Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of Aug. 20:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 22.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 21.1 |
| 4 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 15.4 |
| 5 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 14.4 |
| 6 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy nl | 14.1 |
| 7 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 14.0 |
| 8 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.0 |
| 9 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 13.7 |
| 10 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 13.4 |
Verlander struck out nine over eight innings, allowing one run, two hits and one walk, in the 6-1 win over the Dodgers. Verlander retired the first 13 batters he faced.
Verlander earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 147.0 career points, rising to 25th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Sunday, Verlander passes three players on the “all-time” list—David Ortiz (145.9), Jim Thome (146.7) and teammate Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (146.9). He now trails 24th-ranked player Javier Vazquez (148.3). Passing Cabrera, Verlander rises to 10th place in career Box-Toppers points among active players.
Verlander has 7.7 Box-Toppers points on the season, 13th among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Marlins pitcher Adam Conley struck out 11 over seven innings, allowing one run, three hits and two walks, in the 6-4 win over the Mets.
American League Batter of the Day—Chris Gimenez of the Twins homered, doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 12-5 win over the Diamondbacks.
National League Batter of the Day—Jesus Aguilar of the Brewers homered twice and went 2-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 8-4 win over the Rockies.
This was the second straight day Aguilar has earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. He was also Player of the Game Saturday in the 6-3 win over the Rockies. He’s earned 2.5 Box-Toppers points in the past two days, 5.0 for the season.
Notable—Nationals pitcher Gio Gonzalez has the most 2017 Box-Toppers points among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Gonzalez (6.2IP 5H R BB 8K W in the 4-1 win over the Rangers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.0 for the season. He ranks 40th among all players and 18th among NL pitchers.
Scoring—Verlander earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Conley earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Gimenez and Aguilar each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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| 8/20 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | DET 6, LAD 1 | Justin Verlander (W, 9-8) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |
| NL | 11.0 | MIA 6, NYM 4 | Adam Conley (W, 6-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 11 | |
| 11.0 | TB 3, SEA 0 | Blake Snell (W, 2-6) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 7.2 | WSH 4, SD 1 | Gio Gonzalez (W, 12-5) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | MIN 12, ARI 5 | Chris Gimenez C | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 4.0 | MIL 8, COL 4 | Jesus Aguilar 1B | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | CHW 3, TEX 2 | Miguel González (W, 7-10) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | OAK 3, HOU 2 | Blake Treinen (S, 4) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | PIT 6, STL 3 | Josh Bell 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | KC 7, CLE 4 | Alcides Escobar SS | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | LAA 5, BAL 4 | Kole Calhoun RF | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | ATL 8, CIN 1 | Tyler Flowers C | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | PHI 5, SF 2 | Pedro Florimón LF | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | BOS 5, NYY 1 | Sandy León C | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | CHC 6, TOR 5 (F/10) | Alex Avila PH-C | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| Gonzalez, Gio 2626 | pi sp | dc nl | 8.0 | 14.0 | 65.1 | 94.5 | 2.0 |
| Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | det al | 7.7 | 22.4 | 67.6 | 147.0 | -7.0 |
| Gonzalez, Miguel 3062 | pi sp | chi al | 6.0 | 15.1 | 43.9 | 43.9 | -3.1 |
| Aguilar, Jesus 3787 | 1b | mil nl | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Conley, Adam 3594 | pi sp | fla nl | 4.7 | 11.4 | 14.4 | 14.4 | -2.0 |
| Avila, Alex 2642 | ca 1b | chi nl | 4.0 | 5.0 | 11.5 | 21.0 | 3.0 |
| Escobar, Alcides 2663 | ss | kc al | 4.0 | 4.0 | 21.0 | 25.5 | 4.0 |
| Leon, Sandy 3676 | ca | bos al | 3.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 0.5 |
| Flowers, Tyler 3101 | ca | atl nl | 3.5 | 6.0 | 14.5 | 14.5 | 1.0 |
| Bell, Josh E. 3682 | 1b | pit nl | 3.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 1.5 |
| Gimenez, Chris 2870 | ca | min al | 2.5 | 3.5 | 5.5 | 6.5 | 1.5 |
| Calhoun, Kole 3279 | rf | ana al | 2.0 | 7.0 | 17.7 | 17.7 | -3.0 |
| Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | tb al | 1.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | -3.0 |
| Treinen, Blake 3495 | pi cp | oak al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 |
| Florimon, Pedro 3226 | lf | phi nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 |