Ryan Braun of the Brewers is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Indians pitcher Corey Kluber maintained his fourth-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings and Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta rose to ninth place after both earned 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. 6:| 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 | 16.2 |
| 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 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 11.7 |
| 10 | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 11.0 |
Player of the Day—Braun hit two three-run homers and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in seven runs, in the 15-6 win over the Diamondbacks.
Braun earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.5 points for the season, rising to eighth among National League batters. It is also his best season since 2012, when he had 12.5 points. That was before his 2013 suspension for violating baseball’s performance enhancing drug policy. In 2013, he had 3.5 points, in 2014—4.5 and in 2015—5.0.
This was his first overall Player of the Day honor since April 30, 2012.
American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Corey Kluber struck out eight over eight innings, allowing two runs, five hits and one walk, in the 5-2 win over the Yankees.
Kluber earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 16.2 for the season. Kluber maintains his lead in Box-Toppers points among AL pitchers (ahead of Cole Hamels of the Rangers with 14.1) and also maintains his fourth-place rank among all players.
American League Batter of the Day—Franklin Gutierrez of the Mariners homered, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 8-6 win over the Angels.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Saturday because the overall Player of the Day was NL batter Ryan Braun.
Rankings—Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Arrieta (8IP 3H 0R 4K W in the 4-0 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.7 for the season. Arrieta ranks seventh among NL pitchers. Arrieta led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2015 with 29.1.
Notable—Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers rises to 24th place in career Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began, after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Cabrera (2B 2-4 3BI in the 6-5 win over the Mets) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 141.9 for his career. With his point Saturday, he passes Giants pitcher Jake Peavy (141.8) on the “all-time” list and now trails 23rd-ranked player, David Ortiz of the Red Sox (142.9).
Cabrera now has 9.0 Box-Toppers points on the season and rises to second place among AL batters, behind Jose Altuve of the Astros (10.0)
Debut—Padres pitcher Buddy Baumann made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday with this first career Player of the Game honor.
Baumann (1.2IP 0H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 9-7 win over the Phillies) made his Major League debut July 16 and was playing in his sixth career game. He is the 3,697th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Also notable—Royals pitcher Peter Moylan earned his first Box-Toppers point in nearly six years after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Moylan (1.1IP 0H 0R 3K ND in the 4-2 win over the Blue Jays) last earned Player of the Game honors on Sept. 10, 2010, with the Braves. Moylan has 5.0 career Box-Toppers points since his debut in 2007.
Scoring—Braun earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Kluber earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Gutierrez earns 1.5 points for being AL 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
| 8/6 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | MIL 15, ARI 6 | Ryan Braun, LF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 7 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 8.0 | CHC 4, OAK 0 | Jake Arrieta (W,13-5) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 6.0 | ATL 13, STL 5 | Freddie Freeman, 1B | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| AL | 6.0 | CLE 5, NYY 2 | Corey Kluber (W,11-8) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | |
| 5.0 | COL 12, MIA 6 | Charlie Blackmon, CF | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | TB 7, MIN 3 | Chris Archer (W,6-15) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | ||
| 4.2 | SD 9, PHI 7 | Buddy Baumann (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4.1 | `KC 4, TOR 2 | Peter Moylan (H,2) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | LAD 3, BOS 0 | Ross Stripling (W,3-3) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 3.1 | CHW 4, BAL 2 | Nate Jones (W,5-2) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | SF 7, WSH 1 | Eduardo Nunez, 3B | 5 | 3 | 4 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | SEA 8, LAA 6 | Franklin Gutierrez, RF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | TEX 3, HOU 2 | Jonathan Lucroy, C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | PIT 5, CIN 3 | Tony Watson (S,2) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | DET 6, NYM 5 | Miguel Cabrera, 1B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `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 | +/- |
| Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 16.2 | 29.6 | 60.4 | 60.4 | 2.8 |
| Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 11.7 | 40.8 | 68.5 | 71.5 | -17.4 |
| Cabrera, Miguel 1776 | 1b | det al | 9.0 | 13.7 | 62.3 | 141.9 | 4.3 |
| Braun, Ryan J. 2300 | lf | mil nl | 6.5 | 11.5 | 42.5 | 84.2 | 1.5 |
| Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 6.0 | 22.0 | 46.1 | 46.1 | -10.0 |
| Nunez, Eduardo 2795 | 3b 2b ss | sf nl | 4.5 | 6.5 | 12.5 | 14.0 | 2.5 |
| Freeman, Freddie 2887 | 1b | atl nl | 4.0 | 7.0 | 35.2 | 35.2 | 1.0 |
| Lucroy, Jonathan 2744 | ca | tex al | 4.0 | 5.7 | 24.6 | 25.6 | 2.3 |
| Watson, Tony 3215 | pi cp mr | pit nl | 3.0 | 4.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 2.0 |
| Jones, Nate 3125 | pi mr cp | chi al | 3.0 | 4.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 2.0 |
| Stripling, Ross 3629 | pi sp | lad nl | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| Blackmon, Charlie 2891 | cf | col nl | 2.5 | 5.0 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 0.0 |
| Gutierrez, Franklin 2242 | rf | sea al | 2.5 | 3.5 | 7.5 | 22.5 | 1.5 |
| Moylan, Peter 2266 | pi mr | kc al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 1.0 |
| Baumann, Buddy 3697 | pi mr | sd nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |