Mariners pitcher Taijuan Walker is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of June 8:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 15.0 |
| 2 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 11.7 |
| 3 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 9.0 |
| 4 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.7 |
| 5 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 8.7 |
| 6 | Machado, Manny 3087 | ss 3b | bal al | 8.7 |
| 7 | Matz, Steven 3516 | pi sp | nym nl | 8.7 |
| 8 | Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.4 |
| 9 | Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | oak al | 8.4 |
| 10 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 8.0 |
Also Wednesday, Cubs pitcher John Lackey and Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer both rose into Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner became the 71st player since 1995 with 100 or more career Box-Toppers points.
Player of the Day—Walker pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out 11 and allowing three hits, in the 5-0 win over the Indians.
National League Player of the Day—Cubs pitcher John Lackey pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing three hits, in the 8-1 win over the Phillies.
Lackey earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 8.4 for the season and rising to eighth in season player rankings. He ranks sixth among NL pitchers.
Lackey also rises to 43rd place in career Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. Lackey now has 116.2 career Box-Toppers points and passes three players on the “all-time” list—Josh Beckett (114.9), Angels pitcher Tim Lincecum (115.0) and Torii Hunter (115.9). Lackey now trails 42nd-ranked player Todd Helton (116.4).
American League Batter of the Day—Josh Donaldson of the Blue Jays homered, tripled and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 7-2 win over the Tigers.
National League Batter of the Day—Brandon Moss of the Cardinals hit two homers and went 2-for-5, driving in three runs, in the 12-7 win over the Reds.
Rankings—Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Scherzer (7IP 5H 0R 6K W in the 11-4 win over the White Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.0 for the season. He ranks seventh among NL pitchers.
Scherzer also rises to 47th place in career Box-Toppers points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Wednesday, Scherzer has 114.0 for his career and passes three players on the “all-time” list—Sammy Sosa (113.2), Dan Haren (113.2) and Chris Carpenter (113.3). Scherzer now trails 46th-ranked player Josh Beckett (114.9).
Notable—Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner becomes the 71st player with 100 or more career Box-Toppers points (since 1995 when Box-Toppers tracking began) after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Bumgarner (6IP 4H R 5K ND in the 2-1 win over the Red Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 100.7 for his career. He rises to 68th place among all players since 1995, passing three players on the “all-time” list—Larry Walker (100.1), Jeff Bagwell (100.4) and Paul Konerko (100.7). Bumgarner now trails 67th-ranked player Carlos Beltran of the Yankees (100.9).
Bumgarner also has 8.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, 12th among all players and ninth among NL pitchers.
Scoring—Walker earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lackey earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Donaldson and Moss each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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
| 6/8 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 16.0 | SEA 5/CLE 0 | Taijuan Walker (W,3-6) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | |
| NL | 12.0 | CHC 8/PHI 1 | John Lackey (W,7-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| 8.2 | MIL 4/OAK 0 | Chase Anderson (W,4-6) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 8.1 | BAL 4/KC 0 | Chris Tillman (W,8-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | ||
| 7.0 | DC 11/CHW 4 | Max Scherzer (W,7-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 6.0 | ATL 4/SD 2 | Julio Teheran (W,2-6) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | TOR 7/DET 2 | Josh Donaldson, 3B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | COL 1/LAD 0 | Chris Rusin (W,2-4) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | NYY 12/LAA 6 | Chris Parmelee, 1B | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | `SF 2/BOS 1 | Madison Bumgarner | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | TB 6/ARI 3 | Corey Dickerson, LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | MIN 7/MIA 5 | Trevor Plouffe, 3B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | STL 12/CIN 7 | Brandon Moss, LF-1B | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | NYM 6/PIT 5 | Michael Conforto, LF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | HOU 3/TEX 1 | Jose Altuve, 2B | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||
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 | +/- |
| Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.4 | 18.1 | 37.8 | 116.2 | -1.3 |
| Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 8.0 | 29.0 | 93.6 | 114.0 | -13.0 |
| Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 8.0 | 25.0 | 95.0 | 100.7 | -9.0 |
| Altuve, Jose 3007 | 2b | hou al | 6.0 | 13.0 | 22.5 | 22.5 | -1.0 |
| Donaldson, Josh 3144 | 3b | tor al | 5.5 | 15.4 | 35.4 | 35.4 | -4.4 |
| Tillman, Chris 2754 | pi sp | bal al | 5.0 | 9.7 | 38.8 | 40.8 | 0.3 |
| Anderson, Chase 3328 | pi sp | mil nl | 5.0 | 9.0 | 14.0 | 14.0 | 1.0 |
| Conforto, Michael 3622 | lf | nym nl | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Walker, Taijuan 3453 | pi sp | sea al | 4.7 | 18.4 | 18.4 | 18.4 | -9.0 |
| Teheran, Julio 3176 | pi sp | atl nl | 3.0 | 10.7 | 38.8 | 38.8 | -4.7 |
| Rusin, Chris 3236 | pi sp | col nl | 2.7 | 3.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 1.7 |
| Plouffe, Trevor 2869 | 3b | min al | 2.5 | 5.5 | 21.5 | 21.5 | -0.5 |
| Moss, Brandon 2520 | rf lf | stl nl | 1.5 | 6.5 | 22.5 | 24.5 | -3.5 |
| Dickerson, Corey 3222 | lf | tb al | 1.0 | 4.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | -2.0 |
| Parmelee, Chris 2996 | 1b | nyy al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 6.5 | 6.5 | -1.0 |