Gary Sanchez of the Yankees 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 Sept. 21:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 24.7 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.7 |
| 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 22.4 |
| 4 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 21.2 |
| 5 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 21.1 |
| 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 | Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 14.7 |
Also Wednesday, three players reached notable milestones after earning Player of the Game honors:
- Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer extended his Box-Toppers season player rankings lead.
- Indians pitcher Corey Kluber all but secured his status as Box-Toppers American League Player of the Year, rising to fourth place in season player rankings.
- Nolan Arenado of the Rockies rose to lead National League batters in Box-Toppers points.
Player of the Day—Sanchez hit two home runs—including a three-run shot—in the 11-5 win over the Rays. Sanchez went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five runs.
National League Player of the Day—Nolan Arenado of the Rockies hit a grand slam and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 11-1 win over the Cardinals.
Arenado earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 10.7 for the season, rising to first place among NL batters, passing previous leader Kris Bryant of the Cubs (10.5).
If Arenado’s lead with 10.7 points stands with a little more than week to go in the season, it will be the lowest point total to lead a category in Box-Toppers’ 22-season history. The record was set in 2015 when Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies led NL batters with 11.5 points. Interestingly, the previous record was 2014 when Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies led NL batters with 11.6. So if Arenado’s lead holds, not only will the low-point record be broken three years in a row, it will be broken each time by a batter from the Colorado Rockies.
Arenado becomes the 45th player (and ninth batter) in 2016 with 10 or more Box-Toppers points.
Batters of the Day—There are no separate AL and NL Batters of the Day for Wednesday because both the overall Player of the Day (Gary Sanchez) and NL Player of the Day (Nolan Arenado) are batters.
Rankings—Two players among Box-Toppers top five in season player rankings earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday:
- Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (6.2IP 4H 3R 2BB 8K W in the 8-3 win over the Marlins) extended his Box-Toppers season player rankings lead, earning 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 24.7 for the season. He is now 2.0 Box-Toppers points ahead of second-place player, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22.7), meaning Kershaw still has a chance to pass Scherzer on his next start.
Scherzer now has 130.7 career Box-Toppers points, 31st-most since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He trails 30th-ranked player Jason Giambi (133.4) on the “all-time” list.
- Indians pitcher Corey Kluber (6.1IP 6H 2R 2BB 9K W in the 4-3 win over the Royals) all but secured his status as Box-Toppers American League Player of the Year. He earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 21.2 for the season, extending his lead among AL pitchers and is now 4.4 points ahead of second-place AL pitcher Cole Hamels of the Rangers (16.8). Hamels would need at least three starts to pass Kluber in Box-Toppers points—he likely only has two starts remaining in the season’s final 10 days.
This will be the second time Kluber has led AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points in a season. He also did it in 2014 when he had 25.8 points and also won the AL Cy Young Award. In 2015 he had 13.4 Box-Toppers points, 10th among AL pitchers. Kluber also rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Notable—Two other players with 10 or more Box-Toppers points on the season earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday:
- Mike Trout of the Angels (HR 1-4 R 3BI in the 5-4 win over the Rangers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.0 for the season, rising to third among AL batters, behind leader Manny Machado of the Orioles (12.7) and Jose Altuve of the Astros (12.5).
- Dodgers pitcher Kenta Maeda (5IP 3H 2R 2BB 6K W in the 9-3 win over the Giants) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season. He becomes the 46th player in 2016 with 10 or more points and ranks 46th among all players, 19th among NL pitchers.
Also notable—Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez now has 168.7 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Hernandez (7IP 2H 0R 3BB 4K ND in the 2-1, 12-inning win over the Blue Jays) maintains his ninth-place rank in career Box-Toppers points since Box-Toppers player tracking began in 1995. He trails eighth-place player Roy Halladay (170.7) on the “all-time” list. (See Box-Toppers career top 20 list on the home page.) Hernandez has 6.0 Box-Toppers points on the season. If that total stands, it would be his lowest season total in his 12-year career. His previous low was 7.4 in 2008 with the Mariners.
Scoring—Sanchez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Arenado earns 1.7 points for being NL Player 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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 9/21 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 7.0 | NYY 11, TB 5 | Gary Sanchez, C | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | `SEA 2, TOR 1 (12) | Felix Hernandez | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | ||
| NL | 5.0 | COL 11, STL 1 | Nolan Arenado, 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | BOS 5, BAL 1 | Clay Buchholz (W,8-10) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | PIT 4, MIL 1 | Chad Kuhl (W,5-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 3.1 | CLE 4, KC 3 | Corey Kluber (W,18-9) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | ||
| 3.0 | HOU 6, OAK 5 | Evan Gattis, DH | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | ARI 3, SD 2 | Paul Goldschmidt, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | LAD 9, SF 3 | Kenta Maeda (W,16-9) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 2.2 | WSH 8, MIA 3 | Max Scherzer (W,18-7) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 2.0 | CHC 9, CIN 2 | Miguel Montero, C | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | PHI 8, CHW 3 | Tommy Joseph, 1B | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.1 | `ATL 4, NYM 3 | Chaz Roe | - | - | - | - | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | LAA 5, TEX 4 | Mike Trout, CF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `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 | 24.7 | 45.7 | 110.3 | 130.7 | 3.7 |
| Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 21.2 | 34.6 | 65.4 | 65.4 | 7.8 |
| Trout, Mike 2949 | cf | ana al | 11.0 | 23.0 | 47.5 | 47.5 | -1.0 |
| Arenado, Nolan 3306 | 3b | col nl | 10.7 | 19.2 | 20.7 | 20.7 | 2.2 |
| Maeda, Kenta 3609 | pi sp | lad nl | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 |
| Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 6.0 | 25.4 | 91.4 | 168.7 | -13.4 |
| Buchholz, Clay 2363 | pi sp | bos al | 5.0 | 11.0 | 39.2 | 58.9 | -1.0 |
| Gattis, Evan 3179 | ca | hou al | 5.0 | 9.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 1.0 |
| Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 | 1b | ari nl | 4.5 | 14.7 | 39.9 | 39.9 | -5.7 |
| Sanchez, Gary 3701 | ca dh | nyy al | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Joseph, Tommy 3681 | 1b ph | phi nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Kuhl, Chad 3687 | pi sp | pit nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Montero, Miguel 2304 | ca | chi nl | 1.0 | 6.5 | 20.7 | 30.9 | -4.5 |
| Roe, Chaz 3597 | pi mr | atl nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |