Orioles pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez 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. 29:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 25.7 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 24.4 |
| 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | died* | 22.4 |
| 4 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 22.1 |
| 5 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 21.2 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 17.8 |
| 7 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 8 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 16.4 |
| 9 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 15.7 |
| 10 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 15.1 |
* Jose Fernandez died in a boating accident Sept. 25. His team was the Miami Marlins.
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—Jimenez pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit, three walks and striking out five, in the 4-0 win over the Blue Jays.
National League Player of the Day—Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias pitched three scoreless innings, allowing one hit, two walks and striking out five, in the 9-4 win over the Padres. Urias did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because he exited the game in a scoreless tie and did not pitch the requisite five innings to earn the win.
American League Batter of the Day—Byron Buxton of the Twins tripled, doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 7-6 win over the Royals.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because no NL batter earned Player of the Game honors.
Rankings—Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto rises to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Cueto (7IP 9H 2R BB 11K W in the 7-2 win over the Rockies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 16.4 for the season. He ranks fifth among NL pitchers.
Notable—Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia extends his career Box-Toppers points lead among active players after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Sabathia (7.1IP 4H R 2BB 8K W in the 5-1 win over the Red Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 185.0 career points, most among active players, just ahead of Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (183.7). Sabathia ranks fifth among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails fourth-ranked player Alex Rodriguez (187.0). (See the updated top 20 list of player career points rankings on the homepage.) Sabathia has 6.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, now his best season since 2012 with the Yankees when he had 15.1 points.
Also notable—Pirates pitcher Ivan Nova earned Player of the Game honors Thursday in Major League Baseball’s first tie game in more than a decade.
Nova (5.1IP 4H R 0BB 5K ND in the 1-1, six-inning tie versus the Cubs) earned Player of the Game because he had the highest Box-Toppers game score (+4.1) of any player on either team. The highest-ranked Cubs player was starting pitcher Rob Zastryzny (3.2IP 2H R 2BB 4K ND, Box-Toppers game score +2.2).
Rain forced the game’s delay and it was eventually suspended and declared a tie—with player statistics counting—since the outcome would not affect either team in the standings. It is the first tie since June 30, 2005, when the Astros and Reds tied, 2-2. Player of the Game that day was shortstop Felipe Lopez of the Reds.
Weekly reports—Friday’s usual Box-Toppers team rankings and player rankings reports will be delayed until Monday, after the final games of the season are played.
Scoring—Jimenez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Urias earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Buxton earns 1.5 points for being AL 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
| 9/29 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 7.2 | BAL 4, TOR 0 | Ubaldo Jimenez (W,8-12) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | |
| 7.1 | NYY 5, BOS 1 | CC Sabathia (W,9-12) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 5.1 | `SEA 3, OAK 2 | Ariel Miranda | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| NL | 5.0 | `LAD 9, SD 4 | Julio Urias | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | |
| 4.1 | `PIT 1, CHC 1 (6)* | Ivan Nova (Pirates) | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | SF 7, COL 2 | Johnny Cueto (W,18-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | MIN 7, KC 6 | Byron Buxton, CF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | `ATL 5, PHI 2 | Josh Collmenter | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 2.0 | `WSH 5, ARI 3 | Joe Ross | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 2.0 | TB 5, CHW 3 | Alex Colome (S,36) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | `STL 4, CIN 3 | Alex Reyes | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||
| * Game ends in official tie with statistics counting toward players' totals. | ||||||||||||||
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 | 16.4 | 29.2 | 80.4 | 99.8 | 3.6 |
| Colome, Alex 3189 | pi cp | tb al | 9.0 | 14.0 | 17.7 | 17.7 | 4.0 |
| Nova, Ivan 2796 | pi sp | pit nl | 8.0 | 9.0 | 30.1 | 31.1 | 7.0 |
| Sabathia, C.C. 1492 | pi sp | nyy al | 6.0 | 11.7 | 46.5 | 185.0 | 0.3 |
| Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 |
| Jimenez, Ubaldo 2349 | pi sp | bal al | 4.7 | 13.4 | 41.6 | 79.5 | -4.0 |
| Buxton, Byron 3604 | cf | min al | 4.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 3.7 |
| Reyes, Alex 3706 | pi sp mr | stl nl | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| Ross, Robbie Jr. 2999 | pi cp mr sp | bos al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 12.7 | 12.7 | 3.0 |
| Miranda, Ariel 3738 | pi sp | sea al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Collmenter, Josh 2863 | pi sp | atl nl | 1.0 | 4.0 | 34.0 | 34.0 | -2.0 |