Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Sept. 10:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 23.7 |
| 2 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 20.4 |
| 3 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 4 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 18.2 |
| 5 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 18.1 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 16.8 |
| 7 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 15.1 |
| 8 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 9 | Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.4 |
| 10 | Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 | pi sp | nyy al | 14.1 |
Also Saturday, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer bolstered his first-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka rises to 10th place in player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Player of the Day—Hill pitched seven perfect innings, striking out nine, in the 5-0 win over the Marlins. Despite allowing no base runners for seven innings, he was pulled after 89 pitches to preserve his health—he had spent time recently on the disabled list. While three Dodgers relievers preserved the shutout, they did give up two hits.
Hill earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 14.4 for the season, rising to ninth place in season player rankings. He ranks seventh among NL pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka struck out 10 over 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run, five hits and no walks, in the 5-1 win over the Rays.
Tanaka earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 14.1 for the season, rising to 10th place in season player rankings. He ranks third among AL pitchers.
With the rise of Hill to ninth place and Tanaka to 10th place in season player rankings, two other players were displaced from Box-Toppers top 10 list for the season—Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard (14.0) and Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta (13.7).
American League Batter of the Day—Matt Wieters of the Orioles hit two homers and went 2-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five runs, in the 11-3 win over the Tigers.
National League Batter of the Day—Hunter Pence of the Giants homered and went 3-for-3, scoring four times and driving in one run, in the 11-3 win over the Diamondbacks. It is the second straight day Pence has earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. He has 3.5 Box-Toppers points for the season.
Rankings—Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer bolstered his first place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Scherzer (6.2IP 4H 0R BB 8K ND in the 3-0 win over the Phillies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 23.7 for the season. He leads second-place player, Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez (20.4) by 3.3 points.
Scherzer also now has 129.7 career Box-Toppers points, 31st-most since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He passes Trevor Hoffman (129.4) on the “all-time” list and now trails 30th-ranked Jason Giambi (133.4).
Notable—Three other players with more than 10 Box-Toppers points on the season also earned Player of the Game honors Saturday:
- Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ (6IP 4H 2R BB 5K W in the 3-2 win over the Red Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.7 for the season, 13th among all players and fourth among AL pitchers.
- Joey Votto of the Reds (HR 2B 4-5 2R BI in the 8-7 win over the Pirates) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.5 for the season, 33rd among all players and second among NL batters, behind Kris Bryant of the Cubs (10.5). (Bryant holds the higher rank because he had more 2015 Box-Toppers points—8.5 vs. 5.)
- Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright (8IP 6H R 4BB 7K W in the 5-1 win over the Brewers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.2 for the season, 36th among all players and 17th among NL pitchers. Wainwright now has 112.0 career Box-Toppers points, 52nd-most since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He passes Adrian Beltre of the Rangers (111.3) in “all-time” rankings and now trails 51st-ranked player Kevin Brown (112.8).
Debut—Twins pitcher J.T. Chargois made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Chargois (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K W in the 2-1, 12-inning win over the Indians) made his Major League debut June 11 and was playing in his 16th career game. He is the 3,736th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Hill earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Tanaka earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Wieters and Pence each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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
| 9/10 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 16.0 | LAD 5, MIA 0 | Rich Hill (W,12-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | |
| 14.0 | SD 6, COL 3 | Christian Friedrich (W,5-10) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | ||
| AL | 10.1 | NYY 5, TB 1 | Masahiro Tanaka (W,13-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | |
| 9.2 | `WSH 3, PHI 0 | Max Scherzer | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | BAL 11, DET 3 | Matt Wieters, C | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 5.0 | SF 11, ARI 3 | Hunter Pence, RF | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | SEA 14, OAK 3 | Nelson Cruz, DH | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | HOU 2, CHC 1 | Collin McHugh (W,10-10) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | STL 5, MIL 1 | Adam Wainwright (W,11-8) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | ||
| 2.0 | CIN 8, PIT 7 | Joey Votto, 1B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | TEX 8, LAA 5 | Carlos Gomez, LF | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | KC 6, CHW 5 | Eric Hosmer, 1B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | TOR 3, BOS 2 | J.A. Happ (W,18-4) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 2.0 | MIN 2, CLE 1 (12) | J.T. Chargois (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | ATL 4, NYM 3 (10) | Matt Kemp, LF | 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 | +/- |
| Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 23.7 | 44.7 | 109.3 | 129.7 | 2.7 |
| Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.4 | 18.4 | 18.4 | 38.1 | 10.4 |
| Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 | pi sp | nyy al | 14.1 | 22.1 | 34.8 | 34.8 | 6.1 |
| Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 13.7 | 26.8 | 42.2 | 50.2 | 0.6 |
| Votto, Joey 2366 | 1b | cin nl | 10.5 | 15.5 | 32.2 | 64.2 | 5.5 |
| Wainwright, Adam 2150 | pi sp | stl nl | 10.2 | 13.2 | 61.3 | 112.0 | 7.2 |
| Wieters, Matt 2643 | ca | bal al | 9.5 | 10.5 | 28.5 | 34.2 | 8.5 |
| Hosmer, Eric 2886 | 1b | kc al | 8.5 | 17.5 | 31.0 | 31.0 | -0.5 |
| McHugh, Collin 3316 | pi sp | hou al | 7.7 | 17.4 | 29.2 | 29.2 | -2.0 |
| Kemp, Matt 2151 | rf lf | atl nl | 6.5 | 12.0 | 36.5 | 58.1 | 1.0 |
| Cruz, Nelson Ramon 2224 | dh | sea al | 5.5 | 7.5 | 33.2 | 52.7 | 3.5 |
| Pence, Hunter 2287 | rf | sf nl | 3.5 | 5.5 | 24.5 | 52.2 | 1.5 |
| Friedrich, Christian 3024 | pi sp | sd nl | 2.7 | 2.7 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 2.7 |
| Gomez, Carlos 2397 | cf lf | tex al | 2.0 | 8.0 | 18.5 | 29.5 | -4.0 |
| Chargois, J.T. 3736 | pi cp | min al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |