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Alex Rodriguez has the most career Box-Toppers points of all Major League Baseball number-one draft picks since 1990.
Rodriguez, who was the first pick in the 1993 draft, earned 187.0 Box-Toppers points during his career from 1994 to 2016, which is 10th overall since 1995 and second among all batters (behind Albert Pujols of the Angels with 201.8).
Read MoreBraves pitcher Mike Soroka and Russell Martin of the Dodgers are Sunday’s Box-Toppers top players in a pair of National League Division Series games.
Read MoreReds pitcher Luis Castillo is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to 10th place in season player rankings.
Also Thursday, Dodgers pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, two players rise into Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after earning Player of the Game honors—Twins pitcher Jake Odorizzi rises to fifth place and White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito rises to 10th place. Plus, Albert Pujols of the Angels rises to sixth place on Box-Toppers “all-time” career points list after earning AL Batter of the Day honors Sunday.
Read MoreMookie Betts of the Red Sox is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, becoming just the second batter this year with 10 or more Box-Toppers points.
Betts hit a three-run homer, doubled twice and went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in five runs, in the 11-6 win over the Yankees.
Read More
The top two active career leaders in Box-Toppers points were Wednesday’s Box-Toppers top two players.
| 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 | 9.4 |
| 4 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 |
| 5 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 8.0 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 7.7 |
| 7 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 7.4 |
| 8 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 7.4 |
| 9 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.0 |
| 10 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 7.0 |
Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia—second in active career points—is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day. And Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw—first in active career points—is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers National League Player of the Day. Kershaw also extends his lead in season Box-Toppers player rankings.
Player of the Day—Sabathia pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing five hits, no walks and striking out five, in the 8-0 win over the Red Sox.
Sabathia earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points, giving him 190.0 career points, fifth among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails fourth-ranked player Curt Schilling (194.1). Sabathia ranks second among active players in career points, trailing Kershaw (198.1). Sabathia has 5.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, 13th among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Kershaw struck out nine over seven innings, allowing one run, three hits and three walks, in the 2-1 win over the Nationals.
Kershaw earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 14.4 for the season, extending his lead in season player rankings ahead of second-place player, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (12.0).
Kershaw also now has 198.1 career Box-Toppers points, third among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails second-ranked player Pedro Martinez (244.8). Kershaw ranks first among active players in career points.
Kershaw had a Box-Toppers game score Wednesday of +8.0, same as Sabathia. But Sabathia beat Kershaw to earn Player of the Game honors because he had more innings pitched (8.0 vs. 7.0).
American League Batter of the Day—Trey Mancini of the Orioles hit two home runs and went 2-for-2, driving in five runs, in the 9-6, 11-inning win over the Pirates.
National League Batter of the Day—Dansby Swanson of the Braves hit a three-run homer and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 14-1 win over the Phillies.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debuts Wednesday with their first career Player of the Game honors:
Rays pitcher Jacob Faria (6.1IP 3H R 2BB 5K W in the 3-1 win over the White Sox) was also making his Major League debut Wednesday. He is the 3,816th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Patrick Kivlehan of the Reds (pinch-hit 3-R HR 1-1 R 3BI in the 6-4 win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut Aug. 20, 2016, and was playing in his 49th career game. He is the 3,817th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Sabathia earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Kershaw earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Mancini and Swanson 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.
| 6/7 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 8.0 | NYY 8, BOS 0 | CC Sabathia (W,7-2) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| NL | 8.0 | LAD 2, WSH 1 | Clayton Kershaw (W,8-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | |
| 7.2 | DET 4, LAA 0 | Buck Farmer (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 7.0 | BAL 9, PIT 6 (F/11) | Trey Mancini, PH-LF | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 5.0 | ATL 14, PHI 1 | Dansby Swanson, SS | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | SEA 6, MIN 5 | Mike Zunino, C | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.1 | TB 3, CHW 1 | Jacob Faria (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | CIN 6, STL 4 | Patrick Kivlehan, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.1 | COL 8, CLE 1 | Kyle Freeland (W,7-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | NYM 4, TEX 3 | Jay Bruce, DH | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | ARI 7, SD 4 | Jake Lamb, 3B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | KC 7, HOU 5 | Kelvin Herrera (S,13) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | MIL 6, SF 3 | Corey Knebel (S,7) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | TOR 7, OAK 5 (F/10) | Justin Smoak, 1B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.1 | MIA 6, CHC 5 | AJ Ramos (S,9) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.4 | 38.8 | 138.5 | 198.1 | -10.0 |
| Smoak, Justin 2731 | 1b | tor al | 5.5 | 9.0 | 22.2 | 28.4 | 2.0 |
| Bruce, Jay 2453 | rf | nym nl | 5.0 | 13.5 | 30.7 | 63.8 | -3.5 |
| Sabathia, C.C. 1492 | pi sp | nyy al | 5.0 | 11.0 | 37.5 | 190.0 | -1.0 |
| Mancini, Trey 3766 | lf ph | bal al | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 |
| Freeland, Kyle 3763 | pi sp | col nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Lamb, Jake 3517 | 3b | ari nl | 3.5 | 7.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 | -0.5 |
| Ramos, A.J. 3210 | pi cp | fla nl | 3.0 | 5.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 1.0 |
| Knebel, Corey 3757 | pi cp mr | mil nl | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 2.0 |
| Farmer, Buck 3809 | pi sp | det al | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| Swanson, Dansby 3751 | ss | atl nl | 2.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 1.5 |
| Zunino, Mike 3390 | ca | sea al | 2.5 | 2.5 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 2.5 |
| Herrera, Kelvin 3149 | pi cp | kc al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 0.0 |
| Faria, Jacob 3816 | pi sp | tb al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Kivlehan, Patrick 3817 | ph | cin nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Rockies pitcher Tyler Chatwood is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 25.7 |
| 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 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 8 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 15.7 |
| 9 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 15.4 |
| 10 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 15.1 |
Chatwood pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out nine and allowing three hits and two walks, in the 2-0 win over the Giants.
American League Player of the Day—White Sox pitcher Miguel Gonzalez pitched 8 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits, no walks and striking out five, in the 1-0 win over the Rays.
National League Batter of the Day—John Jaso of the Pirates hit for the cycle (single, double, triple and three-run homer) in the 8-4 win over the Cubs. Jaso went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in five runs.
American League Batter of the Day—Carlos Gomez of the Rangers hit a go-ahead, eighth-inning, three-run homer in the 8-5 win over the Brewers. Gomez also doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring twice. This was the second straight day Gomez earned Player of the Game honors. He has 4.5 Box-Toppers points on the season, 2.5 earned in the past two days.
Notable—Two batters with more than 100 career Box-Toppers points earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday:
Cabrera also has the highest season Box-Toppers point total (12.0) of any of the 15 who earnedPlayer of the Game honors Wednesday. Cabrera ranks 31st among all players, fourth among AL batters, behind Manny Machado of the Orioles (12.7), Mike Trout of the Angels (12.5) and Jose Altuve of the Astros (12.5).
Also notable—Hunter Renfroe of the Padres, who made his Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, earned Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Wednesday, one of two players who earned Box-Toppers points two days in a row. (The other was AL Batter of the Day Carlos Gomez.)
Renfroe (HR 2-4 2R 4BI in the 6-5 win over the Dodgers) now has 2.5 Box-Toppers points.
Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Wednesday with their first career Player of the Game honors:
Scoring—Chatwood earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gonzalez earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Jaso and Gomez 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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 9/28 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | COL 2, SF 0 | Tyler Chatwood (W,12-9) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | |
| AL | 10.1 | CHW 1, TB 0 | Miguel Gonzalez (W,5-8) | - | - | - | - | 8.1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| BAT | 7.0 | PIT 8, CHC 4 | John Jaso, 1B | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | `KC 5, MIN 2 | Jason Vargas | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | TEX 8, MIL 5 | Carlos Gomez, LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | SD 6, LAD 5 | Hunter Renfroe, RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | ATL 12, PHI 2 | Dansby Swanson, SS | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | ARI 3, WSH 0 (6) | Shelby Miller (W,3-12) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | SEA 12, HOU 4 | Leonys Martin, CF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | DET 6, CLE 3 (5) | Miguel Cabrera, 1B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | NYY 5, BOS 3 | Mark Teixeira, 1B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | BAL 3, TOR 2 | Hyun Soo Kim, PH-LF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | NYM 5, MIA 2 | Jeurys Familia (S,50) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | LAA 8, OAK 6 | A.J. Achter (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | CIN 2, STL 1 | Raisel Iglesias (S,5) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||
| Player of Game | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Cabrera, Miguel 1776 | 1b | det al | 12.0 | 16.7 | 65.3 | 144.9 | 7.3 |
| Gonzalez, Miguel 3062 | pi sp | chi al | 9.1 | 15.8 | 37.9 | 37.9 | 2.4 |
| Familia, Jeurys 3446 | pi cp | nym nl | 8.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 0.0 |
| Chatwood, Tyler 2856 | pi sp | col nl | 7.0 | 7.0 | 16.7 | 16.7 | 7.0 |
| Jaso, John 2705 | 1b | pit nl | 5.5 | 5.5 | 10.5 | 16.5 | 5.5 |
| Gomez, Carlos 2397 | lf | tex al | 4.5 | 10.5 | 21.0 | 32.0 | -1.5 |
| Teixeira, Mark 1738 | 1b | nyy al | 4.0 | 11.5 | 32.2 | 101.3 | -3.5 |
| Iglesias, Raisel 3467 | pi sp cp | cin nl | 3.0 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 0.3 |
| Renfroe, Hunter 3749 | rf | sd nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Miller, Shelby 3134 | pi sp | ari nl | 2.0 | 12.0 | 38.1 | 38.1 | -8.0 |
| Kim, Hyun Soo 3671 | lf | bal al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 35.5 | 47.2 | 0.0 |
| Martin, Leonys 3053 | cf | sea al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 1.0 |
| Achter, A.J. 3752 | pi mr | ana al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Swanson, Dansby 3751 | ss | atl nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.