Seth Smith of the Mariners is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Smith hit two homers—a solo homer and a three-run shot—and went 2-for-2, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 7-3 win over the Astros.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Sept. 18:| 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 |
National League Player of the Day—Cardinals pitcher Alex Reyes pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits, two walks and striking out six, in the 3-0 win over the Giants.
National League Batter of the Day—Brandon Drury of the Diamondbacks hit a game-winning, 12th-inning single in the 10-9 win over the Dodgers. Drury also homered, doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in two runs.
This was Drury’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Drury made his Major League debut Sept. 1, 2015, and was playing in his 141st career game. He is the 3,744th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Sunday because the overall Player of the Day was AL batter Seth Smith.
Notable—Hanley Ramirez of the Red Sox has the highest season Box-Toppers point total among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday. Ramirez (2HR 3-4 2R 4BI in the 5-4 win over the Yankees) has 7.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, 107th among all players and 22nd among AL batters.
Debuts—In addition to Drury, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut with their first career Player of the Game honors:
- Angels pitcher Alex Meyer (5IP 2H 0R 3BB 7K W in the 4-0 win over the Blue Jays) made his Major League debut June 26, 2015, and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,742nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Mets pitcher Gabriel Ynoa (4.2IP 4H R BB 8K ND in the 3-2 win over the Twins) made his Major League debut Aug. 13 and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,743rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Smith earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Reyes earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Drury earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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
| 9/18 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 7.0 | SEA 7, HOU 3 | Seth Smith, RF | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| NL | 7.0 | STL 3, SF 0 | Alex Reyes (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | |
| 7.0 | LAA 4, TOR 0 | Alex Meyer (W,1-3) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | ||
| 5.2 | `NYM 3, MIN 2 | Gabriel Ynoa | - | - | - | - | 4.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 5.0 | BOS 5, NYY 4 | Hanley Ramirez, DH | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | `BAL 2, TB 1 | Wade Miley | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | ARI 10, LAD 9 (12) | Brandon Drury, LF | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | CIN 7, PIT 4 | Tucker Barnhart, C | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | KC 10, CHW 3 | Kendrys Morales, DH | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | DET 9, CLE 5 | J.D. Martinez, RF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | ATL 6, WSH 2 (7) | Adonis Garcia, 3B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | OAK 5, TEX 2 | Khris Davis, DH | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | COL 6, SD 3 | Mark Reynolds, 1B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | MIL 3, CHC 1 | Tyler Thornburg (S,11) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | MIA 5, PHI 4 | Derek Dietrich, 3B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 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 | +/- |
| Ramirez, Hanley 2119 | 1b | bos al | 7.0 | 7.0 | 29.7 | 57.6 | 7.0 |
| Davis, Khris 3242 | lf dh | oak al | 6.7 | 10.7 | 16.7 | 16.7 | 2.7 |
| Morales, Kendrys 2142 | dh | kc al | 6.5 | 11.2 | 21.2 | 37.2 | 1.8 |
| Thornburg, Tyler 3195 | pi cp | mil nl | 6.0 | 6.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 6.0 |
| Martinez, J.D. 2922 | rf | det al | 5.5 | 7.2 | 17.2 | 17.2 | 3.8 |
| Miley, Wade 3006 | pi sp | bal al | 5.0 | 12.0 | 35.4 | 35.4 | -2.0 |
| Smith, Seth 2489 | rf lf | sea al | 5.0 | 6.0 | 24.0 | 38.2 | 4.0 |
| Reynolds, Mark 2297 | 1b | col nl | 4.0 | 8.0 | 28.2 | 51.4 | 0.0 |
| Garcia, Adonis 3613 | 3b | atl nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Reyes, Alex 3706 | pi mr sp | stl nl | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| Dietrich, Derek 3199 | 2b 3b | fla nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 1.0 |
| Barnhart, Tucker 3519 | ca | cin nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 |
| Drury, Brandon 3744 | lf | ari nl | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Meyer, Alex 3742 | pi sp | ana al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Ynoa, Gabriel 3743 | pi sp | nym nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |