Indians pitcher Mike Clevinger is Saturday’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. 12:| 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 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 13.4 |
| 7 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 13.4 |
| 8 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 13.0 |
| 9 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 10 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 12.7 |
Also Saturday, Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers rises to lead National League batters in 2017 Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Clevinger struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 3-0 win over the Rays.
National League Player of the Day—Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola struck out eight over seven innings, allowing one run, two hits and two walks, in the 3-1 win over the Mets.
Nola earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 11.8 for the season, most of any of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday. Nola ranks 13th among players in Box-Toppers season player rankings, seventh among NL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day—James McCann of the Tigers hit a grand slam and doubled, going 2-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five runs, in the 12-11 win over the Twins.
National League Batter of the Day—Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 4-3 win over the Rockies.
Rankings—Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers retakes the 2017 Box-Toppers points lead among NL batters after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Bellinger (HR 3-3 R BI in the 6-3 win over the Padres) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.7 for the season, passing previous NL batting leader, Buster Posey of the Giants (8.5). Bellinger ranks 29th among all players.
Notable—Adrian Beltre of the Rangers now has 114.8 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Beltre (2B 3-4 3BI in the 8-3 win over the Astros) ranks 49th among all players in career Box-Toppers points since 1995, when player tracking began. He trails 48th-ranked player Josh Beckett (114.9). Beltre ranks 15th among all batters since 1995 and third among active batters, behind Albert Pujols (186.8) and Miguel Cabrera (146.9). Beltre has 3.5 Box-Toppers points this season.
Also notable—Randal Grichuk of the Cardinals earned Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Saturday.
Grichuk (HR 2B 2-4 2R BI in the 6-5 win over the Braves) was also Player of the Game Friday in the 8-5 win over the Braves.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday after earning their first career Player of the Game honors:
- Brewers pitcher Josh Hader (3IP H 0R 2BB 5K ND in the 6-5, 10-inning win over the Reds) made his Major League debut June 10 and was playing in his 18th career game. He is the 3,881st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Mike Ohlman of the Blue Jays (1-1 R in the 7-2 win over the Pirates) made his Major League debut May 9 and was playing in his sixth career game. He is the 3,882nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Clevinger earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Nola earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. McCann and Stanton each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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| 8/12 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.0 | CLE 3, TB 0 | Mike Clevinger (W, 6-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |
| NL | 9.0 | PHI 3, NYM 1 | Aaron Nola (W, 9-7) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| 8.2 | ARI 6, CHC 2 | Patrick Corbin (W, 9-11) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | DET 12, MIN 11 | James McCann C | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | BAL 12, OAK 5 | Tim Beckham SS | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | BOS 10, NYY 5 | Andrew Benintendi LF | 5 | 2 | 2 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | `MIL 6, CIN 5 (F/10) | Josh Hader | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | MIA 4, COL 3 | Giancarlo Stanton RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | WSH 3, SF 1 | Sean Doolittle (S, 8) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | TEX 8, HOU 3 | Adrian Beltré 3B | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | LAD 6, SD 3 | Cody Bellinger 1B | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | `LAA 6, SEA 3 | Blake Parker (H, 12) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | STL 6, ATL 5 | Randal Grichuk RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | TOR 7, PIT 2 | Mike Ohlman C | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.0 | KC 5, CHW 4 | Eric Hosmer 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 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 | +/- |
| Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 11.8 | 18.5 | 20.5 | 20.5 | 5.1 |
| Bellinger, Cody 3781 | 1b rf lf | lad nl | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 |
| Grichuk, Randal 3474 | rf | stl nl | 7.0 | 8.0 | 17.5 | 17.5 | 6.0 |
| Benintendi, Andrew 3815 | lf | bos al | 6.2 | 6.2 | 6.2 | 6.2 | 6.2 |
| Hosmer, Eric 2886 | 1b | kc al | 6.0 | 14.5 | 34.5 | 37.0 | -2.5 |
| Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 | rf | fla nl | 6.0 | 12.5 | 36.7 | 45.2 | -0.5 |
| Clevinger, Mike 3707 | pi sp | cle al | 5.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 2.7 |
| Beltre, Adrian 1141 | 3b | tex al | 3.5 | 13.0 | 46.9 | 114.8 | -6.0 |
| Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | ari nl | 3.0 | 6.7 | 35.5 | 35.5 | -0.7 |
| Doolittle, Sean 3052 | pi cp | dc nl | 3.0 | 4.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 2.0 |
| Beckham, Tim 3452 | 2b ss | bal al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.0 |
| Parker, Blake 3823 | pi mr | ana al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| McCann, James 3649 | ca | det al | 1.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | -1.0 |
| Hader, Josh 3881 | pi mr | mil nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Ohlman, Mike 3882 | ca | tor al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |