Indians' Danny Salazar tops players for Sunday, Sept. 4; Braves' Teheran tops NL players

Indians pitcher Danny Salazar is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Sept. 4:  

	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?

Salazar struck out 11 over 5 2/3 innings, allowing one run, six hits and two walks, in the 6-5 win over the Marlins. Salazar did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because he exited the game with the Indians trailing, 1-0.

Salazar earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 12.5 for the season. He ranks 14th among all players and fourth among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Braves pitcher Julio Teheran pitched six scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing five hits and two walks, in the 2-0 win over the Phillies.

American League Batter of the Day—Jose Abreu of the White Sox hit a pair of three-run homers in the 13-11, 12-inning win over the Twins. Abreu went 3-for-7, driving in seven total runs.

Abreu earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, his first points of the 2016 season. Abreu led AL batters in Box-Toppers points in his rookie year of 2014 with 15.5 and had 3.0 points in 2015.

National League Batter of the Day—Yasiel Puig of the Dodgers hit a three-run homer and went 1-for-2, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 7-4 win over the Padres.

Puig earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day and has 2.5 points for the season. It is his first Player of the Game honor since being called back up after spending a month in the minors. Puig, despite his star status, has only 8.5 career Box-Toppers points over four seasons—1.5 in 2013, 1.0 in 2014, 3.5 in 2015 and 2.5 in 2016.

Notable—Cubs pitcher John Lackey has the most season Box-Toppers points among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Lackey (5IP H 2R BB 4K ND in the 3-2, 13-inning win over the Giants) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.4 for the season. He ranks 11th among all players and ninth among NL pitchers. He is the third Cubs starting pitcher among Box-Toppers top 10 NL pitchers—Jon Lester (17.1) ranks fourth and Jake Arrieta (13.7) ranks eighth.

Lackey now has 121.1 career Box-Toppers points, 39th-most among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He trails 38th-ranked player Gary Sheffield (124.1).

Also notable—Albert Pujols of the Angels extends his lead in career Box-Toppers points among active batters after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Pujols (HR 3-4 R 2BI in the 4-2 win over the Mariners) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 182.3 career points. It is the first point Pujols has earned since becoming the active career leader in points after the Yankees released previous leader Alex Rodriguez (187.0) on Aug. 13. Pujols ranks sixth among all players since 1995 when Box-Toppers tracking began and trails fifth-ranked player, Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia (183.0) by only 0.7 points. Sabathia is the active career leader in points. (See the updated list of top 20 players in career Box-Toppers points on the home page.)

Pujols has 8.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, his best year since 2011 when he had 12.5 points with the Cardinals. Pujols ranks 11th among AL batters this season.

Debut—Mets pitcher Seth Lugo made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Lugo (7IP 6H R 0BB 4K W in the 5-1 win over the Nationals) made his Major League debut July 1 and was playing in his 13th career game. He is the 3,729th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Salazar earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Teheran earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Abreu and Puig each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

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

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

9/4	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	6.2	`CLE 6, MIA 5	Danny Salazar	-	-	-	-		5.2	6	1	1	2	11
NL	6.0	ATL 2, PHI 0	Julio Teheran (W,5-9)	-	-	-	-		6.0	5	0	0	2	7
	5.1	`OAK 1, BOS 0	Kendall Graveman	-	-	-	-		6.1	6	0	0	2	7
BAT	5.0	CHW 13, MIN 11 (12)	Jose Abreu, 1B	7	2	3	7		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	5.0	LAD 7, SD 4	Yasiel Puig, RF	2	3	1	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	MIL 10, PIT 0	Jonathan Villar, PH	1	1	1	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	`CHC 3, SF 2 (13)	John Lackey	-	-	-	-		5.0	1	2	1	1	4
	3.1	NYY 5, BAL 2	Dellin Betances (S,8)	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	2
	3.0	NYM 5, WSH 1	Seth Lugo (W,3-2)	-	-	-	-		7.0	6	1	1	0	4
	3.0	TOR 5, TB 3	Joaquin Benoit (W,3-1)	-	-	-	-		1.0	1	0	0	0	3
	2.2	HOU 7, TEX 6	Chris Devenski (W,3-4)	-	-	-	-		1.2	1	0	0	0	2
	2.0	LAA 4, SEA 2	Albert Pujols, DH	4	1	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	DET 6, KC 5	Justin Upton, LF	4	1	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	STL 5, CIN 2	Seung Hwan Oh (S,15)	-	-	-	-		1.0	1	0	0	0	2
	1.0	ARI 8, COL 5	Jean Segura, 2B	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	+/-
Lackey, John 1640	pi sp	chi nl	13.4	23.1	42.8	121.2	3.7
Salazar, Danny 3223	pi sp	cle al	12.5	25.9	35.3	35.3	-0.9
Teheran, Julio 3176	pi sp	atl nl	8.7	16.4	44.5	44.5	1.0
Pujols, Albert 1438	dh 1b	ana al	8.0	15.0	45.0	182.3	1.0
Upton, Justin 2411	lf	det al	6.7	15.7	42.6	51.1	-2.3
Graveman, Kendall 3444	pi sp	oak al	6.0	10.7	10.7	10.7	1.3
Oh, Seung Hwan 3693	pi cp	stl nl	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0
Betances, Dellin 3333	pi mr cp	nyy al	4.0	8.0	12.7	12.7	0.0
Segura, Jean 3173	2b	ari nl	3.0	5.0	9.5	9.5	1.0
Villar, Jonathan 3233	ss ph	mil nl	3.0	3.0	5.0	5.0	3.0
Devenski, Chris 3702	pi sp	hou nl	2.7	2.7	2.7	2.7	2.7
Puig, Yasiel 3193	rf	lad nl	2.5	6.0	8.5	8.5	-1.0
Abreu, Jose 3308	1b	chi al	1.5	4.5	20.0	20.0	-1.5
Benoit, Joaquin 1663	pi mr	tor al	1.0	3.0	9.0	29.5	-1.0
Lugo, Seth 3729	pi sp	nym nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Athletics' Sonny Gray, Reds' Johnny Cueto top players for Wednesday, April 22

Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray is Wednesday’s Player of the Day.

Gray struck out seven over seven innings and allowed one run on two hits in the 9-2 win over the Angels. Gray earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season and rises to eighth in Box-Toppers player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of April 22.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	4.0
2	Kazmir, Scott 1947	pi sp	oak al	3.7
3	DeSclafani, Anthony 3441	pi sp	cin nl	3.7
4	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	cin nl	3.4
5	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	3.0
6	Archer, Chris 3194	pi sp	tb al	3.0
7	Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	3.0
8	Gray, Sonny 3259	pi sp	oak al	3.0
9	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	pit nl	3.0
10	Bauer, Trevor 3065	pi sp	cle al	3.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

National League Player of the Day—Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto struck out eight over eight innings and allowed one run on five hits in the 2-1 win over the Brewers. Cueto earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 3.4 for the season and rises to fourth in Box-Toppers player rankings.

National League Batter of the Day—Kolten Wong of the Cardinals homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, driving in three runs, in the 7-5 win over the Nationals.

American League Batter of the Day—Gregorio Petit of the Yankees doubled, scored and drove in three runs in the 13-4 win over the Tigers. It is Petit’s first Box-Toppers point in nearly six years. He last earned Player of the Game honors May 2, 2009, as a member of the Athletics.

Notable—Jose Abreu of the White Sox, last season’s Box-Toppers points leader among AL batters, scored his first Box-Toppers point of the season. Abreu (HR 2B 2-4 R 3BI in the 6-0 win over the Indians) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game. In 2014, he had 15.5 Box-Toppers points.

Also notable—The NL’s top two Box-Toppers points leaders in 2014 faced off in a pitching duel Wednesday, but neither earned Player of the Game honors.

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2014 with 31.5, faced Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner, second among NL pitchers and third place overall in 2014 with 22.6 Box-Toppers points.

The Giants beat the Dodgers 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning on Joe Panik’s walk-off sacrifice fly. Panik earned Player of the Game honors with an Box-Toppers game score of +1.0, the highest of any Giants player.

Had the Dodgers prevailed, Kershaw (6IP 3H 2R 9K ND) likely would have been Player of the Game. He had a Box-Toppers game score of +7. But he exited the game after six innings with the Giants leading 2-0. Kershaw has 1.0 Box-Toppers point this season, earned April 17.

Bumgarner also earned a no decision in the game, leaving with the score tied 2-2. He had a Box-Toppers game score of +0.1 (6.1IP 6H 2R 6K), allowing Panik’s low game score of +1 to beat him for Player of the Game. Bumgarner has yet to earn Player of the Game honors this season and so has no Box-Toppers points for 2015.

Scoring—Gray earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cueto earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Wong and Petit 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

4/22	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	8.0	Athletics	Sonny Gray (W, 2-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	2	1	1	2	7
NL	7.0	Reds	Johnny Cueto (W, 1-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	5	1	1	2	8
	4.0	Twins	Mike Pelfrey (W, 1-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	0	0	2	4
	4.0	Marlins	Jarred Cosart (W, 1-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	4	1	1	0	4
	4.0	Rays	Brad Boxberger (W, 1-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	3
BAT	3.0	Cardinals	Kolten Wong 2B	4	1	3	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Rockies	Corey Dickerson LF	3	2	2	2	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	3.0	Yankees	Gregorio Petit 2B	2	1	1	3	2	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Blue Jays	Devon Travis 2B	4	1	3	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	White Sox	Jose Abreu 1B	4	1	2	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Dbacks	Chris Owings 2B	4	2	2	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Pirates	Tony Watson (S, 1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		2.0	1	0	0	0	1
	2.0	Mets	Jeurys Familia (S, 7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	1
	1.0	Giants	Joe Panik PH, 2B	0	0	0	1	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	0.1	Mariners	J.A. Happ (W, 1-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.1	8	2	2	0	5