Cubs pitcher Jon Lester is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Lester struck out nine over eight innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 10-3 win over the Reds.
Lester earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 12.0 for the season. He ranks 26th among all players and 13th among NL pitchers.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 30.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 27.1 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 24.7 |
| 3 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 21.4 |
| 4 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 21.4 |
| 5 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | tor al | 21.1 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 19.7 |
| 7 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 19.4 |
| 8 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 19.0 |
| 9 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 19.0 |
| 10 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 18.0 |
Lester also now has 121.1 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of 37th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He trails 36th-ranked player Jered Weaver (123.1).
American League Player of the Day—Orioles pitcher Kevin Gausman struck out 10 over eight innings, allowing one run and five hits, in the 8-1 win over the Blue Jays.
American League Batter of the Day—Jose Ramirez of the Indians hit a three-run homer, doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 10-2 win over the Twins.
National League Batter of the Day—Francisco Cervelli of the Pirates hit a grand slam and doubled, going 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 8-2 win over the Cardinals.
Rankings—Adrian Beltre of the Rangers maintained his rank of third among AL batters after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Beltre (HR 2B 2-4 2R 2BI in the 6-2 win over the Tigers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.5 for the season. He ranks 31st among all players and third among AL batters behind Mike Trout of the Angels (12.0) and Prince Fielder of the Rangers (11.5).
This was the second straight day Beltre earned Player of the Game honors. It was the fifth time in September Beltre earned the honor—he earned 6.0 total Box-Toppers points in September. In fact, Beltre has earned all his points since earning his first Player of the Game honor of the season on July 31. He had 4.5 Box-Toppers points in August. And despite a season when he had very similar numbers to this year, Beltre earned no Box-Toppers points in 2014—in fact this year, he has a lower batting average (.281 to .324) and lower home run totals (16 to 19) than in 2014. (One notable difference—the Rangers had 67 wins in 2014 and already have 86 in 2015, so Beltre has had more opportunity for Box-Toppers points this year, since players can only earn Player of the Game honors when their team wins.)
Beltre also Wednesday became the 68th player since 1995 to earn 100 or more career Box-Toppers points. Beltre now has 100.8 career points and rises to 65th place among all players since 1995. He passes three players on the “all-time” list—Larry Walker (100.1), Jeff Bagwell (100.4) and Paul Konerko (100.7). He trails 67th-ranked player Jason Schmidt (101.2).
It should be noted that Walker and Bagwell both started their careers before the advent of Box-Toppers in 1995 and that if their entire career were tracked they would likely have more points. Walker’s first year was 1989 and rough estimates would put his Box-Toppers career point total at 135. Bagwell began in 1991 and his estimated career total would be 125. Konerko began in 1997, so his entire career was tracked by Box-Toppers.
Notable—Giants pitcher Mike Leake became the 44th player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Leake (CG 2H 0R K W in the 5-0 win over the Dodgers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season. He ranks 41st among all players and 17th among NL pitchers.
Top 10—Two pitchers in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings started Wednesday, but did not earn Player of the Game honors:
- Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole (7IP 7H 2R 2K W in the 8-2 win over the Cardinals) had a Box-Toppers game score of -2. Player of the Game was Francisco Cervelli (GS 2B 2-4 2R 4BI), with a Box-Toppers game score of +4. Cole ranks ninth in Box-Toppers points with 19.0.
- Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco (3IP 5H 5R 5K L in the 7-1 loss to the Twins) had a Box-Toppers game score of -9. Player of the Game was Twins pitcher Kyle Gibson (6IP 4H 0R 9K W), with a Box-Toppers game score of +9. Carrasco ranks 10th in Box-Toppers points with 18.0.
Scoring—Lester earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gausman earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Ramirez and Cervelli each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers 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
| 9/30 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | Cubs | Jon Lester (W,11-12) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | |
| AL | 11.0 | Orioles | Kevin Gausman (W,4-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | |
| 9.0 | Twins | Kyle Gibson (W,11-11) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | ||
| 8.0 | Cardinals | Tyler Lyons (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 7.0 | Blue Jays | Marcus Stroman (W,4-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 6.0 | Brewers | Zach Davies (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 6.0 | Rays | Drew Smyly (W,5-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | ||
| 5.0 | Giants | Mike Leake (W,11-10) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Indians | Jose Ramirez, 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 4.0 | Pirates | Francisco Cervelli, C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Phillies | Freddy Galvis, SS | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Red Sox | Travis Shaw, 1B | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Rangers | Adrian Beltre, 3B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Astros | Luis Valbuena, 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Royals | Wade Davis (S,15) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | Braves | Arodys Vizcaino (S,9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | Athletics | Eric Sogard, 2B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Dbacks | David Peralta, LF | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |