Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to second place in season player rankings.
Also Friday, Cubs pitcher Jon Lester maintained his spot in fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Mark Teixeira of the Yankees reached 100 career Box-Toppers points after earning American League Batter of the Day honors Friday.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Sept. 9:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 22.7 |
| 2 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 20.4 |
| 3 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 4 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 18.2 |
| 5 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 18.1 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 16.8 |
| 7 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 15.1 |
| 8 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 9 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 14.0 |
| 10 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 13.7 |
Player of the Day—Fernandez pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out 14 and allowing three hits and three walks, in the 4-1 win over the Dodgers.
Fernandez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 20.4 for the season and rising to second place in season player rankings.
Fernandez passed Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (20.0) in the rankings, who just happened to be making his return from more than two months on the disabled list in the same game. Kershaw (3IP 5H 2R 0BB 5K L) had a Box-Toppers game score of −1.0 in his return. Kershaw, who led Box-Toppers season rankings from May 7 to Aug. 24, now falls to third place.
Fernandez becomes the third player with 20.0 or more Box-Toppers points this season and now trails overall season leader, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (22.7). This is now Fernandez’s best season; his previous best year was his rookie year of 2013, when he had 19.0 Box-Toppers points.
American League Player of the Day—Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish struck out nine over 6 2/3 innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 2-1 win over the Angels. Darvish did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was tied when he exited.
American League Batter of the Day—Mark Teixeira of the Yankees hit a grand slam and went 2-for-3, scoring twice, in the 7-5 win over the Rays.
Teixeira earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 100.3 points over his 14-year career. Teixeira, who has announced his retirement at the end of the season, becomes the 74th player and 27th batter with 100 or more career points since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. Teixeira now ranks 73rd on the “all-time” list, just ahead of Larry Walker (100.1) and just behind Jeff Bagwell (100.4).
Teixeira earned his first points in 2003 with the Rangers. His best season was 2009 with the Yankees when he had 11.5 points, ranked sixth among AL batters. He had 7.5 points in 2015 with the Yankees, 17th among AL batters. He has 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2016.
National League Batter of the Day—Curtis Granderson of the Mets homered and went 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 6-4 win over the Braves.
Rankings—Cubs pitcher Jon Lester bolstered his fifth-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Lester (7IP 7H 0R 0BB 7K W in the 2-0 win over the Astros) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 18.1 for the season. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.
Lester now has 139.2 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 27th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Friday, he passes Andy Pettitte (138.5) on the “all-time” list and now trails 26th-ranked player, Giants pitcher Jake Peavy (141.8).
Notable—Two other players with more than 10 Box-Toppers points for the season earned Player of the Game honors Friday:
- Nationals pitcher Tanner Roark (6IP 6H R 2BB 8K ND in the 5-4 win over the Phillies) now has 11.7 Box-Toppers points, 24th among all players and 15th among NL pitchers.
- Tigers pitcher Michael Fulmer (7IP 3H 2R BB 5K ND in the 4-3 win over the Orioles) now has 11.7 Box-Toppers points, 25th among all players and eighth among AL pitchers.
Also notable—Tim Adleman of the Reds (2B 2-2 R BI in the 4-3 win over the Pirates) became the sixth pitcher this season to earn Player of the Game honors for batting. Pitchers have earned Player of the Game honors seven times in 2016—Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals did it twice.
Scoring—Fernandez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Darvish earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Teixeira and Granderson each earn 1.5 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
| 9/9 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 15.0 | MIA 4, LAD 1 | Jose Fernandez (W,14-8) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 14 | |
| AL | 9.2 | `TEX 2, LAA 1 | Yu Darvish | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |
| 7.0 | CHC 2, HOU 0 | Jon Lester (W,16-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | NYY 7, TB 5 | Mark Teixeira, 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 5.0 | NYM 6, ATL 4 | Curtis Granderson, CF | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | BOS 13, TOR 3 | Dustin Pedroia, 2B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | `DET 4, BAL 3 | Michael Fulmer | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | CHW 7, KC 2 | Carlos Rodon (W,7-8) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | ||
| 4.0 | `WSH 5, PHI 4 | Tanner Roark | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 3.0 | SF 7, ARI 6 (12) | Hunter Pence, RF | 5 | 4 | 4 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CLE 5, MIN 4 | Cody Allen (S,27) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | `STL 4, MIL 3 | Kevin Siegrist (H,15) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | `SEA 3, OAK 2 | Steve Cishek (H,4) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | COL 4, SD 1 | Adam Ottavino (S,3) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | CIN 4, PIT 3 | Tim Adleman, P | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||
Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players
Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (16). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (15-16), the period 2011-2016 (11-16) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2016 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2015 total (+/-).| Player of Game | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 20.4 | 25.1 | 51.1 | 51.1 | 15.7 |
| Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 18.1 | 30.1 | 76.3 | 139.2 | 6.1 |
| Roark, Tanner 3261 | pi sp | dc nl | 11.7 | 12.7 | 27.7 | 27.7 | 10.7 |
| Fulmer, Michael 3640 | pi sp | det al | 11.7 | 11.7 | 11.7 | 11.7 | 11.7 |
| Allen, Cody 3265 | pi cp mr | cle al | 7.0 | 11.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 3.0 |
| Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | tex al | 6.4 | 6.4 | 51.6 | 51.6 | 6.4 |
| Rodon, Carlos 3494 | pi sp | chi al | 5.0 | 13.1 | 13.1 | 13.1 | -3.1 |
| Cishek, Steve 2997 | pi cp | sea al | 5.0 | 6.0 | 25.0 | 25.0 | 4.0 |
| Granderson, Curtis 2051 | rf cf ph | nym nl | 4.5 | 8.5 | 33.4 | 65.8 | 0.5 |
| Siegrist, Kevin 3260 | pi mr cp | stl nl | 4.0 | 8.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 0.0 |
| Pedroia, Dustin 2320 | 2b | bos al | 4.0 | 4.0 | 24.4 | 36.5 | 4.0 |
| Teixeira, Mark 1738 | 1b | nyy al | 3.0 | 10.5 | 31.2 | 100.3 | -4.5 |
| Pence, Hunter 2287 | rf | sf nl | 2.0 | 4.0 | 23.0 | 50.7 | 0.0 |
| Ottavino, Adam 3054 | pi cp | col nl | 2.0 | 4.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 0.0 |
| Adleman, Tim 3625 | pi sp | cin nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |