Mariners pitcher Justin Dunn is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreRays’ Blake Snell tops players for Monday, April 8, rises to 2nd in season player rankings
Rays pitcher Blake Snell is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to second place in season player rankings.
Snell struck out 11 over six innings, allowing one run, six hits and no walks, in the 5-1 win over the White Sox.
Read MoreAthletics’ Trevor Cahill tops players for Saturday, Aug. 18; Mets’ deGrom tops NL players
Athletics pitcher Trevor Cahill is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Cahill struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 7-1 win over the Astros.
Read MoreAthletics’ Trevor Cahill tops players for Sunday, Aug. 5; Cardinals’ Flaherty tops NL players
Athletics pitcher Trevor Cahill is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Cahill struck out 10 over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 6-0 win over the Tigers.
Read MoreAthletics' Trevor Cahill tops players for Saturday, May 5; Marlins' Smith tops NL players
Athletics pitcher Trevor Cahill is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Cahill struck out 12 over six scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 2-0, 12-inning win over the Orioles. Cahill picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.
Read MoreDbacks' Patrick Corbin tops players for Tuesday, April 17, rises to 3rd in player rankings
Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to third place in season player rankings.
Corbin pitched a one-hit, complete-game shutout, striking out eight and allowing one walk, in the 1-0 win over the Giants.
Read More
Indians top Box-Toppers 2018 preseason team rankings; champion Astros fall to 8th
The Cleveland Indians are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2018 preseason rankings, the same position where they finished the 2017 season.
The Nationals top NL teams and the World Series-champion Astros fall to 8th.
Meanwhile, the New York Mets made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Tampa Bay Rays and the Kansas City Royals had the biggest declines.
Read More
Los Angeles Dodgers top Box-Toppers team rankings for 5th week, Royals are week's hottest team
The Los Angeles Dodgers top Box-Toppers team rankings for the fifth straight week.
Meanwhile, the Houston Astros maintain their lead in Box-Toppers rankings among American League teams for the 10th straight week and the Kansas City Royals are the week’s hottest team, thanks in part to recent player trades.
Read MoreRed Sox' Chris Sale top players for Tuesday, May 2, rises to lead Box-Toppers player rankings
Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to take the lead in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 2:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 6.7 |
| 2 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 6.7 |
| 3 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.0 |
| 4 | Nova, Ivan 2796 | pi sp | pit nl | 5.0 |
| 5 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 5.0 |
| 6 | Holland, Greg 2906 | pi cp | col nl | 5.0 |
| 7 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf | nyy al | 5.0 |
| 8 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 4.4 |
| 9 | Triggs, Andrew 3723 | pi sp | oak al | 4.4 |
| 10 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 4.0 |
Also Tuesday, Twins pitcher Ervin Santana maintains his second-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings and Aaron Judge of the Yankees rises to seventh place after both earned Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Sale struck out 11 over eight innings, allowing two runs and three hits, in the 5-2 win over the Orioles.
Sale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.7 for the season, rising from sixth to first place in season player rankings. He passes previous leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (5.0 Box-Toppers points), who had been leading since April 19. It is the second time in his career Sale has led Box-Toppers season player rankings—previously, he led May 17-18, 2013, when he had 8.7 points with the White Sox.
National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Trevor Cahill struck out seven over six innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 6-2 win over the Rockies.
American League Batter of the Day—Marwin Gonzalez of the Astros hit two home runs, including a grand slam, in the 8-7 win over the Rangers. Gonzalez went 2-for-3, driving in five runs.
National League Batter of the Day—Javier Baez of the Cubs homered, tripled and went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 8-3 win over the Phillies.
Rankings—In addition to Sale, two other players earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday are also among Box-Toppers top 10 players in season player rankings:
- Twins pitcher Ervin Santana (6IP 3H 0R 3BB 7K W in the 9-1 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.7 for the season, maintaining his second-place spot in Box-Toppers player rankings. He passes previous leader, Kershaw (5.0 points), but is passed by Sale in rankings. Though Sale and Santana both have 6.7 points on the season, Sale ranks ahead because he has more 2016 points (13.4 vs. 4.0).
Santana also now has 104.0 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 66th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Tuesday, he passes Jamie Moyer (104.0) on the “all-time” list and now trails 65th-ranked player, Blue Jays pitcher Francisco Liriano (104.2).
- Aaron Judge of the Yankees (2HR 2-3 3R 4BI in the 11-5 win over the Blue Jays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.0 for the season, rising to seventh place in season player rankings, first among all batters, just ahead of Bryce Harper of the Nationals (4.0 points, ranked 13th overall). Judge just missed out on earning AL Batter of the Day honors—his Box-Toppers game score of +6.0 was tied with Tuesday AL Batter of the Day Marwin Gonzalez of the Astros, but Gonzalez ranked ahead because he had more runs batted in than Judge (five vs. four).
Scoring—Sale 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. Gonzalez and Baez 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.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score| 5/2 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.0 | BOS 5, BAL 2 | Chris Sale (W,2-2) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 11 | |
| 9.0 | CHW 6, KC 0 | Jose Quintana (W,2-4) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | ||
| NL | 9.0 | SD 6, COL 2 | Trevor Cahill (W,2-2) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| 7.0 | MIN 9, OAK 1 | Ervin Santana (W,5-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | HOU 8, TEX 7 | Marwin Gonzalez, LF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | NYY 11, TOR 5 | Aaron Judge, RF | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.1 | STL 2, MIL 1 | Carlos Martinez (W,1-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | CHC 8, PHI 3 | Javier Baez, 2B-3B | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | LAD 13, SF 5 | Yasiel Puig, RF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | PIT 12, CIN 3 | Wade LeBlanc (S,1) | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | LAA 6, SEA 4 (F/11) | Deolis Guerra (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | TB 3, MIA 1 | Alex Colome (S,7) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 2.1 | ARI 6, WSH 3 | T.J. McFarland (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.1 | ATL 9, NYM 7 | Jim Johnson (S,5) | - | - | - | - | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 0.0 | DET 5, CLE 2 | Alex Avila, C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 6.7 | 20.1 | 88.1 | 93.1 | -6.7 |
| Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 6.7 | 10.7 | 43.5 | 104.0 | 2.7 |
| Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf | nyy al | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Cahill, Trevor 2658 | pi sp mr | sd nl | 3.4 | 6.4 | 21.1 | 43.6 | 0.4 |
| Martinez, Carlos 3371 | pi sp | stl nl | 3.0 | 15.4 | 30.1 | 30.1 | -9.4 |
| Puig, Yasiel 3193 | rf | lad nl | 3.0 | 6.5 | 12.5 | 12.5 | -0.5 |
| Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi al | 2.0 | 12.4 | 37.2 | 37.2 | -8.4 |
| Colome, Alex 3189 | pi cp | tb al | 2.0 | 11.0 | 19.7 | 19.7 | -7.0 |
| Johnson, Jim 2417 | pi cp | atl nl | 2.0 | 6.0 | 17.0 | 23.7 | -2.0 |
| Avila, Alex 2642 | ca | det al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 9.5 | 19.0 | 1.0 |
| Baez, Javier 3395 | 2b 3b | chi nl | 1.5 | 3.5 | 6.0 | 6.0 | -0.5 |
| Gonzalez, Marwin 3078 | lf | hou al | 1.5 | 2.5 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 0.5 |
| LeBlanc, Wade 2669 | pi cp sp | pit nl | 1.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 11.0 | -2.0 |
| Guerra, Deolis 3521 | pi cp mr | ana al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 |
| McFarland, T.J. 3585 | pi mr | ari nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 |
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 |
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 |
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 |