(Other duties have put us behind updating Box-Toppers. Playing catch up …)
Rays pitcher Drew Smyly is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Tuesday, Sept. 1.
Also Tuesday, Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke rose to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 1.| 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 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 18.0 |
| 6 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 17.7 |
| 7 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 17.1 |
| 8 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 16.4 |
| 9 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.0 |
| 10 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 16.0 |
Player of the Day—Smyly pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out 10 and allowing four hits, in the 11-2 win over the Orioles.
National League Player of the Day—Cardinals pitcher Carlos Villanueva pitched 3 1/3 innings of scoreless middle relief, striking out six and allowing one hit, in the 8-5 win over the Nationals. Villanueva did not earn the win, picking up a no decision because he exited with the Cardinals trailing, 4-3.
National League Batter of the Day—Darin Ruf of the Phillies hit a three-run homer and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in six runs, in the 14-8 win over the Mets.
This was Ruf’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Ruf made his Major League debut Sept. 14, 2012, and was playing in his 219th career game. He is the 3,575th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
American League Batter of the Day—Logan Morrison of the Mariners hit a two-run, pinch-hit home run in the 7-5 win over the Astros.
Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke rose to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday. Greinke (7.1IP 5H R 5K W in the 2-1 win over the Giants) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 18.0 for the season. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.
Greinke also now has 143.7 career Box-Toppers points and maintains his rank at 21st among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He trails 20th-ranked player Jim Thome (146.7).
Notable—Prince Fielder rises to fourth place among AL batters in Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday. Fielder (HR 2-5 2R 2BI in the 8-6 win over the Padres) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.5 for the season. He ranks 47th among all players.
Debut—In addition to Ruf, one other player made his Box-Toppers debut Tuesday: Marlins pitcher Justin Nicolino earned his first Player of the Game honor (7IP 6H 0R 3K W in the 7-1 win over the Braves). Nicolino made his Major League debut June 20 and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,576th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Smyly earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Villanueva earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Ruf and Morrison each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’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
| 9/1 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | Rays | Drew Smyly (W,2-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | |
| NL | 8.1 | `Cardinals | Carlos Villanueva (MR) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| 7.0 | Brewers | Jimmy Nelson (W,11-10) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 7.0 | Yankees | Michael Pineda (W,10-8) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | Phillies | Darin Ruf, 1B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.1 | Dodgers | Zack Greinke (W,15-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | Dbacks | Phil Gosselin, 2B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Cubs | Kyle Schwarber, LF | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Mariners | Logan Morrison, PH-1B | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Angels | Matt Shoemaker (W,7-9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 2.0 | Twins | Eduardo Escobar, SS | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Blue Jays | Ryan Goins, 2B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Dbacks | Aaron Hill, PH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Marlins | Justin Nicolino (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 1.0 | Tigers | Ian Kinsler, 2B | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Rangers | Prince Fielder, 1B | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||