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Steve Pearce of the Red Sox is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer extended his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors. Scherzer also became the first player to reach 20 Box-Toppers points this season, the fifth straight season he’s reached that milestone.
Read MoreMariners pitcher James Paxton is the most deserving player not selected to the 2018 Major League Baseball All-Star teams.
Paxton has 14.0 Box-Toppers points in 2018, fifth among all players and fourth among American League pitchers.
Read MoreGiants pitcher Madison Bumgarner is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, his first Player of the Day honor in nearly two years.
Also Thursday, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer increases his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MorePhillies pitcher Nick Pivetta is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to seventh place in season player rankings.
Pivetta struck out 13 over 7 1/3 innings, allowing two runs, four hits and one walk, in the 6-5, 10-inning win over the Cardinals. Pivetta picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because although he left with the Phillies leading, 4-2, the Cardinals tied the game after he exited.
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Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer leads Box-Toppers season player rankings for the second week in a row.
Meanwhile, Yankees pitcher Luis Severino continues to lead American League players for the fifth straight week, Mookie Betts of the Red Sox continues to lead AL batters for the fifth straight week and Eugenio Suarez of the Reds rises to regain the lead among National League batters.
Read MoreCardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Monday, Twins pitcher Jose Berrios maintains his fifth-place ranking in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors. Plus, Phillies pitcher Nick Pivetta rises to sixth place in player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreBlue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to eighth place in season player rankings.
Also Wednesday, Phillies pitcher Nick Pivetta rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors. Plus, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander rises to 10th place in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreDiamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to first place in season player rankings.
Corbin struck out 11 over six innings, allowing two runs, two hits and one walk, in the 4-2 win over the Padres.
Mets pitcher Zack Wheeler is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Wheeler struck out seven over seven innings, allowing one run, two hits and one walk, in the 4-1 win over the Marlins.
Read MorePhillies pitcher Nick Pivetta is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Pivetta struck out nine over 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks, in the 5-0 win over the Marlins.
Read MoreBox-Toppers top-ranked rookies, Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers, were unanimously named 2017 Rookies of the Year Monday.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Jamie Garcia is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Monday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw failed to extend his Box-Toppers season player rankings lead in his start, a loss to the Phillies. Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, ranked third, has the chance to take the lead in his start Tuesday.
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Phillies pitcher Nick Pivetta is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
| 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 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 8.0 |
| 8 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 7.7 |
| 9 | McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | hou al | 7.7 |
| 10 | Martinez, Carlos 3371 | pi sp | stl nl | 7.5 |
Pivetta struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks, in the 1-0 win over the Red Sox. Pivetta picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was tied 0-0 when he exited.
This was also Pivettta’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Pivetta made his Major League debut April 30 and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,825th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
American League Player of the Day—Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians homered and went 3-for-3, scoring four times, in the 12-5 win over the Dodgers.
Encarnacion earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 4.7 for the season, most of any of the 10 who earned Player of the Game honors Thursday. Encarnacion ranks 39th among all players in season player rankings, sixth among AL batters.
National League Batter of the Day—DJ LeMahieu of the Rockies went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 10-9 win over the Giants.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Edwin Encarnacion.
Debut—Brewers closing pitcher Oliver Drake made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Drake (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv in the 6-4 win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut May 23, 2015, and was playing in his 57th career game. He is the 3,826th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Pivetta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Encarnacion earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. LeMahieu earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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.
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| 6/15 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.0 | `PHI 1, BOS 0 | Nick Pivetta | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | |
| AL | 5.0 | CLE 12, LAD 5 | Edwin Encarnacion, DH | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 4.0 | COL 10, SF 9 | DJ LeMahieu, 2B | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | MIN 6, SEA 2 | Chris Gimenez, C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | WSH 8, NYM 3 | Gio Gonzalez (W,6-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | KC 7, LAA 2 | Matt Strahm (W,2-3) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | MIL 6, STL 4 | Oliver Drake (S,1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | DET 5, TB 3 | Justin Wilson (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | CHW 5, BAL 2 | Matt Davidson, DH | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.0 | OAK 8, NYY 7 (F/10) | Jed Lowrie, 2B | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 | dh | cle al | 4.7 | 12.7 | 47.8 | 71.8 | -3.3 |
| Gonzalez, Gio 2626 | pi sp | dc nl | 2.0 | 8.0 | 59.1 | 88.5 | -4.0 |
| Lowrie, Jed 2437 | 2b ss | oak al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 17.5 | 29.0 | 1.0 |
| Davidson, Matt 3292 | 3b dh | chi al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 2.0 |
| Pivetta, Nick 3825 | pi sp | phi nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| LeMahieu, DJ 3091 | 2b | col nl | 1.5 | 9.5 | 22.5 | 22.5 | -6.5 |
| Wilson, Justin 3140 | pi cp | det al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 0.0 |
| Gimenez, Chris 2870 | ca | min al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 0.0 |
| Strahm, Matt 3724 | pi sp | kc al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| Drake, Oliver 3826 | pi cp | mil nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
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.