Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija 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. 22:| 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 |
Samardzija pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out nine and allowing four hits and no walks, in the 2-1 win over the Padres.
Samardzija earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 10.7 for the season. He becomes the 47th player this season with 10 Box-Toppers points and ranks 35th among all players, 18th among National League pitchers. This is the second season Samardzija has reached 10 Box-Toppers points. In 2012, he had 12.7 points with the Cubs.
American League Player of the Day—Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander struck out 11 over six innings, allowing two runs, four hits and two walks, in the 4-2 win over the Twins.
Verlander earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 12.7 for the season, most among the 11 who earned Player of the Game honors Thursday. He ranks 21st among all players and sixth among AL pitchers.
Verlander also now has 137.3 career Box-Toppers points, 29th-most among players since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He trails 28th-ranked player Andy Pettitte (138.5) on the “all-time” list.
National League Batter of the Day—Yasmani Grandal of the Dodgers hit two home runs, including a grand slam, in the 7-4 win over the Rockies. Grandal also doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in five runs.
American League Batter of the Day—Carlos Santana of the Indians hit a three-run homer and doubled, going 2-for-3 and driving in four runs, in the 5-2 win over the Royals.
Notable—Angels pitcher Ricky Nolasco became the 48th player with 10 Box-Toppers points this season after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Nolasco (7IP 5H 0R BB 5K W in the 2-0 win over the Astros) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.4 for the season. He ranks 44th among all players and 17th among AL pitchers.
This is Nolasco’s fourth season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points and his first since 2010. In both 2008 and 2009, he had 16.7 points each season with the Marlins. In 2010, he had 11.7 points, also with the Marlins.
Scoring—Samardzija earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Verlander earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Grandal and Santana 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
| 9/22 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | SF 2, SD 1 | Jeff Samardzija (W,12-10) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | |
| BAT | 7.0 | LAD 7, COL 4 | Yasmani Grandal, C | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| AL | 7.0 | DET 4, MIN 2 | Justin Verlander (W,15-8) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 11 | |
| 6.0 | LAA 2, HOU 0 | Ricky Nolasco (W,7-14) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 4.2 | MIL 3, PIT 1 | Chase Anderson (W,9-11) | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | CLE 5, KC 2 | Carlos Santana, 1B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | DET 9, MIN 2 | Victor Martinez, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | ATL 6, MIA 3 | Matt Kemp, LF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | TB 2, NYY 0 | Blake Snell (W,6-8) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | BOS 5, BAL 3 | Craig Kimbrel (S,29) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | NYM 9, PHI 8 (11) | Jose Reyes, 3B | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | det al | 12.7 | 19.1 | 82.3 | 137.3 | 6.3 |
| Samardzija, Jeff 2495 | pi sp | sf nl | 10.7 | 20.1 | 48.8 | 49.8 | 1.3 |
| Nolasco, Ricky 2125 | pi sp | ana al | 10.4 | 12.4 | 33.1 | 86.2 | 8.4 |
| Martinez, Victor 1695 | dh | det al | 8.5 | 12.0 | 31.9 | 72.1 | 5.0 |
| Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | bos al | 8.0 | 14.0 | 57.7 | 58.7 | 2.0 |
| Kemp, Matt 2151 | rf lf | atl nl | 7.5 | 13.0 | 37.5 | 59.1 | 2.0 |
| Grandal, Yasmani 3058 | ca | lad nl | 7.2 | 9.2 | 17.2 | 17.2 | 5.2 |
| Anderson, Chase 3328 | pi sp | mil nl | 7.0 | 11.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 3.0 |
| Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | tb al | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Santana, Carlos 2757 | dh 1b | cle al | 2.5 | 7.0 | 21.7 | 22.7 | -2.0 |
| Reyes, Jose 1759 | 3b ss | nym nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 14.0 | 30.0 | 2.0 |