(Other duties have put us behind updating Box-Toppers. Playing catch up …)
Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Saturday, Sept. 5, and rises to the top of 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. 5.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 21.1 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.7 |
| 3 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 19.4 |
| 4 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | tor al | 19.1 |
| 5 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 18.0 |
| 6 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 17.7 |
| 7 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 17.4 |
| 8 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 17.1 |
| 9 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.0 |
| 10 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 16.0 |
Also Saturday, two other players in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings earned Player of the Game honors—Blue Jays pitcher David Price (fourth place) and Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez (seventh place).
Player of the Day—Arrieta took the Box-Toppers season player ranking lead for the first time in his career, passing Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (20.7 Box-Toppers points) who took the lead Wednesday, Sept. 2.
Arrieta has 21.1 Box-Toppers points and becomes the second player this season with 20.0 or more Box-Toppers points.
Arrieta pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out seven, in the 2-0 win over the Diamondbacks. Arrieta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 21.1 for the season, his most points in a season, beating his previous high of 14.7 in 2014.
Arrieta had a Box-Toppers game score Saturday of +11.0, the same as Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia (Player of the Game in his team’s 4-1 win over the Pirates). But Arrieta won overall Player of the Day on a tiebreaker because he had more innings pitched—eight vs. seven.
American League Player of the Day—Twins pitcher Ervin Santana struck out 11 over eight innings, allowing one run and six hits, in the 3-2 win over the Astros.
National League Batter of the Day—Travis d’Arnaud of the Mets homered and went 2-for-4, driving in four runs, in the 7-0 win over the Marlins.
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 |
American League Batter of the Day—There is no AL Batter of the Day for Saturday because no AL batter earned Player of the Game honors.
Rankings—In addition to Arrieta, two other players in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings earned Player of the Game honors Saturday:
- Blue Jays pitcher David Price (7IP 3H R 8K W in the 5-1 win over the Orioles) maintained his rank of fourth place overall and first among AL pitchers. Price earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game, giving him 19.1 for the season.
- Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez (8IP 6H 3R 9K W in the 8-3 win over the Athletics) rose to seventh place in player rankings. He earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 17.4 for the season. He ranks third among AL pitchers, behind Price and Dallas Keuchel (17.7). Also, Hernandez now has 160.7 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of 12th place among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers record keeping began). Hernandez trails 11th-place player John Smoltz (160.9).
Debut—Rays pitcher Xavier Cedeno made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Cedeno (1.2 IP 0R 0H 4K W in the 3-2 win over the Yankees) made his Major League debut June 9, 2012, and was playing in his 132nd career game. He is the 3,578th 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 Santana earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. d’Arnaud earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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
| 9/5 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.0 | Cubs | Jake Arrieta (W,18-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| 11.0 | Cardinals | Jaime Garcia (W,8-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 10.0 | Nationals | Gio Gonzalez (W,10-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | ||
| AL | 9.0 | Twins | Ervin Santana (W,4-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 11 | |
| 8.0 | Red Sox | Wade Miley (W,11-10) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 6.0 | Rangers | Derek Holland (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 6.0 | Blue Jays | David Price (W,14-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | ||
| 6.0 | Tigers | Alfredo Simon (W,12-9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 5.0 | Mariners | Felix Hernandez (W,16-8) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 9 | ||
| 5.0 | White Sox | Jose Quintana (W,8-10) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 4.2 | Rays | Xavier Cedeno (MR) (W,4-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | Dodgers | Alex Wood (W,10-9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Mets | Travis d'Arnaud, C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Brewers | Adam Lind, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Brewers | Elian Herrera, 3B | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Giants | Gregor Blanco, RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |