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Anthony Rendon of the Nationals had the best single-game performance by a batter in the 2017 season as measured by Box-Toppers game score.
It also appears to be the highest game score for a batter in Box-Toppers’ 23 seasons of record keeping.
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Angels pitcher Alex Meyer is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Meyer pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit, one walk and striking out seven, in the 7-0 win over the Nationals.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 19.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 13.1 |
| 4 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 5 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.4 |
| 6 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 12.4 |
| 7 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 11.4 |
| 8 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 11.4 |
| 9 | Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.0 |
| 10 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 10.0 |
National League Player of the Day—Nolan Arenado of the Rockies hit three home runs, including a three-run shot, in the 18-4 win over the Padres. Arenado went 5-for-6, scoring four times and driving in seven runs.
Arenado had a Box-Toppers game score of +10.0, the third-highest game score for a batter in 2017 and only the fourth that was +10.0 or greater. The others:
American League Batter of the Day—Brandon Moss of the Royals homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 4-3 win over the Tigers.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Wednesday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Nolan Arenado.
Notable—Mariners pitcher James Paxton has the most 2017 Box-Toppers points among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Paxton (7IP 6H R BB 7K W in the 4-1 win over the Astros) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.0 for the season and ranks 13th among all players, fifth among AL pitchers.
Scoring—Meyer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Arenado earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Moss earns 1.5 points for being AL 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.
| 7/19 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | LAA 7, WSH 0 | Alex Meyer (W, 4-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| NL | 10.0 | COL 18, SD 4 | Nolan Arenado (3B) | 6 | 4 | 5 | 7 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 9.0 | `PIT 3, MIL 2 (F/10) | Gerrit Cole | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | ||
| 6.0 | BAL 10, TEX 2 | Kevin Gausman (W, 6-7) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 6.0 | CHC 8, ATL 2 | Mike Montgomery (W, 2-6) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 5.0 | SEA 4, HOU 1 | James Paxton (W, 9-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 4.0 | LAD 9, CHW 1 (F/8) | Corey Seager (SS) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | KC 4, DET 3 | Brandon Moss (DH) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | CIN 4, ARI 3 (F/11) | Michael Lorenzen (W, 5-2) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2.1 | NYM 7, STL 3 | Addison Reed (S, 16) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | PHI 10, MIA 3 | Maikel Franco (3B) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | BOS 5, TOR 1 | Dustin Pedroia (2B) | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | SF 5, CLE 4 | Buster Posey (PH) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.2 | MIN 6, NYY 1 | Jose Berrios (W, 9-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 1.0 | OAK 7, TB 2 | Yonder Alonso (1B) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 9.0 | 13.4 | 20.1 | 20.1 | 4.6 |
| Arenado, Nolan 3306 | 3b | col nl | 7.2 | 17.9 | 27.9 | 27.9 | -3.5 |
| Meyer, Alex 3742 | pi sp | ana al | 7.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 6.0 |
| Posey, Buster 2745 | ca 1b | sf nl | 6.5 | 10.0 | 35.0 | 39.5 | 3.0 |
| Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 6.0 | 12.5 | 41.9 | 41.9 | -0.5 |
| Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | bal al | 5.4 | 16.2 | 29.6 | 29.6 | -5.4 |
| Seager, Corey 3587 | ss | lad nl | 5.0 | 9.0 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 1.0 |
| Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Alonso, Yonder 2945 | 1b | oak al | 4.0 | 6.0 | 15.5 | 17.0 | 2.0 |
| Moss, Brandon 2520 | dh | kc al | 3.5 | 7.5 | 28.5 | 30.5 | -0.5 |
| Montgomery, Mike 3513 | pi sp cp | chi nl | 3.0 | 8.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | -2.0 |
| Lorenzen, Michael 3479 | pi cp | cin nl | 3.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 2.0 |
| Franco, Maikel 3510 | 3b | phi nl | 2.7 | 7.2 | 10.4 | 10.4 | -1.8 |
| Pedroia, Dustin 2320 | 2b | bos al | 2.0 | 7.0 | 20.0 | 39.5 | -3.0 |
| Reed, Addison 3023 | pi cp mr | nym nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | -1.0 |
A look at who leads each of the 30 teams in 2017 Box-Toppers points at the All-Star break.
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Angels pitcher Alex Meyer is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.4 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 13.0 |
| 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 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 8.0 |
| 8 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 8.0 |
| 9 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 7.7 |
| 10 | Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | bos al | 7.7 |
Also Saturday, Matt Adams of the Braves rises to lead National League batters in Box-Toppers points after earning NL Batter of the Day honors.
Player of the Day—Meyer struck out nine over six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 9-0 win over the Royals.
National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Dinelson Lamet struck out 12 over six innings, allowing three runs, four hits and no walks, in the 7-5, 11-inning win over the Brewers. Lamet earned a no-decision and did not pick up the win because the game was tied, 3-3, when he exited.
American League Batter of the Day—Jonathan Schoop of the Orioles hit two home runs and went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 15-7 win over the Cardinals.
National League Batter of the Day—Matt Adams of the Braves homered and doubled twice in the 8-7, 10-inning win over the Marlins. Adams went 3-for-4, driving in four runs.
Adams earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.5 for the season. He rises to lead NL batters in season Box-Toppers points, passing previous leader Jay Bruce of the Mets (6.0). Adams ranks 19th among all players in season player rankings.
Notable—Ryon Healy of the Athletics has the most 2017 Box-Toppers points of any of the 16 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Healy (2HR 3-4 2R 2BI in the 5-2 win over the Yankees) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.2 for the season. He ranks 16th among all players and second among AL batters, behind Aaron Judge of the Yankees (8.2).
Debut—Astros pitcher David Paulino made his Box-Toppers debut with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Paulino (6IP 3H R BB 4K W in the 7-1 win over the Red Sox) made his Major League debut Sept. 8, 2016, and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,828th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Meyer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lamet earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Schoop and Adams each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.
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.
| 6/17 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | LAA 9, KC 0 | Alex Meyer (W,3-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |
| NL | 8.0 | `SD 7, MIL 5 (F/11) | Dinelson Lamet | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 12 | |
| BAT | 6.0 | BAL 15, STL 7 | Jonathan Schoop, 2B | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | CHW 5, TOR 2 | Mike Pelfrey (W,3-5) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | CLE 9, MIN 3 | Jose Ramirez, 3B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | ATL 8, MIA 7 (F/10) | Matt Adams, 1B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | TEX 10, SEA 4 | Mike Napoli, DH | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | CLE 6, MIN 2 | Lonnie Chisenhall, RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | HOU 7, BOS 1 | David Paulino (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 3.2 | `ARI 5, PHI 1 | Zack Godley | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | ||
| 3.0 | LAD 10, CIN 2 | Cody Bellinger, 1B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | OAK 5, NYY 2 | Ryon Healy, DH | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | TB 3, DET 2 | Chris Archer (W,5-4) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 2.0 | PIT 4, CHC 3 | Gregory Polanco, RF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | WSH 7, NYM 4 | Jose Lobaton, C | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | COL 5, SF 1 | Carlos Gonzalez, RF | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Healy, Ryon 3685 | dh 1b 3b | oak al | 7.2 | 10.2 | 10.2 | 10.2 | 4.2 |
| Adams, Matt 3220 | 1b | atl nl | 6.5 | 7.5 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 5.5 |
| Godley, Zack 3538 | pi sp | ari nl | 6.0 | 7.0 | 10.7 | 10.7 | 5.0 |
| Schoop, Jonathan 3307 | 2b | bal al | 4.5 | 9.0 | 14.0 | 14.0 | 0.0 |
| Bellinger, Cody 3781 | 1b | lad nl | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 4.0 | 13.0 | 53.1 | 53.1 | -5.0 |
| Meyer, Alex 3742 | pi sp | ana al | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 3.0 |
| Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 3.5 | 5.0 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 2.0 |
| Lamet, Dinelson 3808 | pi sp | sd nl | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| Napoli, Mike 2161 | dh 1b | tex al | 2.0 | 8.5 | 31.7 | 59.7 | -4.5 |
| Gonzalez, Carlos 2460 | rf | col nl | 2.0 | 7.5 | 40.7 | 60.7 | -3.5 |
| Polanco, Gregory 3361 | lf rf | pit nl | 2.0 | 7.5 | 14.5 | 14.5 | -3.5 |
| Chisenhall, Lonnie 2959 | cf rf | cle al | 2.0 | 5.5 | 13.5 | 15.5 | -1.5 |
| Lobaton, Jose 3216 | ca | dc nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 0.0 |
| Pelfrey, Mike 2364 | pi sp | chi al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 8.0 | 31.8 | 1.0 |
| Paulino, David 3828 | pi sp | hou al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Angels pitcher Alex Meyer is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Meyer struck out seven over 6 1/3 innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 4-1 win over the Tigers.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 |
| 2 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 7.7 |
| 3 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.0 |
| 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 |
National League Player of the Day—Patrick Valaika of the Rockies hit two homers and went 2-for-4, driving in four runs, in the 9-6 win over the Dodgers.
This was Valaika’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Valaika made his Major League debut Sept. 6, 2016, and was playing in his 33rd career game. He is the 3,793rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
American League Batter of the Day—Jason Kipnis of the Indians homered twice and went 4-for-5, driving in four runs, in the 8-3 win over the Twins.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Sunday because the overall NL Player of the Day was batter Patrick Valaika.
Notable—Aaron Altherr of the Phillies has the most season Box-Toppers points of any of the 17 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Altherr (HR 2-3 R BI in the 4-3 win over the Nationals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 4.5 for the season. He ranks 19th among all players and third among NL batters.
Debut—Besides Valaika, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut Sunday with their first career Player of the Game honor:
Minor oddity—Of the 17 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday, a large majority of them—13—were batters, including five who were catchers, generally the position that generates the lowest Box-Toppers point totals.
Scoring—Meyer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Valaika earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Kipnis earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.
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.
| 5/14 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 6.1 | LAA 4, DET 1 | Alex Meyer (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | |
| BAT | 5.0 | CLE 8, MIN 3 | Jason Kipnis, 2B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.2 | `NYY 11, HOU 6 | Chad Green | - | - | - | - | 3.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 4.1 | TOR 3, SEA 2 | Ryan Tepera (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | 2.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 4.0 | KC 9, BAL 8 | Drew Butera, C | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| NL | 4.0 | COL 9, LAD 6 | Patrick Valaika, SS | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | MIA 3, ATL 1 | Tyler Moore, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | TEX 6, OAK 4 | Elvis Andrus, SS | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | STL 5, CHC 0 | Yadier Molina, C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | HOU 10, NYY 7 | George Springer, CF | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | TB 11, BOS 2 | Jesus Sucre, C | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | SF 8, CIN 3 | Buster Posey, C | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CHW 9, SD 3 | Melky Cabrera, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | MIL 11, NYM 9 | Manny Pina, C | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | PIT 6, ARI 4 (F/10) | Jose Osuna, 1B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | WSH 6, PHI 5 | Matt Albers (S,2) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | PHI 4, WSH 3 | Aaron Altherr, CF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Altherr, Aaron 3563 | lf rf cf ph | phi nl | 4.5 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 2.0 |
| Tepera, Ryan 3774 | pi mr | tor al | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Posey, Buster 2745 | ca 1b | sf nl | 3.0 | 6.5 | 31.5 | 36.0 | -0.5 |
| Pina, Manny 3769 | ca | mil nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Meyer, Alex 3742 | pi sp | ana al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 |
| Valaika, Patrick 3793 | ss | col nl | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Kipnis, Jason 2933 | 2b | cle al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 20.5 | 23.5 | 1.5 |
| Andrus, Elvis 2582 | ss | tex al | 1.0 | 10.2 | 15.2 | 20.7 | -8.2 |
| Springer, George 3337 | rf | hou al | 1.0 | 7.5 | 11.5 | 11.5 | -5.5 |
| Cabrera, Melky 2143 | lf ph | chi al | 1.0 | 5.0 | 15.0 | 31.5 | -3.0 |
| Molina, Yadier 1967 | ca | stl nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 14.5 | 35.7 | -3.0 |
| Green, Chad 3675 | pi mr | nyy al | 1.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | -2.0 |
| Butera, Drew 2883 | ca | kc al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 |
| Moore, Tyler 3045 | lf 1b ph | fla nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 1.0 |
| Osuna, Jose 3795 | 1b | pit nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Sucre, Jesus 3794 | ca | tb al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Seth Smith of the Mariners is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Smith hit two homers—a solo homer and a three-run shot—and went 2-for-2, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 7-3 win over the Astros.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 23.7 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 21.0 |
| 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 20.4 |
| 4 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 20.2 |
| 5 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 20.1 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 16.8 |
| 7 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym al | 15.7 |
| 8 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 15.4 |
| 9 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 15.1 |
| 10 | Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.4 |
National League Player of the Day—Cardinals pitcher Alex Reyes pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits, two walks and striking out six, in the 3-0 win over the Giants.
National League Batter of the Day—Brandon Drury of the Diamondbacks hit a game-winning, 12th-inning single in the 10-9 win over the Dodgers. Drury also homered, doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in two runs.
This was Drury’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Drury made his Major League debut Sept. 1, 2015, and was playing in his 141st career game. He is the 3,744th 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 Sunday because the overall Player of the Day was AL batter Seth Smith.
Notable—Hanley Ramirez of the Red Sox has the highest season Box-Toppers point total among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday. Ramirez (2HR 3-4 2R 4BI in the 5-4 win over the Yankees) has 7.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, 107th among all players and 22nd among AL batters.
Debuts—In addition to Drury, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut with their first career Player of the Game honors:
Scoring—Smith earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Reyes earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Drury earns 1.5 points for being NL 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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 9/18 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 7.0 | SEA 7, HOU 3 | Seth Smith, RF | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| NL | 7.0 | STL 3, SF 0 | Alex Reyes (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | |
| 7.0 | LAA 4, TOR 0 | Alex Meyer (W,1-3) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | ||
| 5.2 | `NYM 3, MIN 2 | Gabriel Ynoa | - | - | - | - | 4.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 5.0 | BOS 5, NYY 4 | Hanley Ramirez, DH | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | `BAL 2, TB 1 | Wade Miley | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | ARI 10, LAD 9 (12) | Brandon Drury, LF | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | CIN 7, PIT 4 | Tucker Barnhart, C | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | KC 10, CHW 3 | Kendrys Morales, DH | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | DET 9, CLE 5 | J.D. Martinez, RF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | ATL 6, WSH 2 (7) | Adonis Garcia, 3B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | OAK 5, TEX 2 | Khris Davis, DH | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | COL 6, SD 3 | Mark Reynolds, 1B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | MIL 3, CHC 1 | Tyler Thornburg (S,11) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | MIA 5, PHI 4 | Derek Dietrich, 3B | 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. | ||||||||||||||
| Player of Game | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Ramirez, Hanley 2119 | 1b | bos al | 7.0 | 7.0 | 29.7 | 57.6 | 7.0 |
| Davis, Khris 3242 | lf dh | oak al | 6.7 | 10.7 | 16.7 | 16.7 | 2.7 |
| Morales, Kendrys 2142 | dh | kc al | 6.5 | 11.2 | 21.2 | 37.2 | 1.8 |
| Thornburg, Tyler 3195 | pi cp | mil nl | 6.0 | 6.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 6.0 |
| Martinez, J.D. 2922 | rf | det al | 5.5 | 7.2 | 17.2 | 17.2 | 3.8 |
| Miley, Wade 3006 | pi sp | bal al | 5.0 | 12.0 | 35.4 | 35.4 | -2.0 |
| Smith, Seth 2489 | rf lf | sea al | 5.0 | 6.0 | 24.0 | 38.2 | 4.0 |
| Reynolds, Mark 2297 | 1b | col nl | 4.0 | 8.0 | 28.2 | 51.4 | 0.0 |
| Garcia, Adonis 3613 | 3b | atl nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Reyes, Alex 3706 | pi mr sp | stl nl | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| Dietrich, Derek 3199 | 2b 3b | fla nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 1.0 |
| Barnhart, Tucker 3519 | ca | cin nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 |
| Drury, Brandon 3744 | lf | ari nl | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Meyer, Alex 3742 | pi sp | ana al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Ynoa, Gabriel 3743 | pi sp | nym 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.