(Other duties have put us behind updating Box-Toppers. Playing catch up …)
Astros pitcher Mike Fiers, pitching a no-hitter, is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Friday, Aug. 21.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Aug. 21.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 19.4 |
| 2 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | tor al | 17.1 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 17.1 |
| 4 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.7 |
| 5 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.0 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.0 |
| 7 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 15.8 |
| 8 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 15.4 |
| 9 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 15.4 |
| 10 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 15.4 |
Also Friday, Blue Jays pitcher David Price rose to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings and White Sox pitcher Chris Sale rose to third. Plus, Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets took the lead among NL batters in Box-Toppers points.
Player of the Day—Fiers threw 134 pitches in the 3-0 no-hitter over the Dodgers. He struck out 10 and walked three.
Fiers earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season. They were his first Box-Toppers points since being traded from the Brewers.
National League Player of the Day—Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets hit three home runs—a grand-slam, a two-run homer and a solo shot—in the 14-9 win over the Rockies. Cespedes also hit a double and went 5-for-6, scoring five times and driving in seven runs.
Cespedes earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 9.9 for the season and rising to first among NL batters. He passes previous leader Randal Grichuk of the Cardinals (9.5 Box-Toppers points). Cespedes has 3.2 of his Box-Toppers points since being traded from the Tigers.
American League Batter of the Day—Blake Swihart of the Red Sox doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 7-2 win over the Royals.
This was Swihart’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Swihart made his Major League debut May 2 and was playing in his 59th career game. He is the 3,565th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Friday because the overall NL Player of the Day is a batter—Yoenis Cespedes.
Rankings—Two players rose in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 after earning Player of the Game honors Friday:
- Blue Jays pitcher David Price rose to second place. Price (8IP 6H 2R 9K W in the 9-2 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 17.1 for the season. He maintains his lead among AL pitchers and trails only Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom (19.4 Box-Toppers points).
- White Sox pitcher Chris Sale rose to third place. Sale (7IP 4H 3R 14K W in the 11-4 win over the Mariners) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 17.1 for the season. While he has the same 2015 Box-Toppers point total as Price, he loses the tie-breaker and ranks second among AL pitchers because he had fewer points than Price in 2014—17.4 vs. 19.1.
Notable—Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco (6IP 5H R 11K W in the 7-3 win over the Yankees) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game, giving him 15.0 for the season. He ranks 12th among all players and sixth among AL pitchers.
Debut—In addition to Swihart, one other player made his Box-Toppers debut Friday—Phillies pitcher Jerad Eickhoff (6IP 5H 0R 5K W in the 7-1 win over the Marlins), who also was making his Major League debut. He is the 3,566th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Fiers earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cespedes earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Swihart earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL 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
| 8/21 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 16.0 | Astros | Mike Fiers (W,6-9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | |
| NL | 11.0 | Mets | Yoenis Cespedes, CF-LF | 6 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 10.0 | White Sox | Chris Sale (W,12-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 14 | ||
| 9.2 | Indians | Carlos Carrasco (W,12-9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | ||
| 7.0 | Padres | Andrew Cashner (W,5-12) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 6.0 | Blue Jays | David Price (W,12-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | Red Sox | Blake Swihart, C | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | Phillies | Jerad Eickhoff (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | Twins | Kevin Jepsen (S,6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | Dbacks | A.J. Pollock, CF | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Rangers | Shawn Tolleson (S,24) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 2.0 | Brewers | Kyle Lohse (S,1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 2.0 | Cubs | Jason Motte (MR) (W,8-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.2 | Rays | Drew Smyly (W,1-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | Giants | Marlon Byrd, RF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |