Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Cubs pitcher Jon Lester bolstered his eighth-place rank in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Aug. 5:| 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 | 14.5 |
| 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 | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 11.0 |
| 10 | Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 11.0 |
Player of the Day—Garcia pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out 11 and allowing three hits and one walk, in the 1-0 win over the Braves.
American League Player of the Day—Red Sox pitcher Steven Wright pitched a complete-game, three-hit shutout, striking out nine and allowing one walk, in the 9-0 win over the Dodgers.
American League Batter of the Day—Starlin Castro of the Yankees hit a grand slam and went 2-for-3, scoring three times, in the 13-7 win over the Indians.
National League Batter of the Day—Cameron Rupp of the Phillies hit a three-run homer and doubled, going 2-for-4 and driving in four total runs, in the 5-4 win over the Padres.
Rankings—Cubs pitcher Jon Lester bolstered his eighth-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Lester (7IP 6H 2R 0BB 8K W in the 7-2 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.4 for the season. He ranks sixth among NL pitchers.
Lester now also has 134.5 career Box-Toppers points and ranks 28th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 27th-ranked player Andy Pettitte (138.5).
Notable—Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander now has 131.6 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Verlander (6IP 4H 2R BB 9K W in the 4-3 win over the Mets) ranks 30th in career points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 29th-ranked player Jason Giambi (133.4). Verlander has 7.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, 20th among AL pitchers, and exceeding his 6.4 point total he earned in 2015.
Scoring—Garcia earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Wright earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Castro and Rupp each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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
| 8/5 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 15.0 | STL 1, ATL 0 | Jaime Garcia (W,8-8) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | |
| AL | 14.0 | BOS 9, LAD 0 | Steven Wright (W,13-5) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |
| 11.0 | HOU 5, TEX 0 | Dallas Keuchel (W,7-11) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 9.0 | WSH 5, SF 1 | Gio Gonzalez (W,7-9) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | NYY 13, CLE 7 | Starlin Castro, SS-2B | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | DET 4, NYM 3 | Justin Verlander (W,12-6) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 5.0 | CHC 7, OAK 2 | Jon Lester (W,12-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 4.1 | MIN 6, TB 2 | Ervin Santana (W,5-9) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 4.0 | BAL 7, CHW 5 | Zach Britton (S,34) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | SEA 6, LAA 4 | Edwin Diaz (S,3) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.1 | `MIA 5, COL 3 | David Phelps | - | - | - | - | 4.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | PHI 5, SD 4 | Cameron Rupp, C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | `PIT 3, CIN 2 | Jameson Taillon | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | ARI 3, MIL 2 (11) | Adam Loewen (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | TOR 4, KC 3 | Brett Cecil (W,1-6) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 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 | +/- |
| Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 13.4 | 25.4 | 71.6 | 134.5 | 1.4 |
| Wright, Steven 3224 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 | 12.1 | 13.1 | 13.1 | 4.7 |
| Garcia, Jaime 2508 | pi sp | stl nl | 8.0 | 17.4 | 35.1 | 43.8 | -1.4 |
| Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | det al | 7.0 | 13.4 | 76.6 | 131.6 | 0.6 |
| Rupp, Cameron 3556 | ca | phi nl | 6.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 5.5 |
| Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 6.0 | 27.4 | 41.8 | 41.8 | -15.4 |
| Castro, Starlin 2767 | ss 2b | nyy al | 5.5 | 10.0 | 23.0 | 24.0 | 1.0 |
| Gonzalez, Gio 2626 | pi sp | dc nl | 4.0 | 13.7 | 70.8 | 84.5 | -5.7 |
| Phelps, David 2994 | pi mr | fla nl | 4.0 | 7.4 | 20.8 | 20.8 | 0.6 |
| Taillon, Jameson 3658 | pi sp | pit nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Britton, Zach 2835 | pi cp | bal al | 3.0 | 11.7 | 31.1 | 31.1 | -5.7 |
| Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 3.0 | 8.4 | 46.8 | 96.3 | -2.4 |
| Diaz, Edwin 3690 | pi cp mr | sea al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Cecil, Brett 2566 | pi mr | tor al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 9.7 | 21.8 | -1.0 |
| Loewen, Adam 2212 | pi cp | ari nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 5.7 | 0.0 |