Astros’ Javier tops players for Sunday, Sept. 25; Mets’ Alonso extends lead among NL batters

Astros pitcher Cristian Javier is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Sunday, Pete Alonso of the Mets extends his lead among National League batters and now has the most Box-Toppers points for any batter in a single season since 2017 and the eighth-most for any batter in a single season from 2010 forward.

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Albert Pujols could break record for most consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points in 2020

Albert Pujols has the chance in 2020 to break the record for most consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points.

If Pujols of the Angels earns Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors once in 2020, he will have earned Box-Toppers points for 20 straight seasons (2001-2020). Pujols is currently tied for the longest streak at 19 seasons with three other players—CC Sabathia, Jason Giambi and Carlos Beltran.

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Mets’ Jose Bautista tops players for Thursday, Aug. 16; Rays’ Snell tops AL players

Jose Bautista of the Mets is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Bautista hit a grand slam and doubled, going 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in seven runs, in the 24-4 win over the Phillies.

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Box-Toppers top outfielders by time frame (after 2017)

Manny Ramirez has the most Box-Toppers points of any outfielder since tracking began in 1995.

Matt Holliday leads active outfielders in career points. Other leaders include Giancarlo Stanton, Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, Jay Bruce and Andrew McCutchen.

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Athletics' Sonny Gray tops players for Sunday, June 25; Twins' Santana maintains 3rd-place rank in Box-Toppers points

Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Sunday, Twins pitcher Ervin Santana earns Player of the Game honors, maintaining his rank of third place in season player rankings, first among American League pitchers.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of June 25:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 16.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 13.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 12.4
4 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 10.1
5 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
6 Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 9.4
7 McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 9.4
8 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 9.0
9 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 8.2
10 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 8.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Gray struck out seven over seven innings, allowing two runs, four hits and one walk, in the 5-3 win over the White Sox.

National League Player of the Day—Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers hit two home runs and went 3-for-5, driving in four runs, in the 12-6 win over the Rockies.

Bellinger earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 6.2 for the season, rising to second among NL batters, behind Matt Adams of the Braves (6.5).

American League Batter of the Day—Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays homered and went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 8-2 win over the Royals.

Bautista has now earned Box-Toppers points in 12 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2017. He earned his first points in 2006 with the Pirates and has 64.4 career points, 10th among active AL batters. His best season was 2010 with the Blue Jays when he had 15.2 Box-Toppers points, first among AL batters. He’s had three seasons with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. He’s barely kept the streak alive in two seasons, earning just 1.0 Box-Toppers point in both 2009 and 2016, both with the Blue Jays.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Sunday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Cody Bellinger.

Rankings—Twins pitcher Ervin Santana, third in Box-Toppers season player rankings, earns Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Santana (6IP 9H 0R 0BB 7K W in the 4-0 win over the Indians) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.4 for the season. He maintains his rank of third among all players in 2017 points, behind Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (16.4) and Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (13.0). Santana ranks first among AL pitchers, ahead of Chris Sale of the Red Sox (10.1).

Santana also now has 109.7 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 55th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Sunday, he passes Jeff Kent (109.7) on the “all-time” list and now trails 54th-ranked player Tom Glavine (110.6).

Debut—Kaleb Cowart of the Angels made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Cowart (2B 2-3 R 2BI in the 4-2 win over the Red Sox) made his Major League debut Aug. 18, 2015, and was playing in his 66th career game. He is the 3,837th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Gray earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Bellinger earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Bautista earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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 

6/25 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 6.0 OAK 5, CHW 3 Sonny Gray (W,3-3) - - - - 7.0 4 2 1 1 7
6.0 HOU 8, SEA 2 Michael Feliz (W,3-1) - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 0 4
NL 4.0 LAD 12, COL 6 Cody Bellinger, RF 5 2 3 4 - - - - - -
4.0 MIN 4, CLE 0 Ervin Santana (W,10-4) - - - - 6.0 9 0 0 0 7
4.0 `ARI 2, PHI 1 (F/11) Randall Delgado - - - - 5.0 4 0 0 1 4
3.2 NYM 8, SF 2 Rafael Montero (W,1-4) - - - - 5.2 5 1 1 2 7
3.0 CIN 6, WSH 2 Scooter Gennett, 2B 5 2 4 2 - - - - - -
BAT 3.0 TOR 8, KC 2 Jose Bautista, RF 5 2 2 4 - - - - - -
3.0 MIL 7, ATL 0 Keon Broxton, CF 4 1 3 3 - - - - - -
3.0 BAL 8, TB 5 Caleb Joseph, C 4 3 3 1 - - - - - -
3.0 STL 8, PIT 4 Yadier Molina, C 4 3 3 1 - - - - - -
3.0 DET 7, SD 5 Justin Wilson (S,6) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.1 MIA 4, CHC 2 AJ Ramos (S,12) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 1
2.0 LAA 4, BOS 2 Kaleb Cowart, 3B 3 1 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 TEX 7, NYY 6 Shin-Soo Choo, RF 3 1 1 3 - - - - - -
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 +/-
Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 12.4 16.4 49.2 109.7 8.4
Bellinger, Cody 3781 1b lad nl 6.2 6.2 6.2 6.2 6.2
Gennett, Scooter 3254 2b cin nl 4.5 7.0 16.0 16.0 2.0
Broxton, Keon 3785 cf mil nl 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5
Ramos, A.J. 3210 pi cp fla nl 4.0 6.0 16.0 16.0 2.0
Gray, Sonny 3259 pi sp oak al 4.0 5.0 36.8 36.8 3.0
Choo, Shin-Soo 2267 rf dh tex al 3.5 4.5 24.5 51.2 2.5
Molina, Yadier 1967 ca stl nl 2.0 6.0 15.5 36.7 -2.0
Wilson, Justin 3140 pi cp det al 2.0 3.0 8.0 8.0 1.0
Bautista, Jose 2169 rf tor al 1.5 2.5 25.5 64.4 0.5
Feliz, Michael 3632 pi mr cp hou al 1.0 4.7 4.7 4.7 -2.7
Joseph, Caleb 3368 ca bal al 1.0 1.0 6.5 6.5 1.0
Delgado, Randall 2939 pi sp ari nl 1.0 1.0 9.4 10.4 1.0
Montero, Rafael 3410 pi sp nym nl 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 1.0
Cowart, Kaleb 3837 3b ana al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Box-Toppers top outfielders by time frame

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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Box-Toppers' big dippers—players whose 2016 point total declined most from 2015; Sonny Gray, Cy Young winners lead list

Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray had the biggest decline in Box-Toppers point total from 2015 to 2016—16.8. Both 2015 Cy Young Award winners, Dallas Keuchel and Jake Arrieta, are among the top four "big dippers" in points from 2015 to 2016.

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ALCS Preview: Though Indians rank higher in Box-Toppers rankings, Blue Jays have chance because of key Tribe injuries

Indians rank higher than the Blue Jays in Box-Toppers team rankings, but two pitchers who got them ranked so highly—Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco—are not available for the ALCS.

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Rangers' Lewis tops players for Friday, May 20; Cubs' Arrieta rises to 2nd in Box-Toppers rankings

Rangers pitcher Colby Lewis is Friday’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 May 20:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 10.0
2 Arrieta, Jake 2738 pi sp chi nl 8.7
3 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp chi al 8.7
4 Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp sf nl 8.0
5 Machado, Manny 3087 ss 3b bal al 7.7
6 Matz, Steven 3516 pi sp nym nl 6.7
7 Hill, Rich 2215 pi sp oak al 6.4
8 Salazar, Danny 3223 pi sp cle al 6.1
9 Velasquez, Vince 3611 pi sp phi nl 6.0
10 Price, David 2593 pi sp bos al 5.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Friday, Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta rose to second place in Box-Toppers player rankings, Manny Machado of the Orioles extended his Box-Toppers points lead among American League batters and Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia extended his career Box-Toppers points lead among all active pitchers.

Player of the Day—Lewis pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out six, in the 2-1 win over the Astros.

National League Player of the Day—Mets pitcher Steven Matz struck out eight over seven innings, allowing two runs and three hits, in the 3-2 win over the Brewers.

Matz earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 6.7 for the season, rising to sixth in season player rankings, fourth among NL pitchers.

American League Batter of the Day—Dae-Ho Lee of the Mariners homered and went 2-for-2, driving in three runs, in the 8-3 win over the Reds.

National League Batter of the Day—Christian Bethancourt of the Padres hit a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the 7-6 win over the Dodgers.

Rankings—Besides Matz, two other players in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings earned Player of the Game honors Friday:

  • Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta (7IP 4H R 8K W in the 8-1 win over the Giants) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.7 for the season and rising to second place in player rankings, trailing only Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (10.0).
  • Manny Machado of the Orioles (HR 2-4 2R BI in the 9-4 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.7 for the season, maintaining his rank of fifth place among all players and his rank of first among AL batters. He is the only batter among the top 10 players. Also, his 7.7 Box-Toppers points this season is already better than the 7.5 he earned in all of 2015 (his previous best year), when he finished the season ranked 18th among AL batters.

Streak—Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Bautista (HR 2-5 2R 3BI in the 9-3 win over the Twins) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Pirates and has 62.9 career points, 12th among active AL batters and second among active AL outfielders. His best year was 2010 with the Blue Jays when he led AL batters with 15.2 points. In 2015, he had 10.0 points with the Blue Jays, sixth among AL batters.

Notable—Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia, the active leader among pitchers in career Box-Toppers points, earned Player of the Game honors Friday.

Sabathia (6IP 3H R 8K W in the 8-3 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 181.0 career Box-Toppers points. He ranks fifth among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began, behind teammate Alex Rodriguez (187.0), and first among active pitchers. Sabathia has 2.0 points for the season.

Scoring—Lewis earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Matz earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Lee and Bethancourt 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

5/20 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 9.0 Rangers Colby Lewis (W,3-0) - - - - - - 7.0 4 0 0 0 6
NL 8.0 Mets Steven Matz (W,6-1) - - - - - - 7.0 3 2 2 0 8
8.0 Yankees CC Sabathia (W,3-2) - - - - - - 6.0 3 1 1 1 8
7.0 Cubs Jake Arrieta (W,8-0) - - - - - - 7.0 4 1 1 2 8
4.2 Braves Matt Wisler (W,2-3) - - - - - - 6.2 5 1 1 2 7
BAT 4.0 Mariners Dae-Ho Lee, PH-1B 2 1 2 3 0 0 - - - - - -
3.2 Nationals Tanner Roark (W,3-3) - - - - - - 6.2 6 1 1 2 7
BAT 3.0 Padres Christian Bethancourt, PH 1 1 1 2 0 0 - - - - - -
3.0 Royals Dillon Gee (W,1-1) - - - - - - 5.0 4 1 1 1 5
3.0 Indians Cody Allen (S,10) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 1 3
2.0 Blue Jays Jose Bautista, RF 5 2 2 3 0 1 - - - - - -
2.0 Dbacks Chris Herrmann, C 4 1 2 3 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Orioles Manny Machado, SS 4 3 2 1 1 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Rays Alex Colome (S,11) - - - - - - 1.0 1 0 0 0 2
1.0 `Pirates Tony Watson (H,10) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 1 1
`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 Pos Team 16 15-16 11-16 Career +/-
Arrieta, Jake 2738 pi sp chi nl 8.7 37.8 65.5 68.5 -20.4
Machado, Manny 3087 ss 3b bal al 7.7 15.2 18.7 18.7 0.2
Matz, Steven 3516 pi sp nym nl 6.7 10.2 10.2 10.2 3.2
Lewis, Colby 1567 pi sp tex al 4.7 12.4 30.6 42.0 -3.0
Colome, Alex 3189 pi cp tb al 4.0 9.0 12.7 12.7 -1.0
Roark, Tanner 3261 pi sp dc nl 4.0 5.0 20.0 20.0 3.0
Lee, Dae-Ho 3627 1b ph sea al 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5
Sabathia, C.C. 1492 pi sp nyy al 2.0 7.7 42.5 181.0 -3.7
Allen, Cody 3265 pi mr cp cle al 2.0 6.0 11.0 11.0 -2.0
Wisler, Matt 3522 pi sp atl nl 2.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 -1.0
Bethancourt, Christian 3407 ca ph sd nl 1.5 2.5 3.5 3.5 0.5
Bautista, Jose 2169 rf tor al 1.0 11.0 35.7 62.9 -9.0
Gee, Dillon 2808 pi sp kc al 1.0 2.0 28.8 29.8 0.0
Watson, Tony 3215 pi mr pit nl 1.0 2.0 5.0 5.0 0.0
Herrmann, Chris 3196 ca ari nl 1.0 1.0 5.5 5.5 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Box-Toppers picks the Blue Jays over the Cubs in the 2016 World Series

Blue Jays projected to win it all after beating Indians in ALCS. Cubs picked to win NLCS over the Dodgers.

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A look at how star players are trending over the long-term: Kershaw maintains his dominance, other stars rise and fall

Andrew McCutchen replaces Ryan Braun as leader among NL batters in six-year rolling Box-Toppers totals (2011-2016 vs. 2010-2015).

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Box-Toppers top pitchers and batters by team in 2015

Box-Toppers' high players by team does not include AL MVP Donaldson, who ranked 3rd among Blue Jays batters.

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Box-Toppers 2010-15 All-Star teams

Of the 27 All-Stars for 2010-15, 14 are also among Box-Toppers' 2014-15 All-Stars and seven are among Box-Toppers All-Stars for three periods—2015, 2014-15 and 2010-15.

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Box-Toppers 2014-15 All-Star teams

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw leads players in Box-Toppers points over past 2 seasons. Blue Jays have 5 players among 2014-15 All-Stars.

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Box-Toppers' top batters Adrian Beltre, Carlos Gonzalez finish behind MVPs Josh Donaldson, Bryce Harper

Bryce Harper of the Nationals and Josh Donaldson of the Blue Jays win MVP awards, though they each ranked 7th among their league's batters in Box-Toppers points.

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Box-Toppers pitching leaders among finalists for Cy Young, but batting leaders excluded from MVP finalists

Box-Toppers' top pitchers Jake Arrieta of the Cubs and Dallas Keuchel of the Astros are Cy Young Award finalists. But Box-Toppers' top batters Adrian Beltre of the Rangers and Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies are not MVP finalists.

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How 2015 Silver Slugger winners fared in Box-Toppers points and rankings

Only 5 of 17 Silver Slugger Award winners also led their position in Box-Toppers points.

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