Blog
Mike Trout, Kyle Schwarber and Craig Kimbrel are among the players rising into Box-Toppers’ All-Star teams in the past week.
With Major League All-Star voting underway, here is a look at who is leading at Box-Toppers points at each position in both leagues.
Read More
The New York Yankees rise to lead Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report, passing the Houston Astros.
Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals maintain their lead among National League teams and the Minnesota Twins are the week’s hottest team.
Read MoreWith Major League All-Star voting beginning, here is a look at who is leading at Box-Toppers points at each position in both leagues.
Actually, because the first third of the season is a relatively small sample size, we’ll also look at top players since the start of the 2017 season.
Read More
The Houston Astros lead Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report for the third straight week.
Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals maintain their lead among National League teams and the Seattle Mariners are the week’s hottest team for the second week in a row.
Read More
The Houston Astros lead Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report for the second straight week.
Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals maintain their lead among National League teams and the Seattle Mariners are the week’s hottest team.
Read More
The Houston Astros rise to lead Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report, passing the leader of the previous two weeks, the New York Yankees.
Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals rise to lead National League teams in Box-Toppers team rankings and the Detroit Tigers were the week’s hottest team.
Read More
Yankees pitcher Luis Severino rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Meanwhile, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer rises to lead National League pitchers, Mookie Betts of the Red Sox maintains his lead among American League batters and Nick Hundley rises to lead NL batters.
Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Meanwhile, Yankees pitcher Luis Severino rises to lead American League pitchers and ranks third overall. Also, Mookie Betts of the Red Sox rises to lead AL batters and Bryce Harper of the Nationals maintains his lead among National League batters.
Twins pitcher Jose Berrios maintains his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Berrios was the leader in last week’s player rankings and while he lost the lead briefly during the past week, he regained it with his last start on April 18.
Meanwhile, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer leads National League players and ranked third overall.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Luis Severino is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to second place in season player rankings.
Severino struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 12-1 win over the Marlins.
Read MoreReds pitcher Tyler Mahle is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Monday, Paul DeJong of the Cardinals becomes the first to earn Player of the Game honors for the second time this season (doing it two days in a row) and takes the early lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Read More
Cardinals pitcher Michael Wacha is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw extended his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 19.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 13.1 |
| 4 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 5 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.4 |
| 6 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 12.4 |
| 7 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 11.4 |
| 8 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 11.4 |
| 9 | Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.0 |
| 10 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 10.0 |
Player of the Day—Wacha pitched a complete-game, three-hit shutout, striking out eight and walking one, in the 5-0 win over the Mets.
American League Player of the Day—Astros pitcher Brad Peacock struck out nine over seven innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk in the 6-2 win over the Mariners.
American League Batter of the Day—Nicholas Castellanos of the Tigers homered twice and tripled, going 4-for-5 and driving in five runs, in the 9-3 win over the Royals.
National League Batter of the Day—Gerardo Parra of the Rockies doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in one run, in the 9-7 win over the Padres.
Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw extends his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Kershaw (7IP 7H 0R BB 7K W in the 1-0 win over the White Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 22.1 for the season, leading second-place player, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (19.0 Box-Toppers points).
Kershaw is on pace to earn about 38.0 Box-Toppers points in 2017, which would break the single-season record of 33.7, set by Randy Johnson of the Diamondbacks in both 2000 and 2002. Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995.
Kershaw also now has 205.8 career Box-Toppers points, third-most among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails second-ranked player Pedro Martinez (244.8). Kershaw leads all active players in career points.
Remarkably, Kershaw has more career Box-Toppers points than the combined total of the 14 others who earned Player of the Game honors Tuesday. The 14 other players have 190.5 career Box-Toppers points combined. Kershaw still beats them by more than 10.0 with 205.8. Granted, none of the other 14 has significantly high career Box-Toppers point totals—Bryce Harper of the Nationals has the most with 34.4, which ranks 540th among all players since 1995.
Notable—Phillies pitcher Pat Neshek Tuesday earned his first Player of the Game honor in nearly three years.
Neshek (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K W in the 5-2 win over the Marlins) last earned Player of the Game honors on Aug. 5, 2014. Despite his lack of recent Player of the Game honors and Box-Toppers points, Neshek was selected to be a 2017 National League All-Star.
Debut—Red Sox pitcher Hector Velazquez made his Box-Toppers debut Tuesday after earning his first career Player of the Game honor.
Velazquez (4IP 2H 0R BB 3K W in the 5-4, 15-inning win over the Blue Jays) made his Major League debut May 18 and was playing in his fourth career game. He is the 3,853rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Wacha earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Peacock earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Castellanos and Parra 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.
| 7/18 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 13.0 | STL 5, NYM 0 | Michael Wacha (W, 7-3) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| AL | 10.0 | HOU 6, SEA 2 | Brad Peacock (W, 8-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |
| BAT | 6.0 | DET 9, KC 3 | Nicholas Castellanos (3B) | 5 | 2 | 4 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | LAD 1, CHW 0 | Clayton Kershaw (W, 15-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 5.0 | `TB 4, OAK 3 | Erasmo Ramirez | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | COL 9, SD 7 | Gerardo Parra (LF) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | BOS 5, TOR 4 (F/15) | Hector Velazquez (W, 2-1) | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | WSH 4, LAA 3 | Bryce Harper (RF) | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | ARI 11, CIN 2 | Rey Fuentes (PH-CF) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | BAL 12, TEX 1 | Dylan Bundy (W, 9-8) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 2.0 | NYY 6, MIN 3 | Didi Gregorius (SS) | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | PHI 5, MIA 2 | Pat Neshek (W, 3-2) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | PIT 4, MIL 3 | Felipe Rivero (S, 8) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 1.0 | CHC 5, ATL 1 | Javier Baez (2B) | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | SF 2, CLE 1 (F/10) | Sam Dyson (W, 1-1) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.1 | 46.5 | 146.2 | 205.8 | -2.3 |
| Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | dc nl | 7.0 | 10.0 | 34.4 | 34.4 | 4.0 |
| Parra, Gerardo 2746 | rf lf | col nl | 6.5 | 9.0 | 21.0 | 27.5 | 4.0 |
| Peacock, Brad 2968 | pi sp | hou al | 6.4 | 6.4 | 13.1 | 15.8 | 6.4 |
| Baez, Javier 3395 | 2b 3b | chi nl | 5.2 | 7.2 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 3.2 |
| Wacha, Michael 3276 | pi sp | stl nl | 5.0 | 7.0 | 24.7 | 24.7 | 3.0 |
| Bundy, Dylan 3655 | pi sp | bal al | 4.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | -2.0 |
| Castellanos, Nicholas 3349 | 3b | det al | 3.5 | 9.0 | 17.2 | 17.2 | -2.0 |
| Ramirez, Erasmo 1786 | pi cp sp mr | tb al | 3.0 | 6.7 | 15.7 | 17.7 | -0.7 |
| Dyson, Sam 3399 | pi cp mr | sf nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 3.0 |
| Rivero, Felipe 3579 | pi cp | pit nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.0 |
| Gregorius, Didi 3184 | ss | nyy al | 2.0 | 4.0 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 0.0 |
| Neshek, Pat 2196 | pi mr | phi nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 12.0 | 1.0 |
| Fuentes, Reymond 3301 | cf ph | ari nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 |
| Velazquez, Hector 3853 | pi cp | bos al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
A look at the top 100 players in Box-Toppers points at the midseason break. League-leading teams—Nationals, Astros, Dodgers—have the most players on the list.
Read MoreA look at top players in Box-Toppers points by position in both leagues over both 2017 and the combined 2016-17 seasons.
Read More
Kershaw leads players in Box-Toppers points. Twins' Santana leads AL players. Judge, Bruce are new leaders among batters.
Read More
Washington Nationals have led Box-Toppers team rankings seven of the past nine weeks. Astros lead AL teams for fifth straight week.
Read More
Matt Adams of the Braves is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Adams homered twice and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 11-10 win over the Nationals.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.4 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.0 |
| 3 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 11.4 |
| 4 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 10.0 |
| 5 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 |
| 6 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf | nyy al | 8.2 |
| 7 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 7.7 |
| 8 | McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | hou al | 7.7 |
| 9 | Martinez, Carlos 3371 | pi sp | stl nl | 7.5 |
| 10 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 7.4 |
American League Player of the Day—White Sox pitcher Jake Petricka pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless middle relief, allowing one hit, no walks and striking out four, in the 10-7 win over the Orioles.
American League Batter of the Day—Nelson Cruz of the Mariners doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 14-3 win over the Twins.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Monday because the overall Player of the Day is NL batter Matt Adams.
Notable—Rangers pitcher Yu Davish is Box-Toppers’ highest ranked player among the nine who earned Player of the Game honors Monday.
Darvish (7IP H R 3BB 4K W in the 6-1 win over the Astros) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.0 for the season and ranks 21st among all players, ninth among AL pitchers.
Also notable—Jay Bruce of the Mets rises to lead NL batters in Box-Toppers points for the season after earning Player of the Game honors Monday.
Bruce (HR 2B 3-3 2R 2BI in the 6-1 win over the Cubs) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.0 for the season. He passes Bryce Harper of the Nationals for the NL batting lead in Box-Toppers points. Though both Harper and Bruce have 6.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, Bruce ranks ahead because he has more 2016 Box-Toppers points—8.5 vs. 3.0. Bruce ranks 22nd among all players in Box-Toppers player rankings.
Scoring—Adams earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Petricka earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Cruz earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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.
| 6/12 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 6.0 | ATL 11, WSH 10 | Matt Adams, 1B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| AL | 5.1 | CHW 10, BAL 7 | Jake Petricka (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 2.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| BAT | 5.0 | SEA 14, MIN 3 | Nelson Cruz, DH | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | TEX 6, HOU 1 | Yu Darvish (W,6-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||
| 4.2 | `NYY 5, LAA 3 | Masahiro Tanaka | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 4.0 | NYM 6, CHC 1 | Jay Bruce, RF | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | BOS 6, PHI 5 (F/11) | Matt Barnes (W,5-2) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | SD 9, CIN 3 | Austin Hedges, C | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | PIT 7, COL 2 | Jameson Taillon (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | tex al | 6.0 | 16.4 | 61.6 | 61.6 | -4.4 |
| Bruce, Jay 2453 | rf | nym nl | 6.0 | 14.5 | 31.7 | 64.8 | -2.5 |
| Adams, Matt 3220 | 1b | atl nl | 5.0 | 6.0 | 14.5 | 14.5 | 4.0 |
| Cruz, Nelson 2224 | dh rf | sea al | 3.5 | 10.0 | 31.0 | 57.2 | -3.0 |
| Hedges, Austin 3790 | ca | sd nl | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 | pi sp | nyy al | 2.7 | 16.8 | 37.5 | 37.5 | -11.4 |
| Barnes, Matt 3466 | pi mr cp | bos al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 2.0 |
| Petricka, Jake 3388 | pi mr | chi al | 1.7 | 1.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 1.7 |
| Taillon, Jameson 3658 | pi sp | pit nl | 1.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | -4.0 |
Kershaw leads Box-Toppers player rankings for fifth straight week. Miguel Sano retakes Box-Toppers points lead among AL batters. Santana leads AL pitchers, Harper leads NL batters.
Read More
Nationals lead Box-Toppers rankings for 2nd straight week & 6th week of past 8. Astros lead AL teams in Box-Toppers rankings for 4th week. Mariners are hottest team of the week.
Read More
Kershaw leads players in Box-Toppers points for fourth week in a row. Aaron Judge of the Yankees regains player rankings lead among AL batters.
Read MoreBox-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.