Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and extends his lead 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. 30:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 22.7 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 18.4 |
| 4 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 17.2 |
| 5 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 16.8 |
| 6 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 15.4 |
| 7 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 8 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.1 |
| 9 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 14.0 |
| 10 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 13.7 |
Scherzer struck out 11 over eight innings, allowing two runs, three hits and one walk, in the 3-2 win over the Phillies.
Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 22.7 for the season. Scherzer took the Box-Toppers points lead in his last start Aug. 25, passing previous leader Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (20.0 Box-Toppers points).
Scherzer’s 22.7 points is now his single-season career high, passing his 2014 point total of 22.1 he earned with the Tigers.
Scherzer also now has 128.7 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 32nd place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Tuesday, he passes three players on the “all-time” list—Roy Oswalt (127.2), A.J. Burnett (127.8) and Vladimir Guerrero (128.3). Scherzer now trails 31st-ranked player Trevor Hoffman (129.4).
American League Player of the Day—Astros pitcher Collin McHugh pitched six scoreless innings, allowing four hits, one walk and striking out five, in the 3-1 win over the Athletics.
National League Batter of the Day—Curtis Granderson of the Mets hit two homers and went 2-for-2, driving in three runs, in the 7-4 win over the Marlins.
American League Batter of the Day—Adrian Beltre of the Rangers homered and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 8-7 win over the Mariners.
Beltre earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 111.3 career points, rising to 52nd place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Tuesday, he passes Tom Glavine (110.6) on the “all-time” list and now trails 51st-ranked player Kevin Brown (112.8).
Beltre has 9.5 Box-Toppers points on the season, fifth among AL batters.
Notable—Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright now has 110.0 career Box-Toppers points—54th-most among players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995—after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Wainwright (7IP 3H R 0BB 7K ND in the 3-1, 10-inning win over the Brewers) passes Jeff Kent (109.7) on the “all-time” list and now trails 53rd-ranked player Tom Glavine (110.6).
Wainwright has 8.2 Box-Toppers points on the season, 21st among NL pitchers.
Also notable—Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks has 11.7 Box-Toppers points on the season after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Hendricks (7IP 3H 0R BB 4K W in the 3-0 win over the Pirates) ranks 18th among all players and 12th among NL pitchers.
Debut—Rays pitcher Enny Romero made his Box-Toppers debut Tuesday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Romero (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 4-3 win over the Red Sox) made his Major League debut Sept. 22, 2013, and was playing in his 68th career game. He is the 3,726th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and McHugh earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Granderson and Beltre 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
| 8/30 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.0 | WSH 3, PHI 2 | Max Scherzer (W,15-7) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 | |
| 9.0 | `STL 2, MIL 1 (10) | Adam Wainwright | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 7.0 | CHC 3, PIT 0 | Kyle Hendricks (W,13-7) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| AL | 6.0 | HOU 3, OAK 1 | Collin McHugh (W,9-10) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| 5.2 | CLE 5, MIN 4 | Dan Otero (W,4-1) | - | - | - | - | 2.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | NYM 7, MIA 4 | Curtis Granderson, PH-RF | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | ATL 7, SD 3 | Julio Teheran (W,4-9) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | TEX 8, SEA 7 | Adrian Beltre, 3B | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | NYY 5, KC 4 (10) | Dellin Betances (W,3-4; BS,4) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | LAA 4, CIN 2 | C.J. Cron, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | DET 8, CHW 4 | J.D. Martinez, RF | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | TB 4, BOS 3 | Enny Romero (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.1 | BAL 5, TOR 3 | Brad Brach (W,8-2) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 0.0 | ARI 4, SF 3 | Welington Castillo, C | 4 | 0 | 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 | +/- |
| Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 22.7 | 43.7 | 108.3 | 128.7 | 1.7 |
| Hendricks, Kyle 3386 | pi sp | chi nl | 11.7 | 21.4 | 26.4 | 26.4 | 2.0 |
| Beltre, Adrian 1141 | 3b | tex al | 9.5 | 22.0 | 47.9 | 111.3 | -3.0 |
| Wainwright, Adam 2150 | pi sp | stl nl | 8.2 | 11.2 | 59.3 | 110.0 | 5.2 |
| Teheran, Julio 3176 | pi sp | atl nl | 7.0 | 14.7 | 42.8 | 42.8 | -0.7 |
| McHugh, Collin 3316 | pi sp | hou al | 6.7 | 16.4 | 28.2 | 28.2 | -3.0 |
| Castillo, Wellington 3251 | ca | ari nl | 5.0 | 8.5 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 1.5 |
| Martinez, J.D. 2922 | rf | det al | 4.5 | 6.2 | 16.2 | 16.2 | 2.8 |
| Cron, C.J. 3338 | 1b dh | ana al | 3.7 | 9.7 | 10.7 | 10.7 | -2.3 |
| Betances, Dellin 3333 | pi mr cp | nyy al | 3.0 | 7.0 | 11.7 | 11.7 | -1.0 |
| Granderson, Curtis 2051 | rf ph | nym nl | 3.0 | 7.0 | 31.9 | 64.3 | -1.0 |
| Brach, Brad 3374 | pi mr | bal al | 3.0 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 0.0 |
| Otero, Dan 3365 | pi mr | cle al | 3.0 | 4.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 1.3 |
| Romero, Enny 3726 | pi mr | tb al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |