Athletics pitcher Daniel Mengden is Thursday’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 Sept. 15:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 23.7 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 21.0 |
| 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 20.4 |
| 4 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 20.2 |
| 5 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 20.1 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 16.8 |
| 7 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym al | 15.7 |
| 8 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 15.4 |
| 9 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 15.1 |
| 10 | Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.4 |
Also Thursday, Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto rises to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Mengden pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits, no walks and striking out six, in the 14-5 win over the Royals.
This was Mengden’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Mengden made his Major League debut June 11 and was playing in his 12th career game. He is the 3,741st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Player of the Day—Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin pitched three scoreless innings, allowing no runs, hits or walks, striking out four and earning the save, in the 7-3 win over the Dodgers.
National League Batter of the Day—Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates hit two homers and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 15-2 win over the Phillies.
American League Batter of the Day—Evan Longoria of the Rays hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-5, driving in five runs, in the 7-6 win over the Orioles.
Rankings—Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto rises to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Cueto (CG 5H 2R BB 7K W in the 6-2 win over the Cardinals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 15.4 for the season, rising from ninth to eighth place. He ranks sixth among NL pitchers.
Notable—Russell Martin of the Blue Jays became the 41st player (and seventh batter) with 10 or more Box-Toppers points in 2016 after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Martin (HR 1-3 R 4BI in the 7-2 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.5 for the season. He ranks 35th among all players and fourth among AL batters.
This is Martin’s first season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. His previous best season was 2007 with the Dodgers, when he had 8.5 Box-Toppers points.
Also notable—David Ortiz of the Red Sox rises to 23rd place in career Box-Toppers points (since 1995 when Box-Toppers tracking began) after earning Player of the Day honors Thursday.
Ortiz (HR 2B 3-4 R 3BI in the 7-5 win over the Yankees) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 144.9 career points. He passes Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (143.9) on the “all-time” list and now trails 22nd-ranked player, Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon (145.8). Ortiz also rises to seventh place among active players in career points, second among active batters, behind only Albert Pujols of the Angels (182.3). Ortiz also now rises to seventh among all batters in career points since 1995 and trails sixth-ranked batter Jim Thome (146.7) on the “all-time” list.
Ortiz has 7.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, 19th among AL batters and fourth among AL designated hitters. Ortiz has said he will retire at the end of the season.
Scoring—Mengden earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Corbin earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. McCutchen and Longoria each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 9/15 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.0 | OAK 14, KC 5 | Daniel Mengden (W,2-7) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| NL | 7.0 | ARI 7, LAD 3 | Patrick Corbin (S,1) | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 6.0 | SF 6, STL 2 | Johnny Cueto (W,16-5) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 6.0 | `CHW 2, CLE 1 | James Shields | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | PIT 15, PHI 2 | Andrew McCutchen, CF | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 3.0 | TB 7, BAL 6 | Evan Longoria, 3B | 5 | 1 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | BOS 7, NYY 5 | David Ortiz, DH | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | TOR 7, LAA 2 | Russell Martin, C | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | MIL 5, CHC 4 | Scooter Gennett, PH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | MIN 5, DET 1 | Eddie Rosario, LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `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 | +/- |
| Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 15.4 | 28.2 | 79.4 | 98.8 | 2.6 |
| Martin, Russell 2202 | ca | tor al | 10.5 | 15.5 | 32.0 | 53.0 | 5.5 |
| McCutchen, Andrew 2637 | cf | pit nl | 7.0 | 17.5 | 48.2 | 53.9 | -3.5 |
| Ortiz, David | dh | bos al | 7.0 | 11.5 | 42.9 | 144.9 | 2.5 |
| Longoria, Evan 2423 | 3b | tb al | 5.5 | 8.5 | 25.0 | 46.0 | 2.5 |
| Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp cp | ari nl | 3.7 | 9.1 | 32.5 | 32.5 | -1.7 |
| Shields, James 2157 | pi sp | chi al | 3.0 | 10.4 | 68.6 | 99.4 | -4.4 |
| Rosario, Eddie 3542 | lf | min al | 3.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 1.5 |
| Gennett, Scooter 3254 | 2b ph | mil nl | 2.5 | 4.5 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 0.5 |
| Mengden, Daniel 3741 | pi sp | oak al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |