Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Cubs pitcher Jon Lester rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Sept. 2:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 22.7 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 18.4 |
| 4 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 18.2 |
| 5 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 17.1 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 16.8 |
| 7 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 8 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.1 |
| 9 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 14.0 |
| 10 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 13.7 |
Player of the Day—Carrasco pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out 11 and allowing six hits and one walk, in the 6-2 win over the Marlins.
Carrasco earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 12.4 for the season. He ranks 14th among all players and fifth among AL pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Cubs pitcher Jon Lester pitched a complete game, allowing one run, three hits, two walks and striking out four, in the 2-1 win over the Giants.
Lester earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 17.1 for the season, rising from sixth to fifth in Box-Toppers season player rankings. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.
Lester also now has 138.2 career Box-Toppers points, 28th-most since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He trails 27th-ranked player Andy Pettitte (138.5).
American League Batter of the Day—Travis Shaw of the Red Sox hit a three-run homer and two doubles in the 16-2 win over the Athletics. Shaw went 3-for-6, scoring twice and driving in five runs.
National League Batter of the Day—Matt Kemp of the Braves hit a three-run homer and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 8-4 win over the Phillies.
Notable—Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers now has 11.0 Box-Toppers points on the season after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Cabrera (HR 3-5 2R 4BI in the 7-6 win over the Royals) now ranks 25th in Box-Toppers season player rankings, third among AL batters, behind Jose Altuve of the Astros (12.5) and Manny Machado of the Orioles (11.7).
Cabrera also rises to 23rd place in career Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He now has 143.9 career points, passing Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels (143.0) on the “all-time” list and now trails 22nd-ranked player Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon (145.8). Cabrera rises to seventh place among active players in career Box-Toppers points.
Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Friday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Nationals pitcher A.J. Cole (6IP 3H R 2BB 5K in the 4-1 win over the Mets) made his Major League debut April 28, 2015, and was playing in his sixth career game. He is the 3,727th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Brewers pitcher Jhan Marinez (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K ND in the 1-0 win over the Pirates) made his Major League debut July 16, 2010, and was playing in his 40th career game. He is the 3,728th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Carrasco earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lester earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Shaw and Kemp each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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
| 9/2 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.1 | CLE 6, MIA 2 | Carlos Carrasco (W,10-7) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | |
| NL | 6.0 | CHC 2, SF 1 | Jon Lester (W,15-4) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
| 4.2 | BAL 8, NYY 0 | Dylan Bundy (W,8-5) | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 4.2 | SD 4, LAD 2 | Brad Hand (W,4-3) | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | BOS 16, OAK 2 | Travis Shaw, 3B-1B | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | CHW 11, MIN 4 | Adam Eaton, CF | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | ATL 8, PHI 4 | Matt Kemp, LF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | DET 7, KC 6 | Miguel Cabrera, 1B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | COL 14, ARI 7 | Nick Hundley, C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | WSH 4, NYM 1 | A.J. Cole (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | TB 8, TOR 3 | Logan Morrison, DH | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | SEA 11, LAA 8 | Dae-Ho Lee, 1B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | TEX 10, HOU 8 | Elvis Andrus, SS | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | `MIL 1, PIT 0 | Jhan Marinez (H,2) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | CIN 3, STL 2 | Zack Cozart, SS | 2 | 2 | 1 | 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 | +/- |
| Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 17.1 | 29.1 | 75.3 | 138.2 | 5.1 |
| Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 12.4 | 30.4 | 46.5 | 46.5 | -5.6 |
| Cabrera, Miguel 1776 | 1b | det al | 11.0 | 15.7 | 64.3 | 143.9 | 6.3 |
| Lee, Dae-Ho 3627 | 1b | sea al | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 |
| Shaw, Travis 3544 | 1b 3b | bos al | 7.0 | 11.2 | 11.2 | 11.2 | 2.8 |
| Andrus, Elvis 2582 | ss | tex al | 6.7 | 6.7 | 14.2 | 17.2 | 6.7 |
| Kemp, Matt 2151 | rf lf | atl nl | 5.5 | 11.0 | 35.5 | 57.1 | 0.0 |
| Bundy, Dylan 3655 | pi sp | bal al | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Eaton, Adam 3253 | rf cf | chi al | 4.0 | 9.5 | 12.0 | 12.0 | -1.5 |
| Hand, Brad 2907 | pi mr | sd nl | 4.0 | 5.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 3.0 |
| Morrison, Logan 2794 | 1b dh | tb al | 2.0 | 6.0 | 16.0 | 17.5 | -2.0 |
| Cozart, Zack 3012 | ss | cin nl | 2.0 | 5.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | -1.0 |
| Hundley, Nick 2497 | ca | col nl | 1.0 | 4.5 | 17.0 | 22.5 | -2.5 |
| Cole, A.J. 3727 | pi sp | dc nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Marinez, Jhan 3728 | pi mr | mil nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |