Marlins' Jose Fernandez tops players for Tuesday, Sept. 20, ranks 3rd in Box-Toppers season player rankings

Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, maintaining his spot in third place in season player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Sept. 20:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 23.7
2 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 22.7
3 Fernandez, Jose 3147 pi sp fla nl 22.4
4 Lester, Jon 2173 pi sp chi nl 21.1
5 Kluber, Corey 3200 pi sp cle al 20.2
6 Hamels, Cole 2135 pi sp tex al 16.8
7 Syndergaard, Noah 3472 pi sp nym al 15.7
8 Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp sf nl 15.4
9 Strasburg, Stephen 2736 pi sp dc nl 15.1
10 Happ, J.A. 2536 pi sp tor al 14.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Tuesday, Cubs pitcher Jon Lester rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings and Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ rises to 10th after both earned Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Fernandez pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out 12 and allowing three hits and no walks, in the 1-0 win over the Nationals.

Fernandez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 22.4 for the season. He moves to within 0.3 points of second-place player, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22.7) and within 1.3 points of season Box-Toppers points leader, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (23.7). That means with one or two more starts remaining this season, Fernandez has a chance to rise to the overall lead for the first time this year.

American League Player of the Day—Tigers pitcher Matt Boyd struck out seven over eight innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 8-1 win over the Twins.

National League Batter of the Day—Odubel Herrera of the Phillies homered and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 7-6 win over the White Sox.

American League Batter of the Day—Nomar Mazara of the Rangers homered and went 2-for-3, driving in two runs, in the 5-4 win over the Angels.

Rankings—Two players rose in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday:

  • Cubs pitcher Jon Lester (7IP 6H R 0BB 5K W in the 6-1 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 21.1 for the season, rising from fifth to fourth place in season rankings.

Lester now also has 142.2 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 26th place among all players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He passes Giants pitcher Jake Peavy (141.8) on the “all-time” list and now trails 25th-ranked player, Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels (143.0). Lester now ranks 10th among all active players in career points, seventh among active pitchers.

  • Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ (5IP 6H 2R BB 8K W in the 10-2 win over the Mariners) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.7 for the season, rising to 10th in season player rankings. He rises to third among AL pitchers, behind Indians pitcher Corey Kluber (20.2) and Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels (16.8). Happ displaces Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill (14.4) from the top 10 list.

Debut—Giants pitcher Steven Okert made his Box-Toppers debut Tuesday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Okert (1.2IP H 0R 0BB 3K ND in the 2-0 win over the Dodgers) made his Major League debut April 19 and was playing in his 14th career game. He is the 3,745th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Fernandez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Boyd earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Herrera and Mazara each earn 1.5 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

9/20 Score Game Player of Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 17.0 MIA 1, WSH 0 Jose Fernandez (W,16-8) - - - - 8.0 3 0 0 0 12
AL 9.0 DET 8, MIN 1 Matt Boyd (W,6-4) - - - - 8.0 3 1 1 1 7
7.2 HOU 2, OAK 1 (10) Chris Devenski (W,4-4) - - - - 3.2 0 0 0 0 4
6.1 `NYY 5, TB 3 Michael Pineda - - - - 5.1 5 2 2 1 11
4.2 CLE 2, KC 1 Andrew Miller (W,9-1) - - - - 1.2 0 0 0 0 3
4.1 BOS 5, BAL 2 Eduardo Rodriguez (W,3-7) - - - - 6.1 4 2 2 1 7
BAT 4.0 PHI 7, CHW 6 Odubel Herrera, CF 4 2 3 3 - - - - - -
4.0 STL 10, COL 5 Randal Grichuk, CF 4 4 3 1 - - - - - -
4.0 SD 5, ARI 2 Adam Rosales, 2B 2 1 1 4 - - - - - -
4.0 CHC 6, CIN 1 Jon Lester (W,18-4) - - - - 7.0 6 1 1 0 5
3.2 `SF 2, LAD 0 Steven Okert (H,2) - - - - 1.2 1 0 0 0 3
3.0 ATL 5, NYM 4 Adonis Garcia, 3B 5 2 3 3 - - - - - -
3.0 PIT 6, MIL 3 Tony Watson (S,14) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
BAT 2.0 TEX 5, LAA 4 Nomar Mazara, RF 3 1 2 2 - - - - - -
2.0 TOR 10, SEA 2 J.A. Happ (W,20-4) - - - - 5.0 6 2 2 1 8
`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 22.4 27.1 53.1 53.1 17.7
Lester, Jon 2173 pi sp chi nl 21.1 33.1 79.3 142.2 9.1
Happ, J.A. 2536 pi sp tor al 14.7 27.8 43.2 51.2 1.6
Mazara, Nomar 3614 rf lf tex al 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0
Boyd, Matt 3550 pi sp det al 6.1 7.1 7.1 7.1 5.1
Pineda, Michael 2841 pi sp nyy al 6.0 16.7 34.1 34.1 -4.7
Miller, Andrew 2436 pi cp cle al 6.0 10.0 14.0 21.0 2.0
Garcia, Adonis 3613 3b atl nl 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
Watson, Tony 3215 pi cp pit nl 4.0 5.0 8.0 8.0 3.0
Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 pi sp bos al 3.7 9.7 9.7 9.7 -2.3
Devenski, Chris 3702 pi mr sp hou nl 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.7
Herrera, Odubel 3449 cf phi nl 3.5 7.5 7.5 7.5 -0.5
Grichuk, Randal 3474 cf stl nl 1.0 10.5 10.5 10.5 -8.5
Rosales, Adam 2647 2b sd nl 1.0 3.0 6.0 11.7 -1.0
Okert, Steven 3745 pi mr sf nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?