Kershaw remains strong over past half decade—who is rising & who is declining among baseball's top stars

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, Box-Toppers’ dominant player over the period 2012-2017, remains Box-Toppers’ dominant player over the period 2013-2017.

The 2013-2017 Box-Toppers point total for all players comes from dropping the points they earned in the 2012 season from their 2012-2017 totals. Box-Toppers uses this longer-term total to gauge a players’ staying power over the recent past.

And at the beginning of a season, when the rolling six-year total drops the earliest year of that timeframe, a player’s change in position in the rankings can give a clue to whether that player is improving, holding steady or declining.

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A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2017

An analysis of 23 years of Box-Toppers points leaders in pitching & batting in both leagues.

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Dodgers' Rich Hill tops players for Wednesday, Sept. 27; Yankees' Severino rises to 5th in Box-Toppers rankings

Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Wednesday, Yankees pitcher Luis Severino rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

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Nationals' Scherzer tops players for Tuesday, June 6; Reds' Gennett hits 4 homers

Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and maintains his second-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of June 6:  


 Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 12.7
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 12.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 9.4
4 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
5 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 8.0
6 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 7.7
7 Strasburg, Stephen 2736 pi sp dc nl 7.4
8 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 7.4
9 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 7.0
10 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 7.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Tuesday, Diamondbacks pitcher Robbie Ray rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. 

Plus, Scooter Gennett of the Reds on Tuesday became the 17th player in Major League history to hit four home runs in a game and earned what seems to the be the second-highest Box-Toppers game score for a batter since player tracking began in 1995. However, that game score was not high enough to be the highest of Tuesday’s Players of the Game. And it also was not high enough to be the highest game score by a batter this season.

Player of the Day—Scherzer struck out 14 over seven innings, allowing one run, three hits and two walks, in the 2-1 win over the Dodgers.

Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 12.0 for the season, maintaining his second-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings, behind Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (12.7). Scherzer also ranks second among NL pitchers behind Kershaw.

Scherzer also rises to 27th place in career Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Tuesday, he now has 143.7 career points and passes two players on the “all-time” list—Jake Peavy (141.8) and Tigers pitcher and former teammate Justin Verlander (142.0). Scherzer now trails 26th-ranked player, Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels (144.0).

Scherzer rises to 10th in career points among active players, eighth among active pitchers.

It took Scherzer three fewer seasons than Verlander to rack up a comparable career Box-Toppers point total. Verlander was the 2,112nd player to debut in Box-Toppers, earning his first Player of the Game honor April 8, 2006. Scherzer was the 2,588th player to debut on May 26, 2009. Both Scherzer and Verlander have led their league’s pitchers in Box-Toppers points in past seasons. Verlander led American League pitchers in 2011 (24.4) and 2012 (24.8). Scherzer led AL pitchers in 2013 with the Tigers (18.1) and National League pitchers in 2016 (25.7).

American League Player of the Day—Red Sox closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel struck out five over 1 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing one walk, in the 5-4 win over the Yankees.

National League Batter of the Day—Scooter Gennett of the Reds hit four home runs—only the 17th time in history that feat has been accomplished—in the 13-1 win over the Cardinals. Gennett went 5-for-5 and drove in 10 runs.

Gennett had a Box-Toppers game score Tuesday of +14.0, which appears to be the second-highest game score for a batter in the 23 seasons of Box-Toppers record keeping. The only batter to have a higher score happened earlier this season—Anthony Rendon of the Nationals on April 30 had a Box-Toppers game score of +15.0 (3HR 2B 6-6 5R 10BI in the 23-5 win over the Mets).

While Rendon earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points on April 30 for having the highest Box-Toppers game score of the day and earning overall Player of the Day honors, Gennett only earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points for his high game score on Tuesday. Gennett’s +14.0 game score was second-best of Tuesday, behind Scherzer’s +15.0. That meant Gennett could not earn overall Player of the Day nor could he earn overall NL Player of the Day (worth 1.7). Tuesday’s AL Player of the Day Craig Kimbrel of the Red Sox earned 1.7 Box-Toppers points even though his Box-Toppers game score was far lower than Gennett’s (+5.1). Gennett easily beat out the next-highest NL batter who earned Player of the Game honors Tuesday, Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies, who had a game score of +6.0.

Batters have hit four home runs in a game 17 times in Major League history, including five times during the Box-Toppers era (since 1995). Gennett’s Box-Toppers game of +14.0 is the highest of all four-home-run hitters in the Box-Toppers era. The other four-home run games during the Box-Toppers era:

  • On May 2, 2002, Mike Cameron of the Mariners (4HR 4-5 4R 4BI in the 15-4 win over the White Sox) had a Box-Toppers game score of +7.0.
  • On May 23, 2002, Shawn Green of the Dodgers (4HR 2B 6-6 6R 7BI in the 16-3 win over the Brewers) had a Box-Toppers game score of +13.0, apparently now the third-highest game score by a batter in the Box-Toppers era.
  • On Sept. 25, 2002, Carlos Delgado of the Blue Jays (4HR 4-4 4R 6BI in the 10-8 win over the Devil Rays) had a Box-Toppers game score of +10.0.
  • On May 8, 2012, Josh Hamilton of the Rangers (4HR 2B 5-5 4R 8BI in the 10-3 win over the Orioles) had a Box-Toppers game score of +12.0.

Gennett became the 14th player in Major League history to have a game with 10 runs batted in. That’s a club that’s even rarer than the four-home run club. During the Box-Toppers era (since 1995), there have been four other games in which a player has had 10 RBIs:

  • On May 10, 1999, Nomar Garciaparra of the Red Sox (3HR 3-4 3R 10BI in the 12-4 win over the Mariners) had a Box-Toppers game score of +12.0.
  • On April 26, 2005, Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees (3HR 4-5 3R 10BI in the 12-4 win over the Angels) had a Box-Toppers game score of +12.0.
  • On Aug. 21, 2007, Garret Anderson of the Angels (2HR 2-2B 4-6 3R 10BI in the 18-9 win over the Yankees) had a Box-Toppers game score of +11.0.
  • On April 30, 2017, Rendon had his 10 RBI game in which he had a +15.0 game score, apparently the highest for a batter in the Box-Toppers era.

While Gennett’s Box-Toppers game score is the second-highest for a batter this season, it is only the 14th-highest for a player this season. The highest score of +18.0 was by Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg on May 27 (7IP 3H 0R BB 15K W in the 3-0 win over the Padres). Scherzer’s +15.0 game score Tuesday is the 11th-highest of the season. Scherzer also has the 12th-highest score of the season (+14.2 on May 26).

National League Batter of the Day—Robinson Cano of the Mariners hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-3, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 12-3 win over the Twins.

Rankings—Diamondbacks pitcher Robbie Ray rises from eighth to fifth in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Ray (6.2IP 3H R 2BB 11K W in the 10-2 win over the Padres) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.0 for the season. He ranks third among NL pitchers, behind Kershaw (12.7) and Scherzer (12.0).

Streak—Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of the season Tuesday.

Gonzalez (HR 2-2 4R 2BI in the 11-3 win over the Indians) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2008 with the Athletics and has 59.7 career points, 12th among active NL batters, fifth among active NL outfielders. He has three seasons with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points. His best season was 2015 with the Rockies when he had 11.5 points, first among NL batters. In 2016, he had 5.5 points.

Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Kimbrel earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Gennett and Cano each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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 

6/6 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 15.0 WSH 2, LAD 1 Max Scherzer (W,7-3) - - - - 7.0 3 1 0 2 14
BAT 14.0 CIN 13, STL 1 Scooter Gennett, LF 5 4 5 10 - - - - - -
10.2 ARI 10, SD 2 Robbie Ray (W,6-3) - - - - 6.2 3 1 1 2 11
6.0 COL 11, CLE 3 Carlos Gonzalez, RF 2 4 2 2 - - - - - -
6.0 PHI 3, ATL 1 Aaron Nola (W,3-3) - - - - 8.0 5 1 1 1 6
AL 5.1 BOS 5, NYY 4 Craig Kimbrel (S,17) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 1 5
BAT 5.0 SEA 12, MIN 3 Robinson Cano, 2B 3 3 2 3 - - - - - -
4.2 MIL 5, SF 2 Chase Anderson (W,5-1) - - - - 7.2 6 0 0 1 4
4.0 KC 9, HOU 7 Mike Moustakas, DH 5 2 4 3 - - - - - -
3.0 CHC 10, MIA 2 Anthony Rizzo, 1B 5 2 2 4 - - - - - -
3.0 BAL 6, PIT 5 (F/10) Jonathan Schoop, 2B 4 2 2 3 - - - - - -
3.0 LAA 5, DET 3 Kole Calhoun, RF 2 1 2 2 - - - - - -
2.1 `CHW 4, TB 2 Jose Quintana - - - - 5.1 4 1 1 4 7
2.1 `OAK 4, TOR 1 Ryan Madson (H,9) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 1 2
2.0 TEX 10, NYM 8 Nomar Mazara, RF 5 1 4 2 - - - - - -
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 +/-
Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 12.0 37.7 115.9 143.7 -13.7
Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 8.0 14.7 18.7 18.7 1.3
Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 6.7 14.7 59.4 65.4 -1.3
Quintana, Jose 3040 pi sp chi al 5.0 15.4 40.2 40.2 -5.4
Anderson, Chase 3328 pi sp mil nl 4.7 11.7 20.7 20.7 -2.3
Rizzo, Anthony 3063 1b chi nl 3.5 6.5 30.5 30.5 0.5
Cano, Robinson 2092 2b sea al 3.0 11.0 40.5 78.4 -5.0
Mazara, Nomar 3614 rf tex al 3.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 -4.0
Schoop, Jonathan 3307 2b bal al 3.0 7.5 12.5 12.5 -1.5
Gennett, Scooter 3254 2b lf cin nl 2.5 5.0 14.0 14.0 0.0
Madson, Ryan 1841 pi cp mr oak al 2.0 5.0 5.0 25.7 -1.0
Nola, Aaron 3569 pi sp phi nl 1.0 7.7 9.7 9.7 -5.7
Gonzalez, Carlos 2460 rf col nl 1.0 6.5 39.7 59.7 -4.5
Calhoun, Kole 3279 rf ana al 1.0 6.0 16.7 16.7 -4.0
Moustakas, Mike 2967 dh 3b kc al 1.0 2.0 21.2 23.2 0.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

How baseball stars are trending: Kershaw remains strong over past half decade—who is rising & who is declining

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Manny Ramirez leads outfielders in career Box-Toppers points. Carlos Beltran leads active outfielders in career points. Mike Trout leads outfielders in recent seasons.

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Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer leads the list of the top 100 players for 2016 with 25.7 Box-Toppers points, the 20th-highest single-season point total since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began.

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Yankees' Gary Sanchez tops players for Wednesday, Sept. 21; Scherzer extends Box-Toppers lead, Kluber secures AL Player of Year, Arenado rises to lead NL batters

Gary Sanchez of the Yankees 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 Sept. 21:  


 Player Pos Team BTP
1 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 24.7
2 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 22.7
3 Fernandez, Jose 3147 pi sp fla nl 22.4
4 Kluber, Corey 3200 pi sp cle al 21.2
5 Lester, Jon 2173 pi sp chi nl 21.1
6 Hamels, Cole 2135 pi sp tex al 16.8
7 Syndergaard, Noah 3472 pi sp nym al 15.7
8 Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp sf nl 15.4
9 Strasburg, Stephen 2736 pi sp dc nl 15.1
10 Happ, J.A. 2536 pi sp tor al 14.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Wednesday, three players reached notable milestones after earning Player of the Game honors:

  • Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer extended his Box-Toppers season player rankings lead.
  • Indians pitcher Corey Kluber all but secured his status as Box-Toppers American League Player of the Year, rising to fourth place in season player rankings.
  • Nolan Arenado of the Rockies rose to lead National League batters in Box-Toppers points.

Player of the Day—Sanchez hit two home runs—including a three-run shot—in the 11-5 win over the Rays. Sanchez went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five runs.

National League Player of the Day—Nolan Arenado of the Rockies hit a grand slam and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 11-1 win over the Cardinals.

Arenado earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 10.7 for the season, rising to first place among NL batters, passing previous leader Kris Bryant of the Cubs (10.5).

If Arenado’s lead with 10.7 points stands with a little more than week to go in the season, it will be the lowest point total to lead a category in Box-Toppers’ 22-season history. The record was set in 2015 when Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies led NL batters with 11.5 points. Interestingly, the previous record was 2014 when Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies led NL batters with 11.6. So if Arenado’s lead holds, not only will the low-point record be broken three years in a row, it will be broken each time by a batter from the Colorado Rockies.

Arenado becomes the 45th player (and ninth batter) in 2016 with 10 or more Box-Toppers points.

Batters of the Day—There are no separate AL and NL Batters of the Day for Wednesday because both the overall Player of the Day (Gary Sanchez) and NL Player of the Day (Nolan Arenado) are batters.

Rankings—Two players among Box-Toppers top five in season player rankings earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday:

  • Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (6.2IP 4H 3R 2BB 8K W in the 8-3 win over the Marlins) extended his Box-Toppers season player rankings lead, earning 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 24.7 for the season. He is now 2.0 Box-Toppers points ahead of second-place player, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22.7), meaning Kershaw still has a chance to pass Scherzer on his next start.

Scherzer now has 130.7 career Box-Toppers points, 31st-most since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He trails 30th-ranked player Jason Giambi (133.4) on the “all-time” list.

  • Indians pitcher Corey Kluber (6.1IP 6H 2R 2BB 9K W in the 4-3 win over the Royals) all but secured his status as Box-Toppers American League Player of the Year. He earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 21.2 for the season, extending his lead among AL pitchers and is now 4.4 points ahead of second-place AL pitcher Cole Hamels of the Rangers (16.8). Hamels would need at least three starts to pass Kluber in Box-Toppers points—he likely only has two starts remaining in the season’s final 10 days.

This will be the second time Kluber has led AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points in a season. He also did it in 2014 when he had 25.8 points and also won the AL Cy Young Award. In 2015 he had 13.4 Box-Toppers points, 10th among AL pitchers. Kluber also rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings.

Notable—Two other players with 10 or more Box-Toppers points on the season earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday:

  • Mike Trout of the Angels (HR 1-4 R 3BI in the 5-4 win over the Rangers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.0 for the season, rising to third among AL batters, behind leader Manny Machado of the Orioles (12.7) and Jose Altuve of the Astros (12.5).
  • Dodgers pitcher Kenta Maeda (5IP 3H 2R 2BB 6K W in the 9-3 win over the Giants) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season. He becomes the 46th player in 2016 with 10 or more points and ranks 46th among all players, 19th among NL pitchers.

Also notable—Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez now has 168.7 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Hernandez (7IP 2H 0R 3BB 4K ND in the 2-1, 12-inning win over the Blue Jays) maintains his ninth-place rank in career Box-Toppers points since Box-Toppers player tracking began in 1995. He trails eighth-place player Roy Halladay (170.7) on the “all-time” list. (See Box-Toppers career top 20 list on the home page.) Hernandez has 6.0 Box-Toppers points on the season.  If that total stands, it would be his lowest season total in his 12-year career. His previous low was 7.4 in 2008 with the Mariners.

Scoring—Sanchez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Arenado earns 1.7 points for being NL Player 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.

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

9/21 Score Game Player of Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 7.0 NYY 11, TB 5 Gary Sanchez, C 4 3 3 5 - - - - - -
6.0 `SEA 2, TOR 1 (12) Felix Hernandez - - - - 7.0 2 0 0 3 4
NL 5.0 COL 11, STL 1 Nolan Arenado, 3B 3 2 2 4 - - - - - -
4.0 BOS 5, BAL 1 Clay Buchholz (W,8-10) - - - - 7.0 3 1 1 2 4
4.0 PIT 4, MIL 1 Chad Kuhl (W,5-3) - - - - 6.0 5 1 1 1 6
3.1 CLE 4, KC 3 Corey Kluber (W,18-9) - - - - 6.1 6 2 2 2 9
3.0 HOU 6, OAK 5 Evan Gattis, DH 4 2 2 3 - - - - - -
3.0 ARI 3, SD 2 Paul Goldschmidt, 1B 4 2 2 3 - - - - - -
3.0 LAD 9, SF 3 Kenta Maeda (W,16-9) - - - - 5.0 3 2 1 2 6
2.2 WSH 8, MIA 3 Max Scherzer (W,18-7) - - - - 6.2 4 3 3 2 8
2.0 CHC 9, CIN 2 Miguel Montero, C 5 1 3 3 - - - - - -
2.0 PHI 8, CHW 3 Tommy Joseph, 1B 5 2 2 3 - - - - - -
1.1 `ATL 4, NYM 3 Chaz Roe - - - - 0.1 0 0 0 0 1
1.0 LAA 5, TEX 4 Mike Trout, CF 4 1 1 3 - - - - - -
`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 +/-
Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 24.7 45.7 110.3 130.7 3.7
Kluber, Corey 3200 pi sp cle al 21.2 34.6 65.4 65.4 7.8
Trout, Mike 2949 cf ana al 11.0 23.0 47.5 47.5 -1.0
Arenado, Nolan 3306 3b col nl 10.7 19.2 20.7 20.7 2.2
Maeda, Kenta 3609 pi sp lad nl 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0
Hernandez, Felix 2064 pi sp sea al 6.0 25.4 91.4 168.7 -13.4
Buchholz, Clay 2363 pi sp bos al 5.0 11.0 39.2 58.9 -1.0
Gattis, Evan 3179 ca hou al 5.0 9.0 11.0 11.0 1.0
Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 1b ari nl 4.5 14.7 39.9 39.9 -5.7
Sanchez, Gary 3701 ca dh nyy al 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5
Joseph, Tommy 3681 1b ph phi nl 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Kuhl, Chad 3687 pi sp pit nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Montero, Miguel 2304 ca chi nl 1.0 6.5 20.7 30.9 -4.5
Roe, Chaz 3597 pi mr atl nl 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

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Pirates' Jameson Taillon tops players for Tuesday, June 14; Lackey, Bumgarner rise in Box-Toppers top 10 rankings

Pirates pitcher Jameson Taillon is Tuesday’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 June 14:  


 Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 17.0
2 Fernandez, Jose 3147 pi sp fla nl 11.7
3 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 10.0
4 Lackey, John 1640 pi sp chi nl 9.4
5 Bumgarner, Madison 2753 pi sp sf nl 9.0
6 Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp sf nl 9.0
7 Salazar, Danny 3223 pi sp cle al 8.8
8 Arrieta, Jake 2738 pi sp chi nl 8.7
9 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp chi al 8.7
10 Machado, Manny 3087 ss 3b bal al 8.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Tuesday, Cubs pitcher John Lackey and Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner rise in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Taillon pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits, one walk and striking out five, in the 4-0 win over the Mets.

This was Taillon’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Taillon made his Major League debut June 8 and was playing in his second career game. He is the 3,658th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

American League Player of the Day—Josh Donaldson of the Blue Jays hit a grand slam and two doubles, going 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five total runs, in the 11-3 win over the Phillies.

Donaldson earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 7.2 for the season, rising to second place among AL batters, trailing only Manny Machado of the Orioles (8.7 Box-Toppers points). Donaldson ranks 19th among all players.

National League Batter of the Day—Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies homered and doubled, going 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 13-10 win over the Yankees.

Gonzalez, who led NL batters in Box-Toppers points in 2015 with 11.5, has 2.5 points in 2016.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Tuesday because the overall AL Player of the Day was batter Josh Donaldson.

Rankings—Two players rose in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday:

  • Cubs pitcher John Lackey rises to fourth place in season rankings with 9.4 Box-Toppers points. Lackey (6IP 4H 2R 7K ND in the 4-3 win over the Nationals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point Tuesday and now has 117.2 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 41st place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes two players on the “all-time” list—Todd Helton (116.4) and Mark Buehrle (116.7). Lackey now trails 40th-ranked player Barry Zito (117.4).
  • Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner rises to fifth place in season rankings with 9.0 Box-Toppers points. Bumgarner (8IP 4H 2R 8K W in the 3-2 win over the Brewers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point Tuesday and now has 101.7 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 64th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes four players on the “all-time” list—Carlos Beltran of the Yankees (100.9), Jason Schmidt (101.2), Tim Wakefield (101.4) and Dodgers pitcher Scott Kazmir (101.4). Bumgarner now trails 63rd-ranked player Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2).

Scoring—Taillon earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Donaldson earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Gonzalez earns 1.5 points for being NL 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

6/14 Score Game Player of Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 10.0 PIT 4/NYM 0 Jameson Taillon (W,1-0) - - - - 8.0 2 0 0 1 5
AL 7.0 TOR 11/PHI 3 Josh Donaldson, 3B 4 3 3 5 - - - - - -
7.0 SF 3/MIL 2 Madison Bumgarner (W,8-2) - - - - 8.0 4 2 2 1 8
5.0 BAL 3/BOS 2 Chris Tillman (W,9-1) - - - - 7.0 5 1 1 2 7
BAT 4.0 COL 13/NYY 10 Carlos Gonzalez, RF 5 3 4 2 - - - - - -
4.0 TB 8/SEA 7 Corey Dickerson, LF 4 2 3 3 - - - - - -
4.0 DET 11/CHW 8 Justin Upton, LF 4 2 2 4 - - - - - -
4.0 TEX 10/OAK 6 Ryan Rua, 1B 3 2 2 3 - - - - - -
4.0 LAD 7/ARI 4 Kenley Jansen (S,18) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 3
3.1 HOU 5/STL 2 Doug Fister (W,7-3) - - - - 7.1 5 2 2 1 6
3.0 MIA 5/SD 2 Jeff Mathis, C 3 1 1 4 - - - - - -
3.0 `CHC 4/DC 3 John Lackey - - - - 6.0 4 2 2 2 7
2.0 LAA 5/MIN 4 Kole Calhoun, RF 3 1 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 CIN 3/ATL 1 Brandon Finnegan (W,3-4) - - - - 6.0 4 1 1 3 5
1.2 KC 3/CLE 2 Joakim Soria (W,3-2) - - - - 1.2 1 0 0 1 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 +/-
Lackey, John 1640 pi sp chi nl 9.4 19.1 38.8 117.2 -0.3
Bumgarner, Madison 2753 pi sp sf nl 9.0 26.0 96.0 101.7 -8.0
Donaldson, Josh 3144 3b tor al 7.2 17.1 37.1 37.1 -2.7
Tillman, Chris 2754 pi sp bal al 6.0 10.7 39.8 41.8 1.3
Calhoun, Kole 3279 rf ana al 4.0 7.2 14.7 14.7 0.8
Rua, Ryan 3631 1b lf tex al 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Gonzalez, Carlos 2460 rf col nl 2.5 14.0 42.7 55.7 -9.0
Upton, Justin 2411 lf det al 2.0 11.0 37.9 46.4 -7.0
Jansen, Kenley 2871 pi cp lad nl 2.0 6.0 32.4 32.4 -2.0
Dickerson, Corey 3222 lf tb al 2.0 5.0 14.0 14.0 -1.0
Finnegan, Brandon 3535 pi sp cin nl 2.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 -1.0
Taillon, Jameson 3658 pi sp pit nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Soria, Joakim 2258 pi cp kc al 1.0 6.7 13.7 45.7 -4.7
Fister, Doug 2688 pi sp hou al 1.0 3.0 48.5 52.2 -1.0
Mathis, Jeff 2412 ca fla nl 1.0 1.0 6.0 11.5 1.0
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Phillies' Darin Ruf tops players in Wednesday, March 9's spring training games

Darin Ruf of the Phillies is Box-Toppers spring training Player of the Day for Wednesday.

Ruf hit two homers and went 2-for-2, driving in three runs, in the 8-4 win over the Orioles. Ruf had 1.5 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Phillies.

American League Player of the Day—Alex Gordon of the Royals homered and went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 7-5 win over the Brewers. Gordon had 4.5 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Royals.

Notable—Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies, who led National League batters in Box-Toppers points in 2015, was Player of the Game in the 8-6 win over the Giants. Gonzalez hit a two-run homer and went 2-for-3, scoring twice. Gonzalez led NL batters in 2015 with 11.5 Box-Toppers points.

Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in spring training games, but if it were the regular season, Ruf would earn 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gordon would earn 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. All of Wednesday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) would earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

Note—Sixteen spring training games were scheduled for Tuesday—14 are listed below. Two games are not included because they ended in a tie (Yankees vs. Mets and Dodgers vs. Angels).

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

3/8 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 5.0 Phillies Darin Ruf 1B 2 2 2 3 1 0 - - - - - -
AL 4.0 Royals Alex Gordon LF 4 2 4 2 0 0 - - - - - -
4.0 Tigers Nate Schierholtz RF 1 1 1 3 0 0 - - - - - -
4.0 Indians Corey Kluber (W, 1-0) - - - - - - 3.0 2 0 0 1 4
4.0 `Rangers César Ramos - - - - - - 3.0 1 0 0 0 2
3.0 Red Sox Blake Swihart DH 4 2 3 2 0 0 - - - - - -
3.0 Phillies Cameron Rupp C 3 2 2 2 2 0 - - - - - -
3.0 Rockies Carlos González RF 3 2 2 2 1 0 - - - - - -
3.0 Mariners Ed Lucas LF 2 1 2 2 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Astros José Altuve 2B 3 1 2 2 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Blue Jays Ryan Goins SS 3 1 2 2 0 1 - - - - - -
2.0 Dbacks Zach Borenstein RF 2 1 2 1 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Athletics Matt Chapman PH-3B 2 1 1 2 0 0 - - - - - -
1.0 Marlins Justin Bour 1B 3 0 2 2 0 0 - - - - - -
` Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.