Reds pitcher Homer Bailey is Friday’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 Aug. 12:| 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 | Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 12.7 |
| 10 | Altuve, Jose 3007 | 2b | hou al | 12.5 |
Bailey struck out 11 over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 7-4 win over the Brewers.
American League Player of the Day—Jonathan Lucroy of the Rangers hit two home runs and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 8-5 win over the Tigers.
Lucroy earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 5.7 for the season, most among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Friday. Lucroy ranks 110th among all players, 20th among AL batters and third among AL catchers (behind Russell Martin of the Blue Jays and Matt Wieters of the Orioles, both of whom have 7.0 Box-Toppers points).
National League Batter of the Day—Matt Szczur of the Cubs hit two homers, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring four times and driving in three runs, in the 13-2 win over the Cardinals.
This was Szczur’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Szczur made his Major League debut Aug. 17, 2014, and was playing in his 156th career game. He is the 3,704th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Friday because the overall AL Player of the Day was batter Jonathan Lucroy.
Notable—Four batters Friday had Box-Toppers game scores of +6.0—Lucroy, Szczur, Hanley Ramirez of the Red Sox and Ryan Schimpf of the Padres.
Lucroy and Szczur ranked ahead of Ramirez and Schmipf because they both had three hits, while the other two had two hits. And Lucroy ranked ahead of Szczur because he had more RBIs—five vs. three.
Debut—Astros pitcher Joe Musgrove made his Box-Toppers debut Friday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Musgrove (7IP 6H 2R BB 7K W in the 5-3 win over the Blue Jays) made his Major League debut Aug. 2 and was playing in his third career game. He is the 3,705th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
A-Rod—Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees played in the apparent final game of his career Friday, a 6-3 win over the Rays.
Rodriguez doubled and went 1-for-4, driving in a run, giving him a Box-Toppers game score of −2.0. Player of the Game for the Yankees was closer Delin Betances (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 3K Sv).
If that truly is the end for Rodriguez, 41, he exits with 187.0 career Box-Toppers points, which as of Friday, was the highest total for any active player, the most points earned by any batter since 1995 (when Box-Toppers tracking began) and the fourth-highest total of any player since 1995.
However, Rodriguez did not earn any Box-Toppers points in 2016. He earned 7.7 points in 2015, the year after he returned from a 2014 yearlong suspension for violating baseball’s performance enhancing drug policy. More on Rodriguez’s career through a Box-Toppers perspective here.
Scoring—Bailey earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lucroy earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Szczur earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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
| 8/12 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 13.0 | CIN 7, MIL 4 | Homer Bailey (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | |
| AL | 6.0 | TEX 8, DET 5 | Jonathan Lucroy, C | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 6.0 | CHC 13, STL 2 | Matt Szczur, CF | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | BOS 9, ARI 4 | Hanley Ramirez, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 6.0 | SD 8, NYM 6 | Ryan Schimpf, 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | PHI 10, COL 6 | Ryan Howard, 1B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | CLE 13, LAA 3 | Brandon Guyer, LF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | ATL 8, WSH 5 | Freddie Freeman, 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | KC 7, MIN 3 | Yordano Ventura (W,8-9) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 4.0 | NYY 6, TB 3 | Dellin Betances (S,4) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.1 | `CHW 4, MIA 2 | Nate Jones (H,23) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | HOU 5, TOR 3 | Joe Musgrove (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 3.0 | BAL 5, SF 2 | Zach Britton (S,36) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | OAK 6, SEA 3 | Marcus Semien, SS | 4 | 2 | 4 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | PIT 5, LAD 1 | Andrew McCutchen, CF | 4 | 2 | 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 | +/- |
| Lucroy, Jonathan 2744 | ca | tex al | 5.7 | 7.4 | 26.3 | 27.3 | 4.0 |
| Ventura, Yordano 3294 | pi sp | kc al | 5.0 | 16.7 | 26.4 | 26.4 | -6.7 |
| Freeman, Freddie 2887 | 1b | atl nl | 5.0 | 8.0 | 36.2 | 36.2 | 2.0 |
| Ramirez, Hanley 2119 | 1b | bos al | 5.0 | 5.0 | 27.7 | 55.6 | 5.0 |
| Semien, Marcus 3302 | ss | oak al | 4.5 | 4.5 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 4.5 |
| Britton, Zach 2835 | pi cp | bal al | 4.0 | 12.7 | 32.1 | 32.1 | -4.7 |
| Jones, Nate 3125 | pi mr | chi al | 4.0 | 5.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 3.0 |
| McCutchen, Andrew 2637 | cf | pit nl | 3.5 | 14.0 | 44.7 | 50.4 | -7.0 |
| Schimpf, Ryan 3686 | 3b 2b | sd nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Howard, Ryan 2040 | 1b | phi nl | 2.0 | 7.5 | 32.4 | 98.7 | -3.5 |
| Betances, Dellin 3333 | pi mr cp | nyy al | 2.0 | 6.0 | 10.7 | 10.7 | -2.0 |
| Bailey, Homer 2324 | pi sp | cin nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 36.4 | 47.1 | 2.0 |
| Szczur, Matt 3704 | cf | chi nl | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Guyer, Brandon 3363 | lf | cle al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 0.0 |
| Musgrove, Joe 3705 | pi sp | hou al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |