Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to sixth in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of Aug. 24:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 22.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 21.1 |
| 4 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 15.4 |
| 5 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 15.1 |
| 6 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.4 |
| 7 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 14.4 |
| 8 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 14.0 |
| 9 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.0 |
| 10 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 13.7 |
Also Thursday, Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale had the chance to become the season leader in Box-Toppers points but was shellacked by the Indians, giving up seven runs over three innings and picking up the loss. Sale did not earn Player of the Game honors and remains in third place in Box-Toppers rankings.
Player of the Day—Strasburg struck out seven over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 5-4, 11-inning win over the Astros. Strasburg did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because after he exited, the Astros tied the game.
Strasburg earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 14.4 for the season, rising into the top 10 in sixth place. With his rise into the top 10, he pushes Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco (13.4 Box-Toppers points) out of the top 10 to 11th place. Strasburg rises to fourth among National League pitchers.
It is Strasburg’s first Player of the Game honor in more than a month. He last earned Player of the Game on July 17, when he was Player of the Day. Strasburg went on the disabled list after his July 23 start and Thursday was his second start—and first Nationals win—since returning from injury.
American League Player of the Day—Yandy Diaz of the Indians tripled, doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring four times and driving in two runs, in the 13-6 win over the Red Sox.
This was Diaz’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Diaz made his Major League debut April 3 and was playing in his 21st career game. He is the 3,896th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Batter of the Day—Christian Yelich of the Marlins homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in one run, in the 9-8 win over the Phillies.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Yandy Diaz.
Sale—Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale, ranked third in Box-Toppers points with 21.1, had the chance to pass Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw for the overall Box-Toppers points lead, but fared poorly in his start against the Indians.
Sale (3IP 7H 7R 6ER 3BB 3K L in the 13-6 loss to the Indians) had a Box-Toppers game score of -17.0. Player of the Game honors went to Yandy Diaz of the Indians (3B 2B 4-4 4R 2BI), who had a Box-Toppers game score of +6.0. Diaz was also AL Player of the Day.
Sale trails Kershaw (22.1) by 1.0 Box-Toppers point and if Sale had earned AL Player of the Day or overall Player of the Day Thursday, would have passed him. Sale also trails second-place player, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (22.0) by 0.9 points.
This was Sale’s second chance to pass Kershaw. He reached 21.1 points after earning Player of the Day honors Aug. 13. But in his two starts since, the Red Sox have lost both games, on Aug. 19 and Thursday. Kershaw has been frozen at 22.1 points since going on the disabled list July 24.
Chris Sale had his second chance to pass Clayton Kershaw in season Box-Toppers points in his start Thursday, but did not earn Player of the Game honors or Box-Toppers points in the loss to the Indians.
Scoring—Strasburg earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Diaz earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Yelich earns 1.5 points for being NL 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| 8/24 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | `WSH 5, HOU 4 (F/11) | Stephen Strasburg | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| 8.0 | ARI 3, NYM 2 | Robbie Ray (W, 10-5) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | ||
| AL | 6.0 | CLE 13, BOS 6 | Yandy Díaz DH | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.1 | `TB 2, TOR 0 | Alex Cobb | - | - | - | - | 4.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | DET 10, NYY 6 | Jose Iglesias SS | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | MIA 9, PHI 8 | Christian Yelich CF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | TEX 3, LAA 0 | Martin Pérez (W, 9-10) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | CIN 4, CHC 2 | Michael Lorenzen (W, 8-2) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | COL 3, KC 2 | Adam Ottavino (W, 2-3) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.1 | `LAD 5, PIT 2 | Pedro Báez (H, 22) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | CHW 5, MIN 1 | Derek Holland (W, 7-13) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 2.0 | SD 4, STL 3 | Kirby Yates (W, 3-4) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 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 | +/- |
| Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.4 | 29.5 | 88.6 | 97.3 | -0.7 |
| Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 11.0 | 17.7 | 21.7 | 21.7 | 4.3 |
| Iglesias, Jose 3532 | ss | det al | 8.0 | 8.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 8.0 |
| Cobb, Alex 2916 | pi sp | tb al | 7.4 | 7.4 | 37.8 | 38.8 | 7.4 |
| Yelich, Christian 3334 | cf | fla nl | 5.0 | 10.5 | 20.5 | 20.5 | -0.5 |
| Holland, Derek 2634 | pi sp | chi al | 5.0 | 9.0 | 31.1 | 50.8 | 1.0 |
| Lorenzen, Michael 3479 | pi cp mr | cin nl | 4.0 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 3.0 |
| Perez, Martin 3213 | pi sp | tex al | 3.0 | 5.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 1.0 |
| Yates, Kirby 3628 | pi mr | sd nl | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 |
| Diaz, Yandy 3896 | dh | cle al | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Ottavino, Adam 3054 | pi mr cp | col nl | 1.0 | 4.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | -2.0 |
| Baez, Pedro 3678 | pi mr | lad nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |