Diamondbacks pitcher Robbie Ray is Saturday’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. 20:| 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 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 15.1 |
| 6 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 7 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 14.4 |
| 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 |
Also Saturday, Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez rises to ninth place in career Box-Toppers points since 1995 (when Box-Toppers tracking began), passing Manny Ramirez on the “all-time” list. Plus, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw maintains his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings (with 20.0 Box-Toppers points) after Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (18.7 points) did not earn Player of the Game honors in his start Saturday.
Player of the Day—Ray struck out 13 over seven innings, allowing one run, one hit and one walk, in the 2-1 win over the Padres.
American League Player of the Day—White Sox pitcher Chris Sale pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing three hits and three walks, in the 6-2 win over the Athletics.
Sale earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 12.4 for the season, most of any of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday. Sale ranks 11th among all players and fourth among AL pitchers. It was Sale’s first Player of the Game honor since June 26.
National League Batter of the Day—Anthony Rendon of the Nationals doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in one run, in the 11-9 win over the Braves.
American League Batter of the Day—Evan Longoria of the Rays homered and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 8-2 win over the Rangers.
All-time leaders
Here are Box-Toppers top 20 players since record keeping began in 1995:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | retired | 278.8 |
| 2 | Pedro Martinez | pi sp | retired | 244.8 |
| 3 | Curt Schilling | pi sp | retired | 194.1 |
| 4 | Alex Rodriguez | dh | released | 187.0 |
| 5 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 182.0 |
| 6 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 181.3 |
| 7 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | lad nl | 179.3 |
| 8 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 9 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 167.7 |
| 10 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 11 | Johan Santana | pi sp | free agent | 166.6 |
| 12 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | retired | 164.8 |
| 13 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 14 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 15 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 156.1 |
| 16 | Mike Mussina | pi sp | retired | 155.6 |
| 17 | Barry Bonds | lf | retired | 153.2 |
| 18 | Greg Maddux | pi sp | retired | 151.7 |
| 19 | Chipper Jones | 3b | retired | 149.0 |
| 20 | Javier Vazquez | pi sp | retired | 148.3 |
Hernandez—Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez rises to ninth place in career Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers tracking began) after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Hernandez (8IP 7H 2R BB 8K W in the 8-2 win over the Brewers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 167.7 for his career. He passes Manny Ramirez (167.2) on the “all-time” list and now trails eighth-ranked player, Roy Halladay (170.7). Hernandez has 5.0 Box-Toppers points on the season.
Scherzer—Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer did not pass Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw for the Box-Toppers points lead Saturday, despite earning the win in the 11-9 victory over the Braves.
Scherzer (6.1IP 6H 4R 3BB 6K W) had a Box-Toppers game score of −4.9. Player of the Game was Anthony Rendon (2B 4-5 3R BI), who had a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0.
Scherzer could have passed Kershaw if he had won overall Player of the Day or NL Player of the Day. Scherzer ranks second in season Box-Toppers points with 18.7, behind Kershaw’s 20.0. It is the third start Scherzer has had when he’s been within striking distance of Kershaw, but all three times he has failed to capitalize.
Kershaw has led in season Box-Toppers points since May 7 and maintains his lead even though he’s been on the disabled list for more than seven weeks. He could return as soon as late August.
Scoring—Ray earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Sale earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Rendon and Longoria each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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
| 8/20 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 16.0 | ARI 2, SD 1 | Robbie Ray (W,7-11) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 | |
| 12.0 | CIN 11, LAD 1 | Brandon Finnegan (W,8-9) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 11.0 | MIA 3, PIT 1 | David Phelps (W,7-6) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | ||
| AL | 10.0 | CHW 6, OAK 2 | Chris Sale (W,15-6) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | |
| 10.0 | KC 10, MIN 0 | Ian Kennedy (W,8-9) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 7.0 | NYY 5, LAA 1 | Luis Cessa (W,3-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 6.0 | HOU 12, BAL 2 | Mike Fiers (W,9-6) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 4.1 | `CHC 9, COL 2 | Mike Montgomery | - | - | - | - | 4.1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | SEA 8, MIL 2 | Felix Hernandez (W,8-4) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | WSH 11, ATL 9 | Anthony Rendon, 3B | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | NYM 9, SF 5 | Yoenis Cespedes, LF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | TB 8, TEX 2 | Evan Longoria, 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | PHI 4, STL 2 | Jeremy Hellickson (W,10-7) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 2.1 | BOS 3, DET 2 | Craig Kimbrel (S,22) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | TOR 6, CLE 5 | Joe Biagini (W,4-2) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| `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 | +/- |
| Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 12.4 | 31.2 | 83.4 | 85.4 | -6.4 |
| Hellickson, Jeremy 2778 | pi sp | phi nl | 11.1 | 16.1 | 39.8 | 42.8 | 6.1 |
| Kennedy, Ian 2723 | pi sp | kc al | 9.0 | 15.7 | 59.5 | 65.5 | 2.3 |
| Cespedes, Yoenis 3008 | cf lf | nym nl | 7.0 | 17.9 | 38.9 | 38.9 | -3.9 |
| Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 6.7 | 10.7 | 10.7 | 10.7 | 2.7 |
| Phelps, David 2994 | pi sp mr | fla nl | 6.7 | 10.1 | 23.5 | 23.5 | 3.3 |
| Finnegan, Brandon 3535 | pi sp | cin nl | 6.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 3.0 |
| Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 5.0 | 24.4 | 90.4 | 167.7 | -14.4 |
| Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | bos al | 5.0 | 11.0 | 54.7 | 55.7 | -1.0 |
| Montgomery, Mike 3513 | pi cp mr sp | chi nl | 5.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 1.0 |
| Fiers, Michael 3029 | pi sp | hou al | 4.0 | 11.0 | 25.1 | 25.1 | -3.0 |
| Longoria, Evan 2423 | 3b | tb al | 4.0 | 7.0 | 23.5 | 44.5 | 1.0 |
| Rendon, Anthony 3258 | 3b | dc nl | 3.5 | 4.5 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 2.5 |
| Biagini, Joe 3646 | pi mr | tor al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Cessa, Luis 3703 | pi mr sp | nyy al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |