Angels pitcher Ricky Nolasco is Wednesday’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. 31:| 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 | 18.2 |
| 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 |
Also Wednesday, Indians pitcher Corey Kluber extends his Box-Toppers points lead among American League pitchers after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Nolasco pitched a complete-game, four-hit shutout, striking out seven and walking none, in the 3-0 win over the Reds.
National League Player of the Day—Brewers pitcher Matt Garza struck out eight over seven innings, allowing one run, three hits and two walks, in the 3-1 win over the Cardinals.
American League Batter of the Day—Rougned Odor of the Rangers hit two home runs and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 14-1 win over the Mariners.
National League Batter of the Day—Andrew Toles of the Dodgers hit a ninth-inning, go-ahead grand slam in the 10-8 win over the Rockies. Toles also doubled and went 3-for-4, driving in five runs.
Rankings—Indians pitcher Corey Kluber extended his season Box-Toppers points lead among AL pitchers after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Kluber (8IP 6H 3R 2BB 11K W in the 8-4 win over the Twins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 18.2 for the season, ahead of second-place AL pitcher Cole Hamels of the Rangers (16.8). Kluber maintains his rank of fourth place among all players. Kluber led AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points in 2014 with 25.8.
Notable—Two other players with 10 or more Box-Toppers points this season also earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday:
- Cubs pitcher Jason Hammel (6IP 3H R 3BB 6K W in the 6-5 win over the Pirates) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.0 for the season. He ranks 18th among all players and 12th among NL pitchers.
- Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander (7IP 3H 2R 0BB 9K ND in the 3-2 win over the White Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season. He ranks 33rd among all players and 13th among AL pitchers. He becomes the 34th player this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points. This is his eighth season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points, his first since 2013 (10.0). In 2014, he had 4.0 points and in 2015 he had 6.4. Verlander led AL pitchers in both 2011 (24.4) and 2012 (24.8).
Verlander now has 134.6 career Box-Toppers points, 29th-most since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He trails 28th-ranked player, Cubs pitcher Jon Lester (136.5).
Scoring—Nolasco earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Garza earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Odor and Toles each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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
| 8/31 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | LAA 3, CIN 0 | Ricky Nolasco (W,5-12) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| 9.0 | `DET 3, CHW 2 | Justin Verlander | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 9 | ||
| NL | 8.0 | MIL 3, STL 1 | Matt Garza (W,5-6) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| 7.0 | ATL 8, SD 1 | Matt Wisler (W,6-11) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 10 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | TEX 14, SEA 1 | Rougned Odor, 2B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 5.0 | LAD 10, COL 8 | Andrew Toles, LF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | CLE 8, MIN 4 | Corey Kluber (W,15-8) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 11 | ||
| 5.0 | WSH 2, PHI 1 | Gio Gonzalez (W,10-9) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 4.1 | SF 4, ARI 2 | Matt Moore (W,9-10) | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 4.0 | BOS 8, TB 6 | Hanley Ramirez, 1B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | CHC 6, PIT 5 | Jason Hammel (W,14-7) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | HOU 4, OAK 3 | Michael Feliz (W,8-1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | `NYY 5, KC 4 (13) | Chasen Shreve | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.1 | COL 7, LAD 0 | Tyler Anderson (W,5-5) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 2.0 | TOR 5, BAL 3 | Michael Saunders, LF | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | NYM 5, MIA 2 | Addison Reed (W,4-2) | - | - | - | - | 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 | +/- |
| Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 18.2 | 31.6 | 62.4 | 62.4 | 4.8 |
| Hammel, Jason 2235 | pi sp | chi nl | 12.0 | 21.7 | 45.1 | 58.2 | 2.3 |
| Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | det al | 10.0 | 16.4 | 79.6 | 134.6 | 3.6 |
| Moore, Matt 2975 | pi sp | sf nl | 8.7 | 8.7 | 34.2 | 34.2 | 8.7 |
| Nolasco, Ricky 2125 | pi sp | ana al | 7.7 | 9.7 | 30.4 | 83.5 | 5.7 |
| Ramirez, Hanley 2119 | 1b | bos al | 6.0 | 6.0 | 28.7 | 56.6 | 6.0 |
| Odor, Rougned 3336 | 2b | tex al | 5.5 | 8.5 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 2.5 |
| Saunders, Michael 2768 | lf | tor al | 5.2 | 5.2 | 14.9 | 15.9 | 5.2 |
| Gonzalez, Gio 2626 | pi sp | dc nl | 5.0 | 14.7 | 71.8 | 85.5 | -4.7 |
| Wisler, Matt 3522 | pi sp | atl nl | 4.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 1.0 |
| Toles, Andrew 3692 | rf lf cf ph | lad nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Feliz, Michael 3632 | pi cp mr | hou al | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| Garza, Matt 2343 | pi sp | mil nl | 2.7 | 4.4 | 34.1 | 70.8 | 1.0 |
| Reed, Addison 3023 | pi mr | nym nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 1.0 |
| Anderson, Tyler 3656 | pi sp | col nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Shreve, Chasen 3482 | pi mr | nyy al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | -1.0 |