Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth place 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. 23:| 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 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 15.4 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 15.1 |
| 7 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 8 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.1 |
| 9 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 13.7 |
| 10 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 13.0 |
Also Tuesday, Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia earned his first Player of the Game honor since becoming the active career Box-Toppers points leader after Alex Rodriguez was released earlier this month.
Player of the Day—Arrieta pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits, three walks and striking out six, in the 5-3 win over the Padres.
Arrieta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 13.7 for the season. His rise to ninth place displaces Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ (12.7 points) from the top 10. Arrieta ranks seventh among NL pitchers. Arrieta led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2015 with 29.1.
American League Player of the Day—Athletics pitcher Sean Manaea struck out eight over seven innings, allowing one run, three hits and two walks, in the 9-1 win over the Indians.
National League Batter of the Day—Andrew Toles of the Dodgers homered, doubled and went 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 9-5 win over the Giants.
American League Batter of the Day—Victor Martinez of the Tigers homered and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 8-3 win over the Twins.
Sabathia—Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia earned his first Player of the Game honor Tuesday since becoming the active career Box-Toppers points leader on Aug. 13, when previous active leader Alex Rodriguez was released.
Sabathia (7IP 3H R B 7K W in the 5-1 win over the Mariners) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 183.0 for his career, ranking fifth among all players since 1995 when Box-Toppers tracking began (see updated "all-time" top 20 list on the homepage). He trails fourth-place player (and previous active leader) Rodriguez (187.0). Sabathia leads second-ranked active leader Albert Pujols of the Angels (181.3) by only 1.7 points.
Sabathia had a Box-Toppers game score Tuesday of +8.0, but Mariners pitcher Sean Manaea, who also had a game score of +8.0, won AL Player of the Day honors over Sabathia because he had more strikeouts—eight vs. seven.
Streak—Adam Jones of the Orioles has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2016 Tuesday.
Jones (4-5 R BI in the 8-1 win over the Nationals) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2007 with the Mariners and has 49.5 career points, fifth among active AL outfielders. His best year was 2014 with the Orioles, when he had 11.5 points, third among AL batters. In 2015, he had 5.5 points with the Orioles.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Braves pitcher Jose Ramirez (1IP H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 7-4 win over the Diamondbacks) made his Major League debut June 4, 2014, and was playing in his 32nd career game. He is the 3,716th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Orlando Arcia of the Brewers (PH 2B 1-1 R in the 6-4 win over the Rockies) made his Major League debut Aug. 2 and was playing in his 20th career game. He is the 3,717th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Arrieta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Manaea earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Toles and Martinez 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
| 8/23 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | CHC 5, SD 3 | Jake Arrieta (W,16-5) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | |
| AL | 8.0 | OAK 9, CLE 1 | Sean Manaea (W,5-8) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| 8.0 | NYY 5, SEA 1 | CC Sabathia (W,8-10) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 6.2 | CHW 9, PHI 1 | Carlos Rodon (W,4-8) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 6.1 | BOS 2, TB 1 | Clay Buchholz (W,5-9) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | ||
| 6.0 | PIT 7, HOU 1 | Ivan Nova (W,10-6) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 6.0 | CIN 3, TEX 0 | Dan Straily (W,10-6) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | LAD 9, SF 5 | Andrew Toles, PH-CF-LF | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | KC 1, MIA 0 | Yordano Ventura (W,9-9) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | DET 8, MIN 3 | Victor Martinez, DH | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | NYM 7, STL 4 | Jose Reyes, 3B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | TOR 7, LAA 2 | Russell Martin, DH | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | ATL 7, ARI 4 | Jose Ramirez (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 1.0 | BAL 8, WSH 1 | Adam Jones, CF | 5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | MIL 6, COL 4 | Orlando Arcia, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 13.7 | 42.8 | 70.5 | 73.5 | -15.4 |
| Martin, Russell 2202 | ca | tor al | 9.5 | 14.5 | 31.0 | 52.0 | 4.5 |
| Martinez, Victor 1695 | dh | det al | 7.5 | 11.0 | 30.9 | 71.1 | 4.0 |
| Ventura, Yordano 3294 | pi sp | kc al | 7.0 | 18.7 | 28.4 | 28.4 | -4.7 |
| Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 |
| Straily, Dan 3080 | pi sp | cin nl | 5.0 | 5.0 | 15.7 | 15.7 | 5.0 |
| Sabathia, C.C. 1492 | pi sp | nyy al | 4.0 | 9.7 | 44.5 | 183.0 | -1.7 |
| Nova, Ivan 2796 | pi sp | pit nl | 4.0 | 5.0 | 26.1 | 27.1 | 3.0 |
| Rodon, Carlos 3494 | pi sp | chi al | 3.0 | 11.1 | 11.1 | 11.1 | -5.1 |
| Buchholz, Clay 2363 | pi sp mr | bos al | 3.0 | 9.0 | 37.2 | 56.9 | -3.0 |
| Toles, Andrew 3692 | rf cf lf ph | lad nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Jones, Adam 2347 | cf | bal al | 1.0 | 6.5 | 37.5 | 49.5 | -4.5 |
| Reyes, Jose 1759 | 3b ss | nym nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 13.0 | 29.0 | 1.0 |
| Arcia, Orlando 3717 | ph | mil nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Ramirez, Jose A. 3716 | pi mr | atl nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |