Rangers pitcher Colby Lewis is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta regained the top spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings, three days after losing the lead to Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 11.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 22.1 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 21.7 |
| 3 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 20.4 |
| 4 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 19.4 |
| 5 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 19.4 |
| 6 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | tor al | 19.1 |
| 7 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 18.0 |
| 8 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 17.1 |
| 9 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 17.0 |
| 10 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 16.8 |
Player of the Day—Lewis pitched a complete-game, two-hit shutout, striking out four, in the 4-0 win over the Athletics. He allowed no hits until the eighth inning.
National League Player of the Day—Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out six, in the 4-2 win over the Mariners.
National League Batter of the Day—Nick Ahmed of the Diamondbacks hit a two-run homer, a double and went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 12-4 win over the Dodgers.
American League Batter of the Day—Steve Clevenger of the Orioles hit a grand slam and scored two runs in the 14-8 win over the Royals.
Rankings—Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta regained the top spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday. Arrieta (8IP 6H R 7K W in the 5-1 win over the Phillies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 22.1. He passes previous leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (21.7). Arrieta and Kershaw have traded three-day turns with the Box-Toppers season points lead since since Sept. 2, with Arrieta leading twice and Kershaw leading twice.
Notable—Three other Players of the Game from Friday hit notable milestones:
Lead changes
Here are the season’s lead changes among players in Box-Toppers points. Chart shows the date and the player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total when they took the lead.| Date | Player | Team | BTP |
| 4/5 | Adam Wainwright | stl nl | 2.0 |
| 4/6 | Felix Hernandez | sea al | 2.0 |
| 4/13 | Scott Kazmir | oak al | 3.7 |
| 4/18 | Felix Hernandez | sea al | 4.0 |
| 6/26 | Max Scherzer | dc nl | 14.0 |
| 7/9 | Felix Hernandez | sea al | 14.4 |
| 7/12 | Max Scherzer | dc nl | 15.0 |
| 7/24 | Felix Hernandez | sea al | 15.4 |
| 7/26 | Jacob deGrom | nym nl | 16.4 |
| 9/2 | Clayton Kershaw | lad nl | 20.7 |
| 9/5 | Jake Arrieta | chi nl | 21.1 |
| 9/8 | Clayton Kershaw | lad nl | 21.7 |
| 9/11 | Jake Arrieta | chi nl | 22.1 |
- Giants pitcher Jake Peavy now has 134.8 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of 25th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. Peavy (7IP 2H R 2K W in the 9-1 win over the Padres) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point. He trails 24th-ranked player David Ortiz (136.9) and has 3.0 Box-Toppers points this season.
- Angels pitcher Jered Weaver rises to 36th place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995 (when record keeping began). Weaver (6IP 5H 2R 7K W in the 3-2 win over the Astros) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 123.1 for his career. With his point Friday, he passes Justin Verlander (122.9) on the “all-time” list and trails 33rd-ranked player Gary Sheffield (124.1). Weaver has 7.7 Box-Toppers points this season.
- Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets became the 35th player (and fifth batter) with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points this season. Cespedes (HR 2B 3-5 R 3BI in the 5-1 win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.9 for the season. He rises to second place among NL batters —behind Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies (11.5)—and 26th among all players.
Scoring—Lewis earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Bettis earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Ahemd and Clevenger each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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
| 9/11 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.0 | Rangers | Colby Lewis (W,15-8) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| AL | 7.0 | Rockies | Chad Bettis (W,7-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | |
| BAT | 5.0 | Dbacks | Nick Ahmed, SS | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 5.0 | Orioles | Steve Clevenger, PH-C | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | Cubs | Jake Arrieta (W,19-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 5.0 | Giants | Jake Peavy (W,6-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 4.0 | Blue Jays | Russell Martin, C | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Cubs | Kyle Schwarber, LF | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Twins | Trevor Plouffe, 3B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Pirates | Mark Melancon (S,45) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | `Marlins | Jarred Cosart | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | ||
| 2.0 | Mets | Yoenis Cespedes, CF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Rays | J.P. Arencibia, PH-C | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Angels | Jered Weaver (W,7-10) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||