Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander 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 2017 season as of Aug. 9:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 21.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 19.1 |
| 4 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 14.4 |
| 5 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 13.7 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 13.4 |
| 7 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 13.0 |
| 8 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 9 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.4 |
| 10 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 12.4 |
Verlander is one of three with more than 100 career Box-Toppers points to earn Player of the Game honors Wednesday. Twins pitcher Bartolo Colon rises to 19th place in career points since 1995 (with 152.2) after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Verlander allowed one hit over eight scoreless innings, allowing three walks and striking out six, in the 10-0 win over the Pirates.
Verlander earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points, giving him 145.0 for his career and ranks 28th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 27th-ranked player David Ortiz (145.9). Verlander has 5.7 Box-Toppers points on the season, 25th among AL pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals homered twice, doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring four times and driving in five runs, in the 10-1 win over the Marlins.
Zimmerman earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 6.2 for the season, most among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday. Zimmerman ranks 64th among all players in 2017 points and 14th among NL batters.
American League Batter of the Day—Todd Frazier of the Yankees homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring four times and driving in three runs, in the 11-5 win over the Blue Jays. It is Frazier’s first Player of the Game honor of 2017.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Wednesday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Ryan Zimmerman.
All-time leaders
Here are Box-Toppers top 20 players since record keeping began in 1995:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | retired | 278.8 |
| 2 | Pedro Martinez | pi sp | retired | 244.8 |
| 3 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | lad nl | 205.8 |
| 4 | Curt Schilling | pi sp | retired | 194.1 |
| 5 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 191.0 |
| 6 | Alex Rodriguez | dh | released | 187.0 |
| 7 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 186.8 |
| 8 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 171.4 |
| 9 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 10 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 169.5 |
| 11 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 12 | Johan Santana | pi sp | free agent | 166.6 |
| 13 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | retired | 164.8 |
| 14 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 15 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 16 | Mike Mussina | pi sp | retired | 155.6 |
| 17 | Barry Bonds | lf | retired | 153.2 |
| 18 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | dc nl | 152.7 |
| 19 | Bartolo Colon | pi sp | min al | 152.2 |
| 20 | Jon Lester | pi sp | chi nl | 151.9 |
List of top 100 players since 1995 as of July 30, 2017.
Colon—Twins pitcher Bartolo Colon rises to 19th place in career Box-Toppers points since 1995 (when Box-Toppers tracking began) after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Colon (7IP 5H 0R BB 5K W in the 4-0 win over the Brewers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 152.2 career points, rising back into the top 20 into 19th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began.
Colon passes two players on the “all-time” list—Greg Maddux (151.7) and Cubs pitcher Jon Lester (151.9). (It should be noted that Maddux made his debut in 1986 and had seven 15-plus win seasons before Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995 and so, based on very rough extrapolations, would likely have about 250 career Box-Toppers points if his entire career were tracked.) Maddux now falls off the “all-time” top 20 list to 21st place. Colon now trails 18th-ranked player, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (152.7).
Colon now has 3.7 Box-Toppers points on the season. This was Colon’s first Box-Toppers point and first Player of the Game honor since being signed this year by the Twins; earlier this year he earned 2.7 points with the Atlanta Braves before being released. Since making his Box-Toppers debut in 1998, Colon has earned Box-Toppers points with 10 teams, including the Cleveland Indians, Montreal Expos, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angels, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, New York Mets, the Braves and the Twins.
Bumgarner—In addition to Verlander and Colon, Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner was the third player with more than 100 career Box-Toppers points to earn Player of the Game honors Wednesday, his first of the season.
Bumgarner (7IP 5H R BB 7K W in the 3-1 win over the Cubs) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 106.7 career points, rising to 62nd place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. Bumgarner passes two players on the “all-time” list—Aramis Ramirez (105.8) and Frank Thomas (106.2). He trails 61st-ranked player Carlos Beltran of the Astros (107.6).
This was Bumgarner’s first Box-Toppers point of the season after he was injured in a dirt biking accident. Bumgarner was one of four active players among career top 100 players to have yet to earn a Box-Toppers point in 2017. Despite his absence this year, Bumgarner still ranks fifth among all players in Box-Toppers points from 2012 to 2017 with 87.0 during that span.
Top 10 watch—Two players in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings pitched Wednesday, facing off against each other, but neither earned Player of the Game honors.
Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke (13.4 Box-Toppers points, ranked sixth) faced Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood (13.0 points, ranked eighth) in the game Wednesday in Arizona. The Dodgers won 3-2 and Player of the Game was Dodgers closing pitcher Kenley Jansen (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv) with a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0.
Wood picked up the win but had a Box-Toppers game score of -1.0 (6IP 6H 2R BB 4K W) and so lost to Jansen for Player of the Game honors. Greinke had a higher Box-Toppers game score than Wood (+0.2) but picked up the loss (6.2IP 4H 3R 4BB 8K L).
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debuts Wednesday with their first career Player of the Game honors:
- Angels pitcher Troy Scribner (5IP 2H R 0BB 4K W in the 5-1 win over the Orioles) made his Major League debut July 29 and was playing in his fourth career game. He is the 3,875th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Mariners pitcher Emilio Pagan (2.2IP H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 6-3 win over the Athletics) made his Major League debut May 3 and was playing in his 13th career game. He is the 3,876th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Verlander earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Zimmerman earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Frazier earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter 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| 8/9 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.0 | DET 10, PIT 0 | Justin Verlander (W, 8-7) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | |
| NL | 9.0 | WSH 10, MIA 1 | Ryan Zimmerman 1B | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 8.0 | TEX 5, NYM 1 | Martin Pérez (W, 6-10) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | NYY 11, TOR 5 | Todd Frazier 3B | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | SF 3, CHC 1 | Madison Bumgarner (W, 2-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 6.0 | MIN 4, MIL 0 | Bartolo Colón (W, 2-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 5.0 | LAA 5, BAL 1 | Troy Scribner (W, 2-0) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | CHW 7, HOU 1 | Miguel González (W, 6-10) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 3.2 | SEA 6, OAK 3 | Emilio Pagan (W, 1-2) | - | - | - | - | 2.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | BOS 8, TB 2 | Rick Porcello (W, 6-14) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 3.0 | LAD 3, ARI 2 | Kenley Jansen (S, 29) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.1 | `COL 3, CLE 2 (F/12) | Chris Rusin | - | - | - | - | 2.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | STL 8, KC 5 | Yadier Molina C | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | CIN 8, SD 3 | Jose Peraza SS | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | PHI 3, ATL 2 | Hector Neris (S, 13) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` 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 (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Zimmerman, Ryan 2180 | 1b | dc nl | 6.2 | 7.7 | 27.4 | 62.5 | 4.7 |
| Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | det al | 5.7 | 20.4 | 65.6 | 145.0 | -9.0 |
| Molina, Yadier 1967 | ca | stl nl | 5.5 | 9.5 | 19.0 | 40.2 | 1.5 |
| Gonzalez, Miguel 3062 | pi sp | chi al | 5.0 | 14.1 | 42.9 | 42.9 | -4.1 |
| Jansen, Kenley 2871 | pi cp | lad nl | 5.0 | 11.0 | 36.7 | 41.4 | -1.0 |
| Neris, Hector 3553 | pi cp | phi nl | 5.0 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 3.0 |
| Colon, Bartolo | pi sp | min al | 3.7 | 12.1 | 53.0 | 152.2 | -4.7 |
| Rusin, Chris 3236 | pi sp mr | col nl | 3.0 | 5.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 0.3 |
| Porcello, Rick 2573 | pi sp | bos al | 2.0 | 10.0 | 32.7 | 44.7 | -6.0 |
| Perez, Martin 3213 | pi sp | tex al | 2.0 | 4.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 0.0 |
| Frazier, Todd 2929 | 3b | nyy al | 1.5 | 7.7 | 29.6 | 30.6 | -4.7 |
| Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 1.0 | 14.0 | 87.0 | 106.7 | -12.0 |
| Peraza, Jose 3691 | ss | cin nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| Pagan, Emilio 3876 | pi mr | sea al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Scribner, Troy 3875 | pi sp | ana al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |