Brewers' Jimmy Nelson tops players for Sunday, May 28; Yankees' Judge rises to 7th in Box-Toppers rankings

Brewers pitcher Jimmy Nelson is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 28:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	10.7
2	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	9.4
3	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	8.4
4	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	8.0
5	Wood, Alex 3246	pi sp	lad nl	7.0
6	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	ari nl	6.7
7	Judge, Aaron 3767	rf	nyy al	6.5
8	Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	6.4
9	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	6.4
10	McCullers, Lance 3488	pi sp	hou al	6.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Sunday, Aaron Judge of the Yankees rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings—first among all batters—after earning American League Batter of the Day honors.

Player of the Day—Nelson struck out 10 over seven innings, allowing one run, seven hits and no walks, in the 9-5 win over the Diamondbacks.

American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Tommy Hunter pitched two scoreless innings—the ninth and the 10th—striking out three and allowing no hits, in the 8-6, 15-inning win over the Twins. Hunter picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the score was tied 5-5 when he exited.

Normally, middle relievers who pitch fewer than three innings and do not earn the win or save don’t earn Player of the Game honors. But Hunter did because he had a higher Box-Toppers game score and the same or more innings pitched than the player who otherwise would have won. Closer Erasmo Ramirez (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv) with a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 was in line for Player of the Game honors. But Hunter edged him out because he had both a higher Box-Toppers game score (+5.0) and more innings pitched (2.0 vs. 1.0).

Additionally, Hunter, with only two innings pitched, was able to win AL Player of the Day honors because of lower Box-Toppers game scores of AL players who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday, including his runner-up, Indians pitcher Josh Tomlin, who despite a complete game win (CG 6H R 0BB 3K W in the 10-1 win over the Royals) only had a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0.

National League Batter of the Day—Adam Duvall of the Reds homered twice and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 8-4 win over the Phillies.

American League Batter of the Day—Aaron Judge of the Yankees hit a grand slam and went 2-for-4 in the 9-5 win over the Athletics.

Judge earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.5 for the season, rising to seventh in season player rankings. He also rises to first among all batters, moving ahead of Bryce Harper of the Nationals (6.0), who falls out of the overall top 10 to 11th place.

Notable—Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto rises to 70th place among all players in career Box-Toppers points (since 1995 when tracking began) after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Cueto (6IP 6H R BB 8K W in the 7-1 win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 101.8 for his career. With his point Sunday, he passes three players on Box-Toppers “all-time” career points list—Jason Schmidt (101.2), Mark Teixeira (101.3) and Tim Wakefield (101.4). Cueto now trails 69th-place player Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2).

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

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

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

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

5/28	Score	Game	Player of the Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	8.0	MIL 9, ARI 5	Jimmy Nelson (W,3-3)	-	-	-	-		7.0	7	1	1	0	10
BAT	6.0	CIN 8, PHI 4	Adam Duvall, LF	4	2	3	5		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	COL 8, STL 4	Gerardo Parra, RF	4	3	3	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	SF 7, ATL 1	Johnny Cueto (W,5-4)	-	-	-	-		6.0	6	1	1	1	8
AL	5.0	`TB 8, MIN 6 (F/15)	Tommy Hunter	-	-	-	-		2.0	0	0	0	0	3
	4.0	CLE 10, KC 1	Josh Tomlin (W,3-6)	-	-	-	-		9.0	6	1	1	0	3
	3.2	SD 5, WSH 3	Kirby Yates (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-		1.2	0	0	0	0	2
	3.2	LAD 9, CHC 4	Josh Fields (W,2-0)	-	-	-	-		1.2	0	0	0	0	2
BAT	3.0	NYY 9, OAK 5	Aaron Judge, RF	4	1	2	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	MIA 9, LAA 2	JT Riddle, SS	4	2	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	SEA 5, BOS 0	Christian Bergman (W,2-2)	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	0	0	2	2
	2.0	HOU 8, BAL 4	Yuli Gurriel, 1B	4	2	2	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.2	CHW 7, DET 3	Miguel Gonzalez (W,4-5)	-	-	-	-		7.2	6	3	3	0	6
	1.0	NYM 7, PIT 2	Jay Bruce, RF	5	1	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	0.0	TEX 3, TOR 1	Elvis Andrus, SS	5	2	3	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	+/-
Judge, Aaron 3767	rf	nyy al	6.5	6.5	6.5	6.5	6.5
Gonzalez, Miguel 3062	pi sp	chi al	4.0	13.1	41.9	41.9	-5.1
Bruce, Jay 2453	rf	nym nl	4.0	12.5	29.7	62.8	-4.5
Nelson, Jimmy 3299	pi sp	mil nl	4.0	7.0	17.4	17.4	1.0
Duvall, Adam 3573	lf	cin nl	3.5	10.0	11.5	11.5	-3.0
Bergman, Christian 3799	pi sp	sea al	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0
Gurriel, Yuli 3796	1b	hou al	2.7	2.7	2.7	2.7	2.7
Parra, Gerardo 2746	rf	col nl	2.5	5.0	17.0	23.5	0.0
Riddle, JT 3805	ss	fla nl	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5
Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	2.0	18.4	72.0	101.8	-14.4
Andrus, Elvis 2582	ss	tex al	2.0	11.2	16.2	21.7	-7.2
Tomlin, Josh 2771	pi sp	cle al	2.0	7.0	20.4	26.4	-3.0
Hunter, Tommy 2623	pi mr	tb al	1.7	2.7	9.7	17.7	0.7
Yates, Kirby 3628	pi mr	sd nl	1.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	-1.0
Fields, Josh 3247	pi mr	lad nl	1.0	1.0	5.0	5.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Reds' Adam Duvall tops players for Monday, Sept. 26; Angels' Weaver tops AL players

Adam Duvall of the Reds 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 Sept. 26:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	24.7
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	24.4
3	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	died*	22.4
4	Lester, Jon 2173	pi sp	chi nl	22.1
5	Kluber, Corey 3200	pi sp	cle al	21.2
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?
* Jose Fernandez died in a boating accident Sept. 25. His team was the Miami Marlins.

Duvall hit two homers, including a three-run shot, in the 15-2 win over the Cardinals. Duvall went 4-for-6, scoring four times and driving in five runs.

American League Player of the Day—Angels pitcher Jered Weaver pitched five scoreless innings, allowing one hit, one walk and striking out three, in the 2-1 win over the Athletics. Weaver did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Athletics tied the game after he exited.

Weaver earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 127.8 for his career, rising to 35th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Monday, he passes Roy Oswalt (127.2) and A.J. Burnett (127.8) on the “all-time” list and now trails 34th-ranked player Vladimir Guerrero (128.3). Weaver has 4.7 Box-Toppers points on the season, his lowest point total in his 11-year career.

American League Batter of the Day—Robinson Cano of the Mariners hit two homers and a double in the 4-3, 11-inning win over the Astros. Cano went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs.

Cano earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 7.0 for the season, the highest point total of any of the 10 who earned Player of the Game honors Monday. He ranks 20th among AL batters.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Monday because the overall Player of the Day was NL batter Adam Duvall.

Kluber—Corey Kluber, ranked fifth in Box-Toppers season player rankings, started in the Indians’ win Monday but failed to earn Player of the Game honors.

Kluber (4IP 5H 2R BB 3K ND in the 7-4 win over the Tigers) had a Box-Toppers game score of −4.0. Player of the Game was middle reliever Andrew Miller (1.2IP H 0R 0BB 4K W) who had a Box-Toppers game score of +4.2.

Kluber has 21.2 Box-Toppers points on the season, fifth among all players and first among AL players.

Streak—Justin Morneau of the White Sox has now earned Box-Toppers points in 13 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of the season Monday.

Morneau (HR 2-3 R 3BI in the 7-1 win over the Rays) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2004 with the Twins and has 74.3 career points, fourth among active AL first basemen. His best season was 2006 with the Twins, when he had 12.2 Box-Toppers points, seventh among AL batters. In 2015, he had 2.0 Box-Toppers points with the Rockies.

Scoring—Duvall earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Weaver earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Cano earns 1.5 points for being AL 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

9/26	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	7.0	CIN 15, STL 2	Adam Duvall, LF	6	4	4	5		-	-	-	-	-	-
	6.0	MIL 8, TEX 3	Jonathan Villar, 2B	4	2	3	5		-	-	-	-	-	-
AL	6.0	`LAA 2, OAK 1	Jered Weaver	-	-	-	-		5.0	1	0	0	1	3
	5.0	ARI 14, WSH 4	Zack Godley (W,5-4)	-	-	-	-		3.0	1	0	0	0	3
	4.2	CLE 7, DET 4	Andrew Miller (W,10-1; H,24)	-	-	-	-		1.2	1	0	0	0	4
	4.0	CHC 12, PIT 2	Javier Baez, 2B-SS	5	1	2	6		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	3.0	SEA 4, HOU 3 (11)	Robinson Cano, 2B	4	2	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	MIA 7, NYM 3	Justin Bour, 1B	3	2	3	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	CHW 7, TB 1	Justin Morneau, DH	3	1	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	NYY 7, TOR 5	Adam Warren (W,7-4)	-	-	-	-		2.0	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 of Game	Pos	Team	16	15-16	11-16	Career	+/-
Cano, Robinson 2092	2b	sea al	7.0	13.5	42.5	74.4	0.5
Miller, Andrew 2436	pi cp mr	cle al	7.0	11.0	15.0	22.0	3.0
Duvall, Adam 3573	lf	cin nl	6.5	8.0	8.0	8.0	5.0
Weaver, Jered 2178	pi sp	ana al	4.7	12.4	67.0	127.8	-3.0
Villar, Jonathan 3233	ss 2b ph	mil nl	4.0	4.0	6.0	6.0	4.0
Warren, Adam 3169	pi mr	nyy al	3.0	6.7	10.7	10.7	-0.7
Bour, Justin 3433	1b ph	fla nl	2.5	11.0	12.5	12.5	-6.0
Baez, Javier 3395	2b ss	chi nl	2.0	2.0	4.5	4.5	2.0
Godley, Zack 3538	pi mr sp	ari nl	1.0	4.7	4.7	4.7	-2.7
Morneau, Justin 1900	dh 1b	chi al	1.0	3.0	19.7	74.3	-1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Cubs' Hammel tops players for Saturday, June 4; Dodgers' Kershaw extends dominant Box-Toppers points lead

Cubs pitcher Jason Hammel 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 June 4:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	15.0
2	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	9.7
3	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	9.0
4	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	8.7
5	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	8.7
6	Machado, Manny 3087	ss 3b	bal al	8.7
7	Matz, Steven 3516	pi sp	nym nl	8.7
8	Hill, Rich 2215	pi sp	oak al	8.4
9	Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	8.0
10	Salazar, Danny 3223	pi sp	cle al	7.8

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Saturday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw extends his dominant lead in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Hammel struck out six over seven innings, allowing two runs and one hit, in the 5-3 win over the Diamondbacks.

American League Player of the Day—Elvis Andrus of the Rangers hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-4, scoring three times, in the 10-4 win over the Mariners.

National League Batter of the Day—Adam Duvall of the Reds hit a three-run homer in the 6-3 win over the Nationals.

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 was batter Elvis Andrus.

Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw extended his dominant lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.

Kershaw (6IP 3H 0R 4K W in the 4-0 win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 15.0 for the season. He leads second-place player Jose Fernandez of the Marlins (9.7) by 5.3 Box-Toppers points, meaning Fernandez would need to earn Player of the Day honors three times to pass Kershaw.

Kershaw also now has 174.3 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of seventh place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails sixth-place player Albert Pujols of the Angels (176.3). (See home page for updated Box-Toppers “All-time” top 20 player rankings.)

Kershaw had a Box-Toppers game score Saturday of +6.0, the same as Player of the Day Jason Hammel. But Hammel won Player of the Day over Kershaw on a tiebreaker—he had more innings pitched (7 vs. 6).

Debut—Matt Reynolds of the Mets made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.

Reynolds (PH 1-1 BI in the 6-4 win over the Marlins) made his Major League debut May 17 and was playing in his ninth career game. He is the 3,650th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Reynolds now ranks second in career Box-Toppers points among all players named Matt Reynolds. The other Matt Reynolds, a middle relief pitcher, has 2.0 Box-Toppers points earned in 2010 and 2011, while playing for the Rockies. Prior to the start of the 2016 season, Reynolds (the middle reliever) was released by the Diamondbacks.

Scoring—Hammel earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Andrus earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Duvall earns 1.5 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

6/4	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	6.0	CHC 5/ARI 3	Jason Hammel (W,7-1)	-	-	-	-		7.0	1	2	2	2	6
	6.0	LAD 4/ATL 0	Clayton Kershaw (W,8-1)	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	0	0	1	4
AL	4.0	TEX 10/SEA 4	Elvis Andrus, SS	4	3	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	DET 7/CHW 4	J.D. Martinez, RF	3	2	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.1	SD 4/COL 3	Kevin Quackenbush (H,6)	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	1	3
	3.0	STL 7/SF 4	Trevor Rosenthal (S,9)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	2.0	CLE 7/KC 1	Francisco Lindor, SS	4	1	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	TB 7/MIN 4	Steven Souza Jr., RF	3	1	1	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	2.0	CIN 6/DC 3	Adam Duvall, LF	3	1	1	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	BOS 6/TOR 4	Blake Swihart, LF	1	1	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	MIL 6/PHI 3	Jonathan Villar, SS	5	1	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	HOU 6/OAK 5	Carlos Correa, SS	5	1	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	NYY 8/BAL 6	Starlin Castro, 2B	5	1	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	PIT 8/LAA 7	Josh Harrison, 2B	5	2	3	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	NYM 6/MIA 4	Matt Reynolds, PH	1	0	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	+/-
Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	15.0	40.7	140.8	174.3	-10.7
Hammel, Jason 2235	pi sp	chi nl	5.0	14.7	38.1	51.2	-4.7
Souza, Steven Jr. 3461	rf	tb al	3.7	9.2	9.2	9.2	-1.8
Correa, Carlos 3506	ss	hou al	3.5	10.7	10.7	10.7	-3.7
Martinez, J.D. 2922	rf	det al	3.5	5.2	15.2	15.2	1.8
Duvall, Adam 3573	lf	cin nl	3.5	5.0	5.0	5.0	2.0
Andrus, Elvis 2582	ss	tex al	2.7	2.7	10.2	13.2	2.7
Lindor, Francisco 3586	ss	cle al	2.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	1.5
Rosenthal, Trevor 3124	pi cp	stl nl	2.0	8.0	20.0	20.0	-4.0
Castro, Starlin 2767	ss	nyy al	2.0	6.5	19.5	20.5	-2.5
Harrison, Josh 2947	2b 3b	pit nl	2.0	3.0	8.0	8.0	1.0
Villar, Jonathan 3233	ss	mil nl	2.0	2.0	4.0	4.0	2.0
Swihart, Blake 3565	lf ca	bos al	1.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	-2.0
Quackenbush, Kevin 3462	pi mr	sd nl	1.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	-1.0
Reynolds, Matt 3650	ph	nym 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.