Braves’ Morton tops players for Tuesday, May 25; Dodgers’ Kershaw rises to 3rd in player rankings

Braves pitcher Charlie Morton is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Tuesday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors, rising to first among National League pitchers. Plus, Indians pitcher Aaron Civale rises to 10th in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

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Blue Jays’ Ryu tops players for Wednesday, Aug. 5; Cubs’ Darvish rises to 9th in player rankings

Blue Jays pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Wednesday, Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

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Dodgers’ Buehler, Cardinals’ Ozuna top players in pair of NL Division Series openers Thursday

Walker Buehler of the Dodgers and Marcell Ozuna of the Cardinals are Box-Toppers Players of the Game in Thursday’s pair of National League Division Series openers.

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Astros’ Greinke tops players for Wednesday, Sept. 25; Greinke, deGrom, Morton rise in top 10 rankings

Astros pitcher Zack Greinke is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to seventh place in season player rankings.

Also Wednesday, Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors. Plus, Rays pitcher Charlie Morton maintains his fifth-place spot in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

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Mets’ Syndergaard tops players for Monday, Sept. 2; Astros’ Cole regains player rankings lead

Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Monday, Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole regains the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors. Cole regained the lead one day after losing it to teammate Justin Verlander.

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Martinez, Greinke, Pederson among players rising into Box-Toppers’ All-Star teams in past week

J.D. Martinez, Zack Greinke and Joc Pederson 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.

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Rangers’ Mike Minor tops players for Wednesday, June 27; Red Sox’ Martinez rises to lead AL batter rankings

Rangers pitcher Mike Minor is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Wednesday, J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox rises to lead American League batters in 2018 Box-Toppers points after earning AL Batter of the Day honors.

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Twins’ Jose Berrios tops players for Thursday, June 7, rises to 3rd in player rankings

Twins pitcher Jose Berrios is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to third place in season player rankings.

Also Thursday, Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

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Giants’ Andrew Suarez tops players for Saturday, June 2; Rangers’ Hamels tops AL players

Giants pitcher Andrew Suarez is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Suarez struck out five over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 2-0 win over the Phillies.

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Box-Toppers' top-ranked rookie Michael Fulmer wins AL Rookie of the Year; Corey Seager wins NL rookie honors despite low Box-Toppers ranking

Tigers' Michael Fulmer wins AL Rookie of the Year and is Box-Toppers' top-ranked rookie. Corey Seager of the Dodgers is unanimous NL Rookie of the Year, but isn't among Box-Toppers' top five NL rookies.

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Clayton Kershaw, with rare save, tops players in NLDS Game 5, as Dodgers eliminate Nationals

Clayton Kershaw picked up his first career save, earning Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors, as the Los Angeles Dodgers eliminated the Washington Nationals Thursday in Game 5 of the National League Division Series.

National League Division Series Game 5: Dodgers 4, Nationals 3

Kershaw got the final two outs, allowing no runs, no hits, no walks, striking out one and earning the save.

The Dodgers beat the Nationals in the best-of-five game series, 3-2.

Kershaw, far and away the most dominant starting pitcher of the 2010s decade, earned his first career save only two days after starting in Game 4.

During the regular season, Kershaw had 24.4 Box-Toppers points, ranked second among all players, behind only Max Scherzer (25.7), who started Game 5 for the Nationals. Since 2011, Kershaw has 150.2 Box-Toppers points, far ahead of the second-place player, who is also Scherzer (111.3).

Kershaw had a Box-Toppers game score Thursday of +1.2. Dodgers starting pitcher Rich Hill also had a Box-Toppers game score of +1.2 (2.2IP 3H R 2BB 6K ND). But Kershaw won Player of the Game honors on a tiebreaker because he earned the save while Hill earned a no decision. Had Kershaw not earned a win or save, Hill would have won Player of the Game because he had more innings pitched. Hill had 14.4 Box-Toppers points on the season, eighth among NL pitchers.

Joc Pederson had the highest Box-Toppers game score (+1.0) among Dodgers batters (HR 2-3 R BI). The usual Dodgers closing pitcher, Kenley Jansen, pitched middle relief in the seventh, eighth and part of the ninth inning before being relieved by Kershaw. Jansen had a Box-Toppers game score of +1.1 (2.1IP H 0R 4BB 4K ND).

Scherzer, the season leader in Box-Toppers points who started for the Nationals, seemed on track to earn Player of the Game honors while his team led. Scherzer had a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0 (6IP 5H R 2BB 7K ND). The Nationals top batter was Chris Heisey, who had a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 (HR 1-1 R 2BI).

Though the Washington Nationals had the better regular season winning percentage (.586 vs. .562), the Los Angeles Dodgers rank higher in Box-Toppers team rankings. Dodgers players have accumulated 125.2 Box-Toppers points, third-most among all teams, while the Nationals have 116.1, ranked eighth.

The Dodgers now face the Chicago Cubs in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series beginning Saturday in Chicago.

See the season Box-Toppers point totals of all Dodgers and Nationals players who earned Player of the Game honors in 2016.

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

BTG Game Player of Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
1.2 LAD 4, WSH 3 Clayton Kershaw (S,1) - - - - 0.2 0 0 0 0 1
BTG: Box-Toppers game score