(Other duties have put us behind updating Box-Toppers. Playing catch up …)
Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta, pitching a no-hitter, is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Sunday, Aug. 30 and rises to second 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. 30.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 19.4 |
| 2 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 19.1 |
| 3 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 18.7 |
| 4 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | tor al | 18.1 |
| 5 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 17.1 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 17.0 |
| 7 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 16.7 |
| 8 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 16.4 |
| 9 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.0 |
| 10 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 15.8 |
Also Sunday, Michael Cuddyer of the Mets extended to 12 the number of consecutive seasons in which he’s earned at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
Player of the Day—Arrieta struck out 12 and walked one, pitching the complete-game no-hitter, shutting out the Dodgers, 2-0.
Arrieta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 19.1 for the season and rising to second in Box-Toppers season player rankings. He trails overall leader, Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom (19.4 Box-Toppers points).
American League Player of the Day—Rangers pitcher Derek Holland pitched a complete game shutout, striking out 11 and allowing three hits, in the 6-0 win over the Orioles.
American League Batter of the Day—Stephen Drew of the Yankees homered and went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 20-6 win over the Braves.
National League Batter of the Day—Jayson Werth of the Nationals hit a two-run homer and doubled, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 7-4 win over the Marlins.
Streak—Michael Cuddyer of the Mets has now earned Box-Toppers points for 12 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Cuddyer (3-3 2R BI in the 5-4 win over the Red Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, his first of the season.
Cuddyer earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2004 with the Twins. His best year was 2013 with the Rockies when he had 11.5 Box-Toppers points, ranked third among NL batters. In 2014, he had 3.0 Box-Toppers points with the Rockies.
Cuddyer has 60.7 career Box-Toppers points and ranks 209th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He ranks third among active NL outfielders in career Box-Toppers points, behind Matt Holliday of the Cardinals (91.8) and Ryan Braun (77.7).
Trivial—This is the first time this season in which all players in the Box-Toppers top 10 have different Box-Toppers point totals. After the games of Aug. 29, Arrieta and White Sox pitcher Chris Sale both had 17.1 Box-Toppers points, but with Arrieta earning 2.0 Box-Toppers points, each player has a different point total.
Scoring—Arrieta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Holland earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Drew and Werth 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
| 8/30 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 20.0 | Cubs | Jake Arrieta (W,17-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12 | |
| AL | 17.0 | Rangers | Derek Holland (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | |
| 11.0 | Twins | Ervin Santana (W,3-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | ||
| 8.0 | Rockies | Jorge De La Rosa (W,8-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 7.0 | Yankees | Stephen Drew, 2B | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | Padres | James Shields (W,10-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 5.0 | Indians | Josh Tomlin (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 5.0 | White Sox | David Robertson (W,6-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | Blue Jays | Russell Martin, C | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Brewers | Wily Peralta (W,5-8) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Nationals | Jayson Werth, LF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Mets | Michael Cuddyer, LF-1B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Cardinals | Kevin Siegrist (S,6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | Rays | Brandon Guyer, RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Athletics | Pat Venditte (W,1-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |