Cubs pitcher John Lackey is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Aug. 9:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 18.7 |
| 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 16.4 |
| 4 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 16.2 |
| 5 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 14.1 |
| 7 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.1 |
| 8 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 13.4 |
| 9 | Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | chi nl | 12.4 |
| 10 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 11.7 |
Also Tuesday, Jose Altuve of the Astros retakes the Box-Toppers points lead among American League batters after earning AL Batter of the Day honors.
Player of the Day—Lackey allowed one run over eight innings, giving up three hits and one walk, striking out six, in the 5-1 win over the Angels.
Lackey earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 12.4 for the season. Cubs pitchers now occupy the eighth, ninth and 10th place spots in Box-Toppers season player rankings:
- 8. Jon Lester, 13.4 Box-Toppers points
- 9. Lackey, 12.4
- 10. Jake Arrieta, 11.7
Lackey rises to seventh place among National League pitchers in Box-Toppers points.
Lackey also rises to 40th place in career Box-Toppers points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Tuesday, Lackey now has 120.2 Box-Toppers points, passing Cliff Lee (119.1) on the “all-time” list and now trails 39th-ranked player Gary Sheffield (124.1).
Lackey had a Box-Toppers game score Tuesday of +8.0, the same as Marlins pitcher Tom Koehler, Player of the Game in the 2-0 win over the Giants (7IP 2H 0R 3BB 6K W). But Lackey held the tiebreaker, winning overall Player of the Day, because he pitched more innings—eight vs. seven.
American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits, walking two and striking out four, in the 3-1 win over the Nationals.
Nationals’ starting pitcher in the game, Max Scherzer (18.7 Box-Toppers points), had a chance to pass season player rankings leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (20.0). While Scherzer’s Box-Toppers game score of +10 (7IP 3H 2R ER BB 10K) was high enough to earn him Player of the Day honors Tuesday, he did not earn Player of the Game honors because the Nationals did not win and Scherzer himself picked up the loss, his seventh of the season (12-7).
American League Batter of the Day—Jose Altuve of the Astros went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in a run, in the 7-5 win over the Twins.
Altuve earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 11.5 for the season, rising to 11th place in season player rankings and first among AL batters, passing previous leader Manny Machado of the Orioles (10.2). Machado had just retaken the AL batting lead from Altuve on Sunday.
National League Batter of the Day—Howie Kendrick of the Dodgers homered, doubled and went 2-for-4, driving in three runs, in the 9-3 win over the Phillies.
Notable—Adrian Beltre of the Rangers rises to 56th place in career Box-Toppers points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began, after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Beltre (2B 2-4 R 2BI in the 7-5 win over the Rockies) now has 108.3 career Box-Toppers points and passes two players on the “all-time” list—Lance Berkman (108.1) and Kevin Millwood (108.3). He trails 55th-ranked player Billy Wagner (108.7).
Beltre has 6.5 Box-Toppers points for the season, 14th among AL batters.
Debut—Athletics pitcher Zach Neal made his Box-Toppers debut Tuesday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Neal (5.1IP 2H R 0BB K W in the 2-1 win over the Orioles) made his Major League debut May 11 and was playing in his 12th career game. He is the 3,700th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Lackey earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Bauer earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Altuve and Kendrick each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’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
| 8/9 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 8.0 | CHC 5, LAA 1 | John Lackey (W, 9-7) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |
| 8.0 | MIA 2, SF 0 | Tom Koehler (W, 9-8) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | ||
| AL | 4.1 | CLE 3, WSH 1 | Trevor Bauer (W, 8-5) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | |
| 4.0 | TB 9, TOR 2 | Erasmo Ramirez (S, 1) | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | HOU 7, MIN 5 | Jose Altuve (2B) | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.1 | OAK 2, BAL 1 | Zach Neal (W, 2-1) | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | BOS 5, NYY 3 | Dustin Pedroia (2B) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | LAD 9, PHI 3 | Howie Kendrick (LF) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | CIN 7, STL 4 | Billy Hamilton (CF) | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | ATL 2, MIL 1 | Mauricio Cabrera (S, 3) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.1 | CHW 7, KC 5 (10) | Dan Jennings (S, 1) | - | - | - | - | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | SEA 6, DET 5 (15) | Kyle Seager (3B) | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | PIT 6, SD 4 | David Freese (3B) | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | TEX 7, COL 5 | Adrian Beltre (3B) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | ARI 5, NYM 3 | Paul Goldschmidt (1B) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 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 | +/- |
| Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | chi nl | 12.4 | 22.1 | 41.8 | 120.2 | 2.7 |
| Altuve, Jose 3007 | 2b | hou al | 11.5 | 18.5 | 28.0 | 28.0 | 4.5 |
| Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 9.4 | 18.8 | 27.5 | 27.5 | 0.0 |
| Beltre, Adrian 1141 | 3b | tex al | 6.5 | 19.0 | 44.9 | 108.3 | -6.0 |
| Seager, Kyle 3031 | 3b | sea al | 6.0 | 11.0 | 25.0 | 25.0 | 1.0 |
| Koehler, Tom 3159 | pi sp | fla nl | 5.0 | 9.0 | 17.0 | 17.0 | 1.0 |
| Ramirez, Erasmo 1786 | pi sp mr cp | tb al | 3.7 | 10.7 | 12.7 | 14.7 | -3.3 |
| Kendrick, Howie 2191 | 2b lf | lad nl | 3.0 | 7.0 | 19.0 | 33.0 | -1.0 |
| Cabrera, Mauricio 3689 | pi cp mr | atl nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 | 1b | ari nl | 2.5 | 12.7 | 37.9 | 37.9 | -7.7 |
| Hamilton, Billy 3287 | cf | cin nl | 2.0 | 4.0 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 0.0 |
| Pedroia, Dustin 2320 | 2b | bos al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 22.4 | 34.5 | 2.0 |
| Freese, David 2710 | 1b 3b | pit nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 22.2 | 24.2 | 2.0 |
| Jennings, Dan 3591 | pi cp | chi al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| Neal, Zach 3700 | pi sp | oak al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |