Braves pitcher Julio Teheran is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day on the final day of the 2016 season.
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.
Also Sunday, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, Box-Toppers Player of the Year, did not earn Player of the Game honors in his final regular season start. He ends with 25.7 Box-Toppers points, tied for the 20th-best single-season Box-Toppers point total since tracking began in 1995.
Player of the Day—Teheran struck out 12 over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 1-0 win over the Tigers.
Teheran earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 10.7 for the season. He becomes the 52nd player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. He ranks 43rd among all players and 19th among NL pitchers.
This is Teheran’s third season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. In 2013, he had 13.7 and in 2014, he had 14.4.
American League Player of the Day—Angels pitcher Jhoulys Chacin pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing four hits and one walk, in the 8-1 win over the Astros.
National League Batter of the Day—Danny Espinosa of the Nationals hit a two-run homer and went 1-for-1, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 10-7 win over the Marlins.
American League Batter of the Day—Matt Wieters of the Orioles hit two home runs and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 5-2 win over the Yankees.
Wieters earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 11.0 for the season. He becomes the 54th and final player in 2016 with 10 or more Box-Toppers points, the 10th batter. Wieters ranks 38th among all players and fifth among AL batters.
This is Wieter’s first season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. His previous high was 7.0 in 2011.
Notable—Box-Toppers Player of the Year Max Scherzer had a chance to increase his 2016 Box-Toppers point total, but did not earn Player of the Game Sunday in the Nationals’ win.
Scherzer (5IP 9H 5R 2BB 7K W in the 10-7 win over the Marlins) had a Box-Toppers game score of −9.0. Player of the Game Danny Espinosa, who was also NL Batter of the Day, had a Box-Toppers game score of +5.0.
Scherzer ends the season with 25.7 Box-Toppers points, a 1.3-point lead over second place player, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (24.4), who on Saturday failed to gain Box-Toppers points, which could have propelled him past Scherzer for the lead.
Scherzer’s 25.7 Box-Toppers points is tied for the 20th-best single-season point total in the 22-year history of Box-Toppers tracking. This is the first time he has won overall Player of the Year honors. In 2013, when he was with the Tigers, he led AL pitchers with 18.1 Box-Toppers points.
Also notable—Two other players with 10 or more Box-Toppers points on the season earned Player of the Game honors Sunday:
- Giants pitcher Matt Moore (8IP 3H R 2BB 6K W in the 7-1 win over the Dodgers) has 12.4 Box-Toppers points, most of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday. He ranks 31st among all players and 16th among NL pitchers.
- Blue Jays pitcher Aaron Sanchez (7IP 2H R 2BB 6K W in the 2-1 win over the Red Sox) now has 10.7 Box-Toppers points and becomes the 53rd player this season with 10 or more points. Sanchez ranks 45th among all players and 19th among AL pitchers. This is his first season with 10 Box-Toppers points. In his previous two seasons, he had 2.0 points each year.
Debut—Brewers pitcher Corey Knebel made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Knebel (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv in the 6-4, 10-inning win over the Rockies) made his Major League debut May 24, 2014, and was playing in his 91st career game. He is the 3,757th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995. Knebel is the 151st and final player to make his Box-Toppers debut in 2016.
Scoring—Teheran earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Chacin earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Espinosa and Wieters each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 10/2 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 15.0 | ATL 1, DET 0 | Julio Teheran (W,7-10) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12 | |
| AL | 9.0 | LAA 8, HOU 1 | Jhoulys Chacin (W,6-8) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| 7.0 | SF 7, LAD 1 | Matt Moore (W,13-12) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 7.0 | TOR 2, BOS 1 | Aaron Sanchez (W,15-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 7.0 | `PHI 5, NYM 2 | Jerad Eickhoff | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | WSH 10, MIA 7 | Danny Espinosa, SS | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 4.0 | BAL 5, NYY 2 | Matt Wieters, C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | STL 10, PIT 4 | Matt Carpenter, 1B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CHC 7, CIN 4 | Miguel Montero, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | OAK 3, SEA 2 | John Axford (S,3) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | ARI 3, SD 2 | Daniel Hudson (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | MIL 6, COL 4 (10) | Corey Knebel (S,2) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | TB 6, TEX 4 (10) | Alexei Ramirez, SS | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | MIN 6, CHW 3 | Miguel Sano, 3B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | CLE 3, KC 2 | Yan Gomes, C | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| Moore, Matt 2975 | pi sp | sf nl | 12.4 | 12.4 | 37.9 | 37.9 | 12.4 |
| Wieters, Matt 2643 | ca | bal al | 11.0 | 12.0 | 30.0 | 35.7 | 10.0 |
| Teheran, Julio 3176 | pi sp | atl nl | 10.7 | 18.4 | 46.5 | 46.5 | 3.0 |
| Sanchez, Aaron 3392 | pi sp | tor al | 10.7 | 12.7 | 14.7 | 14.7 | 8.7 |
| Carpenter, Matt 2987 | 3b 1b 2b | stl nl | 9.5 | 15.0 | 29.5 | 29.5 | 4.0 |
| Eickhoff, Jerad 3566 | pi sp | phi nl | 8.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | 3.0 |
| Chacin, Jhoulys 2711 | pi mr sp | ana al | 5.7 | 5.7 | 20.1 | 27.8 | 5.7 |
| Espinosa, Danny 2804 | ss 2b | dc nl | 3.2 | 6.2 | 14.9 | 16.9 | 0.2 |
| Sano, Miguel 3527 | 3b rf | min al | 3.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | -3.0 |
| Ramirez, Alexei 2537 | ss | tb al | 2.5 | 4.5 | 23.0 | 35.0 | 0.5 |
| Montero, Miguel 2304 | ca ph | chi nl | 2.0 | 7.5 | 21.7 | 31.9 | -3.5 |
| Axford, John 2726 | pi cp | oak al | 1.0 | 4.0 | 12.0 | 18.0 | -2.0 |
| Hudson, Dan 2776 | pi cp | ari nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 14.0 | 20.0 | -1.0 |
| Gomes, Yan 3177 | ca | cle al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 9.2 | 9.2 | 0.0 |
| Knebel, Corey 3757 | pi cp | mil nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |