Padres pitcher Edwin Jackson is Wednesday’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 Aug. 10:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 18.7 |
| 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 16.4 |
| 4 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 16.2 |
| 5 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 14.1 |
| 7 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.1 |
| 8 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 13.4 |
| 9 | Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 12.7 |
| 10 | Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | chi nl | 12.4 |
Also Wednesday, Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings and Matt Carpenter of the Cardinals extends his Box-Toppers points lead among National League batters after both earned Player of the Game honors.
Plus, Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez passes Roger Clemens on the career Box-Toppers points list, rising to 11th place.
Player of the Day—Jackson pitched seven scoreless innings,allowing two hit and three walks and striking out seven, in the 4-0 win over the Pirates.
American League Player of the Day—Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ pitched six scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing four hits and two walks, in the 7-0 win over the Rays.
Happ earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 12.7 for the season, rising to ninth in season player rankings, third among AL pitchers.
National League Batter of the Day—Jayson Werth of the Nationals hit a three-run homer and doubled, going 2-for-3, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 7-4 win over the Indians.
American League Batter of the Day—Gary Sanchez of the Yankees homered and went 4-for-5, scoring twice, in the 9-4 win over the Red Sox.
This was Sanchez’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Sanchez made his Major League debut Oct. 3, 2015, and was playing in his ninth career game. He is the 3,701st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Rankings—Matt Carpenter of the Cardinals extended his season Box-Toppers points lead among NL batters after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Carpenter (HR 3B 2-3 2R BI in the 3-2 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.5 for the season. He ranks 34th among all players. This was his first Player of the Game honor and first Box-Toppers point since June 28, when he took the lead among NL batters.
All-time leaders
Here are Box-Toppers top 20 players since record keeping began in 1995:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | retired | 278.8 |
| 2 | Pedro Martinez | pi sp | retired | 244.8 |
| 3 | Curt Schilling | pi sp | retired | 194.1 |
| 4 | Alex Rodriguez | dh | nyy al | 187.0 |
| 5 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 182.0 |
| 6 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 181.3 |
| 7 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | lad nl | 179.3 |
| 8 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 9 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 10 | Johan Santana | pi sp | free agent | 166.6 |
| 11 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 165.7 |
| 12 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | retired | 164.8 |
| 13 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 14 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 15 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 156.1 |
| 16 | Mike Mussina | pi sp | retired | 155.6 |
| 17 | Barry Bonds | lf | retired | 153.2 |
| 18 | Greg Maddux | pi sp | retired | 151.7 |
| 19 | Chipper Jones | 3b | retired | 149.0 |
| 20 | Javier Vazquez | pi sp | retired | 148.3 |
Notable—Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez passes Roger Clemens in Box-Toppers “all-time” rankings, rising to 11th place, after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Hernandez (7IP 3H R 4BB 8K ND in the 3-1 win over the Tigers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 165.7 career points. He rises to 11th place among all players and eighth place among all pitchers (passing Clemens’s 164.8) in Box-Toppers points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. Hernandez now trails 10th-place player Johan Santana (166.6).
While Hernandez passes Clemens on the “all-time” list, it should be noted that Clemens’s career began in 1984, before Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, and so he would likely have more Box-Toppers points (rough estimates based on projections put his career total at about 320 Box-Toppers points).
Hernandez’s meteoric rise up Box-Toppers “all-time” rankings has been slowed somewhat this year by injury. He only has 3.0 Box-Toppers points this year and has not earned points since May 21, when he inched within 0.1 point of Clemens’s career total. From 2009 to 2015, Hernandez had seven straight seasons with 10 or more Box-Toppers points, including two with more than 20 and five with 18 or more. He had 20.8 points in 2014 and 19.4 in 2015. Despite his consistently high totals, Hernandez has never led AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points in any season.
Also notable—Phillies pitcher Jeremy Hellickson became the 21st player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Hellickson (5IP 3H R BB 7K ND in the 6-2 win over the Dodgers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.1 for the season, rising to 21st place among all players and 12th among NL pitchers. It is Hellickson’s first 10-point season. His previous season high was 9.0 Box-Toppers points in 2012 with the Rays.
Scoring—Jackson earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Happ earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Werth and Sanchez 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.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 8/10 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | SD 4, PIT 0 | Edwin Jackson (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | |
| 8.0 | `ARI 3, NYM 2 (12) | Robbie Ray | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 7.0 | CHC 3, LAA 1 | Jason Hammel (W,12-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||
| AL | 7.0 | TOR 7, TB 0 | J.A. Happ (W,16-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | |
| 6.0 | `SEA 3, DET 1 | Felix Hernandez | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | ||
| 6.0 | `PHI 6, LAD 2 | Jeremy Hellickson | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | WSH 7, CLE 4 | Jayson Werth, LF | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | KC 3, CHW 2 (14) | Dillon Gee (W,4-5) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | OAK 1, BAL 0 | Ross Detwiler (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.2 | SF 1, MIA 0 | Jeff Samardzija (W,10-8) | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | NYY 9, BOS 4 | Gary Sanchez, DH | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | STL 3, CIN 2 | Matt Carpenter, 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | TEX 5, COL 4 | Matt Bush (S,1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | MIL 4, ATL 3 | Tyler Thornburg (S,4) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 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 | +/- |
| Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 12.7 | 25.8 | 41.2 | 49.2 | -0.4 |
| Hellickson, Jeremy 2778 | pi sp | phi nl | 10.1 | 15.1 | 38.8 | 41.8 | 5.1 |
| Hammel, Jason 2235 | pi sp | chi nl | 9.0 | 18.7 | 42.1 | 55.2 | -0.7 |
| Carpenter, Matt 2987 | 3b 1b 2b | stl nl | 8.5 | 14.0 | 28.5 | 28.5 | 3.0 |
| Samardzija, Jeff 2495 | pi sp | sf nl | 5.7 | 15.1 | 43.8 | 44.8 | -3.7 |
| Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 4.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 0.7 |
| Werth, Jayson 1664 | lf | dc nl | 3.5 | 6.5 | 20.5 | 47.7 | 0.5 |
| Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 3.0 | 22.4 | 88.4 | 165.7 | -16.4 |
| Thornburg, Tyler 3195 | pi cp mr | mil nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 3.0 |
| Gee, Dillon 2808 | pi sp | kc al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 29.8 | 30.8 | 1.0 |
| Jackson, Edwin 1812 | pi sp | sd nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 21.0 | 42.8 | 2.0 |
| Bush, Matt 3673 | pi mr cp | tex al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Sanchez, Gary 3701 | dh | nyy al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Detwiler, Ross 2971 | pi sp | oak al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 0.0 |
