foltynewicz (W,7-5)	-	-	-	-		7.2	5	1	1	1	6
	5.0	LAA 3, DET 2	Jhoulys Chacin (W,5-8)	-	-	-	-		4.0	3	0	0	1	5
	4.1	OAK 3, STL 2	Daniel Coulombe (W,2-1)	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	3
BAT	4.0	NYY 13, BAL 5	Starlin Castro, 2B	6	3	4	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	TOR 8, MIN 7	Edwin Encarnacion, 1B	3	2	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	LAD 3, CHC 2	Julio Urias (W,5-2)	-	-	-	-		6.0	6	1	1	2	8
BAT	3.0	COL 9, WSH 4 (11)	Charlie Blackmon, CF	6	3	3	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	HOU 6, TB 2	Alex Bregman, 3B	4	2	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	SD 1, MIA 0	Kevin Quackenbush (S,1)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	2.0	BOS 8, KC 3	Dustin Pedroia, 2B	5	1	4	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the 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 (16). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (15-16), the period 2011-2016 (11-16) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2016 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2015 total (+/-).  

Player of Game	Pos	Team	16	15-16	11-16	Career	+/-
Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	14.0	24.4	24.4	24.4	3.6
Quintana, Jose 3040	pi sp	chi al	9.4	15.4	34.2	34.2	3.4
Encarnacion, Edwin 2098	dh 1b	tor al	8.0	18.4	46.6	67.1	-2.4
Nicasio, Juan 2888	pi sp mr	pit nl	8.0	9.0	24.4	24.4	7.0
Castro, Starlin 2767	2b ss	nyy al	7.0	11.5	24.5	25.5	2.5
Griffin, A.J. 3074	pi sp	tex al	4.7	4.7	19.4	19.4	4.7
DeSclafani, Anthony 3441	pi sp	cin nl	4.0	11.7	11.7	11.7	-3.7
Foltynewicz, Mike 3455	pi sp	atl nl	4.0	6.7	6.7	6.7	1.3
Blackmon, Charlie 2891	cf	col nl	4.0	6.5	12.0	12.0	1.5
Chacin, Jhoulys 2711	pi mr sp	ana al	4.0	4.0	18.4	26.1	4.0
Urias, Julio 3652	pi sp	lad nl	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0
Pedroia, Dustin 2320	2b	bos al	3.0	3.0	23.4	35.5	3.0
Quackenbush, Kevin 3462	pi mr cp	sd nl	2.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	0.0
Bregman, Alex 3721	3b	hou al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Coulombe, Daniel 3720	pi mr	oak al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Nationals' Max Scherzer strikes out 20, tops players for Wednesday, May 11, rises to 8th in Box-Toppers rankings

Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, who tied a Major League record by striking out 20 in a single game, 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 2016 season as of May 11:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	7.0
2	Machado, Manny 3087	3b ss	bal al	6.7
3	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	6.0
4	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	5.7
5	Quintana, Jose 3040	pi sp	chi al	5.7
6	De La Rosa, Rubby 3342	pi sp	ari nl	5.7
7	Hill, Rich 2215	pi sp	oak al	5.4
8	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	5.0
9	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	5.0
10	Altuve, Jose 3007	2b	hou al	5.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Scherzer pitched a complete game, allowing two runs, six hits and no walks, in the 3-2 win over the Tigers. His 20 strikeouts in a nine-inning game ties the record of Roger Clemens of the Red Sox (who did it twice, in 1986 and 1996) and Kerry Wood of the Cubs (1998). (In 2001, Randy Johnson of the Diamondbacks also struck out 20 in nine innings in a game that lasted 11 innings.)

While his 20 strikeouts tie a record, Scherzer’s Box-Toppers game score Wednesday of +19.0 is only the fourth-highest score of the season. (See chart at the bottom of the page for the four highest Box-Toppers game scores of 2016.) In 2015, Scherzer had three games with a Box-Toppers game score of +19.0 or more, including the season’s highest score of +26.0 in his Oct. 3 no-hitter. He also had the season’s third-highest score (+23.0 on June 14 in a one-hitter) and 11th-highest score (+19.0 on June 20 in a no-hitter).

Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points Wednesday for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season, rising to eighth place in season player rankings, fourth among NL pitchers. He also rises to 51st place among players in Box-Toppers points since 1995 (when Box-Toppers tracking began) with 111.0 career points, moving past Tom Glavine (110.6) on the “all-time” list. Scherzer now trails 50th-ranked player, Cubs pitcher John Lackey (111.5).

American League Player of the Day—Astros pitcher Michael Feliz struck out five over three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and earning the save, in the 5-3, 16-inning win over the Indians.

This was Feliz’ Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Feliz made his Major League debut May 31, 2015, and was playing in his 11th career game. He is the 3,632nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

American League Batter of the Day—Jackie Bradley Jr. of the Red Sox hit a three-run homer, a two-run homer and a double in the 13-3 win over the Athletics. Bradley also went 3-for-6, driving in six total runs.

National League Batter of the Day—Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies homered and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 8-7 win over the Diamondbacks.

Notable—Noah Syndergaard of the Mets became the second pitcher this season to earn Player of the Game honors for batting.

Syndergaard (2HR 2-4 2R 4BI in the 4-3 win over the Dodgers) had a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0 for batting and a score of +3.0 for pitching (8IP 6H 2R BB K W). Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals is the other pitcher who earned Player of the Game honors for batting this season when he did it on May 2. In 2015, pitchers won Player of the Game honors for batting seven times.

Streak—Nelson Cruz of the Mariners has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Cruz (HR 1-3 2R 2BI in the 6-5 win over the Rays) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Rangers and has 48.2 career points, fifth among active AL outfielders and 10th among active AL designated hitters. His best season was 2014 with the Orioles when he had 8.5 Box-Toppers points, sixth among AL batters. He had 2.0 points in 2015 with the Mariners.

Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Feliz earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Bradley and Blackmon 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

5/11	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	19.0	Nationals	Max Scherzer (W,4-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		9.0	6	2	2	0	20
	10.0	Padres	Drew Pomeranz (W,4-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	0	0	3	10
	8.0	Braves	Williams Perez (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	2	1	1	0	4
	8.0	Cardinals	Jaime Garcia (W,3-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	2	0	1	8
AL	7.0	Astros	Michael Feliz (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		3.0	1	0	0	0	5
	6.1	Marlins	Wei-Yin Chen (W,3-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.1	6	2	2	2	12
BAT	6.0	Red Sox	Jackie Bradley Jr., CF	5	2	3	6	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	Orioles	Chris Davis, 1B	5	2	4	4	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	4.0	Rockies	Charlie Blackmon, CF	5	3	3	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Mets	Noah Syndergaard, P	4	2	2	4	0	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.2	`Giants	Madison Bumgarner	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.2	3	1	1	4	5
	2.0	Rangers	Ian Desmond, CF-LF	4	2	2	2	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Pirates	Jung Ho Kang, 3B	3	2	2	1	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Padres	Brett Wallace, 3B	3	1	1	3	1	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Mariners	Nelson Cruz, DH	3	2	1	2	1	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Royals	Lorenzo Cain, CF	2	1	1	2	2	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the 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 (16). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (15-16), the period 2011-2016 (11-16) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2016 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2015 total (+/-).  

Player	Pos	Team	16	15-16	11-16	Career	+/-
Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	5.0	26.0	90.6	111.0	-16.0
Davis, Chris 2478	1b	bal al	4.5	15.5	46.4	54.9	-6.5
Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	4.0	14.4	14.4	14.4	-6.4
Garcia, Jaime 2508	pi sp	stl nl	4.0	13.4	31.1	39.8	-5.4
Pomeranz, Drew 3061	pi sp mr	sd nl	4.0	7.0	15.0	15.0	1.0
Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	sf nl	3.0	20.0	90.0	95.7	-14.0
Bradley, Jackie Jr. 3293	cf	bos al	2.5	12.0	13.0	13.0	-7.0
Cain, Lorenzo 3171	cf	kc al	2.0	10.2	16.2	16.2	-6.2
Desmond, Ian 2673	lf cf ss	tex al	2.0	3.0	18.7	25.2	1.0
Feliz, Michael 3632	pi cp	hou al	1.7	1.7	1.7	1.7	1.7
Blackmon, Charlie 2891	cf	col nl	1.5	4.0	9.5	9.5	-1.0
Chen, Wei-Yin 3026	pi sp	fla nl	1.0	6.7	26.1	26.1	-4.7
Perez, Williams 3476	pi sp	atl nl	1.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	-3.0
Kang, Jung-Ho 3464	ss 3b	pit nl	1.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	-2.0
Cruz, Nelson 2224	dh rf	sea al	1.0	3.0	28.7	48.2	-1.0
Wallace, Brett 2837	3b	sd nl	1.0	1.0	3.5	3.5	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Top Box-Toppers game scores of 2016

Here are the top Box-Toppers game scores of 2016. Phillies pitcher Vince Velasquez had the highest score of +22.0 on April 14. Also shown are the Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned in the game by the player. Note that Jaime Garcia of the Cardinals earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point because he earned his Box-Toppers game score of +20 on April 14, the same day Velasquez bested him for Player of the Day with +22.0.

Date	BTP	Score	Team	Player of the Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
4/14	2.0	22.0	Phillies	Vince Velasquez (W,2-0)	9.0	3	0	0	0	16
4/14	1.0	20.0	Cardinals	Jaime Garcia (W,1-0)	9.0	1	0	0	1	13
5/1	2.0	20.0	Dodgers	Clayton Kershaw (W,3-1)	9.0	3	0	0	0	14
5/11	2.0	19.0	Nationals	Max Scherzer (W,4-2)	9.0	6	2	2	0	20

Rangers' Hamels tops players for Saturday, Sept. 19; Kershaw fails to unseat Arrieta for player rankings lead

Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to eighth place among American League pitchers in player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 19.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	23.1
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	22.7
3	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	20.4
4	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	20.1
5	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	19.7
6	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	19.4
7	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	19.4
8	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	17.1
9	Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	sf nl	17.0
10	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	17.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Saturday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw failed to retake the top spot in Box-Toppers player rankings after falling to the Pirates. Kershaw (22.7 Box-Toppers points) remains in second place behind Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta (23.1), with whom he has traded leads every two or three days since Sept. 2. Arrieta’s lead is now safe at least until Kershaw’s next start later this week.

Player of the Day—Hamels struck out 12 over seven innings, allowing one run and seven hits, in the 10-1 win over the Mariners.

Hamels earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 13.7 for the season, rising to 17th among all players and eighth among AL pitchers.

Hammels also rises to 34th place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when record keeping began. With his points Saturday, Hamels has 124.5 career Box-Toppers points and passes two players on the “all-time” list—Jered Weaver (123.1) and Gary Sheffield (124.1). (Sheffield, who started his career in 1988, seven years prior to the start of Box-Toppers record keeping, would likely have about 150 career Box-Toppers points based on rough projections, if his entire career were tracked.) Hamels now trails 33rd-ranked player Justin Verlander (124.6), who also passed Weaver and Sheffield on Friday.

National League Player of the Day—Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits and striking out five, in the 6-0 win over the Giants.

American League Batter of the Day—Victor Martinez of the Tigers homered, doubled and drove in three runs, in the 6-5, 11-inning win over the Royals.

National League Batter of the Day—Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in a run, in the 10-2 win over the Padres.

Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw failed to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors Saturday in his start, preventing him from retaking the player rankings lead.

Kershaw (7IP 7H 3H 8K L in the 3-2 loss to the Pirates) had a Box-Toppers game score of 0. Player of the Game was Pirates pitcher Francisco Liriano.

Had Kershaw won Player of the Game honors, he would have passed Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta for the Box-Toppers season points lead and it would have been the seventh lead change in September between Kershaw (22.7 Box-Toppers points) and Arrieta (23.1 Box-Toppers points). Kershaw has led NL pitchers the past four seasons in Box-Toppers points—with days and starts dwindling to only a few this season, his chances for a fifth straight season leading NL pitchers is diminishing.

Notable—Several other Player of the Game honorees from Saturday achieved notable Box-Toppers milestones:

• Pirates pitcher Francisco Liriano rose to 16th place among all players and ninth place among NL pitchers. Liriano (7IP 5H 2R 9K W in the 3-2 win over the Dodgers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.9 for the season.
• Angels pitcher Garrett Richards rose to 29th place among all players and 15th among AL pitchers. Richards (8.2IP 5H 2R 7K W in the 5-2 win over the Twins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.0 for the season.
• Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda becomes the 40th player this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points. Pineda (5.1IP 4H 0R 4K W in the 5-0 win over the Mets) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.7 for the season, rising to 33rd among all players and 17th among AL pitchers.
• Jackie Bradley Jr. of the Red Sox (2-4 R 3BI in the 7-6 win over the Blue Jays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.5 for the season, rising to sixth among AL batters.
• Bryce Harper of the Nationals (1-3 R 3BI in the 5-2 win over the Marlins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.0 for the season, rising to fifth among NL batters.

Debut—Braves pitcher Ryan Weber made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Weber (7IP 2H R 5K ND in the 2-1 win over the Phillies) made his Major League debut Sept. 8 and was playing in his third career game. He is the 3,598th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Hamels earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Corbin earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Martinez and Blackmon each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

9/19	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	10.0	Rangers	Cole Hamels (W,10-8)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	7	1	1	0	12
NL	7.0	Dbacks	Patrick Corbin (W,6-4)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	0	0	0	5
	6.0	Orioles	Wei-Yin Chen (W,10-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	6	1	1	0	7
	6.0	`Braves	Ryan Weber	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	2	1	1	2	5
	5.0	Pirates	Francisco Liriano (W,11-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	2	2	2	9
	4.1	Yankees	Michael Pineda (W,11-8)	-	-	-	-	-	-		5.1	4	0	0	1	4
BAT	4.0	Tigers	Victor Martinez, DH	2	1	2	3	2	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	`Angels	Andrew Heaney	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	2	2	2	2	6
	3.1	Cubs	Trevor Cahill (MR) (W,1-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		3.1	2	0	0	1	3
BAT	3.0	Rockies	Charlie Blackmon, CF	4	3	3	1	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Astros	Evan Gattis, DH	3	1	2	3	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	`Reds	J.J. Hoover (MR) (H,18)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	1	0	0	0	3
	2.2	Angels	Garrett Richards (W,14-11)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.2	5	2	2	4	7
	2.2	White Sox	Carlos Rodon (W,8-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.2	6	1	1	1	4
	2.0	Red Sox	Jackie Bradley Jr., CF	4	1	2	3	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Nationals	Bryce Harper, RF	3	1	1	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Colorado Rockies top Box-Toppers first Team Power Rankings for 2014

Top 10 teams

Here are Box-Toppers' Top 10 teams, through the games of Thursday, April 10. The column BTP shows the number of Box-Toppers points players on the team have accumulated so far this season. The column BTP/wk shows have many points teams have accumulated during the past week.

410	Teams	BTP	BTP/wk
1	Rockies	8.2	6.7
2	Nationals	8.0	5.0
3	Brewers	8.0	7.0
4	Dodgers	8.0	2.0
5	White Sox	7.0	4.5
6	Braves	6.7	4.0
7	Athletics	6.5	4.5
8	Marlins	6.5	3.0
9	Mariners	6.4	2.7
10	Indians	6.2	4.2

The Colorado Rockies are on top of Box-Toppers Team Power Rankings two weeks into the season.

Rockies players have accumulated 8.2 Box-Toppers points, including 6.7 over the past week (from Friday, April 4 through Thursday, April 10).

Though the Rockies are just 5-5 and a game back of the Dodgers and the Giants in the National League West, each of the five Rockies who have earned Player of the Game honors have also earned Box-Toppers bonus points for being top overall player, top NL player or top NL batter of the day.

The Rockies are led so far in the young season by outfielder Charlie Blackmon with 2.0 Box-Toppers points, earned when he was overall Player of the Day April 4.

The Chicago White Sox lead all American League teams with 7.0 Box-Toppers points. The White Sox are in second place in the AL Central, 1.5 games back of the Tigers. They are led so far by pitcher Chris Sale with 3.0 Box-Toppers points.

The Milwaukee Brewers picked up the most Box-Toppers points in the past week with 7.0. The Brewers have 8.0 total points for the season, in third place overall.

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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.

Rockies' Charlie Blackmon (6-6, 5RBI) tops players Friday, April 4

Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies is Friday’s Player of the Day. Blackmon went 6-6, homered, hit three doubles, drove in five runs and scored four times in the 12–2 win over the Diamondbacks.

Josh Hamilton of the Angels is American League Player of the Day. Hamilton homered, went 3-3, and drove in three runs in the 11–1 win over the Astros.

No pitchers scored Box-Toppers bonus points Friday because batters had higher Box-Toppers game scores in both leagues. The pitcher with the highest Box-Toppers game score Friday was Masahiro Tanaka of the Yankees with a game score of 4.0. Tanaka, the Japanese superstar pitcher who signed with the Yankees in the off-season, made his Box-Toppers debut by being Player of the Game in the 7–3 win over the Blue Jays.

Blackmon receives 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day. Hamilton receives 1.7 for AL Player of the Day.

All of Friday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) receive 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

404	Score	Team	BATTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	-	-	PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
MLB	9.0	Rockies	Charlie Blackmon CF, LF	6	4	6	5	0	0	1	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0
AL	5.0	Angels	Josh Hamilton LF	3	2	3	3	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0
	5.0	Mets	Lucas Duda 1B	3	2	2	4	1	1	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0
	4.0	Rays	Sean Rodriguez 1B	4	2	2	4	0	1	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0
	4.0	Pirates	Pedro Alvarez 3B	4	3	2	3	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0
	4.0	Yankees	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Masahiro Tanaka (W, 1-0)	7.0	6	3	2	0	8
	4.0	Tigers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Drew Smyly (W, 1-0)	3.0	1	0	0	1	3
	3.1	`Giants	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Juan Gutierrez	1.1	1	0	0	0	3
	3.0	Phillies	John Mayberry PH	1	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0
	3.0	Royals	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Greg Holland (S, 1)	1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	3.0	Braves	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Craig Kimbrel (S, 3)	1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	2.0	Indians	Nick Swisher 1B	5	2	2	3	0	1	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0
	2.0	Marlins	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Brad Hand (S, 1)	3.0	0	0	0	3	2
	1.2	`Brewers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Marco Estrada	5.2	4	2	1	3	6

` Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.