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Royals pitcher Seth Lugo is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, three players rise in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after each earned Player of the Game honors: Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola rises to third place, Cardinals closing pitcher Ryan Helsley rises to fourth place and Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga rises to seventh place.
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Jayson Werth of the Nationals is top player in Monday’s three league division series playoff games.
Other Players of the Game Monday:
Werth homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs to earn Player of the Game.
Werth had 6.0 Box-Toppers points during the regular season, ranked 165th among all players and 23rd among NL batters.
Werth had a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 Monday to lead all Nationals players.
The Nationals now lead the Dodgers in the best-of-five game series, 2-1, which resumes Tuesday in Los Angeles.
Giants middle reliever Derek Law pitched two scoreless innings—the sixth and seventh—and allowed no hits, one walk and struck out two.
So how did Law earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game? Under Box-Toppers rules, pitchers can qualify to earn Player of the Game honors if they pitch a minimum of three innings or earn the win or save. Law did not meet any of those requirements. However, pitchers can also earn Player of the Game honors if their Box-Toppers game score is higher than the pitcher who otherwise would have earned Player of the Game—if they have the same or more innings pitched. Closer Ty Blach (2IP 2H 0R 0BB K W) was in line to earn Player of the Game based on the fact that he earned the decision and had the highest Box-Toppers game score of qualifying pitchers (+1.0). But since Law pitched the same number of innings and had a higher Box-Toppers game score (+3.0), he wins Player of the Game.
Giants starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner would have qualified to earn Player of the Game honors (because he had more than three innings pitched) but he had a Box-Toppers game score Monday of −5.0 (5IP 7H 3R BB 4K ND). Giants top batter was catcher Buster Posey (3-5 R BI) who had a Box-Toppers game score of 0.0.
Law has 2.0 Box-Toppers points on the season.
Cubs starting pitcher Jake Arrieta (15.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked ninth among all players) had a Box-Toppers game score Monday of 0.0 in the loss (6IP 6H 2R BB 5K ND).
The Giants now trail the Cubs in the best-of-five game series, 2-1, which resumes Tuesday in San Francisco.
Coco Crisp of the Indians hit a sixth-inning two-run homer to earn Player of the Game honors as the Indians swept the Red Sox to advance to the AL Championship Series.
Crisp went 1-for-2 and had a Box-Toppers game score of +2.0.
During the regular season, Crisp had 3.0 Box-Toppers points.
The Indians sweep the Red Sox in the NL Division Series in three games and now face the Blue Jays in the AL Championship Series beginning Friday in Cleveland.
The Red Sox ranked first among all AL teams in Box-Toppers rankings with 128.3 Box-Toppers points (ranking second overall behind the Cubs). The Indians ranked fourth with 123.7, second among AL teams.
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.
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Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| BTG | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| 3.0 | WSH 8, LAD 3 | Jayson Werth, LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | `SF 6, CHC 5 (13) | Derek Law | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| 2.0 | CLE 4, BOS 3 | Coco Crisp, LF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | |||||||||||||
| BTG: Box-Toppers game score | |||||||||||||
Coming Tuesday, the NL Division Series playoff games resume:
The pitching matchup Tuesday:
Nationals—Joe Ross, 5.7 Box-Toppers points, 173rd among all players, 50th among NL pitchers.
Dodgers—Clayton Kershaw, 24.4 Box-Toppers points, second among all players, second among NL pitchers.
The pitching matchup Tuesday:
Cubs—John Lackey, 13.4 Box-Toppers points, ranked 16th, ninth among NL pitchers.
Giants—Matt Moore, 12.4 Box-Toppers points, ranked 31st, 16th among NL pitchers.
Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to third place in season player rankings.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 17.0 |
| 2 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 11.7 |
| 3 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 10.0 |
| 4 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 9.0 |
| 5 | Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 8.8 |
| 6 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.7 |
| 7 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 8.7 |
| 8 | Machado, Manny 3087 | ss 3b | bal al | 8.7 |
| 9 | Matz, Steven 3516 | pi sp | nym nl | 8.7 |
| 10 | Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.4 |
Scherzer struck out 11 over seven innings, allowing one run, two hits and no walks, in the 4-1 win over the Cubs.
Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 10.0 for the season. He becomes the third player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. It is the sixth season—and fifth straight season—Scherzer has had 10 or more points in a season.
Scherzer also rises to 44th place in career Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Monday, Scherzer now has 116.0 career Box-Toppers points and passes three players on the “all-time” list—Josh Beckett (114.9), Angels pitcher Tim Lincecum (115.0) and Torii Hunter (115.9). Scherzer trails 43rd-ranked player, Cubs pitcher John Lackey (116.2).
American League Player of the Day—Khris Davis of the Athletics hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five runs, in the 14-5 win over the Rangers.
National League Batter of the Day—Martin Prado of the Marlins hit a two-run homer and went 3-for-3, driving in three total runs, in the 13-4 win over the Padres.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Monday because the overall AL Player of the Day was batter Khris Davis.
Debut—Giants pitcher Derek Law made his Box-Toppers debut Monday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Law (1.1IP H 0R 2K Sv in the 3-2 win over the the Dodgers) made his Major League debut April 15 and was playing in his 22nd career game. He is the 3,657th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Davis earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Prado earns 1.5 points for being NL 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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 6/13 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 14.0 | DC 4/CHC 1 | Max Scherzer (W,8-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 | |
| AL | 6.0 | OAK 14/TEX 5 | Khris Davis, LF | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 4.0 | MIA 13/SD 4 | Martin Prado, 3B | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | KC 2/CIN 1 | Edinson Volquez (W,6-6) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | PHI 7/TOR 0 | Jerad Eickhoff (W,4-8) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | CHW 10/DET 9 | Adam Eaton, CF | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.2 | ARI 3/LAD 2 | Brad Ziegler (S,13) | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.1 | SF 11/MIL 5 | Derek Law (S,1) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | MIN 9/LAA 4 | Robbie Grossman, LF | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | CIN 9/ATL 8 | Adam Duvall, LF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Player of Game | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 10.0 | 31.0 | 95.6 | 116.0 | -11.0 |
| Eickhoff, Jerad 3566 | pi sp | phi nl | 6.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 1.0 |
| Volquez, Edinson 2220 | pi sp | kc al | 5.4 | 12.4 | 37.1 | 63.2 | -1.6 |
| Duvall, Adam 3573 | lf | cin nl | 4.5 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 3.0 |
| Davis, Khris 3242 | lf | oak al | 3.2 | 7.2 | 13.2 | 13.2 | -0.8 |
| Eaton, Adam 3253 | rf cf | chi al | 2.0 | 7.5 | 10.0 | 10.0 | -3.5 |
| Prado, Martin 2511 | 3b | fla nl | 1.5 | 7.5 | 21.0 | 27.5 | -4.5 |
| Ziegler, Brad 2504 | pi cp | ari nl | 1.0 | 4.0 | 10.0 | 13.0 | -2.0 |
| Grossman, Robbie 3267 | lf | min al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 1.0 |
| Law, Derek 3657 | pi sp | sf 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.