Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, taking a commanding lead in Box-Toppers player rankings and virtually assuring his status as Box-Toppers Player of the Year.
Also Sunday, two other players rose in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings:
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 27.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 27.1 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.7 |
| 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 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 19.0 |
| 9 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 18.0 |
| 10 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 17.8 |
- Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom rose to third place.
- Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel rose to fourth place and took the lead among American League pitchers, displacing previous leader, David Price of the Blue Jays.
Player of the Day—Arrieta pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out nine, in the 4-0 win over the Pirates.
Arrieta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 27.1 for the season, cementing his lead atop Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Best seasons
Here are all players who have earned 25 or more Box-Toppers points in a single season since 1995, ranked by their single-season Box-Toppers point total. Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta Sunday became the player with the 11th-most points in a single season (27.1) since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began.| Rank | Player | Team | Pos | Year | BTP |
| 1 | Randy Johnson | Dbacks | pi sp | 2000 | 33.7 |
| 1 | Randy Johnson | Dbacks | pi sp | 2002 | 33.7 |
| 3 | Pedro Martinez | Red Sox | pi sp | 2000 | 33.5 |
| 4 | Randy Johnson | Dbacks | pi sp | 1999 | 31.5 |
| 4 | Clayton Kershaw | Dodgers | pi sp | 2014 | 31.5 |
| 6 | Pedro Martinez | Red Sox | pi sp | 1999 | 31.4 |
| 7 | Randy Johnson | Dbacks | pi sp | 2001 | 29.4 |
| 8 | Pedro Martinez | Red Sox | pi sp | 2002 | 28.8 |
| 9 | Curt Schilling | Dbacks | pi sp | 2002 | 28.4 |
| 10 | Roger Clemens | Blue Jays | pi sp | 1997 | 27.4 |
| 11 | *Jake Arrieta | Cubs | pi sp | 2015 | 27.1 |
| 12 | Johan Santana | Twins | pi sp | 2004 | 26.8 |
| 13 | Pedro Martinez | Expos | pi sp | 1997 | 26.7 |
| 13 | CC Sabathia | Indians/Brewers | pi sp | 2008 | 26.7 |
| 15 | Randy Johnson | Mariners/Astros | pi sp | 1998 | 26.4 |
| 16 | John Smoltz | Braves | pi sp | 1996 | 26.1 |
| 16 | Clayton Kershaw | Dodgers | pi sp | 2011 | 26.1 |
| 18 | Roger Clemens | Blue Jays | pi sp | 1998 | 25.8 |
| 18 | Corey Kluber | Indians | pi sp | 2014 | 25.8 |
| 20 | Johan Santana | Twins | pi sp | 2006 | 25.7 |
| 21 | Cliff Lee | Phillies | pi sp | 2011 | 25.4 |
| * Current season | |||||
Arrieta also now has the 11th-highest Box-Toppers single-season point total since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began (see Best seasons chart). Only once since 2002 has a player had a higher Box-Toppers point total than Arrieta has in 2015—last season, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw had 31.5, ranked fourth since 1995.
Arrieta’s Box-Toppers points lead for 2015 is all-but insurmountable. He now leads second-place player Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22.7) by 4.4 Box-Toppers points. Since the most a player can earn in one game is 2.0 Box-Toppers points, that means Kershaw would need at least three starts to pass Arrieta. Kershaw likely only has one start left this season, at most, two.
It would be extremely unlikely, though still mathematically possible, for a player to pass Arrieta in Box-Toppers points. With seven games left in the season, if a player earned Player of the Day honors each day, they could earn up to 14.0 points. But if you consider the players who are now within 14.0 points of Arrieta, that would include the top 19 players, all of whom are starting pitchers and who aren’t likely to pitch every day. But mathematically, it would be possible, for example for Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez (13.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked 19th) to be Box-Toppers Player of the Day for seven games, earning 2.0 Box-Toppers points each day and ending the season with 27.7 points, passing Arrieta. But that just won’t happen.
In other words, Arrieta on Sunday won Box-Toppers Player of the Year for 2015, with a week left to go in the season.
American League Player of the Day—Red Sox pitcher Henry Owens pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out five, in the 2-0 win over the Orioles.
National League Batter of the Day—Nolan Arenado of the Rockies hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 12-5 win over the Dodgers.
American League Batter of the Day—Justin Smoak of the Blue Jays homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, driving in three runs, in the 5-4 win over the Rays.
Rankings—Two other players rose in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings:
- Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom rose to third in player rankings. deGrom (6IP 5H R 9K W in the 8-1 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 21.4 for the season. He also ranks third among NL pitchers.
- Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel rose to fourth in player rankings. Keuchel (7IP 2H R 10K W in the 4-2 win over the Rangers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 21.4 for the season. (Though tied with deGrom in Box-Toppers points at 21.4, deGrom ranks ahead of Keuchel on a tiebreaker: deGrom had more Box-Toppers points in 2014, 13.0 vs. 12.4.) Keuchel rises to first place among AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points, passing previous leader David Price of the Blue Jays (21.1).
Debuts—Three players made their Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Jason Rogers of the Brewers (pinch-hit, ninth-inning, go-ahead grand slam in the 8-4 win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut Sept. 2, 2014, and was playing in his 92nd career game. He is the 3,602nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Angels closing pitcher Mike Morin (1IP 0H 0R 2K Sv in the 3-2 win over the Mariners) made his Major League debut April 30, 2014, and was playing in his 103rd career game. He is the 3,603rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Byron Buxton of the Twins (HR 2B 2-4 2R 2BI in the 7-1 win over the Tigers) made his Major League debut June 14 and was playing in his 41st career game. He is the 3,604th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Arrieta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Owens earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Arenado and Smoak each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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
| 9/27 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 15.0 | Cubs | Jake Arrieta (W,21-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | |
| 11.0 | Astros | Dallas Keuchel (W,19-8) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 | ||
| AL | 8.2 | Red Sox | Henry Owens (W,4-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| 8.0 | Mets | Jacob deGrom (W,14-8) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | Rockies | Nolan Arenado, 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | Royals | Chris Young (W,11-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 5.0 | Brewers | Jason Rogers, 3B | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Dbacks | Ender Inciarte, RF | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Blue Jays | Justin Smoak, 1B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Marlins | Justin Bour, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Angels | Mike Morin (S, 1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | Phillies | Freddy Galvis, SS | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Twins | Byron Buxton, CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Yankees | Luis Severino (W,5-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | Giants | Santiago Casilla (S,37) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |