Rays’ Springs tops players Tuesday, Aug. 27; Phillies’ Nola rises to 9th in player rankings

Rays pitcher Jeffrey Springs is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Tuesday, Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors.

Read More

Astros’ Valdez tops players Sunday, Aug. 18; Brewers’ Rea tops NL players

Astros pitcher Framber Valdez is Sunday's Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Valdez struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk in the 2-0 win over the White Sox.

Read More

Mets’ Quintana tops players for Friday, June 21; Braves’ Sale rises to 2nd in rankings

Mets pitcher Jose Quintana is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Friday, Braves pitcher Chris Sale rises to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings and first place among National League pitchers after earning Player of the Game honors.

Read More

Athletics’ Kaprielian tops players for Sunday, Oct. 2; Phillies’ Wheeler tops NL players

Athletics pitcher James Kaprielian is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Kaprielian struck out seven over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 10-3 win over the Mariners.

Read More

Blue Jays’ Manoah tops players for Monday, June 13; Padres’ Darvish tops NL players

Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Manoah struck out seven over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 11-1 win over the Orioles.

Read More

Brewers’ Peralta tops players for Monday, May 16, rising to 9th in player rankings

Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to ninth place in season player rankings.

Peralta struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 1-0 win over the Braves.

Read More

Reds’ Mahle tops players for Wednesday, June 16; Yankees’ Cole rises to lead player rankings

Reds pitcher Tyler Mahle is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Wednesday, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom rises to second place in player rankings and Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler maintained his fifth-place spot in rankings after both earned Player of the Game honors.

Read More

Mets’ deGrom tops players for Monday, May 31, rising to 6th in player rankings

Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to sixth place in season player rankings.

deGrom struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks, in the 6-2 win over the Diamondbacks.

Read More

Yankees’ Kluber, pitching a no-hitter, tops players for Wednesday, May 19

Yankees pitcher Corey Kluber, pitching a no-hitter, is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Wednesday, two players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after both earned Player of the Game honors—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw rises to fourth place and Marlins pitcher Trevor Rogers rises to fifth.

Read More

A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2019

Analyzing 25 years of Box-Toppers points leaders among American League and National League pitchers and batters each season.

Read More

Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg tops players for Thursday, April 4; Indians’ Bauer rises to lead season player rankings

Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Thursday, Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.

Read More

Indians’ Carlos Carrasco top players for Tuesday, Aug. 28, rises to 6th in player rankings

Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to sixth place in season player rankings.

Carrasco struck out 11 over 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks, in the 8-1 win over the Twins.

Read More

Dodgers' Kershaw tops players for Sunday, April 15; Rangers' Colon is 1st to earn Box-Toppers points in 20 seasons

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to fifth place in season player rankings.

Also Sunday, Rangers pitcher Bartolo Colon, flirting with a perfect game at age 44, becomes the first player to earn Box-Toppers points in 20 different seasons after earning American League Player of the Day honors.

Read More

Phillies' Nick Pivetta tops players for Thursday, April 5; Red Sox' Price tops AL players

Phillies 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 More

How 2018 Hall of Fame candidates fared in Box-Toppers

Four players—Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome and Trevor Hoffman—were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Wednesday. Key players overlooked: Curt Schilling, Jeff Kent, Johan Santana and the PED-clouded five of Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Manny Ramirez, Gary Sheffield and Sammy Sosa.

Read More

Phillies' Aaron Nola tops players for Wednesday, Sept. 13; Twins' Santana rises to 9th in Box-Toppers rankings

Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Wednesday, Twins pitcher Ervin Santana rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors. Plus, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer failed in his chance to take the 2017 Box-Toppers points lead after he did not earn Player of the Game honors in his team’s loss Wednesday.

Read More

Mets' Jacob deGrom tops players for Friday, July 14, rises to 10th in Box-Toppers player rankings

Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to 10th place in season player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of July 14:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 21.1
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 17.0
3 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 13.1
4 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 12.4
5 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 12.0
6 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 11.4
7 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 11.4
8 Strasburg, Stephen 2736 pi sp dc nl 10.4
9 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
10 deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp nym nl 9.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

deGrom struck out 11 over eight innings, allowing two runs, four hits and one walk, in the 14-2 win over the Rockies.

deGrom earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 9.7 for the season, rising to 10th place in player rankings, seventh place among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray pitched six scoreless innings, allowing two hits, one walk and striking out five, in the 5-0 win over the Indians.

National League Batter of the Day—Yasiel Puig of the Dodgers hit two homers, including a ninth-inning, three-run shot, in the 6-4 win over the Marlins. Puig went 2-for-4, driving in four total runs.

Puig earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 4.5 Box-Toppers points for 2017, which is his highest single-season total of his five-season career. His previous best seasons were 2015 and 2016 when he had 3.5 each season. He had just 1.5 points in 2013 and just 1.0 point in 2014.

American League Batter of the Day—Adrian Beltre of the Rangers hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-3, in the 5-3 win over the Royals.

Beltre earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 113.8 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 49th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Friday, he passes four players on the “all-time” list—Kevin Brown (112.8), Sammy Sosa (113.2), Dan Haren (113.2) and Chris Carpenter (113.3). Beltre now trails 48th-ranked player Josh Beckett (114.9).

Passing Sosa, Beltre now ranks 15th among all batters since 1995, trailing 14th-ranked Torii Hunter (115.9). Beltre also ranks 15th among active players in career Box-Toppers points, trailing 14th-ranked player, Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright (117.5). He ranks third among active batters in career points, behind second-ranked Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (146.9).

Beltre has 2.5 Box-Toppers points on the season.

Scoring—deGrom earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gray earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Puig and Beltre each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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 

7/14 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 11.0 NYM 14, COL 2 Jacob deGrom (W, 10-3) - - - - 8.0 4 2 1 1 11
8.1 WSH 5, CIN 0 Gio Gonzalez (W, 8-4) - - - - 8.1 4 0 0 2 6
AL 8.0 OAK 5, CLE 0 Sonny Gray (W, 5-4) - - - - 6.0 2 0 0 1 5
6.0 SEA 4, CHW 2 James Paxton (W, 8-3) - - - - 6.0 5 2 2 0 9
BAT 4.0 LAD 6, MIA 4 Yasiel Puig (RF) 4 2 2 4 - - - - - -
4.0 PIT 5, STL 2 Josh Bell (1B) 3 1 2 4 - - - - - -
4.0 `BOS 5, NYY 4 Matt Barnes - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 0 2
BAT 3.0 TEX 5, KC 3 Adrian Beltre (3B) 3 1 2 3 - - - - - -
3.0 CHC 9, BAL 8 Wade Davis (S, 17) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.0 HOU 10, MIN 5 Marwin Gonzalez (LF) 5 2 3 2 - - - - - -
2.0 MIL 9, PHI 6 Ryan Braun (LF) 4 1 1 4 - - - - - -
2.0 TOR 7, DET 2 Jose Bautista (RF) 3 2 1 2 - - - - - -
2.0 ATL 4, ARI 3 Jim Johnson (S, 20) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
2.0 TB 2, LAA 1 (F/10) Alex Colome (S, 26) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
1.0 SF 5, SD 4 Gorkys Hernandez (LF) 4 1 4 0 - - - - - -
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 +/-
deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp nym nl 9.7 19.4 54.8 54.8 0.0
Paxton, James 3280 pi sp sea al 8.0 12.4 19.1 19.1 3.6
Johnson, Jim 2417 pi cp atl nl 6.0 10.0 21.0 27.7 2.0
Gray, Sonny 3259 pi sp oak al 5.7 6.7 38.5 38.5 4.7
Colome, Alex 3189 pi cp tb al 5.0 14.0 22.7 22.7 -4.0
Puig, Yasiel 3193 rf lad nl 4.5 8.0 14.0 14.0 1.0
Gonzalez, Gio 2626 pi sp dc nl 3.0 9.0 60.1 89.5 -3.0
Barnes, Matt 3466 pi mr cp bos al 3.0 3.0 4.0 4.0 3.0
Beltre, Adrian 1141 3b tex al 2.5 12.0 45.9 113.8 -7.0
Bautista, Jose 2169 rf tor al 2.5 3.5 26.5 65.4 1.5
Gonzalez, Marwin 3078 lf hou al 2.5 3.5 8.0 8.0 1.5
Hernandez, Goryks 3758 cf lf sf nl 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5
Braun, Ryan J. 2300 lf mil nl 2.0 12.5 38.0 90.2 -8.5
Davis, Wade 2681 pi cp chi nl 2.0 6.0 21.0 28.0 -2.0
Bell, Josh E. 3682 1b pit nl 1.0 2.5 2.5 2.5 -0.5
What are those numbers after players' names?

Indians' Corey Kluber tops players for Friday, April 21; Harper, Holland rise into Box-Toppers top 10

Indians pitcher Corey Kluber is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Kluber pitched a three-hit, complete-game shutout, striking out nine and walking two, in the 3-0 win over the White Sox.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 21:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 5.0
2 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 5.0
3 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 4.7
4 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 4.7
5 Harper, Bryce 3011 rf dc nl 4.0
6 Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 4.0
7 Chacin, Jhoulys 2711 pi mr sp sd nl 3.7
8 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 3.4
9 Morrison, Logan 2794 1b tb al 3.2
10 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 3.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Kluber led AL players in Box-Toppers points in 2016 with 21.2. This was Kluber’s first Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor for 2017.

National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Trevor Cahill allowed one run and three hits over seven innings, striking out six, in the 5-3 win over the Marlins.

National League Batter of the Day—Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright homered and went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 6-3 win over the Brewers.

This is the first time this season that a pitcher has earned Player of the Game honors for batting. It was done eight times in 2016 (including twice by Wainwright) and seven times in 2015. Wainwright has earned Player of the Game honors four times in his career for batting: July 24, 2012, May 2, 2016 and Sept. 5, 2016. He’s earned NL Batter of the Day three times (the only time he didn’t was Sept. 5, 2016).

Wainwright had a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0 for batting, which was the same as his Box-Toppers game score for pitching (5IP 6H 2R 0BB 9K W). But in cases of game score ties, batters beat pitchers, so Wainwright the batter beat out Wainwright the pitcher on the tiebreaker to earn Player of the Game honors.

Wainwright also now has 113.5 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 48th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Friday, he passes four players on the “all-time” list: Kevin Brown (112.8), Sammy Sosa (113.2), Dan Haren (113.2) and Chris Carpenter (113.3). He now trails 47th-ranked player Josh Beckett (114.9).

American League Batter of the Day—Joey Gallo of the Rangers hit two homers, going 2-for-3 and driving in three runs, in the 6-2 win over the Royals.

Rankings—Two players rise into Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday:

  • Bryce Harper of the Nationals (HR 2B 2-4 2R 2BI in the 4-3, 11-inning win over the Mets) rises to fifth place. He earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game, giving him 4.0 for the season.
  • Rockies closing pitcher Greg Holland (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv in the 6-5 win over the Giants) rises to sixth place. He earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game, giving him 4.0 for the season.

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

  • Blue Jays pitcher Ryan Tepera (3IP H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 8-7, 13-inning win over the Angels) made his Major League debut May 10, 2015, and was playing in his 59th career game. He is the 3,774th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Cubs pitcher Carl Edwards Jr. (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 6-5, 11-inning win over the Reds) made his Major League debut Sept. 7, 2015, and was playing in his 48th career game. He is the 3,775th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Kluber earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cahill earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Wainwright and Gallo each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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.

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 

4/21 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 13.0 CLE 3, CHW 0 Corey Kluber (W,2-1) - - - - 9.0 3 0 0 2 9
NL 7.0 SD 5, MIA 3 Trevor Cahill (W,1-2) - - - - 7.0 3 1 1 1 6
5.0 PHI 4, ATL 3 Jeremy Hellickson (W,3-0) - - - - 7.0 3 2 2 0 5
5.0 TOR 8, LAA 7 (F/13) Ryan Tepera (W,1-0) - - - - 3.0 1 0 0 0 3
BAT 4.0 STL 6, MIL 3 Adam Wainwright, P 3 1 2 4 - - - - - -
BAT 4.0 TEX 6, KC 2 Joey Gallo, 3B 3 2 2 3 - - - - - -
3.1 PIT 6, NYY 3 Juan Nicasio (W,1-2) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 2
3.0 ARI 13, LAD 5 Daniel Descalso, PH-1B 1 1 1 2 - - - - - -
3.0 BAL 2, BOS 0 Dylan Bundy (W,3-1) - - - - 7.0 6 0 0 1 3
3.0 CHC 6, CIN 5 (F/11) Carl Edwards Jr. (W,1-0) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
3.0 HOU 6, TB 3 Ken Giles (S,4) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
3.0 COL 6, SF 5 Greg Holland (S,9) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.0 WSH 4, NYM 3 (F/11) Bryce Harper, RF 4 2 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 MIN 6, DET 3 Eddie Rosario, LF 3 1 1 3 - - - - - -
2.0 OAK 3, SEA 1 Sean Manaea (W,1-1) - - - - 6.0 5 1 1 3 6
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 4.0 7.0 31.4 31.4 1.0
Holland, Greg 2906 pi cp col nl 4.0 4.0 34.0 37.0 4.0
Bundy, Dylan 3655 pi sp bal al 3.0 9.0 9.0 9.0 -3.0
Gallo, Joey 3485 3b tex al 3.0 3.0 4.5 4.5 3.0
Kluber, Corey 3200 pi sp cle al 2.0 23.2 67.4 67.4 -19.2
Hellickson, Jeremy 2778 pi sp phi nl 2.0 15.1 36.1 46.8 -11.1
Cahill, Trevor 2658 pi sp mr sd nl 1.7 4.7 19.4 41.9 -1.3
Wainwright, Adam 2150 pi sp stl nl 1.5 11.7 62.8 113.5 -8.7
Nicasio, Juan 2888 pi mr sp pit nl 1.0 10.0 22.4 26.4 -8.0
Manaea, Sean 3637 pi sp oak al 1.0 7.7 7.7 7.7 -5.7
Giles, Ken 3402 pi cp mr hou al 1.0 4.0 9.0 9.0 -2.0
Rosario, Eddie 3542 lf min al 1.0 4.0 5.5 5.5 -2.0
Descalso, Daniel 2855 ph 1b ari nl 1.0 2.0 8.7 11.2 0.0
Edwards, Carl Jr. 3775 pi mr chi nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Tepera, Ryan 3774 pi mr tor al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Box-Toppers top catchers by time frame

Mike Piazza leads catchers in career Box-Toppers points. Brian McCann leads active catchers in career points.

Read More

A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2016

An analysis of 22 years of Box-Toppers points leaders in pitching & batting in both leagues.

Read More