Athletics' Daniel Mengden tops players for Thursday, Sept. 15; Giants' Cueto rises to 8th in Box-Toppers rankings

Athletics pitcher Daniel Mengden is Thursday’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 Sept. 15:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	23.7
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	21.0
3	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	20.4
4	Kluber, Corey 3200	pi sp	cle al	20.2
5	Lester, Jon 2173	pi sp	chi nl	20.1
6	Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	16.8
7	Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym al	15.7
8	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	15.4
9	Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	15.1
10	Hill, Rich 2215	pi sp	lad nl	14.4

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Thursday, Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto rises to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Mengden pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits, no walks and striking out six, in the 14-5 win over the Royals.

This was Mengden’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Mengden made his Major League debut June 11 and was playing in his 12th career game. He is the 3,741st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

National League Player of the Day—Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin pitched three scoreless innings, allowing no runs, hits or walks, striking out four and earning the save, in the 7-3 win over the Dodgers.

National League Batter of the Day—Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates hit two homers and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 15-2 win over the Phillies.

American League Batter of the Day—Evan Longoria of the Rays hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-5, driving in five runs, in the 7-6 win over the Orioles.

Rankings—Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto rises to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.

Cueto (CG 5H 2R BB 7K W in the 6-2 win over the Cardinals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 15.4 for the season, rising from ninth to eighth place. He ranks sixth among NL pitchers.

Notable—Russell Martin of the Blue Jays became the 41st player (and seventh batter) with 10 or more Box-Toppers points in 2016 after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.

Martin (HR 1-3 R 4BI in the 7-2 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.5 for the season. He ranks 35th among all players and fourth among AL batters.

This is Martin’s first season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. His previous best season was 2007 with the Dodgers, when he had 8.5 Box-Toppers points.

Also notable—David Ortiz of the Red Sox rises to 23rd place in career Box-Toppers points (since 1995 when Box-Toppers tracking began) after earning Player of the Day honors Thursday.

Ortiz (HR 2B 3-4 R 3BI in the 7-5 win over the Yankees) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 144.9 career points. He passes Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (143.9) on the “all-time” list and now trails 22nd-ranked player, Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon (145.8). Ortiz also rises to seventh place among active players in career points, second among active batters, behind only Albert Pujols of the Angels (182.3). Ortiz also now rises to seventh among all batters in career points since 1995 and trails sixth-ranked batter Jim Thome (146.7) on the “all-time” list.

Ortiz has 7.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, 19th among AL batters and fourth among AL designated hitters. Ortiz has said he will retire at the end of the season.

Scoring—Mengden earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Corbin earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. McCutchen and Longoria 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

9/15	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	10.0	OAK 14, KC 5	Daniel Mengden (W,2-7)	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	0	0	0	6
NL	7.0	ARI 7, LAD 3	Patrick Corbin (S,1)	-	-	-	-		3.0	0	0	0	0	4
	6.0	SF 6, STL 2	Johnny Cueto (W,16-5)	-	-	-	-		9.0	5	2	2	1	7
	6.0	`CHW 2, CLE 1	James Shields	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	1	1	3	8
BAT	4.0	PIT 15, PHI 2	Andrew McCutchen, CF	5	3	3	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	3.0	TB 7, BAL 6	Evan Longoria, 3B	5	1	2	5		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	BOS 7, NYY 5	David Ortiz, DH	4	1	3	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	TOR 7, LAA 2	Russell Martin, C	3	1	1	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	MIL 5, CHC 4	Scooter Gennett, PH	1	0	1	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	MIN 5, DET 1	Eddie Rosario, LF	4	2	3	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`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 of Game	Pos	Team	16	15-16	11-16	Career	+/-
Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	15.4	28.2	79.4	98.8	2.6
Martin, Russell 2202	ca	tor al	10.5	15.5	32.0	53.0	5.5
McCutchen, Andrew 2637	cf	pit nl	7.0	17.5	48.2	53.9	-3.5
Ortiz, David	dh	bos al	7.0	11.5	42.9	144.9	2.5
Longoria, Evan 2423	3b	tb al	5.5	8.5	25.0	46.0	2.5
Corbin, Patrick 3027	pi sp cp	ari nl	3.7	9.1	32.5	32.5	-1.7
Shields, James 2157	pi sp	chi al	3.0	10.4	68.6	99.4	-4.4
Rosario, Eddie 3542	lf	min al	3.0	4.5	4.5	4.5	1.5
Gennett, Scooter 3254	2b ph	mil nl	2.5	4.5	11.5	11.5	0.5
Mengden, Daniel 3741	pi sp	oak al	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Indians' Carlos Carrasco tops players for Friday, Sept. 2; Cubs' Lester rises to 5th in Box-Toppers player rankings

Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Friday, Cubs pitcher Jon Lester rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Sept. 2:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	22.7
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	20.0
3	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	18.4
4	Kluber, Corey 3200	pi sp	cle al	18.2
5	Lester, Jon 2173	pi sp	chi nl	17.1
6	Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	16.8
7	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	14.4
8	Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	14.1
9	Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	14.0
10	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	13.7

What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Carrasco pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out 11 and allowing six hits and one walk, in the 6-2 win over the Marlins.

Carrasco earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 12.4 for the season. He ranks 14th among all players and fifth among AL pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Cubs pitcher Jon Lester pitched a complete game, allowing one run, three hits, two walks and striking out four, in the 2-1 win over the Giants.

Lester earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 17.1 for the season, rising from sixth to fifth in Box-Toppers season player rankings. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.

Lester also now has 138.2 career Box-Toppers points, 28th-most since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He trails 27th-ranked player Andy Pettitte (138.5).

American League Batter of the Day—Travis Shaw of the Red Sox hit a three-run homer and two doubles in the 16-2 win over the Athletics. Shaw went 3-for-6, scoring twice and driving in five runs.

National League Batter of the Day—Matt Kemp of the Braves hit a three-run homer and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 8-4 win over the Phillies.

Notable—Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers now has 11.0 Box-Toppers points on the season after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Cabrera (HR 3-5 2R 4BI in the 7-6 win over the Royals) now ranks 25th in Box-Toppers season player rankings, third among AL batters, behind Jose Altuve of the Astros (12.5) and Manny Machado of the Orioles (11.7).

Cabrera also rises to 23rd place in career Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He now has 143.9 career points, passing Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels (143.0) on the “all-time” list and now trails 22nd-ranked player Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon (145.8). Cabrera rises to seventh place among active players in career Box-Toppers points.

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

• Nationals pitcher A.J. Cole (6IP 3H R 2BB 5K in the 4-1 win over the Mets) made his Major League debut April 28, 2015, and was playing in his sixth career game. He is the 3,727th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Brewers pitcher Jhan Marinez (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K ND in the 1-0 win over the Pirates) made his Major League debut July 16, 2010, and was playing in his 40th career game. He is the 3,728th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Carrasco earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lester earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Shaw and Kemp 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

9/2	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	11.1	CLE 6, MIA 2	Carlos Carrasco (W,10-7)	-	-	-	-		7.1	6	0	0	1	11
NL	6.0	CHC 2, SF 1	Jon Lester (W,15-4)	-	-	-	-		9.0	3	1	1	2	4
	4.2	BAL 8, NYY 0	Dylan Bundy (W,8-5)	-	-	-	-		5.2	2	0	0	4	5
	4.2	SD 4, LAD 2	Brad Hand (W,4-3)	-	-	-	-		1.2	1	0	0	0	4
BAT	4.0	BOS 16, OAK 2	Travis Shaw, 3B-1B	6	2	3	5		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	CHW 11, MIN 4	Adam Eaton, CF	5	4	4	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	4.0	ATL 8, PHI 4	Matt Kemp, LF	5	2	3	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	DET 7, KC 6	Miguel Cabrera, 1B	5	2	3	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	COL 14, ARI 7	Nick Hundley, C	4	2	2	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	WSH 4, NYM 1	A.J. Cole (W,1-1)	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	1	1	2	5
	3.0	TB 8, TOR 3	Logan Morrison, DH	2	2	1	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	SEA 11, LAA 8	Dae-Ho Lee, 1B	5	2	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	TEX 10, HOU 8	Elvis Andrus, SS	3	1	2	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	`MIL 1, PIT 0	Jhan Marinez (H,2)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	1
	1.0	CIN 3, STL 2	Zack Cozart, SS	2	2	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`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 of Game	Pos	Team	16	15-16	11-16	Career	+/-
Lester, Jon 2173	pi sp	chi nl	17.1	29.1	75.3	138.2	5.1
Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	12.4	30.4	46.5	46.5	-5.6
Cabrera, Miguel 1776	1b	det al	11.0	15.7	64.3	143.9	6.3
Lee, Dae-Ho 3627	1b	sea al	7.7	7.7	7.7	7.7	7.7
Shaw, Travis 3544	1b 3b	bos al	7.0	11.2	11.2	11.2	2.8
Andrus, Elvis 2582	ss	tex al	6.7	6.7	14.2	17.2	6.7
Kemp, Matt 2151	rf lf	atl nl	5.5	11.0	35.5	57.1	0.0
Bundy, Dylan 3655	pi sp	bal al	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0
Eaton, Adam 3253	rf cf	chi al	4.0	9.5	12.0	12.0	-1.5
Hand, Brad 2907	pi mr	sd nl	4.0	5.0	9.0	9.0	3.0
Morrison, Logan 2794	1b dh	tb al	2.0	6.0	16.0	17.5	-2.0
Cozart, Zack 3012	ss	cin nl	2.0	5.0	11.0	11.0	-1.0
Hundley, Nick 2497	ca	col nl	1.0	4.5	17.0	22.5	-2.5
Cole, A.J. 3727	pi sp	dc nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Marinez, Jhan 3728	pi mr	mil nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Nationals' Max Scherzer passes Kershaw for Box-Toppers points lead after topping players for Thursday, Aug. 25

Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and takes the season lead in Box-Toppers points, passing Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who had led since May 7.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Aug. 25:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	20.7
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	20.0
3	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	18.4
4	Kluber, Corey 3200	pi sp	cle al	17.2
5	Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	16.8
6	Lester, Jon 2173	pi sp	chi nl	15.4
7	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	14.4
8	Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	14.1
9	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	13.7
10	Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	13.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Thursday, Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels rises to fifth in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.

Player of the Day—Scherzer pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out 10 and allowing two hits and no walks, in the 4-0 win over the Orioles.

Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 20.7 for the season, rising from second to first among all players. Scherzer becomes the second player this season to 20 points; previous leader Kershaw (20.0 Box-Toppers points) did it first it more than two months ago on June 20, the last time he earned Player of the Game before going on the disabled list.

Kershaw has led all players in Box-Toppers points this season since May 7, nearly 16 weeks, despite going on the disabled list two months ago on June 26. Kershaw is eligible to return from the disabled list Saturday and reports indicate he could return to pitch by mid-September.

Kershaw finished second in Box-Toppers points in 2015 with 25.7, behind overall leader, Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta (29.1). Kershaw led all National League players in Box-Toppers points from 2011 to 2014 and led all players in 2011, 2013 and 2014.

Lead changes

Here are the season’s lead changes among players in Box-Toppers points. Chart shows the date and the player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total when they took the lead.  

Date	Player	Team	BTP
4/3	Francisco Liriano	pit nl	2.0
4/4	Clayton Kershaw	lad nl	2.0
4/14	Vince Velasquez	phi nl	4.0
4/21	Jake Arrieta	chi nl	5.0
5/1	Clayton Kershaw	lad nl	6.0
5/3	Jake Arrieta	chi nl	6.0
5/7	Clayton Kershaw	lad nl	7.0
8/25	Max Scherzer	dc nl	20.7

This is Scherzer’s third straight 20-point season. He earned 22.1 points in 2014 with the Tigers, when he ranked fifth overall and second among American League pitchers. He earned 21.0 points in 2015 with the Nationals, when he ranked sixth overall and fourth among NL pitchers.

Scherzer now has 126.7 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 35th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Thursday, he passes two players on the “all-time” list—Angels pitcher Jered Weaver (125.1) and Mariano Rivera (126.4). Scherzer now trails 34th-ranked player Roy Oswalt (127.2).

American League Player of the Day—Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing two hits and no walks, in the 9-0 win over the Indians.

Hamels earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 16.8 for the season, rising to fifth among all players and maintaining his spot in second place among AL pitchers, behind Corey Kluber of the Indians (17.2).

Hamels also now has 143.0 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 23rd place among players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Thursday, he passes three players (all active) on the “all-time” list—Giants pitcher Jake Peavy (141.8), David Ortiz of the Red Sox (142.9) and Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (142.9). Hamels now has the seventh-most career Box-Toppers points among active players. Hamels now trails 22nd-ranked player, Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon (145.8).

National League Batter of the Day—Alejandro De Aza of the Mets hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 10-6 win over the Cardinals.

American League Batter of the Day—James McCann of the Tigers hit a three-run homer, doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 8-5 win over the Twins.

Debut—Rays pitcher Tyler Sturdevant made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Sturdevant (0.2IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K ND in the 2-1 win over the Red Sox) made his Major League debut May 24 and was playing in his 16th career game. He is the 3,718th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Hamels earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. De Aza and McCann 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

8/25	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	16.0	WSH 4, BAL 0	Max Scherzer (W,14-7)	-	-	-	-		8.0	2	0	0	0	10
AL	14.0	TEX 9, CLE 0	Cole Hamels (W,14-4)	-	-	-	-		8.0	2	0	0	0	8
	11.2	SF 4, LAD 0	Matt Moore (W,8-10)	-	-	-	-		8.2	1	0	0	3	7
BAT	5.0	NYM 10, STL 6	Alejandro De Aza, CF	4	2	2	5		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	ATL 3, ARI 1	Matt Wisler (W,5-11)	-	-	-	-		8.0	2	1	1	3	4
BAT	4.0	DET 8, MIN 5	James McCann, C	5	2	4	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	LAA 6, TOR 3	Mike Trout, CF	4	1	3	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	KC 5, MIA 2	Kelvin Herrera (S,9)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	2.2	`TB 2, BOS 1	Tyler Sturdevant	-	-	-	-		0.2	0	0	0	0	2
	2.0	PIT 3, MIL 2 (10)	Andrew McCutchen, CF	5	1	3	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	CHW 7, SEA 6	Tim Anderson, SS	4	2	3	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 of Game	Pos	Team	16	15-16	11-16	Career	+/-
Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	20.7	41.7	106.3	126.7	-0.3
Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	16.8	32.2	83.8	143.0	1.4
Trout, Mike 2949	cf	ana al	8.5	20.5	45.0	45.0	-3.5
Moore, Matt 2975	pi sp	sf nl	7.7	7.7	33.2	33.2	7.7
McCutchen, Andrew 2637	cf	pit nl	5.5	16.0	46.7	52.4	-5.0
Wisler, Matt 3522	pi sp	atl nl	3.0	6.0	6.0	6.0	0.0
Anderson, Tim 3659	ss	chi al	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0
McCann, James 3649	ca	det al	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5
De Aza, Alejandro 2950	cf	nym nl	1.5	3.0	11.7	11.7	0.0
Herrera, Kelvin 3149	pi cp	kc al	1.0	1.0	5.0	5.0	1.0
Sturdevant, Tyler 3718	pi mr	tb al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Marlins' Jose Fernandez tops players for Wednesday, Aug. 24, rises to 3rd in Box-Toppers player rankings

Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to third place in season player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Aug. 24:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	20.0
2	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	18.7
3	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	18.4
4	Kluber, Corey 3200	pi sp	cle al	17.2
5	Lester, Jon 2173	pi sp	chi nl	15.4
6	Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	15.1
7	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	14.4
8	Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	14.1
9	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	13.7
10	Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	13.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Fernandez pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out nine and allowing six hits and two walks, in the 3-0 win over the Royals.

Fernandez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 18.4 for the season, rising from fourth to third place among all players and among all National League pitchers in 2016. 

Fernandez is now 1.6 Box-Toppers points behind overall leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (20.0 points), meaning Fernandez could pass Kershaw for the season lead in his next start if he earns NL Player of the Day (worth 1.7 points) or overall Player of the Day (worth 2.0 points). Kershaw has led all players since May 7 and maintained his lead despite spending the past nearly two months on the disabled list.

American League Player of the Day—Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out five and allowing six hits and one walk, in the 5-0 win over the Mariners.

Tanaka earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 12.4 for the season, rising to 15th among all players and fifth among AL pitchers.

American League Batter of the Day—Manny Machado of the Orioles homered and went 4-for-6, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 10-8 win over the Nationals.

Machado earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 11.7 for the season. He maintains his rank of second among AL batters, behind Jose Altuve of the Astros (12.5 points). Machado ranks 18th among all players.

National League Batter of the Day—Jake Lamb of the Diamondbacks homered, doubled and went 3-for-6, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 10-9, 11-inning win over the Braves. Lamb and teammate Paul Goldschmidt both had Box-Toppers game scores of +2.0 Wednesday with similar line scores (3-6 3R 2BI), but Lamb won Player of the Game honors over Goldschmidt because he had both a homer and a double, while Goldschmidt had just a home run.

Notable—Three other players became the 28th, 29th and 30th players to reach the 10.0-Box-Toppers point threshold for the 2016 season:

• Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks (6IP 4H 2R 2BB 8K W in the 6-3 win over the Padres) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.7 for the season, becoming the 28th player with 10 or more this season. Hendricks rises to 22nd place among all players and 14th among NL pitchers. He is the fifth Cubs pitcher this season with 10 or more points.
• Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill (6IP 5H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 1-0 win over the Giants) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.4 for the season, becoming the 29th player with 10 or more this season. Hill ranks 29th among all players and 15th among NL pitchers. It is Hill’s second 10-point season; his other was 2007 with the Cubs when he had 11.7. Wednesday marked Hill’s first Player of the Game honor since being traded from the Athletics to the Dodgers.
• Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (HR 2B 4-5 2R 2BI in the 9-4 win over the Twins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season, becoming the 30th player (and third batter) with 10 or more this season. Cabrera ranks third among AL batters and 30th among all players. It is his seventh season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points.

Cabrera also now has 142.9 career Box-Toppers points and rises to 23rd place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. Cabrera passes David Ortiz of the Red Sox (142.9) on the “all-time” list, to become the seventh-ranked active player in career points, second among all active batters, behind Albert Pujols of the Angels (181.3). While Cabrera and Ortiz both have the same 142.9 career Box-Toppers point total, Cabrera now ranks ahead because he has more points in 2016—10.0 vs. 5.0. Cabrera now trails 22nd-ranked player, Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon (145.8).

Scoring—Fernandez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Tanaka earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Machado and Lamb each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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

8/24	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	8.0	MIA 3, KC 0	Jose Fernandez (W,13-7)	-	-	-	-		7.0	6	0	0	2	9
AL	5.0	NYY 5, SEA 0	Masahiro Tanaka (W,11-4)	-	-	-	-		7.0	6	0	0	1	5
	5.0	LAA 8, TOR 2	Matt Shoemaker (W,8-13)	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	0	0	1	3
BAT	4.0	BAL 10, WSH 8	Manny Machado, 3B	6	2	4	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	STL 8, NYM 1	Carlos Martinez (W,12-7)	-	-	-	-		8.0	4	1	1	3	5
	4.0	MIL 7, COL 1	Zach Davies (W,10-6)	-	-	-	-		6.0	5	1	1	3	8
	4.0	CHC 6, SD 3	Kyle Hendricks (W,12-7)	-	-	-	-		6.0	4	2	2	2	8
	4.0	LAD 1, SF 0	Rich Hill (W,10-3)	-	-	-	-		6.0	5	0	0	0	3
	3.2	`TB 4, BOS 3 (11)	Alex Colome	-	-	-	-		1.2	0	0	0	0	2
	3.0	DET 9, MIN 4	Miguel Cabrera, 1B	5	2	4	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	HOU 5, PIT 4	Ken Giles (S,5)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
BAT	2.0	ARI 10, ATL 9 (11)	Jake Lamb, 3B	6	3	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	PHI 5, CHW 3	Aaron Altherr, LF	3	1	2	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	TEX 6, CIN 5	Nomar Mazara, LF-RF	4	1	1	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	0.0	OAK 5, CLE 1	Ryon Healy, 3B	3	1	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 of Game	Pos	Team	16	15-16	11-16	Career	+/-
Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	18.4	23.1	49.1	49.1	13.7
Tanaka, Masahiro 3305	pi sp	nyy al	12.4	20.4	33.1	33.1	4.4
Machado, Manny 3087	ss 3b	bal al	11.7	19.2	22.7	22.7	4.2
Hendricks, Kyle 3386	pi sp	chi nl	10.7	20.4	25.4	25.4	1.0
Hill, Rich 2215	pi sp	lad nl	10.4	14.4	14.4	34.1	6.4
Cabrera, Miguel 1776	1b	det al	10.0	14.7	63.3	142.9	5.3
Martinez, Carlos 3371	pi sp	stl nl	7.7	21.4	22.4	22.4	-6.0
Shoemaker, Matt 3290	pi sp	ana al	7.0	12.7	25.4	25.4	1.3
Colome, Alex 3189	pi cp	tb al	7.0	12.0	15.7	15.7	2.0
Davies, Zach 3581	pi sp	mil nl	5.0	8.0	8.0	8.0	2.0
Mazara, Nomar 3614	rf lf	tex al	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5
Lamb, Jake 3517	3b	ari nl	4.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	3.0
Healy, Ryon 3685	3b	oak al	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0
Altherr, Aaron 3563	rf lf	phi nl	2.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	1.5
Giles, Ken 3402	pi mr cp	hou nl	2.0	5.0	7.0	7.0	-1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Mets' Bartolo Colon tops players for Tuesday, July 26; Angels' Skaggs tops AL players

Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon is Tuesday’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 July 26:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	20.0
2	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	16.4
3	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	16.0
4	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	14.4
5	Kluber, Corey 3200	pi sp	cle al	12.5
6	Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	12.1
7	Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	11.4
8	Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	sf nl	11.0
9	Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	11.0
10	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	10.7

What are those numbers after players' names?

Colon struck out eight over seven innings, allowing one run, three hits and no walks, in the 3-1 win over the Cardinals.

Colon earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 145.8 for his career. He ranks 22nd among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began, and now trails 21st-ranked player Jim Thome (146.7).

Colon has 5.7 Box-Toppers points this season, most of any of the 16 who earned Player of the Game honors Tuesday. He ranks 78th among all players, 31st among NL pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits, one walk and striking out five, in the 13-0 win over the Royals.

American League Batter of the Day—Kyle Seager of the Mariners homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 7-4 win over the Pirates.

National League Batter of the Day—Scooter Gennett of the Brewers went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 9-4 win over the Diamondbacks.

Notable—Matt Cain of the Giants becomes the fifth pitcher this season to earn Player of the Game honors for batting and also has now earned Box-Toppers points for 12 straight seasons.

It is the second time in his career that Cain (3-R HR 1-2 in the 9-7 win over the Reds) has earned Player of the Game honors for batting. He also did it Aug. 23, 2007.

With his first point of the season, Cain has now earned Box-Toppers points in 12 straight seasons. He earned his first points in 2005 with the Giants and has 98.0 career points, 12th among active NL pitchers and third among active Giants, behind Jake Peavy (141.8) and Madison Bumgarner (103.7). His best season was 2010 with the Giants when he had 16.1 Box-Toppers points, seventh among NL pitchers. In 2015, he had 2.0 Box-Toppers points with the Giants.

Scoring—Colon earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Skaggs earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Seager and Gennett 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

7/26	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	10.0	NYM 3, STL 1	Bartolo Colon (W,9-5)	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	1	1	0	8
	8.1	LAD 3, TB 2	Bud Norris (W,6-9)	-	-	-	-		6.1	2	0	0	2	6
AL	8.0	LAA 13, KC 0	Tyler Skaggs (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	0	0	1	5
	7.0	MIA 5, PHI 0	Tom Koehler (W,8-8)	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	0	0	1	5
	4.2	CHW 3, CHC 0	James Shields (W,5-12)	-	-	-	-		7.2	4	0	0	4	5
BAT	3.0	SEA 7, PIT 4	Kyle Seager, 3B	4	2	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	3.0	MIL 9, ARI 4	Scooter Gennett, 2B	3	1	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	SF 9, CIN 7	Matt Cain, P	2	1	1	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	ATL 2, MIN 0	Lucas Harrell (W,2-2)	-	-	-	-		6.0	4	0	0	3	4
	2.0	OAK 6, TEX 3	Josh Reddick, RF	4	1	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	CLE 7, WSH 6	Tyler Naquin, PH	1	1	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	NYY 6, HOU 3	Andrew Miller (S,9)	-	-	-	-		1.0	1	0	0	0	2
	2.0	COL 6, BAL 3	Carlos Estevez (S,9)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	1
	1.0	DET 9, BOS 8	Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C	4	0	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	TOR 7, SD 6 (12)	Justin Smoak, 1B	2	1	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	0.0	STL 3, NYM 2	Jedd Gyorko, 3B	4	1	1	2		-	-	-	-	-	-

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 of Game	Pos	Team	16	15-16	11-16	Career	+/-
Colon, Bartolo	pi sp	nym nl	5.7	12.4	54.3	145.8	-1.0
Norris, Bud 2638	pi sp	lad nl	5.7	6.7	37.1	46.1	4.7
Seager, Kyle 3031	3b	sea al	5.0	10.0	24.0	24.0	0.0
Koehler, Tom 3159	pi sp	fla nl	4.0	8.0	16.0	16.0	0.0
Miller, Andrew 2436	pi cp	nyy al	4.0	8.0	12.0	19.0	0.0
Reddick, Josh 2936	rf	oak al	3.5	11.7	24.4	24.4	-4.7
Harrell, Lucas 2988	pi sp	atl nl	3.0	3.0	7.7	7.7	3.0
Estevez, Carlos 3641	pi cp mr	col nl	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0
Gyorko, Jedd 3164	3b 2b	stl nl	2.5	6.0	15.2	15.2	-1.0
Shields, James 2157	pi sp	chi al	2.0	9.4	67.6	98.4	-5.4
Smoak, Justin 2731	1b	tor al	2.0	7.0	16.9	21.4	-3.0
Saltalamacchia, Jarod 2355	ca	det al	2.0	2.0	13.0	19.0	2.0
Naquin, Tyler 3662	cf ph	cle al	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Skaggs, Tyler 3183	pi sp	ana al	1.7	1.7	11.4	11.4	1.7
Gennett, Scooter 3254	2b	mil nl	1.5	3.5	10.5	10.5	-0.5
Cain, Matt 2081	pi sp	sf nl	1.0	3.0	35.8	98.0	-1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Tigers' Fulmer tops players for Friday, July 1; Dodgers' Norris is ‘Kershavian,' topping NL players

Tigers pitcher Michael Fulmer 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 July 1:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	20.0
2	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	13.4
3	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	12.0
4	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	11.7
5	Kluber, Corey 3200	pi sp	cle al	10.8
6	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	10.7
7	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	10.7
8	Salazar, Danny 3223	pi sp	cle al	10.5
9	Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	10.4
10	Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	10.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Fulmer pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out 10 and allowing two hits and one walk, in the 10-2 win over the Rays.

Fulmer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 8.7 for the season, most of any of Friday’s 15 Players of the Games. Fulmer ranks 17th among all players and fifth among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Dodgers pitcher Bud Norris of the Dodgers performed in a very “Kershavian” manner, pitching six scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing two hits and one walk, in the 5-0 win over the Rockies. 

This was Norris’ first start with the Dodgers after being traded from the Braves to fill in for the injured ace Clayton Kershaw (20.0 Box-Toppers points and leader in player rankings). Norris now has 4.7 Box-Toppers points on the season.

National League Batter of the Day—Wil Myers of the Padres homered and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 7-6 win over the Yankees.

Myers earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 7.2 for the season, rising to second place among NL batters, behind Matt Carpenter of the Cardinals (7.5).

American League Batter of the Day—David Ortiz of the Red Sox homered and went 3-for-4, in the 5-4 win over the Angels. His homer was his 522nd for his career, putting him in 19th place on the all-time list.

Ortiz earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 142.9 for his career, 23rd-most of any player since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 22nd-ranked player, Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon (143.8). Ortiz ranks eighth in career points among all active players and third among active batters, behind Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees (187.0) and Albert Pujols of the Angels (176.3).

Ortiz has 5.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, 15th among AL batters.

Debut—Rangers pitcher Matt Bush made his Box-Toppers debut Friday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.

Bush (2IP H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 3-2 win over the Twins) made his Major League debut May 13 and was playing in his 23rd career game. He is the 3,673rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Fulmer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Norris earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Myers and Ortiz 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

7/1	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	14.0	DET 10/TB 2	Michael Fulmer (W,8-2)	-	-	-	-		7.0	2	0	0	1	10
NL	11.0	LAD 5/COL 0	Bud Norris (W,4-7)	-	-	-	-		6.0	2	0	0	1	8
	6.0	NYM 10/CHC 2	Jacob deGrom (W,4-4)	-	-	-	-		5.0	3	1	1	1	7
	5.0	`DC 3/CIN 2	Sammy Solis	-	-	-	-		2.0	0	0	0	0	3
	4.0	STL 7/MIL 1	Jaime Garcia (W,6-6)	-	-	-	-		8.0	4	1	1	4	6
	4.0	PHI 4/KC 3	Jeremy Hellickson (W,6-6)	-	-	-	-		6.0	5	1	1	1	6
	4.0	HOU 5/CHW 0	Mike Fiers (W,6-3)	-	-	-	-		6.0	4	0	0	2	4
BAT	3.0	SD 7/NYY 6	Wil Myers, 1B	3	2	2	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	SEA 5/BAL 2	Wade LeBlanc (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	2	2	1	5
	3.0	CLE 2/TOR 1	Trevor Bauer (W,7-2)	-	-	-	-		5.0	2	0	0	3	3
	3.0	TEX 3/MIN 2	Matt Bush (W,3-1)	-	-	-	-		2.0	1	0	0	0	2
	2.0	MIA 7/ATL 5	Marcell Ozuna, CF	6	1	4	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	SF 6/ARI 4	Conor Gillaspie, 3B	4	2	3	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	1.0	BOS 5/LAA 4	David Ortiz, DH	4	1	3	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	PIT 7/OAK 3	Jordy Mercer, SS	4	1	2	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`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 of Game	Pos	Team	16	15-16	11-16	Career	+/-
Fulmer, Michael 3640	pi sp	det al	8.7	8.7	8.7	8.7	8.7
Bauer, Trevor 3065	pi sp	cle al	7.7	17.1	25.8	25.8	-1.7
Myers, Wil 3228	1b	sd nl	7.2	10.2	15.7	15.7	4.2
Garcia, Jaime 2508	pi sp	stl nl	6.0	15.4	33.1	41.8	-3.4
Hellickson, Jeremy 2778	pi sp	phi nl	5.4	10.4	34.1	37.1	0.4
Ortiz, David	dh	bos al	5.0	9.5	40.9	142.9	0.5
Norris, Bud 2638	pi sp	lad nl	4.7	5.7	36.1	45.1	3.7
deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	4.0	26.4	39.4	39.4	-18.4
Ozuna, Marcell 3190	cf	fla nl	4.0	7.0	17.5	17.5	1.0
Fiers, Michael 3029	pi sp	hou al	3.0	10.0	24.1	24.1	-4.0
Mercer, Jordy 3206	ss	pit nl	2.0	2.0	8.0	8.0	2.0
LeBlanc, Wade 2669	pi sp	sea al	2.0	2.0	2.0	9.0	2.0
Solis, Sammy 3651	pi mr	dc nl	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Gillaspie, Conor 3218	3b	sf nl	1.0	1.0	7.5	7.5	1.0
Bush, Matt 3673	pi mr	tex al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Orioles' Wilson tops players for Thursday, June 16; Mets' Colon tops NL players

Orioles pitcher Tyler Wilson is Thursday’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 June 16:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	18.0
2	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	11.7
3	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	10.0
4	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	10.0
5	Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	10.0
6	Lackey, John 1640	pi sp	chi nl	9.4
7	Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	sf nl	9.0
8	Salazar, Danny 3223	pi sp	cle al	8.8
9	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	8.7
10	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	8.7

What are those numbers after players' names?

Wilson pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits, one walk and striking out six, in the 5-1 win over the Red Sox.

National League Player of the Day—Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon struck out eight over 7 2/3 innings, allowing two runs, in the 6-4 win over the Pirates.

Colon earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 143.8 for his career. Colon ranks 22nd in career points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 21st-ranked player Jim Thome (146.7). Colon has 3.7 Box-Toppers points for the season.

American League Batter of the Day—Victor Martinez of the Tigers hit three solo home runs, going 3-for-5, in the 10-4 win over the Royals.

National League Batter of the Day—Freddie Freeman of the Braves hit a two-run homer and went 3-for-4, scoring twice, in the 7-2 win over the Reds.

Notable—Rangers pitcher Colby Lewis has the most 2016 Box-Toppers points of any of Thursday’s 10 Players of the Games.

Lewis (CG 2H R BB 4K W in the 5-1 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game, giving him 7.7 for the season. He ranks 18th among all players and fifth among AL pitchers.

Scoring—Wilson earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Colon earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Martinez and Freeman 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

6/16	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	10.0	BAL 5/BOS 1	Tyler Wilson (W,3-5)	-	-	-	-		8.0	3	0	0	1	6
	8.0	TEX 5/OAK 1	Colby Lewis (W,6-0)	-	-	-	-		9.0	2	1	1	1	4
	6.0	TOR 13/PHI 2	J.A. Happ (W,8-3)	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	1	0	2	5
NL	4.2	NYM 6/PIT 4	Bartolo Colon (W,6-3)	-	-	-	-		7.2	7	2	2	0	8
BAT	4.0	DET 10/KC 4	Victor Martinez, DH	5	3	3	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	NYY 4/MIN 1	Didi Gregorius, SS	3	2	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	3.0	ATL 7/CIN 2	Freddie Freeman, 1B	4	2	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	SEA 6/TB 4	Dae-Ho Lee, 1B	3	1	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	DC 8/SD 5	Bryce Harper, RF	4	1	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	MIL 8/LAD 6	Tyler Thornburg (W,3-1)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	1

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 of Game	Pos	Team	16	15-16	11-16	Career	+/-
Lewis, Colby 1567	pi sp	tex al	7.7	15.4	33.6	45.0	0.0
Lee, Dae-Ho 3627	1b ph	sea al	6.7	6.7	6.7	6.7	6.7
Martinez, Victor 1695	dh 1b	det al	5.0	8.5	28.4	68.6	1.5
Happ, J.A. 2536	pi sp	tor al	4.0	17.1	32.5	40.5	-9.1
Colon, Bartolo	pi sp	nym nl	3.7	10.4	52.3	143.8	-3.0
Wilson, Tyler 3608	pi mr sp	bal al	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0
Harper, Bryce 3011	rf	dc nl	2.0	11.0	26.4	26.4	-7.0
Gregorius, Didi 3184	ss	nyy al	2.0	4.5	6.5	6.5	-0.5
Freeman, Freddie 2887	1b	atl nl	1.5	4.5	32.7	32.7	-1.5
Thornburg, Tyler 3195	pi mr	mil nl	1.0	1.0	7.0	7.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Tigers' Verlander tops players for Tuesday, May 24; Nationals' Strasburg tops NL players

Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander is Tuesday’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 24:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	12.0
2	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	9.0
3	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	8.7
4	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	8.7
5	Machado, Manny 3087	ss 3b	bal al	7.7
6	Hill, Rich 2215	pi sp	oak al	7.4
7	Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	7.0
8	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	6.7
9	Matz, Steven 3516	pi sp	nym nl	6.7
10	Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	6.4

What are those numbers after players' names?

Verlander pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out 10 and allowing three hits, in the 3-1 win over the Phillies.

Verlander earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season and has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons, all with the Tigers. He earned his first points in 2006 and has 126.6 career points, rising to 33rd place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. Verlander passes Mariano Rivera (126.4) on the “all-time” list and now trails 32nd-ranked player Roy Oswalt (127.2). Verlander ranks fourth among active American League pitchers in career Box-Toppers points.

Verlander’s best season was 2012 when he led all players with 24.8 Box-Toppers points. In 2011, he led all AL pitchers with 24.4 points. In 2015, Verlander had 6.4 points.

National League Player of the Day—Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg struck out 11 over 6 2/3 innings, allowing two runs and four hits, in the 7-4 win over the Mets.

Strasburg earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 6.4 for the season and rising to 11th in Box-Toppers player rankings, seventh among NL pitchers. Strasburg is the highest-ranked player among Tuesday’s Players of the Games.

National League Batter of the Day—Gregory Polanco of the Pirates homered, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 12-1 win over the Diamondbacks.

American League Batter of the Day—David Ortiz of the Red Sox doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 8-3 win over the Rockies.

Ortiz earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 141.4 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of 23rd among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 22nd-ranked player, Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon (142.1). Ortiz ranks eighth among all active players in career Box-Toppers points, third among active batters, behind Alex Rodriguez (187.0) and Albert Pujols (176.3).

Scoring—Verlander earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Strasburg earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Polanco and Ortiz 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

5/24	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	13.0	Tigers	Justin Verlander (W,4-4)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	3	0	0	2	10
NL	7.2	Nationals	Stephen Strasburg (W,8-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.2	4	2	2	2	11
	7.0	Rays	Jake Odorizzi (W,2-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		5.0	2	0	0	3	7
	6.0	Yankees	Nathan Eovaldi (W,5-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	2	0	0	3	5
	5.1	Mariners	Mike Montgomery (W,2-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		3.1	2	0	0	0	4
BAT	5.0	Pirates	Gregory Polanco, RF-LF	5	2	3	5	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	Rangers	Martin Perez (W,2-4)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	5	0	0	2	6
	5.0	`Brewers	Jimmy Nelson	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	4	1	1	3	8
	4.1	`Astros	Tony Sipp	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	3
	4.0	Giants	Brandon Crawford, SS	3	1	2	4	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Cubs	Jorge Soler, LF	3	2	2	3	2	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Indians	Josh Tomlin (W,7-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	5	2	2	1	6
	3.2	Dodgers	Mike Bolsinger (W,1-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		5.2	3	2	2	1	6
BAT	3.0	Red Sox	David Ortiz, DH	4	1	2	4	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	Royals	Lorenzo Cain, CF	5	0	4	2	0	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	+/-
Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	6.4	20.4	66.5	74.2	-7.6
Eovaldi, Nathan 2928	pi sp	nyy al	4.7	6.7	23.8	23.8	2.7
Tomlin, Josh 2771	pi sp	cle al	4.0	8.7	21.4	23.4	-0.7
Ortiz, David	dh	bos al	3.5	8.0	39.4	141.4	-1.0
Cain, Lorenzo 3171	cf	kc al	3.0	11.2	17.2	17.2	-5.2
Odorizzi, Jake 3291	pi sp	tb al	2.7	11.4	22.4	22.4	-6.0
Polanco, Gregory 3361	rf lf	pit nl	2.5	5.5	9.5	9.5	-0.5
Nelson, Jimmy 3299	pi sp	mil nl	2.0	10.4	12.4	12.4	-6.4
Verlander, Justin 2112	pi sp	det al	2.0	8.4	71.6	126.6	-4.4
Bolsinger, Mike 3318	pi sp	lad nl	1.0	6.7	7.7	7.7	-4.7
Montgomery, Mike 3513	pi cp	sea al	1.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	-3.0
Crawford, Brandon 2878	ss	sf nl	1.0	4.5	15.5	15.5	-2.5
Soler, Jorge 3403	lf	chi nl	1.0	4.2	5.2	5.2	-2.2
Perez, Martin 3213	pi sp	tex al	1.0	2.0	12.0	12.0	0.0
Sipp, Tony 2852	pi mr	hou al	1.0	1.0	9.0	9.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Mets' Syndergaard tops players for Sunday, May 22, rises to 6th in Box-Toppers rankings

Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to sixth place in player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of May 22:  

	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	Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	7.0
7	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	6.7
8	Matz, Steven 3516	pi sp	nym nl	6.7
9	Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	6.4
10	Hill, Rich 2215	pi sp	oak al	6.4

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Sunday, Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels rose to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings and five players with 100 or more career Box-Toppers points earned Player of the Game honors—Zack Greinke, David Ortiz, Miguel Cabrera, Cole Hamels and Max Scherzer.

Player of the Day—Syndergaard struck out 11 over seven innings, allowing one run (none earned) and six hits, in the 3-1 win over the Brewers.

Syndergaard earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.0 for the season, rising to sixth in player rankings, fourth among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels struck out 11 over eight innings, allowing two runs (one earned) and five hits, in the 9-2 win over the Astros.

Hamels earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 6.4 for the season, rising to ninth in player rankings, second among AL pitchers, behind Chris Sale of the White Sox (8.7).

Hamels also now has 132.6 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his spot in 28th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 27th-ranked player Jason Giambi (133.4).

American League Batter of the Day—Carlos Perez of the Angels hit a three-run homer and went 3-for-4, driving in five runs, in the 10-2 win over the Orioles.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no NL Batter of the Day for Sunday because no NL batters earned Player of the Game honors.

Notable—Five players with more than 100 career Box-Toppers points earned Player of the Game honors Sunday. In addition to Hamels, mentioned previously (132.6 points, 28th “all-time”), they are:

• Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke (8IP 6H 2R 8K W in the 7-2 win over the Cardinals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 151.4 career points, maintaining his rank of 18th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 17th-ranked player Greg Maddux (151.7).
• David Ortiz of the Red Sox (HR 2B 4-4 R 3BI in the 5-2 win over the Indians) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 139.9 career points, maintaining his rank of 23rd among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 22nd-ranked player, Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon (142.1).
• Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (HR 3-3 R 2BI in the 9-4 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 135.4 career points, maintaining his rank of 26th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 25th-ranked player, Giants pitcher Jake Peavy (137.8).
• Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (8IP 6H 2R 8K W in the 8-2 win over the Marlins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 112.0 for his career, maintaining his rank of 51st among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 50th-ranked player, Cubs pitcher John Lackey (112.5).

Scoring—Syndergaard earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Hamels earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Perez 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

5/22	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	11.0	Mets	Noah Syndergaard (W,5-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	6	1	0	0	11
AL	9.0	Rangers	Cole Hamels (W,5-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	5	2	1	2	11
	8.2	Giants	Madison Bumgarner (W,6-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.2	3	0	0	2	6
	7.0	Dbacks	Zack Greinke (W,5-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	5	1	1	1	7
	6.0	Nationals	Max Scherzer (W,5-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	6	2	2	0	8
BAT	5.0	Angels	Carlos Perez, C	4	1	3	5	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Red Sox	David Ortiz, DH	4	1	4	3	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Phillies	Jerad Eickhoff (W,2-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	0	0	1	3
	3.2	Blue Jays	Marcus Stroman (W,5-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.2	3	1	1	2	3
	3.0	Tigers	Miguel Cabrera, 1B	3	1	3	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	`Dodgers	J.P. Howell	-	-	-	-	-	-		3.0	1	0	0	0	1
	3.0	`Yankees	Dellin Betances	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	2.0	White Sox	David Robertson (S,11)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	1
	2.0	Mariners	Steve Cishek (S,12)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	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	+/-
Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	7.0	17.4	17.4	17.4	-3.4
Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	6.4	21.8	73.4	132.6	-9.0
Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	6.0	27.0	91.6	112.0	-15.0
Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	sf nl	6.0	23.0	93.0	98.7	-11.0
Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	ari nl	5.0	25.7	90.8	151.4	-15.7
Cishek, Steve 2997	pi cp	sea al	4.0	5.0	24.0	24.0	3.0
Robertson, David 2774	pi cp	chi al	3.0	11.0	23.0	24.0	-5.0
Eickhoff, Jerad 3566	pi sp	phi nl	3.0	8.0	8.0	8.0	-2.0
Stroman, Marcus 3327	pi sp	tor al	2.7	5.4	19.1	19.1	0.0
Cabrera, Miguel 1776	1b	det al	2.5	7.2	55.8	135.4	-2.2
Ortiz, David	dh	bos al	2.0	6.5	37.9	139.9	-2.5
Howell, J.P. 2016	pi mr	lad nl	2.0	3.0	3.0	20.0	1.0
Perez, Carlos 3484	ca	ana al	1.5	2.5	2.5	2.5	0.5
Betances, Dellin 3333	pi mr cp	nyy al	1.0	5.0	9.7	9.7	-3.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Rays' Andriese tops players for Saturday, May 14; Cubs' Arrieta rises to 2nd in Box-Toppers rankings

Rays pitcher Matt Andriese 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 2016 season as of May 14:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	9.0
2	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	7.7
3	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	6.7
4	Machado, Manny 3087	3b ss	bal al	6.7
5	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	6.0
6	Quintana, Jose 3040	pi sp	chi al	5.7
7	De La Rosa, Rubby 3342	pi sp	ari nl	5.7
8	Nola, Aaron 3569	pi sp	phi nl	5.7
9	Davis, Chris 2478	1b	bal al	5.5
10	Hill, Rich 2215	pi sp	oak al	5.4

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Saturday, Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta rose to second in Box-Toppers season player rankings and David Ortiz of the Red Sox extended his consecutive season streak earning Box-Toppers points to 17.

Player of the Day—Andriese pitched a complete game two-hit shutout, striking out five, in the 6-0 win over the Athletics.

National League Player of the Day—Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta struck out 11 over eight innings, allowing two runs and three hits, in the 8-2 win over the Pirates.

Arrieta earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 7.7 for the season and rising from fourth to second in season player rankings, trailing Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (9.0).

American League Batter of the Day—Jonathan Schoop of the Orioles hit two home runs, including a grand slam, in the 9-3 win over the Tigers. Schoop went 2-for-3 with five total RBIs.

National League Batter of the Day—Marcell Ozuna of the Marlins tripled and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 7-1 win over the Nationals.

Rankings—Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola rose to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Nola (7IP 5H 2R 9K W in the 4-3 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.7 for the season. He ranks fifth among NL pitchers.

Box-Toppers season streaks

Here are the players who have earned Box-Toppers points in the most consecutive seasons. Jason Giambi earned at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point in 19 straight seasons from 1995 to 2013, more than any other player. (Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.) Players are listed by duration of their streak. Also shown is the duration of their streak and their career Box-Toppers point (BTP) total.

	Streak	Player	Pos	Duration	Career BTP
1	19	Jason Giambi	1b	1995-2013	133.4
2	18	Jim Thome	1b dh	1995-2012	146.7
2	18	Chipper Jones	3b	1995-2012	149.0
2	18	Johnny Damon	lf	1995-2012	63.0
2	18	Alex Rodriguez	dh	1996-2013	187.0
2	18	Carlos Beltran*	rf	1999-2016	99.9
7	17	Mariano Rivera	pi cp	1995-2011	126.4
7	17	Derek Jeter	ss	1996-2012	76.4
7	17	Paul Konerko	1b	1998-2014	100.7
7	17	Tim Hudson	pi sp	1999-2015	157.0
7	17	Torii Hunter	cf	1999-2015	115.9
7	17	David Ortiz*	dh	2000-2016	138.9
13	16	Manny Ramirez	lf	1995-2010	167.2
13	16	Andy Pettitte	pi sp	1995-2010	138.5
13	16	Jamie Moyer	pi sp	1995-2010	104.0
13	16	Scott Rolen	3b	1996-2011	97.6
13	16	Kevin Millwood	pi sp	1997-2012	108.3
13	16	Derek Lowe	pi sp	1998-2013	91.5
13	16	Aramis Ramirez	3b	2000-2015	105.8
13	16	Mark Buehrle*	pi sp	2000-2015	116.7
13	16	Albert Pujols*	dh 1b	2001-2016	175.3
13	16	Ichiro Suzuki*	rf	2001-2016	52.7
13	16	CC Sabathia*	pi sp	2001-2016	180.0

BTP: Box-Toppers points
* Active streak

Streak—Two players extended notable streaks of consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday:

• David Ortiz of the Red Sox (HR 3B 2B 3-5 R 3BI in the 6-5 win over the Astros) has now earned Box-Toppers points in 17 straight seasons—only six players in Box-Toppers tracking history (going back to 1995) have longer streaks.

Ortiz had his first Box-Toppers points in 1997 with the Twins, but his current 17-season streak began in 2000 with the Twins. He has 138.9 career Box-Toppers points and rises to 23rd among all players since 1995, passing Andy Pettitte (138.5) on the “all-time” list. Ortiz now trails 22nd-ranked player Bartolo Colon of the Mets (142.1). Ortiz ranks seventh among all batters since 1995 and third among active batters.

Ortiz had his best seasons in 2005 and 2006 with the Red Sox, when he led AL batters in Box-Toppers points both seasons (14.7 in 2005 and 16.7 in 2006). He had 4.5 points in 2015 with the Red Sox.

• Giants pitcher Jake Peavy (6IP 3H R 5K ND in the 8-7 win over the Brewers) has now earned Box-Toppers points in 15 straight seasons. He earned his first points in 2002 with the Padres and has 137.8 career points, 25th among all players since 1995. He trails 24th-ranked player Andy Pettitte (138.5). Peavy’s best season was 2007 with the Padres when he had 23.4 Box-Toppers points, first among NL pitchers. He had 5.0 points in 2015 with the Giants.

Debut—Juan Centeno of the Twins made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Centeno (HR 2B 2-3 2R 2BI in the 6-3 win over the Indians) made his Major League debut Sept. 18, 2013, and was playing in his 28th career game. He is the 3,635th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Andriese earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Arrieta earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Schoop and Ozuna each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

5/14	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	12.0	Rays	Matt Andriese (W,2-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		9.0	2	0	0	0	5
NL	10.0	Cubs	Jake Arrieta (W,7-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	3	2	2	2	11
	7.0	Phillies	Aaron Nola (W,3-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	2	1	1	9
BAT	6.0	Orioles	Jonathan Schoop, 2B	3	2	2	5	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	Braves	Mike Foltynewicz (W,1-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	7	0	0	0	4
	5.0	`Rangers	Colby Lewis	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	2	2	0	6
	5.0	`Padres	Brad Hand	-	-	-	-	-	-		4.0	2	0	0	2	5
	4.2	Dodgers	Scott Kazmir (W,3-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.2	5	3	2	1	7
	4.0	Angels	Kole Calhoun, RF	4	3	3	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	`Giants	Jake Peavy	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	1	1	2	5
	3.0	Twins	Juan Centeno, C	3	2	2	2	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Yankees	Aroldis Chapman (S,2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	2.0	Red Sox	David Ortiz, DH	5	1	3	3	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	2.0	Marlins	Marcell Ozuna, CF	5	2	3	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Rockies	DJ LeMahieu, 2B	3	1	2	2	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	Nationals	Michael Taylor, CF	3	2	2	0	2	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	7.7	36.8	64.5	67.5	-21.4
Nola, Aaron 3569	pi sp	phi nl	5.7	7.7	7.7	7.7	3.7
Lewis, Colby 1567	pi sp	tex al	2.7	10.4	28.6	40	-5
Kazmir, Scott 1947	pi sp	lad nl	2.0	14.7	42.6	98.4	-10.7
LeMahieu, DJ 3091	2b	col nl	2.0	9.0	15.0	15.0	-5.0
Calhoun, Kole 3279	rf	ana al	2.0	5.2	12.7	12.7	-1.2
Andriese, Matt 3505	pi mr	tb al	2.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	-1.0
Ozuna, Marcell 3190	cf	fla nl	1.5	4.5	15.0	15.0	-1.5
Schoop, Jonathan 3307	2b	bal al	1.5	4.0	6.5	6.5	-1.0
Chapman, Aroldis 2826	pi cp	nyy al	1.0	9.0	39.0	40.0	-7.0
Taylor, Michael 3447	cf	dc nl	1.0	6.5	6.5	6.5	-4.5
Peavy, Jake 1635	pi sp	sf nl	1.0	6.0	34.1	137.8	-4.0
Ortiz, David	dh	bos al	1.0	5.5	36.9	138.9	-3.5
Foltynewicz, Mike 3455	pi sp	atl nl	1.0	3.7	3.7	3.7	-1.7
Hand, Brad 2907	pi mr sp	sd nl	1.0	2.0	6.0	6.0	0.0
Centeno, Juan 3635	ca	min al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Mets' Colon tops players for Monday, May 2; Cards' Wainwright tops NL batters

Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon is Monday’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 2:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	6.0
2	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	5.0
3	Velasquez, Vince 3611	pi sp	phi nl	5.0
4	Cespedes, Yoenis 3008	cf lf dh ph	nym nl	4.5
5	Volquez, Edinson 2220	pi sp	kc al	4.4
6	Hill, Rich 2215	pi sp	oak al	4.4
7	Machado, Manny 3087	3b ss	bal al	4.2
8	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	4.0
9	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	4.0
10	De La Rosa, Rubby 3342	pi sp mr	ari nl	4.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Colon struck out seven over eight scoreless innings, allowing seven hits, in the 4-1 win over the Braves.

Colon earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first of the season, giving him 142.1 for his career. Colon ranks 22nd among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 21st-ranked player Jim Thome (146.7).

American League Player of the Day—Rangers pitcher A.J. Griffin struck out nine over six innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 3-1 win over the Blue Jays. Griffin did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because he exited the game with the score tied, 1-1.

National League Batter of the Day—Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright hit a three-run homer and doubled, going 2-for-2, in the 10-3 win over the Phillies. Wainwright also won the game on the mound (6IP 5H 3R 4K), but had a higher Box-Toppers game score for batting (+4.0) than pitching (-2.0).

This is the first time in 2016 that a pitcher has earned Player of the Game honors for batting—it happened seven times in 2015. This is the third time in Wainwright’s career he has earned Player of the Game honors for batting.

Wainwright earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, his first of the season, and now has 103.3 career points and rises to 60th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes three players on the “all-time” list—Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2), Miguel Tejada (102.3) and Adrian Beltre of the Rangers (102.8). Wainwright trails 59th-ranked player Jamie Moyer (104.0).

This is also Wainwright’s first Box-Toppers points in more than a year—he was out much of 2015 with an Achilles injury. He last earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors April 25, 2015, and had 3.0 points for 2015 after he had 18.7 in 2014 (ranked eighth) and 20.2 in 2013 (ranked second).

American League Batter of the Day—Byung Ho Park of the Twins tripled and went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 6-2 win over the Astros.

Streak—Nationals closing pitcher Jonathan Papelbon has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Monday.

Papelbon (1IP 0H 0R K Sv in the 2-0 win over the Royals) first earned Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Red Sox and has 53.4 career points, first among active NL closing pitchers, second among all active closing pitchers (behind Francisco Rodriguez of the Tigers, with 60.4) and 18th among all closing pitchers since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began.

Papelbon’s best season was 2012 with the Phillies when he had 7.0 Box-Toppers points and ranked fifth among NL closing pitchers. In 2015, Papelbon had 4.0 points with the Phillies, a season in which he also played for the Nationals. Monday was the first time Papelbon earned Player of the Game honors as a member of the Nationals.

Notable—Ryan Braun of the Brewers is Monday’s highest-ranked Player of the Game. Braun (2B 3-3 R BI in the 8-5 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 3.5 for the season and ranks 20th in Box-Toppers season player rankings, fourth among NL batters.

Debut—Padres relief pitcher Ryan Buchter made his Box-Toppers debut Monday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Buchter (1.1IP 0H 0R 4K ND in the 2-1 win over the Rockies) made his Major League debut June 20, 2014, and was playing in his 14th career game. He is the 3,626th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Colon earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Griffin earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Wainwright and Park each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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

5/2	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	8.0	Mets	Bartolo Colon (W,2-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	7	0	0	0	7
AL	8.0	`Rangers	A.J. Griffin	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	1	1	2	9
	4.1	`Padres	Ryan Buchter	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	1	4
BAT	4.0	Cardinals	Adam Wainwright, SP	2	1	2	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Mariners	Steve Cishek (S,7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	1	3
	3.0	Giants	Santiago Casilla (S,5)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	2.0	Brewers	Ryan Braun, LF	3	1	3	1	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	2.0	Twins	Byung Ho Park, DH	3	1	2	2	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Nationals	Jonathan Papelbon (S,9)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	1
	1.0	Cubs	Ben Zobrist, RF	3	1	1	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`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	+/-
Braun, Ryan J. 2300	lf	mil nl	3.5	8.5	39.5	81.2	-1.5
Park, Byung Ho 3616	dh	min al	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0
Griffin, A.J. 3074	pi sp	tex al	2.7	2.7	17.4	17.4	2.7
Colon, Bartolo	pi sp	nym nl	2.0	8.7	50.6	142.1	-4.7
Cishek, Steve 2997	pi cp	sea al	2.0	3.0	22.0	22.0	1.0
Wainwright, Adam 2150	pi sp	stl nl	1.5	4.5	52.6	103.3	-1.5
Casilla, Santiago 2301	pi cp	sf nl	1.0	6.0	18.7	21.7	-4.0
Papelbon, Jonathan 2110	pi cp	dc nl	1.0	5.0	22.7	53.4	-3.0
Zobrist, Ben 2216	rf	chi nl	1.0	2.0	20.0	29.0	0.0
Buchter, Ryan 3626	pi mr	sd nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Catching up on baseball with Box-Toppers, after falling behind by a ‘fair’ amount

Baseball proceeds whether we are ready or not.

In the past few weeks, other duties put me behind staying up-to-date with the Box-Toppers daily blog and I have been scrambling to catch up. I fell behind three weeks and three days ago, on Aug. 13 and only caught up today (Monday, Sept. 7) with yesterday’s games.

Usually when a person falls behind doing something, it’s best to just move ahead and ignore most of what was missed. But when you’re trying to keep comprehensive track of the baseball season, to assess and evaluate teams and players across an entire season, it is a mistake to simply ignore a chunk of the season, simply due to lack of convenience or lack of attention. So I’ve gone back and picked up the days I’ve missed, posting each day’s summary in the blog, even if was sometimes more than a week late.

During my catch-up phase, I did not post daily highlights to Box-Toppers’ Twitter and Facebook feeds. Instead, I’ve opted to post a summary of highlights of what was missed in the interim while I wasn’t posting to social media here in this post, with links to the relevant posts in the Box-Toppers blog:

New Box-Toppers leaders—Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta took over the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings on Saturday, Sept. 5. Arrieta has 21.1 Box-Toppers points and passed previous leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who took the lead Wednesday, Sept. 2. (Kershaw has 20.7 Box-Toppers points.) Previously, Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom led from July 26 to Sept. 1. He currently ranks third with 19.4 points.

Arrieta picked up 6.7 Box-Toppers points during the catch-up period (Aug. 13 to Sept. 6), including earning Player of the Day honors twice—on Sunday, Aug. 30 (when he pitched a no-hitter) and on Sept. 5.

New American League pitching leader—Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel took the lead among AL pitchers on Sunday, Sept. 6 with 19.4 Box-Toppers points. Previously, Blue Jays pitcher David Price led AL pitchers. He currently ranks second among AL pitchers with 19.1 points.

New American League batting leader—Edwin Encarnacion of the Blue Jays took the lead among AL batters on Saturday, Aug. 29 with 10.4 Box-Toppers points. Previously, Mike Trout of the Angels led AL batters. Trout currently has 10.0 Box-Toppers points and ranks second among AL batters.

New National League batting leader—Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies took the lead among NL batters on Thursday, Sept. 3 with 11.5 Box-Toppers points. Previously, Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets took the lead among NL batters on Friday, Aug. 21 with 9.9 points. Before that, Randal Grichuk of the Cardinals led NL batters. He currently ranks fourth with 9.5 points.

New Box-Toppers team rankings leader—The Kansas City Royals took over the lead among teams at the last Box-Toppers team ranking report, as of Thursday, Sept. 3. The St. Louis Cardinals rose to top NL teams. For three weeks previously (Aug. 13, 20 and 27), the Pittsburgh Pirates were the top-ranked team. The Pirates ranked third as of Sept. 3.

Notable—Here are some notable achievements by players that happened during the catch-up phase (Aug. 13 to Sept. 6):

• Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw was the first player with 20.0 or more points this season, earning it on Wednesday, Sept. 2, the same day he took the Box-Toppers points lead. Kershaw, who led players in Box-Toppers points in three of the past four seasons (2011, 2013 and 2014) and led National League pitchers the past four seasons, has now exceeded 20.0 Box-Toppers points for five straight seasons. Kershaw also rose to 15th place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He has 154.3 career Box-Toppers points.
• Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon rose to 22nd place among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995. He earned Player of the Day for Monday, Aug. 31, giving him 138.5 Box-Toppers points.
• Michael Cuddyer of the Mets extended to 12 the number of consecutive seasons in which he’s earned at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point on Sunday, Aug. 30.
• Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke earned 3.0 Box-Toppers points during the catch-up period and is currently ranked sixth among all players with 18.0 points. In addition, with his point earned Tuesday, Sept. 1, Greinke has 143.7 career Box-Toppers points and ranks 21st among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began.
• Astros pitcher Mike Fiers pitched a no-hitter on Friday, Aug. 21, earning Box-Toppers Player of the Day honors.
• Carlos Beltran of the Yankees earned Box-Toppers points in his 17th straight season, tying the record for the longest-active season streak on Friday, Aug. 14. 

Debuts—Twenty-three players made their Box-Toppers debut during the catch-up phase. Here is the list with links to the blog post for the day they made their debut with more information:

• Delino DeShields of the Rangers, Friday, Aug. 14.
• Twins pitcher Tyler Duffey, Saturday, Aug. 15.
• Addison Russell of the Cubs, Saturday, Aug. 15.
• Ryan Strausborger of the Rangers, Sunday, Aug. 16.
• Cole Gillespie of the Marlins, Tuesday, Aug. 18.
• Greg Bird of the Yankees, Wednesday, Aug. 19.
• Aaron Altherr of the Phillies, Wednesday, Aug. 19.
• Rockies pitcher Yohan Flande, Thursday, Aug. 20.
• Blake Swihart of the Red Sox, Friday, Aug. 21.
• Phillies pitcher Jerad Eickhoff, Friday, Aug. 21.
• Yankees pitcher Luis Severino, Saturday, Aug. 22.
• Darnell Sweeney of the Phillies, Saturday, Aug. 22.
• Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola, Sunday, Aug. 23.
• Stephen Piscotty of the Cardinals, Sunday, Aug. 23.
• Indians pitcher Jeff Manship, Wednesday, Aug. 26.
• Phillies pitcher Adam Morgan, Sunday, Aug. 30.
• Adam Duvall of the Brewers, Monday, Aug. 31.
• Rockies pitcher Simon Castro,  Monday, Aug. 31.
• Darin Ruf of the Phillies, Tuesday, Sept. 1.
• Marlins pitcher Justin Nicolino, Tuesday, Sept. 1.
• Hernan Perez of the Brewers, Thursday, Sept. 3.
• Rays pitcher Xavier Cedeno, Saturday, Sept. 5.
• Nationals pitcher Felipe Rivero, Sunday, Sept. 6.

•

So what was I doing that was keeping me from Box-Toppers? I served as a volunteer coordinator for our local high school band’s major fundraiser. Over the course of the 11-day Iowa State Fair, I helped wrangle nearly 300 student and parent volunteers to fill 550 volunteer spots to serve ice cream and shakes at the fair’s Dairy Barn.

It’s a task that requires a few months of preparation to set up—to get volunteers signed up, to comply with various red-tape regulations and to develop and implement logistics to make it all work. But when the fair starts, the task can sometimes become even more time-consuming. As soon as the fair started on Aug. 13, Box-Toppers fell to the wayside. 

My last “on-time” post was Thursday, Aug. 13, covering the games of Wednesday, Aug. 12. The very next post was more than a week later on Friday, Aug. 21, covering the games of Thursday, Aug. 13. After the fair ended on Aug. 23, I kept plugging away, finally catching up two more weeks later.

The fundraiser went well, by the way. All our volunteers made it, worked hard, had a little fun (and a little ice cream) and raised a lot of money for our high school band program. It was my fifth and final year of coordinating volunteers for the fundraiser. And though it put me a little behind updating the Box-Toppers blog, it was a lot of fun and now that it’s over, tremendously satisfying.

And now, with my attention returned more fully to baseball, onto the homestretch of the season …

Mets' Colon tops players for Monday, Aug. 31; Keuchel rises to 5th in player rankings, Archer rises to 10th

(Other duties have put us behind updating Box-Toppers. Playing catch up …)

Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Monday, Aug. 31.

Also Monday, Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings and Rays pitcher Chris Archer rises to 10th place.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Aug. 31.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	19.4
2	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	19.1
3	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	18.7
4	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	18.1
5	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	17.7
6	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	17.1
7	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	17.0
8	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	16.4
9	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	16.0
10	Archer, Chris 3194	pi sp	tb al	16.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Colon pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out nine and allowing four hits, in the 3-1 win over the Phillies.

Colon earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 140.1 for his career, rising to 22nd among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. With his points Monday, he passes Andy Pettitte (138.5 Box-Toppers points) on the “all-time” list. He trails 21st-ranked player Zack Greinke (142.7 points).

Colon has 6.7 Box-Toppers points this season.

American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Danny Salazar struck out 10 over seven innings, allowing two runs and six hits, in the 4-2 win over the Blue Jays.

Salazar earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 11.4 Box-Toppers points on the season. He becomes the 29th player with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points this season and ranks 22nd among all players, 13th among AL pitchers.

American League Batter of the Day—Mark Canha of the Athletics homered, scored twice and drove in four runs, in the 11-5 win over the Angels.

National League Batter of the Day—Adam Duvall of the Reds hit a two-run, pinch-hit homer in the 13-6 win over the Cubs.

This was Duvall’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Duvall made his Major League debut June 26, 2014, and was playing in his 29th career game. He is the 3,573rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Rankings—Two players rose in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings list after earning Player of the Game honors Monday:

• Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel (7IP 6H 2R 10K W in the 8-3 win over the Mariners) rose to fifth place with 17.7 Box-Toppers points. He ranks second among AL pitchers, behind David Price of the Blue Jays (18.1 Box-Toppers points).
• Rays pitcher Chris Archer (6IP 4H 0R 6K W in the 6-3 win over the Orioles) rose to 10th place with 16.0 Box-Toppers points. He ranks fifth among AL pitchers.

Notable—Cardinals pitcher John Lackey rises to 57th place among all players since 1995 after earning Player of the Game honors Monday. Lackey (6IP 4H 2R 8K ND in the 8-5 win over the Nationals) now has 104.8 career Box-Toppers points. With his point Monday, he passes Jamie Moyer (104.0 points) on the “all-time” list and trails 56th-ranked player Aramis Ramirez (105.8). Lackey has 6.7 Box-Toppers points this season.

Debut—In addition to Duvall, one other player made his Box-Toppers debut Monday: Rockies pitcher Simon Castro earned his first career Player of the Game honor. Castro (2IP 0R 0H K W in the 5-4 win over the Diamondbacks) made his Major League debut July 5, 2013, and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,574th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Colon earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Salazar earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Canha and Duvall each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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

8/31	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	12.0	Mets	Bartolo Colon (W,12-11)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	4	0	0	1	9
	9.0	Padres	Tyson Ross (W,10-9)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	0	0	2	7
AL	6.0	Indians	Danny Salazar (W,12-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	6	2	2	1	10
	6.0	Astros	Dallas Keuchel (W,16-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	6	1	1	1	8
	5.0	Rays	Chris Archer (W,12-10)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	4	0	0	3	6
	4.1	Marlins	Chris Narveson (W,2-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		5.1	2	0	0	2	3
BAT	4.0	Athletics	Mark Canha, 1B	3	2	1	4	1	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Dodgers	Chris Hatcher (W,2-5)	-	-	-	-	-	-		3.0	3	0	0	0	4
BAT	3.0	Reds	Adam Duvall, PH	1	1	1	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	`Cardinals	John Lackey	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	4	2	1	4	8
	3.0	Rockies	Simon Castro (W,2-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		2.0	0	0	0	0	1
	2.0	Red Sox	Jackie Bradley Jr., LF	3	2	3	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Tigers' Verlander tops players for Wednesday, Aug. 26; Price, Hernandez rise in Box-Toppers top 10 rankings

(Other duties have put us behind updating Box-Toppers. Playing catch up …)

Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, pitching a complete-game one-hit shutout, is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Wednesday, Aug. 26.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Aug. 26.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	19.4
2	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	18.1
3	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	17.1
4	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	17.1
5	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	16.7
6	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	16.7
7	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	16.4
8	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	16.0
9	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	16.0
10	Gray, Sonny 3259	pi sp	oak al	15.8

What are those numbers after players' names?

Verlander now has 122.9 career Box-Toppers points and rises to 34th place among all players since 1995.

In addition Wednesday:

• Blue Jays pitcher David Price maintained his lead among American League pitchers and his second-place overall rank in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
• Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez rose to seventh place in player rankings.
• Two other players besides Verlander who earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday have more than 100 career Box-Toppers points—Hernandez and Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon.

Player of the Day—Verlander allowed one hit in the ninth inning, striking out nine and walking two, in the 5-0 shutout of the Angels.

Verlander earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 122.9 for his career, rising to 34th among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers record keeping began). With his points Wednesday, Verlander passes Jered Weaver (122.1) on the “all-time” list and trails 33rd-ranked player, Gary Sheffield (124.1). Verlander has 4.7 Box-Toppers points this season.

National League Player of the Day—Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits and striking out eight, in the 9-4 win over the Phillies.

Colon earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 138.1 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of 23rd among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers record keeping began). Colon trails 22nd-ranked player Andy Pettitte (138.1). Colon has 4.7 Box-Toppers points this season.

National League Batter of the Day—Brandon Barnes of the Rockies homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 6-3 win over the Braves.

American League Batter of the Day—Eduardo Escobar of the Twins hit two solo home runs, going 2-for-4, in the 5-3 win over the Rays.

Rankings—Two players in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday:

• Blue Jays pitcher David Price (6IP 5H 2R 8K W in the 12-4 win over the Rangers) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 18.1 for the season. He maintains his lead among AL pitchers and is second to overall leader Jacob deGrom (19.4 Box-Toppers points).
• Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez (8IP 3H 2R 7K W in the 8-2 win over the Athletics) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 16.4 for the season, rising to seventh among all players and fourth among AL pitchers. Hernandez, who led all players in Box-Toppers points for much of the season, was in danger in recent days of falling out of Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings, falling to 10th place before Wednesday’s Player of the Game honor.

Hernandez also now has 159.7 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of 12th place among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers record keeping began). Hernandez trails 11th-place player John Smoltz (160.9). Hernandez ranks fourth among active players in Box-Toppers points and second among active pitchers, behind CC Sabathia of the Yankees (187.0).

Notable—Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates rose to second place in Box-Toppers points among NL batters after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday. McCutchen (HR 2-5 R 4BI in the 7-2 win over the Marlins) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.5 for the season. He trails NL batting leader Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets (9.9 Box-Toppers points).

Debut—Indians pitcher Jeff Manship made his Box-Toppers debut Wednesday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. 

Manship (1IP 0H 0R K W in the 6-2 win over the Brewers) made his Major League debut Aug. 15, 2009, and was playing in his 91st career game. He is the 3,571st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Verlander earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Colon earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Barnes and Escobar each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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

8/26	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	15.0	Tigers	Justin Verlander (W,2-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		9.0	1	0	0	2	9
NL	8.0	Mets	Bartolo Colon (W,11-11)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	0	0	2	8
	7.0	Mariners	Felix Hernandez (W,15-8)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	3	2	2	1	7
	7.0	Red Sox	Rick Porcello (W,6-11)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	0	0	0	5
	4.0	Blue Jays	David Price (W,13-4)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	5	2	2	1	8
	3.1	Astros	Collin McHugh (W,14-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.1	5	2	2	2	8
BAT	3.0	Rockies	Brandon Barnes, LF	4	2	3	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Padres	Justin Upton, LF	4	2	2	3	0	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Giants	Santiago Casilla (S,31)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	2.1	Indians	Jeff Manship (MR) (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	1
	2.0	Pirates	Andrew McCutchen, CF	5	1	2	4	0	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	2.0	Twins	Eduardo Escobar, SS	4	2	2	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Orioles	Ryan Flaherty, SS	3	2	2	1	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Cardinals	Trevor Rosenthal (S,40)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	1	2
	1.2	Dodgers	Brett Anderson (W,8-8)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.2	5	3	0	1	4

Mets' Jacob deGrom (7.2IP 0R 2H 8K ND) tops players for Sunday, July 26, rises to top Box-Toppers player rankings

Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to the top of season player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of July 26.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	16.4
2	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	15.4
3	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	15.0
4	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	14.4
5	Price, David 2593	pi sp	det al	13.1
6	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	13.0
7	Archer, Chris 3194	pi sp	tb al	13.0
8	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	pit nl	13.0
9	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	12.7
10	Martinez, Carlos 3371	pi sp	stl nl	12.7

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Sunday, Mike Trout of the Angels becomes the first batter with 10 Box-Toppers points, Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole rises to eighth place in season Box-Toppers player rankings and David Ortiz of the Red Sox now has 135.9 career Box-Toppers points.

Player of the Day—deGrom pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out eight, in the 3-2, 10-inning win over the Dodgers. deGrom picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because after he exited, the Dodgers tied the game, 2-2.

deGrom earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 16.4 Box-Toppers points for the season, rising from fourth to first place in season player rankings. DeGrom passes previous Box-Toppers points leader, Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez (15.4 Box-Toppers points) who only regained the overall lead on Friday.

American League Player of the Day—White Sox pitcher Carlos Rodon pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out nine and allowing five hits, in the 2-1 win over the Indians.

American League Batter of the Day—David Ortiz of the Red Sox hit two three-run homers and went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in seven runs, in the 11-1 win over the Tigers.

Ortiz earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 135.9 career Box-Toppers points. He ranks 24th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He trails 23rd-place player Bartolo Colon (136.4). Ortiz has 2.5 Box-Toppers points this season.

National League Batter of the Day—Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies hit two homers and went 3-for-4, scoring four times and driving in six runs, in the 17-7 win over the Reds.

Gonzalez earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.5 for the season, fourth among NL batters.

Lead changes

Here are the season’s lead changes among players in Box-Toppers points. Chart shows the date and the player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total when they took the lead.  

Date	Player	Team	BTP
4/5	Adam Wainwright	stl nl	2.0
4/6	Felix Hernandez	sea al	2.0
4/13	Scott Kazmir	oak al	3.7
4/18	Felix Hernandez	sea al	4.0
6/26	Max Scherzer	dc nl	14.0
7/9	Felix Hernandez	sea al	14.4
7/12	Max Scherzer	dc nl	15.0
7/24	Felix Hernandez	sea al	15.4
7/26	Jacob deGrom	nym nl	16.4

Notable—Mike Trout of the Angels is the first batter this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Trout (2HR GS 4-4 3R 5BI in the 13-7 win over the Rangers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 Box-Toppers points for the season. He maintains his rank as first among AL batters and ranks 21st among all players. Trout is the 21st overall player with 10 Box-Toppers points this season.

Rankings—Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole rises to eighth in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Cole (7.2IP 7H R 8K W in the 3-1 win over the Nationals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.0 for the season. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.

Scoring—deGrom earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Rodon earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Ortiz and Gonzalez each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

7/26	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	11.2	`Mets	Jacob deGrom	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.2	2	0	0	2	8
AL	10.2	White Sox	Carlos Rodon (W,4-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.2	5	0	0	0	9
BAT	9.0	Red Sox	David Ortiz, DH	5	3	4	7	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	9.0	Rockies	Carlos Gonzalez, RF	4	4	3	6	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	8.0	Angels	Mike Trout, CF	4	3	4	5	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	6.2	Pirates	Gerrit Cole (W,14-4)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.2	7	1	1	0	8
	5.0	Dbacks	Jeremy Hellickson (W,7-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	4	0	0	3	6
	4.0	Royals	Yordano Ventura (W,5-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	6	1	1	0	5
	3.0	Yankees	Chase Headley, 3B	4	2	2	3	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Padres	Odrisamer Despaigne (W,4-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	2	1	1	2	3
	3.0	Orioles	Zach Britton (S,25)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	1	3
	2.0	Phillies	Domonic Brown, RF	5	1	3	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Giants	Matt Duffy, 3B	4	1	2	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Mariners	Joe Beimel (W,2-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	1
	1.0	`Braves	Arodys Vizcaino	-	-	-	-	-	-		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.

Dodgers' Greinke tops players for Thursday, July 9; Mariners' Hernandez regains Box-Toppers points lead

Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth in player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of July 9.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	14.4
2	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	14.0
3	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	13.4
4	Price, David 2593	pi sp	det al	13.1
5	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	12.4
6	Archer, Chris 3194	pi sp	tb al	12.0
7	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	pit nl	12.0
8	Martinez, Carlos 3371	pi sp	stl nl	11.7
9	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	11.0
10	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	10.7

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Thursday, Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez rose to the top of Box-Toppers player rankings and two other players—David Price and Carlos Martinez—rose in the top 10 players list. Plus, Lorenzo Cain of the Royals earned American League Batter of the Day honors for the second straight day and now leads AL batters in Box-Toppers points for the season.

Player of the Day—Greinke pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out eight, in the 6-0 win over the Phillies.

Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 11.0 for the season and rises to ninth in Box-Toppers player rankings, fifth among National League pitchers. He is the 10th player this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points.

Greinke also rose to 22nd place among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. With his 2.0 points Thursday, Greinke now has 136.7 career Box-Toppers points and passes Bartolo Colon (136.4) on the “all-time” list. He now trails 21st-ranked player Andy Pettitte (138.5). Greinke ranks 16th among all pitchers since 1995 and fifth among active pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—White Sox pitcher Jeff Samardzija pitched a complete-game, four-hit shutout, striking out five, in the 2-0 win over the Blue Jays.

American League Batter of the Day—Lorenzo Cain of the Royals hit a two-run homer and scored twice in the 8-3 win over the Rays. 

Cain earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 8.2 for the season and moving him to first place among AL batters. He passes Mike Trout of the Angels (7.5 Box-Toppers points) who only rose to the top spot Wednesday. Cain ranks 20th among all players.

This was the second straight day Cain earned AL Batter of the Day honors—he was also the league’s top batter in the Royals win Wednesday over the Rays.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because no NL batter earned Player of the Game honors.

Rankings—Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez regained the top spot in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.

Hernandez (7IP 5H 0R 6K W in the 7-2 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.4 for the season. He passes previous leader, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (14.0 Box-Toppers points).

Hernandez led in Box-Toppers points for more than two months when Scherzer passed him on June 26 with 14.0 points.

Hernandez now has 157.7 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of 12th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He trails 11th-place player John Smoltz (160.9). Hernandez ranks ninth among pitchers since 1995 and second among active pitchers, behind CC Sabathia (175.3).

Also, two other players rose in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday:

• Tigers pitcher David Price rose to fourth place. Price (8IP 5H 2R 8K W in the 4-2 win over the Twins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.1 for the season. He ranks second among AL pitchers, behind Hernandez.
• Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez rose to eighth place. Martinez (7.1IP 4H 0R 8K W in the 4-1 win over the Pirates) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.7 for the season. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.

Notable—Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez earned his first Player of the Game honor in more than a year after his return from Tommy John surgery. Fernandez (7IP 6H 0R 9K W in the 2-0 win over the Reds) last earned Player of the Game honors April 29, 2014, when he was Box-Toppers Player of the Day. At that point in the 2014 season, Fernandez had 7.0 Box-Toppers points to lead all players. But injury and the surgery cut his season short. Fernandez had 19.0 Box-Toppers points in 2013, ranked fourth among all players and fourth among NL pitchers.

Scoring—Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Samardzija earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Cain earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL 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.

(Note: Our usual Friday weekly team and player rankings reports will be postponed until Monday because of the All-Star break.) 

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

7/9	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	15.0	Dodgers	Zack Greinke (W,8-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	1	0	0	0	8
	10.0	Marlins	Jose Fernandez (W,2-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	6	0	0	0	9
	9.1	Cardinals	Carlos Martinez (W,10-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.1	4	0	0	2	8
AL	9.0	White Sox	Jeff Samardzija (W,6-4)	-	-	-	-	-	-		9.0	4	0	0	1	5
	7.2	Yankees	Masahiro Tanaka (W,5-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.2	2	2	1	1	6
	6.0	Tigers	David Price (W,9-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	5	2	0	3	8
	6.0	Mariners	Felix Hernandez (W,11-5)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	0	0	2	6
	3.0	Rockies	John Axford (S,15)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
BAT	2.0	Royals	Lorenzo Cain, CF	3	2	1	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	Indians	Ryan Raburn, DH	3	1	2	1	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-

Orioles' Jimenez tops players for Sunday, June 28; Dodgers' Greinke rises to 23rd in Box-Toppers 'all-time' rankings

Orioles pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Sunday, Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke rose to 23rd place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995 after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez rose to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of June 28.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	14.0
2	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	13.4
3	Archer, Chris 3194	pi sp	tb al	12.0
4	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	pit nl	12.0
5	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	11.4
6	Price, David 2593	pi sp	det al	11.1
7	Martinez, Carlos 3371	pi sp	stl nl	10.7
8	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	10.4
9	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	9.7
10	Harvey, Matt 3075	pi sp	nym nl	9.7

What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Jimenez pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out seven, in the 4-0 win over the Indians.

National League Player of the Day—Braves pitcher Alex Wood pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing five hits and striking out eight, in the 2-1 win over the Pirates.

National League Batter of the Day—Mets pitcher Steven Matz doubled and went 3-for-3, driving in four runs, in the 7-2 win over the Reds. Matz is the fourth pitcher this year to earn Player of the Game honors for batting (it was done eight times in 2014).

This was also Matz’ Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. It was also his Major League debut. He is the 3,516th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

American League Batter of the Day—Salvador Perez of the Royals homered and went 1-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 5-3 win over the Athletics.

Notable—Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke rose to 23rd place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers record keeping began) after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Greinke (7.2IP 4H 0R 6K W in the 2-0 win over the Marlins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 133.7 for his career. With his point Sunday, he passes three players on Box-Toppers “all-time” player rankings list: Miguel Cabrera (132.9), Jason Giambi (133.4) and David Ortiz (133.4). He trails 22nd-ranked player Bartolo Colon (136.4). Greinke ranks 17th among all pitchers since 1995.

Greinke also has 8.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, ranked 14th among all players, eighth among NL pitchers.

Rankings—Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez rose to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday. Martinez (6IP 2H R 6K W in the 4-1 win over the Cubs) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.7 for the season. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers. He is the eighth player this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points.

Also, three pitchers with more than 10.0 Box-Toppers points this season started Sunday but did not earn Player of the Game honors:

• Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez (ranked second with 13.4 Box-Toppers points) did not earn Player of the Game honors in his team’s 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Angels. Hernandez (6IP H 0R 8K ND) had a Box-Toppers game score of 10. Player of the Game was Angels pitcher Hector Santiago (7IP 3H R 6 ND) who had a lower Box-Toppers game score of 6, but had the highest game score of any player on the Angels, the winning team.
• Rays pitcher Chris Archer (ranked third with 12.0 Box-Toppers points) did not earn Player of the Game honors in his team’s 5-3 loss to the Red Sox. Archer (6IP 5H 5R 10K L) had a Box-Toppers game score of 0. Player of the Game was Red Sox pitcher Justin Masterson (5IP 5H R 6K W) who had a Box-Toppers game score of 5.
• Tigers pitcher David Price (ranked sixth with 11.1 Box-Toppers points) did not earn Player of the Game honors in his team’s 5-4 win over the White Sox. Price (6IP 6H 4R 5K ND) had a Box-Toppers game score of −3. Player of the Game was Tigers closing pitcher Joakim Soria (1IP 0H 0R K W) who had a Box-Toppers game score of 2.

Debut—In addition to Matz, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:

• Jake Lamb of the Diamondbacks (HR 2-4 2R 2BI in the 6-4 win over the Padres) made his Major League debut Aug. 7, 2014, and was playing in his 64th career game. He is the 3,517th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Mets pitcher Logan Verrett (2IP H 0R K ND in the 2-1 win over the Reds) made his Major League debut April 8 and was playing in his eighth career game. He is the 3,518th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Jimenez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Wood earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Matz and Perez each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

6/28	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	11.0	Orioles	Ubaldo Jimenez (W, 7-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	4	0	0	0	7
NL	10.1	Braves	Alex Wood (W, 5-5)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.1	5	0	0	0	8
	10.0	Astros	Collin McHugh (W, 9-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	2	1	1	2	8
	9.0	Orioles	Chris Tillman (W, 6-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	0	0	0	6
	8.2	Dodgers	Zack Greinke (W, 6-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.2	4	0	0	1	6
	7.0	Nationals	Stephen Strasburg (W, 5-5)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	2	2	1	9
	6.0	`Angels	Hector Santiago	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	1	1	2	6
	5.2	Blue Jays	Drew Hutchison (W, 8-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		5.2	4	1	0	3	8
	5.0	Cardinals	Carlos Martinez (W, 9-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	2	1	1	3	6
	5.0	Red Sox	Justin Masterson (W, 3-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		5.0	5	1	0	0	6
	4.2	Giants	Madison Bumgarner (W, 8-4)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.2	5	2	2	2	8
BAT	4.0	Mets	Steven Matz P	3	0	3	4	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Dbacks	Jake Lamb 3B	4	2	2	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	2.0	Royals	Salvador Perez C	4	2	1	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Brewers	Ryan Braun RF	2	1	1	2	2	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	`Mets	Logan Verrett	-	-	-	-	-	-		2.0	1	0	0	0	1
	2.0	Tigers	Joakim Soria (W, 3-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	1
	1.0	Phillies	Odubel Herrera CF	5	2	3	1	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.