Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to eighth in player rankings.
Scherzer struck out 10 over eight innings, allowing one run and two hits, in the 5-1 win over the Reds. Scherzer had a no-hitter until allowing his first hit in the eighth inning.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 28.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 27.1 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.7 |
| 3 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 21.4 |
| 4 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 21.4 |
| 5 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | tor al | 21.1 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 19.7 |
| 7 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 19.4 |
| 8 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 19.0 |
| 9 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 19.0 |
| 10 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 18.0 |
Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 19.0 for the season, rising to eighth place among all players and fifth among NL pitchers.
Scherzer also rises to 58th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. With his points Monday, Scherzer has 104.0 career points and passes three players on the “all-time” list—Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2), Miguel Tejada (102.3) and Jamie Moyer (104.0). Scherzer trails 57th-ranked player Aramis Ramirez (105.8).
Both Griffey and Moyer started their careers before the start of Box-Toppers record keeping in 1995 and so would likely have more actual points if their entire career were tracked. Griffey, who started in 1989, would likely have about 140 career Box-Toppers points, according to rough projections. Moyer, who started in 1986, would likely have about 125 career Box-Toppers points. Tejada made his debut in 1997, so his entire career has been tracked by Box-Toppers.
American League Player of the Day—Astros pitcher Lance McCullers struck out seven over six innings, allowing two runs and four hits, in the 3-2 win over the Mariners.
National League Batter of the Day—Mark Reynolds of the Cardinals homered and drove in two runs in the 3-0 win over the Pirates.
American League Batter of the Day—Travis Shaw of the Red Sox homered and went 3-for-4, driving in two runs, in the 5-1 win over the Yankees.
Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke, ranked sixth in player rankings (19.7 Box-Toppers points), started Monday but did not earn Player of the Game honors. Greinke (7IP 4H 2R 7K ND in the 3-2, 12-inning loss to the Giants) had a Box-Toppers game score of +3. Player of the Game was Giants pitcher Jake Peavy (7IP 3H R 4K ND) with a Box-Toppers game score of +5.
Notable—Giants pitcher Jake Peavy maintained his rank of 25th among all players since 1995 after earning Player of the Game honors Monday. Peavy (7IP 3H R 4K ND in the 3-2, 12-inning win over the Dodgers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 136.8 for his career. He trails 24th-ranked player David Ortiz (137.9). Peavy has 5.0 Box-Toppers points on the season.
Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and McCullers earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Reynolds and Shaw each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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
| 9/28 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.0 | Nationals | Max Scherzer (W,13-12) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 10 | |
| 11.0 | `Cubs | Kyle Hendricks | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | ||
| 5.0 | `Giants | Jake Peavy | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Cardinals | Mark Reynolds, 1B | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| AL | 3.0 | Astros | Lance McCullers (W,6-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | |
| 3.0 | Blue Jays | Brett Cecil (MR) (W,5-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Red Sox | Travis Shaw, 1B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1.2 | Twins | Tommy Milone (W,9-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 1.0 | Tigers | Tyler Collins, LF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Angels | Chris Iannetta, C | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||