(Other duties have put us behind updating Box-Toppers. Playing catch up …)
Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Thursday, Aug. 27 and rises to 12th in player rankings.
Also Thursday, Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke rises to fifth in 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 Aug. 27.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 19.4 |
| 2 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | tor al | 18.1 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 17.1 |
| 4 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 17.1 |
| 5 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 17.0 |
| 6 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.7 |
| 7 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 16.7 |
| 8 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 16.4 |
| 9 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.0 |
| 10 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 15.8 |
Player of the Day—Bumgarner struck out 12 over six innings, allowing one run and two hits, in the 9-1 win over the Cubs.
Bumgarner earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 15.0 for the season, rising to 12th among all players and seventh among National League pitchers. It is the fourth straight season Bumgarner has earned 15.0 or more Box-Toppers points in a season.
American League Player of the Day—Yordano Ventura of the Royals struck out 11 over six scoreless innings, allowing two hits, in the 5-3 win over the Orioles.
American League Batter of the Day—Adam Eaton of the White Sox went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 4-2 win over the Mariners.
National League Batter of the Day—Brandon Moss of the Cardinals homered and went 1-for-2, driving in two runs, in the 5-3 win over the Diamondbacks.
Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke rose to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Greinke (7IP 4H 0R 9K W in the 1-0 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 17.0 for the season. He ranks third among NL pitchers, behind Jacob deGrom of the Mets (19.4) and Jake Arrieta of the Cubs (17.1).
Greinke now has 142.7 career Box-Toppers points and ranks 21st among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers record keeping began). He trails 20th-place player Jim Thome (146.7 Box-Toppers points). Greinke ranks third among active NL pitchers in career Box-Toppers points, behind Tim Hudson of the Giants (155.0) and Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (150.3).
Notable—Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole rises to 15th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday. Cole (7.1IP 5H R 4K W in the 2-1 win over the Marlins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 15.0 for the season. He ranks eighth among NL pitchers.
Scoring—Bumgarner earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Ventura earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Eaton and Moss each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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
| 8/27 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | Giants | Madison Bumgarner (W,16-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 12 | |
| AL | 11.0 | Royals | Yordano Ventura (W,9-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 11 | |
| 10.1 | Angels | Matt Shoemaker (W,6-9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 10.0 | Dodgers | Zack Greinke (W,14-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | ||
| 9.0 | Nationals | Joe Ross (W,5-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 4.1 | Pirates | Gerrit Cole (W,15-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | Rays | Brad Boxberger (S,31) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Whte Sox | Adam Eaton, CF | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.1 | Mets | Carlos Torres (MR) (W,5-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | Rangers | Delino DeShields, CF | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Cardinals | Brandon Moss, LF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |