Red Sox' Mookie Betts tops players for Wednesday, June 14; Mets' Blevins tops NL players

Mookie Betts of the Red Sox is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Betts homered twice and doubled in the 7-3 win over the Phillies. Betts also went 4-for-5, scoring four times and driving in three runs.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of June 14:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	14.4
2	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	12.0
3	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	11.4
4	Ray, Robbie 3502	pi sp	ari nl	10.0
5	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	8.4
6	Judge, Aaron 3767	rf	nyy al	8.2
7	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	8.0
8	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	ari nl	7.7
9	McCullers, Lance 3488	pi sp	hou al	7.7
10	Martinez, Carlos 3371	pi sp	stl nl	7.5

What are those numbers after players' names?

National League Player of the Day—Mets pitcher Jerry Blevins pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless middle relief, striking out three, allowing no hits and no walks and earning the win in the 9-4 win over the Cubs.

National League Batter of the Day—Brandon Phillips of the Braves hit two doubles and went 4-for-6, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 13-2 win over the Nationals.

Phillips has now earned Box-Toppers points for 12 straight seasons with his first Player of the Game honor for 2017. He earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2002 with the Indians, but began his current 12-season streak in 2006 with the Reds. He has 65.6 career Box-Toppers points, fifth among all second basemen since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He ranks third in career points among active second basemen, behind Robinson Cano of the Mariners (78.4) and Chase Utley of the Dodgers (75.1).

Phillips’ best season was 2012 with the Reds when he had 9.5 Box-Toppers points, seventh among NL batters. He had 2.0 Box-Toppers points in 2016 with the Reds.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Wednesday because the overall Player of the Day is AL batter Mookie Betts.

Notable—Trey Mancini of the Orioles has the most 2017 Box-Toppers points of any of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Mancini (2B 3-4 3R BI in the 10-6 win over the White Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.2 for the season and ranks 30th among all players in 2017 season player rankings, fifth among AL batters.

Also notable—Blue Jays pitcher Francisco Liriano now has 105.2 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Liriano (7IP 5H 3R 2ER 2BB 9K ND in the 7-6 win over the Rays) rises to 65th place among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995, when tracking began. He passes Dodgers pitcher Scott Kazmir (105.1) on the “all-time” list and now trails 64th-ranked player Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner (105.7).

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

• Astros pitcher Francis Martes (5IP 3H R 2B 7K W in the 13-2 win over the Rangers) made his Major League debut June 9 and was playing in his second career game. He is the 3,822nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Angels pitcher Blake Parker (1.1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 7-5 win over the Yankees) made his Major League debut May 17, 2012, and was playing in his 124th career game. He is the 3,823rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Raimel Tapia of the Rockies (2B 4-4 3R 0BI in the 5-1 win over the Pirates) made his Major League debut Sept. 2, 2016, and was playing in his 36th career game. He is the 3,824th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Betts earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Blevins earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Phillips earns 1.5 points for being NL 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

6/14	Score	Game	Player of the Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	6.0	BOS 7, PHI 3	Mookie Betts, RF	5	4	4	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	HOU 13, TEX 2	Francis Martes (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-		5.0	3	1	1	2	7
NL	4.1	NYM 9, CHC 4	Jerry Blevins (W,4-0)	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	3
BAT	4.0	ATL 13, WSH 2	Brandon Phillips, 2B	6	3	4	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	ARI 2, DET 1	Fernando Rodney (S,18)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	3
	4.0	`TOR 7, TB 6	Francisco Liriano	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	3	2	2	9
	3.1	LAA 7, NYY 5	Blake Parker (W,2-2)	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	2
	3.0	COL 5, PIT 1	Raimel Tapia, RF	4	3	4	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	KC 7, SF 2	Lorenzo Cain, CF	4	2	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	BAL 10, CHW 6	Trey Mancini, 1B	4	3	3	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	MIL 7, STL 6	Eric Thames, 1B	5	2	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	MIA 11, OAK 6	Dee Gordon, 2B	4	2	2	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	LAD 6, CLE 4	Enrique Hernandez, PH-2B	2	1	2	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	SD 4, CIN 2	Brandon Maurer (S,12)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	1
	1.2	`SEA 6, MIN 4	James Pazos (H,5)	-	-	-	-		1.2	1	0	0	1	2

MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).  

Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Mancini, Trey 3766	lf 1b ph	bal al	5.2	5.2	5.2	5.2	5.2
Thames, Eric 2909	1b lf	mil nl	4.0	4.0	5.0	6.5	4.0
Cain, Lorenzo 3171	cf	kc al	3.5	10.0	24.2	24.2	-3.0
Betts, Mookie 3404	rf	bos al	3.5	9.7	14.7	14.7	-2.7
Rodney, Fernando 1803	pi cp	ari nl	3.0	8.0	26.0	38.0	-2.0
Liriano, Francisco 2104	pi sp	tor al	2.0	10.0	59.7	105.2	-6.0
Pazos, James 3786	pi mr	sea al	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Blevins, Jerry 2788	pi mr	nym nl	1.7	1.7	6.7	7.7	1.7
Phillips, Brandon 1691	2b	atl nl	1.5	3.5	25.2	65.6	-0.5
Maurer, Brandon 3157	pi cp	sd nl	1.0	3.0	6.0	6.0	-1.0
Hernandez, Enrique 3541	2b ph	lad nl	1.0	2.0	3.0	3.0	0.0
Gordon, Dee 2990	2b	fla nl	1.0	1.0	8.5	8.5	1.0
Martes, Francis 3822	pi sp	hou al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Parker, Blake 3823	pi mr	ana al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Tapia, Raimel 3824	rf	col nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Angels' Matt Shoemaker tops players for Friday, May 12; Twins' Santana retakes Box-Toppers player rankings lead

Angels pitcher Matt Shoemaker 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 2017 season as of May 12:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	7.7
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	7.0
3	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	6.7
4	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	6.0
5	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	6.0
6	Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	5.4
7	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	5.4
8	Triggs, Andrew 3723	pi sp	oak al	5.4
9	Kimbrel, Craig 2825	pi cp	bos al	5.0
10	Nova, Ivan 2796	pi sp	pit nl	5.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Friday, Twins pitcher Ervin Santana regains the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Shoemaker pitched six scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing three hits, in the 7-0 win over the Tigers.

Shoemaker had a Box-Toppers game score of +9.0, tied with Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr., who was Player of the Game in the 5-1 win over the Yankees (6IP 4H 0R 0BB 7K W). But Shoemaker won overall Player of the Day honors on a tiebreaker—he allowed one fewer hit than McCullers (three vs. four). Yet, because of that one-hit difference, Shoemaker earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day while McCullers earns only 1.0 point for being Player of the Game.

National League Player of the Day—Cubs pitcher Eddie Butler pitched six scoreless innings, striking out five and allowing two hits, in the 3-2 win over the Cardinals.

National League Batter of the Day—Tyler Flowers of the Braves homered and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 8-4 win over the Marlins.

2017 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
4/2	Carlos Martinez	stl nl	2.0
4/3	Clayton Kershaw	lad nl	2.0
4/9	Noah Syndergaard	nym nl	3.0
4/14	Clayton Kershaw	lad nl	4.0
4/15	Ervin Santana	min al	4.7
4/19	Clayton Kershaw	lad nl	5.0
5/2	Chris Sale	bos al	6.7
5/6	Clayton Kershaw	lad nl	7.0
5/12	Ervin Santana	min al	7.7

American League Batter of the Day—There is no AL Batter of the Day for Friday because no AL batters earned Player of the Game honors.

Rankings—Twins pitcher Ervin Santana rises to first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday in the 1-0 win over the Indians (7IP 2H 0R 4K W).

Santana earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.7 for the season, passing previous leader Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (7.0 Box-Toppers points). It is the second time this season Santana has led players in Box-Toppers points; he previously led from April 15 to 18. Santana also takes the lead in Box-Toppers points among AL pitchers, passing previous leader Chris Sale of the Red Sox (6.7).

Santana also now has 105.0 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 65th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Friday, he passes Blue Jays pitcher Francisco Liriano (104.2) on the “all-time” list and now trails 64th-ranked player, Dodgers pitcher Scott Kazmir (105.1).

Streak—Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto has now earned Box-Toppers points for 10 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of the 2017 season.

Cueto (8IP 5H 2R 3BB 6K ND in the 3-2, 17-inning win over the Reds) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2008 with the Reds and has 100.8 career Box-Toppers points, becoming the 78th player with 100 or more Box-Toppers points since tracking began in 1995. 

Cueto ranks 74th among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995 and Friday passed four players on the “all-time” list—Larry Walker (100.1), Jeff Bagwell (100.4), Paul Konerko (100.7) and Giants pitcher Matt Cain (100.7). Cueto now trails 73rd-ranked player Matt Holliday of the Yankees (100.8). Though both Cueto and Holliday both have 100.8 career Box-Toppers points, Holliday ranks higher because he has more 2017 Box-Toppers points than Cueto (3.0 vs. 1.0).

Cueto’s best season was 2014 with the Reds, when he had 22.4 Box-Toppers points, fourth among all players. In 2016, he had 16.4 points with the Giants, eighth among all players.

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

• Rangers closer Kela Keone (2IP 0H 0R BB 2K W in the 5-2 win over the Athletics) made his Major League debut April 7, 2015, and was playing in his 115th career game. He is the 3,789th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Austin Hedges of the Padres (HR 2B 2-4 R 3BI in the 6-3 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut May 4, 2015, and was playing in his 98th career game. He is the 3,790th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Shoemaker earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Butler earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Flowers earns 1.5 points for being NL 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

5/12	Score	Game	Player of the Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	9.0	LAA 7, DET 0	Matt Shoemaker (W,2-2)	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	0	0	1	7
	9.0	HOU 5, NYY 1	Lance McCullers Jr. (W,3-1)	-	-	-	-		6.0	4	0	0	0	7
NL	6.0	CHC 3, STL 2	Eddie Butler (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-		6.0	2	0	0	3	5
BAT	4.0	ATL 8, MIA 4	Tyler Flowers, C	4	2	2	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	MIN 1, CLE 0	Ervin Santana (W,6-1)	-	-	-	-		7.0	2	0	0	5	4
	4.0	TOR 4, SEA 0	Joe Biagini (W,1-1)	-	-	-	-		5.0	4	0	0	0	3
	3.0	MIL 7, NYM 4	Eric Sogard, SS	1	1	1	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	TEX 5, OAK 2	Keone Kela (W,1-1)	-	-	-	-		2.0	0	0	0	1	2
	2.1	TB 5, BOS 4	Alex Colome (S,9)	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	1
	2.0	ARI 11, PIT 4	Brandon Drury, 2B	5	1	3	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	SD 6, CHW 3	Austin Hedges, C	4	1	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	LAD 6, COL 2	Chase Utley, 1B	1	0	1	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	`SF 3, CIN 2 (F/17)	Johnny Cueto	-	-	-	-		8.0	5	2	2	3	6
	1.0	KC 3, BAL 2	Joakim Soria (W,2-1)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	0

MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).  

Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	7.7	11.7	44.5	105.0	3.7
McCullers, Lance 3488	pi sp	hou al	4.0	10.1	16.8	16.8	-2.1
Colome, Alex 3189	pi cp	tb al	3.0	12.0	20.7	20.7	-6.0
Shoemaker, Matt 3290	pi sp	ana al	2.0	9.0	27.4	27.4	-5.0
Soria, Joakim 2258	pi mr cp	kc al	2.0	3.0	11.7	47.7	1.0
Butler, Eddie 3483	pi sp	chi nl	1.7	2.7	3.7	3.7	0.7
Flowers, Tyler 3101	ca	atl nl	1.5	4.0	12.5	12.5	-1.0
Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	1.0	17.4	71.0	100.8	-15.4
Biagini, Joe 3646	pi sp	tor al	1.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	-1.0
Drury, Brandon 3744	2b lf	ari nl	1.0	2.5	2.5	2.5	-0.5
Utley, Chase 1861	1b 2b	lad nl	1.0	2.0	13.0	74.1	0.0
Sogard, Eric 3174	ss 2b	mil nl	1.0	1.0	5.0	5.0	1.0
Hedges, Austin 3790	ca	sd nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Kela, Keone 3789	pi cp	tex al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Red Sox' Chris Sale top players for Tuesday, May 2, rises to lead Box-Toppers player rankings

Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to take the lead in season player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 2:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	6.7
2	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	6.7
3	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	6.0
4	Nova, Ivan 2796	pi sp	pit nl	5.0
5	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0
6	Holland, Greg 2906	pi cp	col nl	5.0
7	Judge, Aaron 3767	rf	nyy al	5.0
8	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	4.4
9	Triggs, Andrew 3723	pi sp	oak al	4.4
10	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	4.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Tuesday, Twins pitcher Ervin Santana maintains his second-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings and Aaron Judge of the Yankees rises to seventh place after both earned Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Sale struck out 11 over eight innings, allowing two runs and three hits, in the 5-2 win over the Orioles.

Sale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.7 for the season, rising from sixth to first place in season player rankings. He passes previous leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (5.0 Box-Toppers points), who had been leading since April 19. It is the second time in his career Sale has led Box-Toppers season player rankings—previously, he led May 17-18, 2013, when he had 8.7 points with the White Sox.

National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Trevor Cahill struck out seven over six innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 6-2 win over the Rockies.

American League Batter of the Day—Marwin Gonzalez of the Astros hit two home runs, including a grand slam, in the 8-7 win over the Rangers. Gonzalez went 2-for-3, driving in five runs.

National League Batter of the Day—Javier Baez of the Cubs homered, tripled and went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 8-3 win over the Phillies.

Rankings—In addition to Sale, two other players earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday are also among Box-Toppers top 10 players in season player rankings:

• Twins pitcher Ervin Santana (6IP 3H 0R 3BB 7K W in the 9-1 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.7 for the season, maintaining his second-place spot in Box-Toppers player rankings. He passes previous leader, Kershaw (5.0 points), but is passed by Sale in rankings. Though Sale and Santana both have 6.7 points on the season, Sale ranks ahead because he has more 2016 points (13.4 vs. 4.0).

Santana also now has 104.0 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 66th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Tuesday, he passes Jamie Moyer (104.0) on the “all-time” list and now trails 65th-ranked player, Blue Jays pitcher Francisco Liriano (104.2).

• Aaron Judge of the Yankees (2HR 2-3 3R 4BI in the 11-5 win over the Blue Jays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.0 for the season, rising to seventh place in season player rankings, first among all batters, just ahead of Bryce Harper of the Nationals (4.0 points, ranked 13th overall). Judge just missed out on earning AL Batter of the Day honors—his Box-Toppers game score of +6.0 was tied with Tuesday AL Batter of the Day Marwin Gonzalez of the Astros, but Gonzalez ranked ahead because he had more runs batted in than Judge (five vs. four).

Scoring—Sale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cahill earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Gonzalez and Baez each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

5/2	Score	Game	Player of the Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	10.0	BOS 5, BAL 2	Chris Sale (W,2-2)	-	-	-	-		8.0	3	2	2	2	11
	9.0	CHW 6, KC 0	Jose Quintana (W,2-4)	-	-	-	-		8.0	4	0	0	2	7
NL	9.0	SD 6, COL 2	Trevor Cahill (W,2-2)	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	1	0	0	7
	7.0	MIN 9, OAK 1	Ervin Santana (W,5-0)	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	0	0	3	7
BAT	6.0	HOU 8, TEX 7	Marwin Gonzalez, LF	3	2	2	5		-	-	-	-	-	-
	6.0	NYY 11, TOR 5	Aaron Judge, RF	3	3	2	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.1	STL 2, MIL 1	Carlos Martinez (W,1-3)	-	-	-	-		7.1	4	1	0	1	4
BAT	5.0	CHC 8, PHI 3	Javier Baez, 2B-3B	4	2	4	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	LAD 13, SF 5	Yasiel Puig, RF	5	2	3	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	PIT 12, CIN 3	Wade LeBlanc (S,1)	-	-	-	-		3.0	1	0	0	1	3
	4.0	LAA 6, SEA 4 (F/11)	Deolis Guerra (W,2-1)	-	-	-	-		2.0	0	0	0	1	3
	3.0	TB 3, MIA 1	Alex Colome (S,7)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	1	3
	2.1	ARI 6, WSH 3	T.J. McFarland (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	1
	1.1	ATL 9, NYM 7	Jim Johnson (S,5)	-	-	-	-		0.1	0	0	0	0	1
	0.0	DET 5, CLE 2	Alex Avila, C	4	1	2	1		-	-	-	-	-	-

MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).  

Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	6.7	20.1	88.1	93.1	-6.7
Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	6.7	10.7	43.5	104.0	2.7
Judge, Aaron 3767	rf	nyy al	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0
Cahill, Trevor 2658	pi sp mr	sd nl	3.4	6.4	21.1	43.6	0.4
Martinez, Carlos 3371	pi sp	stl nl	3.0	15.4	30.1	30.1	-9.4
Puig, Yasiel 3193	rf	lad nl	3.0	6.5	12.5	12.5	-0.5
Quintana, Jose 3040	pi sp	chi al	2.0	12.4	37.2	37.2	-8.4
Colome, Alex 3189	pi cp	tb al	2.0	11.0	19.7	19.7	-7.0
Johnson, Jim 2417	pi cp	atl nl	2.0	6.0	17.0	23.7	-2.0
Avila, Alex 2642	ca	det al	2.0	3.0	9.5	19.0	1.0
Baez, Javier 3395	2b 3b	chi nl	1.5	3.5	6.0	6.0	-0.5
Gonzalez, Marwin 3078	lf	hou al	1.5	2.5	7.0	7.0	0.5
LeBlanc, Wade 2669	pi cp sp	pit nl	1.0	4.0	4.0	11.0	-2.0
Guerra, Deolis 3521	pi cp mr	ana al	1.0	2.0	4.0	4.0	0.0
McFarland, T.J. 3585	pi mr	ari nl	1.0	1.0	3.0	3.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Royals' Vargas tops players for Wednesday, April 19; Dodgers' Kershaw regains Box-Toppers season points lead

Royals pitcher Jason Vargas is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to second place in season player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 19:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	5.0
2	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0
3	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	4.7
4	Chacin, Jhoulys 2711	pi mr sp	sd nl	3.7
5	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	3.4
6	Morrison, Logan 2794	1b	tb al	3.2
7	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	3.0
8	Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	3.0
9	Kimbrel, Craig 2825	pi cp	bos al	3.0
10	Devenski, Chris 3702	pi mr cp	hou al	3.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Wednesday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw regains first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Vargas pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out nine and allowing four hits, in the 2-0 win over the Giants.

Vargas earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season, rising to second in Box-Toppers season player rankings. He trails Kershaw, who also now has 5.0 Box-Toppers points, but ranks ahead on a tiebreaker because he had more 2016 points than Vargas—24.4 vs. 1.0.

National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Jhoulys Chacin pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out five and allowing three hits, in the 1-0 win over the Diamondbacks.

Chacin earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 3.7 for the season, rising to fourth place in season player rankings.

National League Batter of the Day—Bryce Harper of the Nationals hit two home runs, including a grand slam, in the 14-4 win over the Braves. Harper also doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five total runs.

American League Batter of the Day—Mitch Haniger of the Mariners doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 10-5 win over the Marlins.

Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw regained the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Kershaw (7IP 5H 2R BB 10K W in the 4-2 win over the Rockies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.0 for the season, regaining the season points lead for the third time this season. Kershaw passes previous leader, Twins pitcher Ervin Santana (4.7 points), who drops to third place.

Kershaw also now has 188.7 career Box-Toppers points, fourth among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, trailing third-place player Curt Schilling (194.1). Kershaw is the active leader in career Box-Toppers points, ahead of Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia (187.0).

Streaks—Two players extended their streaksearning Box-Toppers points for 10 or more consecutive seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday:

• Blue Jays pitcher Francisco Liriano (5.1IP 4H 0R BB 6K W in the 3-0 win over the Red Sox) has now earned Box-Toppers points for 10 straight seasons. Liriano earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2005 with the Twins, but his consecutive seasons streak earning points began in 2008 with the Twins. He has 104.2 career Box-Toppers points, 65th-most among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Wednesday, he passes Jamie Moyer (104.0) on the “all-time” list and now trails 64th-ranked player Carlos Beltran of the Astros (104.9). Liriano’s best season was 2013 with the Pirates when he had 16.7 Box-Toppers points, sixth among NL pitchers.
• Orioles pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez (7.2IP 2H 0R 4BB 3K W in the 2-0 win over the Reds) has now earned Box-Toppers points for 11 straight seasons and has 80.5 career points, 12th among active AL pitchers. His best year was 2013, when he had 14.5 Box-Toppers points with the Indians, ninth among AL pitchers.

Debut—Rays closing pitcher Austin Pruitt made his Box-Toppers debut Wednesday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.

Pruitt (3.1IP H 0R 0BB 5K W in the 8-7 win over the Tigers) made his Major League debut April 2 and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,773rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Vargas earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Chacin earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Harper and Haniger 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

4/19	Score	Game	Player of the Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	12.0	KC 2, SF 0	Jason Vargas (W,3-0)	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	0	0	0	9
NL	9.0	SD 1, ARI 0	Jhoulys Chacin (W,2-2)	-	-	-	-		8.0	3	0	0	1	5
BAT	8.0	WSH 14, ATL 4	Bryce Harper, RF	4	3	4	5		-	-	-	-	-	-
	7.1	TB 8, DET 7	Austin Pruitt (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-		3.1	1	0	0	0	5
	7.0	LAD 4, COL 2	Clayton Kershaw (W,3-1)	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	2	2	1	10
	6.1	TOR 3, BOS 0	Francisco Liriano (W,1-1)	-	-	-	-		5.1	4	0	0	1	6
	6.0	NYM 5, PHI 4	Jay Bruce, RF	4	2	3	5		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	6.0	SEA 10, MIA 5	Mitch Haniger, RF	4	3	3	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.2	BAL 2, CIN 0	Ubaldo Jimenez (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-		7.2	2	0	0	4	3
	4.0	HOU 5, LAA 1	Josh Reddick, RF-LF	4	3	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	STL 2, PIT 1	Dexter Fowler, CF	4	2	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	CHC 7, MIL 4	Addison Russell, SS	4	1	2	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	OAK 9, TEX 1	Khris Davis, LF	3	2	2	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	NYY 9, CHW 1	Starlin Castro, 2B	2	1	1	3		-	-	-	-	-	-

MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).  

Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	5.0	29.4	129.1	188.7	-19.4
Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	5.0	6.0	31.4	52.2	4.0
Chacin, Jhoulys 2711	pi mr sp	sd nl	3.7	9.4	16.1	31.5	-2.0
Harper, Bryce 3011	rf	dc nl	3.0	6.0	30.4	30.4	0.0
Davis, Khris 3242	lf	oak al	2.5	9.2	19.2	19.2	-4.2
Haniger, MItch 3772	rf	sea al	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5
Bruce, Jay 2453	rf	nym nl	2.0	10.5	27.7	60.8	-6.5
Castro, Starlin 2767	2b	nyy al	2.0	9.0	17.5	27.5	-5.0
Reddick, Josh 2936	rf lf	hou al	2.0	5.5	25.4	26.4	-1.5
Liriano, Francisco 2104	pi sp	tor al	1.0	9.0	58.7	104.2	-7.0
Jimenez, Ubaldo 2349	pi sp	bal al	1.0	5.7	37.6	80.5	-3.7
Russell, Addison 3559	ss	chi nl	1.0	4.5	7.0	7.0	-2.5
Fowler, Dexter 2698	cf	stl nl	1.0	2.5	16.5	19.0	-0.5
Pruitt, Austin 3773	pi cp	tb al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Cubs' Jake Arrieta tops players for Friday, Sept. 23, rises to 7th in Box-Toppers player rankings

Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to seventh 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 Sept. 23:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	24.7
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	22.7
3	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	22.4
4	Kluber, Corey 3200	pi sp	cle al	21.2
5	Lester, Jon 2173	pi sp	chi nl	21.1
6	Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	17.8
7	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	15.7
8	Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym al	15.7
9	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	15.4
10	Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	15.1

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Friday, Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels maintained his spot of sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Arrieta pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out 10 and allowing five hits and one walk, in the 5-0 win over the Cardinals.

Arrieta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 15.7 for the season, rising to seventh place in season player rankings, fifth among National League pitchers.

With Arrieta rising back into Box-Toppers top 10 list, he displaces Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ (14.7 points) from the list, who falls to 11th.

Arrieta led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2015 with 29.1. This was Arrieta’s first Player of the Game honor in a month—he was Player of the Day on Aug. 23.

American League Player of the Day—Mariners pitcher James Paxton struck out nine over seven innings, allowing one run, five hits and no walks, in the 10-1 win over the Twins.

American League Batter of the Day—Jose Ramirez of the Indians homered, doubled and went 2-for-5, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 10-4 win over the White Sox.

National League Batter of the Day—Wil Myers of the Padres hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-3, scoring twice, in the 7-2 win over the Giants.

Myers earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 9.7 for the season. He ranks fifth among NL batters, 1.0 point behind leader Nolan Arenado of the Rockies (10.7).

Rankings—Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels maintained his rank of sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Hamels (7IP 6H 0R 2BB 7K W in the 3-0 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 17.8 for the season. He ranks second among AL pitchers, behind Corey Kluber of the Indians (21.2).

Hamels now has 144.0 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 24th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (143.9) on the “all-time” list and now trails 23rd-ranked player David Ortiz of the Red Sox (144.9). Hamels also rises to eighth place in career points among active players.

Hamels has earned Box-Toppers points for 11 straight seasons and in each season has earned 10 or more points. The 17.8 points he’s earned in 2016 is his best season; his previous best was 2011 with the Phillies when he had 15.8.

Notable—Two other players who have more than 10 Box-Toppers points for the season earned Player of the Game honors Friday:

• Tigers pitcher Michael Fulmer (7IP 8H R 0BB 9K W in the 8-3 win over the Royals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.7 for the season. He ranks 23rd among all players and seventh among AL pitchers.
• Red Sox pitcher Drew Pomeranz (5IP 4H R 0BB 4K W in the 2-1 win over the Red Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.4 for the season. He ranks 28th among all players and 11th among AL pitchers.

Also notable—Blue Jays pitcher Francisco Liriano now has 103.2 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Liriano (6IP 3H 0R 2BB 6K in the 9-0 win over the Yankees) rises to 66th place among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, passing Miguel Tejada (102.3) on the “all-time” list. He trails 65th-ranked player Jamie Moyer (104.0). Liriano has 8.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, 24th among AL pitchers.

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

• Rafael Ortega of the Angels (PH 2B 1-1 3BI in the 10-6 win over the Astros) made his Major League debut Sept. 30, 2012, and was playing in his 60th career game. He is the 3,746th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Alen Hanson of the Pirates (2-3 2R in the 6-5, 11-inning win over the Nationals) made his Major League debut May 16 and was playing in his 18th career game. He is the 3,747th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Arrieta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Paxton earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Ramirez and Myers 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.

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

9/23	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	11.0	CHC 5, STL 0	Jake Arrieta (W,18-7)	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	0	0	1	10
AL	9.0	SEA 10, MIN 1	James Paxton (W,5-7)	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	1	1	0	9
	7.0	TOR 9, NYY 0	Francisco Liriano (W,8-13)	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	0	0	2	6
	6.0	DET 8, KC 3	Michael Fulmer (W,11-7)	-	-	-	-		7.0	8	1	1	0	9
	6.0	TEX 3, OAK 0	Cole Hamels (W,15-5)	-	-	-	-		7.0	6	0	0	2	7
	5.2	NYM 10, PHI 5	Hansel Robles (S,1)	-	-	-	-		2.2	0	0	0	0	3
BAT	4.0	CLE 10, CHW 4	Jose Ramirez, 3B	5	3	2	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	4.0	SD 7, SF 2	Wil Myers, 1B	3	2	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	LAA 10, HOU 6	Rafael Ortega, PH	1	0	1	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	BOS 2, TB 1	Drew Pomeranz (W,11-12)	-	-	-	-		5.0	4	1	1	0	4
	3.0	LAD 5, COL 2	Ross Stripling (W,5-8)	-	-	-	-		3.0	2	0	0	2	4
	3.0	`BAL 3, ARI 2 (12)	Mychal Givens	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	3.0	ATL 3, MIA 2	Brandon Cunniff (W,2-0)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	1.0	MIL 5, CIN 4	Chris Carter, 1B	4	1	2	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	PIT 6, WSH 5 (11)	Alen Hanson, 2B	3	2	2	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	+/-
Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	17.8	33.2	84.8	144.0	2.4
Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	15.7	44.8	72.5	75.5	-13.4
Fulmer, Michael 3640	pi sp	det al	12.7	12.7	12.7	12.7	12.7
Pomeranz, Drew 3061	pi sp	bos al	12.4	15.4	23.4	23.4	9.4
Myers, Wil 3228	1b	sd nl	9.7	12.7	18.2	18.2	6.7
Carter, Chris 2828	1b	mil nl	9.5	10.5	28.4	29.4	8.5
Liriano, Francisco 2104	pi sp	tor al	8.0	22.9	63.4	103.2	-6.9
Stripling, Ross 3629	pi sp	lad nl	4.7	4.7	4.7	4.7	4.7
Paxton, James 3280	pi sp	sea al	4.4	5.4	11.1	11.1	3.4
Givens, Mychal 3599	pi mr	bal al	2.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	1.0
Cunniff, Brandon 3698	pi mr	atl nl	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Ramirez, Jose 3436	3b	cle al	1.5	4.0	5.0	5.0	-1.0
Robles, Hansel 3580	pi cp	nym nl	1.0	3.7	3.7	3.7	-1.7
Hanson, Alen 3747	2b	pit nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Ortega, Rafael 3746	ph	ana al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Red Sox' David Price tops players for Monday, Sept. 12; Cubs' Hendricks tops NL players

Red Sox pitcher David Price is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Price struck out nine over eight innings, allowing two runs, two hits and no walks, in the 12-2 win over the Orioles.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Sept. 12:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	23.7
2	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	20.4
3	Kluber, Corey 3200	pi sp	cle al	20.2
4	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	20.0
5	Lester, Jon 2173	pi sp	chi nl	18.1
6	Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	16.8
7	Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	15.1
8	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	14.4
9	Hill, Rich 2215	pi sp	lad nl	14.4
10	Tanaka, Masahiro 3305	pi sp	nyy al	14.1

What are those numbers after players' names?

Price earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Game, giving him 12.4 for the season. He ranks 20th among all players and sixth among American League pitchers.

Price also now has 106.2 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 59th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Monday, he passes five players on the “all-time” list—Carlos Beltran of the Rangers (104.9), Dodgers pitcher Scott Kazmir (105.1), Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner (105.7), Aramis Ramirez (105.8) and Frank Thomas (106.2). He now trails 58th-ranked player Lance Berkman (108.1).

National League Player of the Day—Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks allowed one hit and one run over eight innings, striking out seven and walking two, in the 4-1 win over the Cardinals.

Hendricks earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 13.4 for the season, most among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Monday. Hendricks ranks 15th among all players and 11th among NL pitchers.

National League Batter of the Day—Yasmany Tomas of the Diamondbacks hit a grand slam and doubled, going 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in five runs, in the 12-9 win over the Rockies.

American League Batter of the Day—Avisail Garcia of the White Sox homered and went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in one run, in the 11-4 win over the Indians.

Notable—Phillies pitcher Jeremy Hellickson now has 12.1 Box-Toppers points on the season after earning Player of the Game honors Monday.

Hellickson (6.1IP 3H R 3BB 6K in the 6-2 win over the Pirates) now ranks 23rd among all players and 13th among NL pitchers.

Also notable—Blue Jays pitcher Francisco Liriano now has 102.2 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Monday.

Liriano (6.1IP 3H 2R BB 6K ND in the 3-2 win over the Rays) now ranks 67th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes two players on the “all-time” list—Tim Wakefield (101.4) and Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2) and now trails 66th-ranked player Miguel Tejada (102.3). Liriano has 7.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, 30th among AL pitchers.

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

• Reds pitcher Keyvius Sampson (4.2IP 4H 0R 2BB 7K ND in the 3-0 win over the Brewers) made his Major League debut July 30, 2015, and was playing in his 29th career game. He is the 3,737th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Mariners pitcher Ariel Miranda (6IP 3H 0R BB 3K W in the 8-1 win over the Angels) made his Major League debut July 3 and was playing in his ninth career game. He is the 3,738th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Price earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Hendricks earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Tomas and Garcia 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.

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

9/12	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	11.0	BOS 12, BAL 2	David Price (W,16-8)	-	-	-	-		8.0	2	2	2	0	9
NL	10.0	CHC 4, STL 1	Kyle Hendricks (W,15-7)	-	-	-	-		8.0	1	1	1	2	7
BAT	7.0	ARI 12, COL 9	Yasmany Tomas, RF	5	3	4	5		-	-	-	-	-	-
	7.0	OAK 16, KC 3	Daniel Coulombe (W,3-1)	-	-	-	-		2.0	0	0	0	0	5
	6.1	`DET 4, MIN 2	Daniel Norris	-	-	-	-		6.1	5	2	2	2	11
	5.2	`CIN 3, MIL 0	Keyvius Sampson	-	-	-	-		4.2	4	0	0	2	7
	5.1	PHI 6, PIT 2	Jeremy Hellickson (W,11-9)	-	-	-	-		6.1	3	1	0	3	6
	5.0	SEA 8, LAA 1	Ariel Miranda (W,4-1)	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	0	0	1	3
	4.1	`TOR 3, TB 2	Francisco Liriano	-	-	-	-		6.1	3	2	2	1	6
	4.0	ATL 12, MIA 7	Nick Markakis, RF	3	3	2	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	3.0	CHW 11, CLE 4	Avisail Garcia, RF	5	3	4	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	TEX 4, HOU 3 (12)	Rougned Odor, 2B	4	1	3	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	SD 4, SF 0	Paul Clemens (W,3-5)	-	-	-	-		5.0	3	0	0	1	2
	1.0	WSH 8, NYM 1	Anthony Rendon, 3B	4	1	1	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	LAD 8, NYY 2	Howie Kendrick, 1B	3	1	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 of Game	Pos	Team	16	15-16	11-16	Career	+/-
Hendricks, Kyle 3386	pi sp	chi nl	13.4	23.1	28.1	28.1	3.7
Price, David 2593	pi sp	bos al	12.4	33.5	89.5	106.2	-8.7
Hellickson, Jeremy 2778	pi sp	phi nl	12.1	17.1	40.8	43.8	7.1
Tomas, Yasmany 3489	rf lf	ari nl	7.7	11.2	11.2	11.2	4.2
Liriano, Francisco 2104	pi sp	tor al	7.0	21.9	62.4	102.2	-7.9
Odor, Rougned 3336	2b	tex al	6.5	9.5	11.0	11.0	3.5
Rendon, Anthony 3258	3b	dc nl	5.5	6.5	12.0	12.0	4.5
Markakis, Nick 2116	rf	atl nl	5.0	9.5	20.5	47.1	0.5
Kendrick, Howie 2191	2b lf 1b	lad nl	4.0	8.0	20.0	34.0	0.0
Garcia, Avisail 3256	dh rf	chi al	2.5	5.5	11.0	11.0	-0.5
Coulombe, Daniel 3720	pi mr	oak al	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Norris, Daniel 3548	pi sp	det al	1.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	-3.0
Clemens, Paul 3185	pi sp	sd nl	1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	1.0
Miranda, Ariel 3738	pi sp	sea al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Sampson, Keyvius 3737	pi sp	cin nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw tops players for Monday, April 4, moves into 12th in Box-Toppers' 'all-time' rankings

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Kershaw struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit, in the 15-0 win over the Padres.

Kershaw receives 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and takes the lead in Box-Toppers player rankings after the second day of the season. He passes Pirates pitcher Francisco Liriano, who was Sunday’s Player of the Day. While both players have 2.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, Kershaw ranks ahead on a tiebreaker because he had more Box-Toppers points in 2015—25.7 vs. 14.9.

Kershaw’s 25.7 points ranked second among all players in 2015 (behind Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta’s 29.1). Kershaw led all National League pitchers in points from 2011 to 2014. He led all players in 2011, 2013 and 2014.

In addition, Kershaw passes John Smoltz to move into 12th place in career Box-Toppers player rankings since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. Kershaw now has 161.3 career Box-Toppers points, passing Smoltz’s 160.9 points. Kershaw trails 11th place player, Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez (162.7).

American League Player of the Day—Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels struck out eight over seven innings, allowing two runs and four hits, in the 3-2 win over the Mariners. Hamels ranked eighth among AL pitchers in 2015 with 15.4 Box-Toppers points.

Hamels also has now earned at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point for 11 straight seasons. He earned his first points in 2006 with the Phillies and in each of his 10 previous seasons, has earned at least 10.0 Box-Toppers points per season. He has 127.9 career Box-Toppers points, which ranks 30th among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers tracking began). It ranks third among active AL pitchers, behind CC Sabathia of the Yankees (179.0) and Felix Hernandez of the Mariners (162.7). His best season was 2011 with the Phillies, when he had 15.8 points, ranked eighth among NL pitchers.

National League Batter of the Day—Denard Span of the Giants hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 12-3 win over the Brewers.

American League Batter of the Day—Michael Saunders of the Blue Jays hit a two-run homer and doubled, going 2-for-4, in the 5-3 win over the Rays.

Notable—Two other pitchers who ranked among Box-Toppers’ top 10 players in 2015 also earned Player of the Game honors Monday:

• Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta (7.0IP 2H 0R 6K W in the 9-0 win over the Angels) had the second-highest Box-Toppers game score (+10.0) of Monday’s Players of the Day, but only earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, since he lost overall Player of the Day and NL Player of the Day honors to Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who had a Box-Toppers game score of +14.0. Arrieta led all players in 2015 with 29.1 Box-Toppers points.
• Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (7.0IP 3H 2R 7K ND in the 4-3 win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point. He had 21.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015, sixth among all players and fourth among NL pitchers.

Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Monday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:

• Trevor Story of the Rockies (2HR 2-6 2R 4BI in the 10-6 win over the Diamondbacks) was making his Major League debut Monday. He is the 3,607th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Tyler Wilson of the Orioles (3.0IP 2H 0R K ND in the 3-2 win over the Twins) made his Major League debut May 20, 2015, and was playing in his 10th career game. He is the 3,608th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Kershaw 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. Span and Saunders each earn 1.5 points for being top batter in their league for 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

4/4	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	14.0	Dodgers	Clayton Kershaw (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	1	0	0	1	9
	10.0	Cubs	Jake Arrieta (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	2	0	0	1	6
BAT	5.0	Giants	Denard Span, CF	4	2	2	5	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	`Nationals	Max Scherzer	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	2	2	2	7
AL	4.0	Rangers	Cole Hamels (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	2	2	3	8
	3.0	`Reds	Raisel Iglesias	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	6	2	2	0	7
	2.0	Rockies	Trevor Story, SS	6	2	2	4	0	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	`Orioles	Tyler Wilson	-	-	-	-	-	-		3.0	2	0	0	0	1
BAT	1.0	Blue Jays	Michael Saunders, LF	4	1	2	2	0	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	White Sox	Adam Eaton, RF	3	1	2	1	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Pirates' Francisco Liriano tops players in Sunday, April 3's opening day games

Pirates pitcher Francisco Liriano is Sunday’s Box-Toppers opening day Player of the Day.

Liriano struck out 10 over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits, in the 4-1 win over the Cardinals.

Liriano receives 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being opening day Player of the Day and now leads all players in Box-Toppers points with 2.0. He had 14.9 Box-Toppers points in 2015, ranked ninth among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Royals pitcher Edinson Volquez pitched six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out five, in the 4-3 win over the Mets.

Volquez has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 consecutive seasons. He first earned Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Rangers and has 59.5 career Box-Toppers points, ranked 19th among active AL pitchers. His best year was 2008 with the Reds when he had 15.1 points, ranked sixth among NL pitchers. He had 7.0 Box-Toppers points in 2015 with the Royals.

Notable—Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna was Player of the Game in the other regular season game Sunday. Osuna struck out two in one scoreless inning and earned the save in the 5-3 win over the Rays.

Also, Sunday, Angels pitcher A.J. Achter was Player of the Game in the final spring training game of the season, a 6-4 win over the Cubs. Achter struck out two in a scoreless seventh inning, picking up a no decision. (Achter earns no Box-Toppers points because he was playing in a spring training game.)

Scoring—Liriano earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Volquez earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. All of Sunday’s other regular season 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

4/3	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	8.0	Pirates	Francisco Liriano (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	0	0	5	10
AL	6.0	Royals	Edinson Volquez (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	2	0	0	3	5
	2.0	Blue Jays	Roberto Osuna (S,1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	1	0	0	0	2
Spring training
	3.0	`Angels	A.J. Achter	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Nationals' Strasburg tops players for Saturday, Sept. 26; Cubs' Arrieta moves closer to winning Box-Toppers Player of the Year

Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg 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 2015 season as of Sept. 26.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	25.1
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	22.7
3	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	21.1
4	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	20.4
5	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	20.4
6	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	19.7
7	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	19.4
8	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	pit nl	19.0
9	Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	18.0
10	Gray, Sonny 3259	pi sp	oak al	17.8

What are those numbers after players' names?

Meanwhile, Cubs’ pitcher Jake Arrieta’s chances for winning the Box-Toppers Player of the Year crown were further solidified when perhaps the only player with a chance to catch him—Blue Jays pitcher David Price—did not earn Box-Toppers points Saturday.

Player of the Day—Strasburg struck out 13 over eight innings, allowing one runs and three hits, in the 2-1, 12-inning win over the Phillies. Strasburg did not earn the win, picking up a no decision, because he exited with the game tied, 1-1.

Strasburg earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 13.0 for the season. He ranks 21st among all players and 11th among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Carlos Correa of the Astros homered twice and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 9-7 win over the Rangers.

National League Batter of the Day—Jarrett Parker of the Giants hit three home runs, including a grand slam, driving in seven total runs, in the 14-10 win over the Athletics.

This was Parker’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Parker made his Major League debut June 13 and was playing in his 14th career game. He is the 3,600th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Saturday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Carlos Correa.

Rankings—Blue Jays pitcher David Price, the only player with a remote chance of catching Box-Toppers points leader, Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta, did not earn Box-Toppers points, meaning Arrieta will most likely win the crown as Box-Toppers Player of the Year.

Price entered the game ranked third in Box-Toppers points with 21.1, 4.0 points behind Arrieta (25.1). Price needed to win overall Player of the Day in what would likely be his final two starts to match Arrieta’s total of 25.1. Price would have ranked ahead of Arrieta on a tiebreaker.

Arrieta already leads second-place player, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22.7) by 2.4 points. Since Kershaw likely only has one start remaining this season, he can only earn 2.0 more points this season and with 24.7, would still be short of Arrieta.

Arrieta starts Sunday against the Pirates. While he’s already got the Box-Toppers crown pretty well wrapped up now, earning overall Player of the Day honors would virtually seal it for him.

Two players in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings started Saturday, but neither earned Box-Toppers points:

• Price (5IP 6H 5R 6K W in the 10-8 win over the Rays) had a Box-Toppers game score of −5. Player of the Game was Jose Bautista (2HR 2-3 2R 4BI, Box-Toppers game score +5).
• Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez, ranked seventh in Box-Toppers points (19.4), third among AL pitchers, did not earn Player of the Game honors. Hernandez (6IP 8H 2R 6K ND in the 3-2 loss to the Angels) had a Box-Toppers game score of −2. Player of the Game was Angels middle reliever Trevor Gott (1IP 0R 0H 2K ND, Box-Toppers game score of +3).

Notable—Two other players who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday had notable achievements:

• Pirates pitcher Francisco Liriano had the highest season Box-Toppers point total of any of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday. Liriano (7.2IP 4H 0R 9K W in the 4-0 win over the Cubs) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.9 for the season. He ranks 16th among all players and ninth among NL pitchers.
• Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays became the 42nd player—and seventh batter—this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points. Bautista (2HR 2-3 2R 4BI in the 10-8 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season. He ranks 41st among all players and fourth among AL batters.

Debut—In addition to Parker, one other player made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Angels pitcher Trevor Gott (1IP 0R 0H 2K ND in the 3-2 win over the Mariners) made his Major League debut June 14 and was playing in his 44th career game. He is the 3,601st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Strasburg earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Correa earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Parker earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL 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

9/26	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	15.0	`Nationals	Stephen Strasburg	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	3	1	1	1	13
	9.2	Pirates	Francisco Liriano (W,12-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.2	4	0	0	3	9
BAT	8.0	Giants	Jarrett Parker, LF	5	3	3	7	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	8.0	Padres	Robbie Erlin (W,1-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	2	0	0	1	4
	7.0	Cardinals	Jaime Garcia (W,10-5)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	7	1	1	0	8
AL	5.0	Astros	Carlos Correa, SS	4	3	3	3	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	Blue Jays	Jose Bautista, RF	3	2	2	4	2	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Mets	Lucas Duda, 1B	3	2	1	4	2	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Twins	Eduardo Escobar, SS	4	2	2	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Rockies	Justin Miller (W,3-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	3.0	Yankees	Andrew Miller (S,36)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	3.0	`Angels	Trevor Gott (MR)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	2.0	Indians	Jose Ramirez, 3B	5	3	3	1	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Marlins	Justin Bour, 1B	3	1	2	2	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	Red Sox	Mookie Betts, RF	4	2	2	1	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Rangers' Hamels tops players for Saturday, Sept. 19; Kershaw fails to unseat Arrieta for player rankings lead

Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to eighth place among American League pitchers in player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 19.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	23.1
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	22.7
3	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	20.4
4	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	20.1
5	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	19.7
6	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	19.4
7	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	19.4
8	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	17.1
9	Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	sf nl	17.0
10	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	17.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Saturday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw failed to retake the top spot in Box-Toppers player rankings after falling to the Pirates. Kershaw (22.7 Box-Toppers points) remains in second place behind Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta (23.1), with whom he has traded leads every two or three days since Sept. 2. Arrieta’s lead is now safe at least until Kershaw’s next start later this week.

Player of the Day—Hamels struck out 12 over seven innings, allowing one run and seven hits, in the 10-1 win over the Mariners.

Hamels earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 13.7 for the season, rising to 17th among all players and eighth among AL pitchers.

Hammels also rises to 34th place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when record keeping began. With his points Saturday, Hamels has 124.5 career Box-Toppers points and passes two players on the “all-time” list—Jered Weaver (123.1) and Gary Sheffield (124.1). (Sheffield, who started his career in 1988, seven years prior to the start of Box-Toppers record keeping, would likely have about 150 career Box-Toppers points based on rough projections, if his entire career were tracked.) Hamels now trails 33rd-ranked player Justin Verlander (124.6), who also passed Weaver and Sheffield on Friday.

National League Player of the Day—Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits and striking out five, in the 6-0 win over the Giants.

American League Batter of the Day—Victor Martinez of the Tigers homered, doubled and drove in three runs, in the 6-5, 11-inning win over the Royals.

National League Batter of the Day—Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in a run, in the 10-2 win over the Padres.

Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw failed to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors Saturday in his start, preventing him from retaking the player rankings lead.

Kershaw (7IP 7H 3H 8K L in the 3-2 loss to the Pirates) had a Box-Toppers game score of 0. Player of the Game was Pirates pitcher Francisco Liriano.

Had Kershaw won Player of the Game honors, he would have passed Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta for the Box-Toppers season points lead and it would have been the seventh lead change in September between Kershaw (22.7 Box-Toppers points) and Arrieta (23.1 Box-Toppers points). Kershaw has led NL pitchers the past four seasons in Box-Toppers points—with days and starts dwindling to only a few this season, his chances for a fifth straight season leading NL pitchers is diminishing.

Notable—Several other Player of the Game honorees from Saturday achieved notable Box-Toppers milestones:

• Pirates pitcher Francisco Liriano rose to 16th place among all players and ninth place among NL pitchers. Liriano (7IP 5H 2R 9K W in the 3-2 win over the Dodgers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.9 for the season.
• Angels pitcher Garrett Richards rose to 29th place among all players and 15th among AL pitchers. Richards (8.2IP 5H 2R 7K W in the 5-2 win over the Twins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.0 for the season.
• Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda becomes the 40th player this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points. Pineda (5.1IP 4H 0R 4K W in the 5-0 win over the Mets) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.7 for the season, rising to 33rd among all players and 17th among AL pitchers.
• Jackie Bradley Jr. of the Red Sox (2-4 R 3BI in the 7-6 win over the Blue Jays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.5 for the season, rising to sixth among AL batters.
• Bryce Harper of the Nationals (1-3 R 3BI in the 5-2 win over the Marlins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.0 for the season, rising to fifth among NL batters.

Debut—Braves pitcher Ryan Weber made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Weber (7IP 2H R 5K ND in the 2-1 win over the Phillies) made his Major League debut Sept. 8 and was playing in his third career game. He is the 3,598th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Hamels earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Corbin earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Martinez and Blackmon each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers 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

9/19	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	10.0	Rangers	Cole Hamels (W,10-8)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	7	1	1	0	12
NL	7.0	Dbacks	Patrick Corbin (W,6-4)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	0	0	0	5
	6.0	Orioles	Wei-Yin Chen (W,10-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	6	1	1	0	7
	6.0	`Braves	Ryan Weber	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	2	1	1	2	5
	5.0	Pirates	Francisco Liriano (W,11-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	2	2	2	9
	4.1	Yankees	Michael Pineda (W,11-8)	-	-	-	-	-	-		5.1	4	0	0	1	4
BAT	4.0	Tigers	Victor Martinez, DH	2	1	2	3	2	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	`Angels	Andrew Heaney	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	2	2	2	2	6
	3.1	Cubs	Trevor Cahill (MR) (W,1-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		3.1	2	0	0	1	3
BAT	3.0	Rockies	Charlie Blackmon, CF	4	3	3	1	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Astros	Evan Gattis, DH	3	1	2	3	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	`Reds	J.J. Hoover (MR) (H,18)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	1	0	0	0	3
	2.2	Angels	Garrett Richards (W,14-11)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.2	5	2	2	4	7
	2.2	White Sox	Carlos Rodon (W,8-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.2	6	1	1	1	4
	2.0	Red Sox	Jackie Bradley Jr., CF	4	1	2	3	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Nationals	Bryce Harper, RF	3	1	1	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.