Box-Toppers’ top-ranked player for 2016 takes the mound for a deciding Game 5 in the National League Division Series Thursday.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Oct. 2 (2016 final standings):| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 25.7 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 24.4 |
| 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | died* | 22.4 |
| 4 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 22.1 |
| 5 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 21.2 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 17.8 |
| 7 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 8 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 16.4 |
| 9 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 15.7 |
| 10 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 15.1 |
* Jose Fernandez died in a boating accident Sept. 25. His team was the Miami Marlins.
Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer led all players in Box-Toppers points for 2016 with 25.7 and gets the start as his team faces the Dodgers for the right to play in the NL Championship Series.
The best-of-five series is tied at two games apiece and moves to Washington for the deciding game. The pitching matchup Thursday:
Dodgers—As of early Thursday, the Dodgers starter was still to be announced but was expected to be one of two pitchers:
- Rich Hill, 14.4 Box-Toppers points, 13th among all players, eighth among NL pitchers. Hill started Game 2 of the series, which the Dodgers lost 5-2.
- Julio Urias, 5.7 Box-Toppers points, 179th among all players, 51st among NL pitchers.
Nationals—Max Scherzer, 25.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked first among all players, ranked first among NL pitchers. In his previous start in Game 1 of the series, the Nationals lost 4-3, Scherzer picked up the loss and had a Box-Toppers game score of −2.0 (6IP 5H 4R 0BB 5K L).
The winner of this game will face the Chicago Cubs in the NL Championship Series beginning Saturday in Chicago.
There were no games Wednesday.
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.
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