Twins pitcher Jose Berrios is Saturday’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. 19:| 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 |
Also Saturday, Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale had the chance to rise to the Box-Toppers season player rankings lead in his start, but did not earn Player of the Game honors in his team’s loss. He remains in third place.
Player of the Day—Berrios struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 5-0 win over the Diamondbacks.
National League Player of the Day—Scooter Gennett of the Reds hit a grand slam and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 11-8 win over the Braves.
American League Batter of the Day—Rougned Odor of the Rangers hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, in the 17-7 win over the White Sox. Odor went 2-for-4, driving in five runs.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Saturday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Scooter Gennett.
Top 10 watch—Two pitchers in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings started Saturday but neither earned Player of the Game honors or Box-Toppers points:
- Third-ranked Chris Sale of the Red Sox (21.1 Box-Toppers points) had the chance to rise to the lead in player rankings, as he trailed overall leader Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22.1) by just 1.0 Box-Toppers point. Sale (7IP 7H 4R BB 9K L in the 4-3 loss to the Yankees) had a Box-Toppers game score of 0.0. Player of the Game was Yankees pitcher Dellin Betances with a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0.
- Fourth-ranked Zack Greinke of the Diamondbacks (15.4 Box-Toppers points) did not earn Player of the Game honors in his team’s 5-0 loss to the Twins. Greinke (4IP 7H 5R 4ER 4BB 4K L) had a Box-Toppers game score of -12.0. Player of the Game was Twins pitcher Jose Berrios, with a Box-Toppers game score of +11.0, who was also Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Notable—Cubs pitcher Jose Quintana has the most 2017 Box-Toppers points of any of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Quintana (6IP 4H 2R 2BB 8K W in the 4-3 win over the Blue Jays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.0 for the season. He ranks 15th among all players and eighth among NL pitchers.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debuts Saturday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Ty Kelly of the Phillies (pinch-hit grand slam in the 12-9 win over the Giants) made his Major League debut May 24, 2016, and was playing in his 92nd career game. He is the 3,889th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Dominic Smith of the Mets (HR 1-3 2R BI in the 8-1 win over the Marlins) made his Major League debut Aug. 11 and was playing in his ninth career game. He is the 3,890th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Berrios earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gennett earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Odor earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score| 8/19 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.0 | MIN 5, ARI 0 | Jose Berríos (W, 11-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| NL | 6.0 | CIN 11, ATL 8 | Scooter Gennett 2B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 5.0 | TEX 17, CHW 7 | Rougned Odor 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | PHI 12, SF 9 | Ty Kelly PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | PIT 6, STL 4 | Chad Kuhl (W, 6-8) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 5.0 | LAD 3, DET 0 | Ross Stripling (W, 3-4) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | LAA 5, BAL 1 | Luis Valbuena 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | CHC 4, TOR 3 | Jose Quintana (W, 4-2) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 3.0 | SEA 7, TB 6 | Mitch Haniger RF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | MIL 6, COL 3 | Jesus Aguilar PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | SD 3, WSH 1 | Travis Wood (W, 2-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | NYY 4, BOS 3 | Dellin Betances (S, 9) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | HOU 3, OAK 0 | Collin McHugh (W, 1-2) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 1.1 | CLE 5, KC 0 | Trevor Bauer (W, 12-8) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 1.0 | NYM 8, MIA 1 | Dominic Smith 1B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 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 | +/- |
| Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi nl | 11.0 | 21.4 | 46.2 | 46.2 | 0.6 |
| Gennett, Scooter 3254 | 2b | cin nl | 8.2 | 10.7 | 19.7 | 19.7 | 5.7 |
| Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 7.0 | 18.4 | 36.5 | 36.5 | -4.4 |
| Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| Odor, Rougned 3336 | 2b | tex al | 6.2 | 12.7 | 17.2 | 17.2 | -0.3 |
| Betances, Dellin 3333 | pi cp mr | nyy al | 5.0 | 9.0 | 17.7 | 17.7 | 1.0 |
| Aguilar, Jesus 3787 | 1b ph | mil nl | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Haniger, MItch 3772 | rf | sea al | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Kuhl, Chad 3687 | pi sp | pit nl | 3.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 1.0 |
| Valbuena, Luis 2600 | 3b | ana al | 2.0 | 3.5 | 12.5 | 15.5 | 0.5 |
| Wood, Travis 2777 | pi sp | sd nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 28.7 | 33.7 | 1.0 |
| McHugh, Collin 3316 | pi sp | hou al | 1.0 | 11.7 | 33.2 | 33.2 | -9.7 |
| Stripling, Ross 3629 | pi mr sp | lad nl | 1.0 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | -3.7 |
| Kelly, Ty 3889 | ph | phi nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Smith, Dominic 3890 | 1b | nym nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |