Kris Bryant of the Cubs is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to lead National League batters in season Box-Toppers player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Aug. 18:| 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 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 17.2 |
| 4 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 16.4 |
| 5 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 6 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 14.4 |
| 7 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 14.1 |
| 8 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.1 |
| 9 | Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 12.7 |
| 10 | Altuve, Jose 3007 | 2b | hou al | 12.5 |
Bryant hit two homers, doubled and went 5-for-5, scoring four times and driving in five runs, in the 9-6 win over the Brewers.
Bryant earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 9.0 for the season, most of any of the 11 who earned Player of the Game honors Thursday. Bryant now leads NL batters in Box-Toppers points, passing previous leader, Matt Carpenter of the Cardinals (8.5). Bryant ranks 32nd among all players.
American League Player of the Day—Royals pitcher Dillon Gee struck out seven over seven innings, allowing one run, five hits and one walk, in the 8-1 win over the Twins.
American League Batter of the Day—J.J. Hardy of the Orioles hit two homers, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 13-5 win over the Astros.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall Player of the Day was NL batter Kris Bryant.
Debut—Nationals pitcher Reynaldo Lopez made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Lopez (7IP 4H 2R 2BB 11K W in the 8-2 win over the Braves) made his Major League debut July 19 and was playing in his fourth career game. He is the 3,712th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Bryant earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gee earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Hardy earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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
| 8/18 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | CHC 9, MIL 6 | Kris Bryant, 3B | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 9.0 | WSH 8, ATL 2 | Reynaldo Lopez (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 11 | ||
| AL | 6.0 | KC 8, MIN 1 | Dillon Gee (W,5-6) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |
| 5.0 | SF 10, NYM 7 | Eduardo Nunez, 3B | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | BAL 13, HOU 5 | J.J. Hardy, SS | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | CIN 5, MIA 4 | Dan Straily (W,9-6) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 3.0 | `CLE 5, CHW 4 | Mike Clevinger | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 2.0 | SD 9, ARI 8 | Travis Jankowski, CF | 5 | 3 | 4 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | LAA 6, SEA 4 | Yunel Escobar, 3B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | PHI 5, LAD 4 | Maikel Franco, 3B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | DET 4, BOS 3 | Justin Upton, PR-DH | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `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 | +/- |
| Bryant, Kris 3465 | lf 3b rf | chi nl | 9.0 | 17.5 | 17.5 | 17.5 | 0.5 |
| Nunez, Eduardo 2795 | 3b 2b ss | sf nl | 5.5 | 7.5 | 13.5 | 15.0 | 3.5 |
| Franco, Maikel 3510 | 3b | phi nl | 4.5 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 1.3 |
| Hardy, J.J. 2071 | ss | bal al | 4.2 | 4.2 | 25.6 | 52.8 | 4.2 |
| Upton, Justin 2411 | lf | det al | 4.0 | 13.0 | 39.9 | 48.4 | -5.0 |
| Straily, Dan 3080 | pi sp | cin nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 14.7 | 14.7 | 4.0 |
| Gee, Dillon 2808 | pi sp | kc al | 3.7 | 4.7 | 31.5 | 32.5 | 2.7 |
| Jankowski, Travis 3696 | cf | sd nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Clevinger, Mike 3707 | pi sp mr | cle al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Escobar, Yunel 2331 | 3b | ana al | 1.0 | 5.0 | 20.0 | 41.0 | -3.0 |
| Lopez, Reynaldo 3712 | pi sp | dc nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |