Mariners pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma is Monday’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. 8:


	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

What are those numbers after players' names?

Iwakuma pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing five hits and one walk, in the 3-0 win over the Tigers.

Iwakuma earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season, most of any of the nine who earned Player of the Game honors Monday. Iwakuma ranks 85th among all players, 29th among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Yasmani Grandal of the Dodgers homered, doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring three times and driving in one run, in the 9-4 win over the Phillies.

American League Batter of the Day—Stephen Vogt of the Athletics homered and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 3-2 win over the Orioles.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Monday because the NL Player of the Day was batter Yasmani Grandal.

Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Monday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:

Braves pitcher Brandon Cunniff (2IP H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 4-3, 12-inning win over the Brewers) made his Major League debut April 7, 2015, and was playing in his 41st career game. He is the 3,698th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Cardinals pitcher Matt Bowman (2IP H 0R BB 2K ND in the 5-4 win over the Reds) made his Major League debut April 6 and was playing in his 39th career game. He is the 3,699th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Iwakuma earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Grandal earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Vogt earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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

  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  

    8/8
    Score
    Game
    Player of Game
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    9.0
    SEA 3, DET 0
    Hisashi Iwakuma (W, 13-7)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    7.0
    5
    0
    0
    1
    8
  

    
    7.0
    MIN 3, HOU 1
    Tyler Duffey (W, 7-8)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    6.0
    4
    1
    1
    1
    8
  

    BAT
    3.0
    OAK 3, BAL 2
    Stephen Vogt (C)
    3
    2
    2
    2
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    NL
    3.0
    LAD 9, PHI 4
    Yasmani Grandal (C)
    3
    3
    2
    1
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    3.0
    SF 8, MIA 7 (14)
    George Kontos (W, 3-2)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    2.0
    0
    0
    0
    1
    2
  

    
    3.0
    ATL 4, MIL 3 (12)
    Brandon Cunniff (W, 1-0)
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    2.0
    1
    0
    0
    0
    2
  

    
    2.0
    TOR 7, TB 5
    Devon Travis (2B)
    5
    2
    4
    1
    
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
  

    
    2.0
    `STL 5, CIN 4
    Matt Bowman
    -
    -
    -
    -
    
    2.0
    1
    0
    0
    1
    2
  

    
    1.0
    TEX 4, COL 3
    Elvis Andrus (SS)
    3
    1
    1
    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	+/-
Iwakuma, Hisashi 3048	pi sp	sea al	6.0	19.1	54.2	54.2	-7.1
Grandal, Yasmani 3058	ca	lad nl	5.7	7.7	15.7	15.7	3.7
Andrus, Elvis 2582	ss	tex al	5.7	5.7	13.2	16.2	5.7
Duffey, Tyler 3558	pi sp	min al	5.0	9.0	9.0	9.0	1.0
Vogt, Stephen 3503	ca 1b	oak al	4.0	6.5	6.5	6.5	1.5
Kontos, George 3106	pi cp mr	sf nl	3.0	5.0	7.7	7.7	1.0
Travis, Devon 3436	2b	tor al	1.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	-2.0
Bowman, Matt 3699	pi mr	stl nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Cunniff, Brandon 3698	pi mr	atl nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0