(Other duties have put us behind updating Box-Toppers. Playing catch up …)
Rays pitcher Chris Archer, throwing a one-hitter, is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Thursday, Aug. 20.
Also Thursday, Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta rose to ninth place in Box-Toppers player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Aug. 20.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 19.4 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.7 |
| 3 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | tor al | 16.1 |
| 4 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 16.1 |
| 5 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.0 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.0 |
| 7 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 15.8 |
| 8 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 15.4 |
| 9 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 15.4 |
| 10 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 15.4 |
Player of the Day—Archer pitched a complete-game, one-hit shutout, striking out 11, in the 1-0 win over the Astros.
Archer earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 15.0 for the season. He ranks 11th among all players and fifth among AL pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Pirates pitcher Charlie Morton pitched six scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out eight, in the 4-0 win over the Giants.
National League Batter of the Day—Martin Prado of the Marlins hit a two-run homer and went 1-for-2, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 9-7 win over the Phillies.
American League Batter of the Day—Miguel Sano of the Twins homered, scored three times and drove in three runs, in the 15-2 win over the Orioles.
Rankings—Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta rose to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday. Arrieta (6IP 4H 0R 7K W in the 7-1 win over the Braves) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 15.4 for the season. He ranks fifth among NL pitchers.
Debut—Rockies pitcher Yohan Flande made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Flande (7IP 3H 2R 5K W in the 3-2 win over the Nationals) made his Major League debut June 25, 2014, and was playing in his 29th career game. He is the 3,564th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Archer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Morton earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Prado and Sano each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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
| 8/20 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 18.0 | Rays | Chris Archer (W,11-9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | |
| 11.0 | Tigers | Alfredo Simon (W,11-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| NL | 8.2 | Pirates | Charlie Morton (W,8-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | |
| 8.0 | Cubs | Jake Arrieta (W,15-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 7.0 | Indians | Josh Tomlin (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 6.0 | `Dbacks | Josh Collmenter (MR) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 5.1 | Red Sox | Wade Miley (W,10-9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Marlins | Martin Prado, 3B | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 3.0 | Twins | Miguel Sano, DH | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | White Sox | Adam LaRoche, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Rockies | Yohan Flande (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||