Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fourth place in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of Sept. 10:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 23.1 |
| 2 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 23.1 |
| 3 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 23.0 |
| 4 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 19.8 |
| 5 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 19.1 |
| 6 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 18.1 |
| 7 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 18.1 |
| 8 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 18.0 |
| 9 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 15.0 |
| 10 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 14.7 |
Also Sunday, Diamondbacks pitcher Robbie Ray rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Strasburg struck out 10 over eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 3-2 win over the Phillies.
Strasburg earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 19.8 for the season, rising from eighth to fourth place in season player rankings. He ranks third among National League pitchers, behind Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (23.1) and teammate Max Scherzer (23.0).
Strasburg also now has 102.7 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 69th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Sunday, he passes seven players on the “all-time” list—Matt Holliday of the Yankees (100.8), Jason Schmidt (101.2), Mark Teixeira (101.3), Tim Wakefield (101.4), Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto (101.8), Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2) and Miguel Tejada (102.3). Strasburg now trails 68th-ranked player Jamie Moyer (104.0).
Team rankings—With Strasburg’s 2.0 Box-Toppers points earned Sunday, the Washington Nationals have passed the Los Angeles Dodgers to take the lead in Box-Toppers team rankings.
Nationals players now have 124.9 cumulative Box-Toppers points on the season, moving ahead of the slumping Dodgers with 123.2. The Dodgers have lost 10 straight games but still have baseball’s best winning percentage (.643). The Nationals have baseball’s second-best winning percentage (.615).
The Dodgers have led Box-Toppers weekly team rankings reports since June 22, holding the lead 11 straight weeks.
The Cleveland Indians, winners of 18 straight games as of Sunday, rank third among teams with 122.0 Box-Toppers points.
American League Player of the Day—Teoscar Hernandez of the Blue Jays homered twice and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five runs, in the 8-2 win over the Tigers.
National League Batter of the Day—Tucker Barnhart of the Reds homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, driving in five runs, in the 10-5 win over the Mets.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Sunday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Teoscar Hernandez.
Rankings—Diamondbacks pitcher Robbie Ray rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Ray (6IP 4H 2R 2BB 12K W in the 3-2 win over the Padres) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 15.0 for the season, rising from 11th place and moving into the overall top 10. He ranks fifth among NL pitchers.
With Ray’s rise into the top 10, he displaces Twins pitcher Ervin Santana from the list, as he drops to 11th place with 14.4 Box-Toppers points. Santana had been on Box-Toppers top 10 list continuously since April 9 (when he rose to second place with 2.7 points). Santana even led Box-Toppers season player rankings twice:
- On April 15, he rose to first with 4.7 points, holding the lead through April 18.
- On May 12, he rose to first with 7.7 points, holding the lead one day.
Top 10 watch—Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom (14.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked 10th) did not earn Player of the Game honors in his team’s 10-5 loss Sunday to the Reds.
deGrom (6IP 3H 2R 3BB 10K ND) had a Box-Toppers game score of +6.0. Player of the Game was Tucker Barnhart of the Reds (HR 2B 3-4 R 5BI) with a Box-Toppers game score of +5.0. Barnhart was also NL Batter of the Day. While Barnhart’s Box-Toppers game score of +5.0 is lower than deGrom’s +6.0, Barnhart earned Player of the Game honors because he had the highest game score among the Reds, the winning team.
Notable—Two players earned Player of the Game honors Sunday for the second straight day:
- Boog Powell of the Athletics (HR 1-1 2 R 2BI in the 10-2 win over the Astros) was also Player of the Game Saturday in the 11-1 win over the Astros. Saturday was Powell’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Powell has 2.0 Box-Toppers points on the season.
- Indians closing pitcher Cody Allen (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv in the 3-2 win over the Orioles) was also Player of the Game Saturday in the 4-2 win over the Orioles. Allen has 5.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, sixth among AL closing pitchers.
Debut—White Sox pitcher Carson Fulmer made his Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Fulmer (6IP 3H R 3BB 9K W in the 8-1 win over the Giants) made his Major League debut July 17, 2016, and was playing in his 12th career game. He is the 3,910th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Strasburg earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Hernandez earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Barnhart earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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| 9/10 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 15.0 | WSH 3, PHI 2 | Stephen Strasburg (W, 13-4) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | |
| 10.0 | STL 7, PIT 0 | Michael Wacha (W, 12-7) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 8.0 | ARI 3, SD 2 | Robbie Ray (W, 13-5) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12 | ||
| AL | 7.0 | TOR 8, DET 2 | Teoscar Hernández LF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 7.0 | CHW 8, SF 1 | Carson Fulmer (W, 2-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | CIN 10, NYM 5 | Tucker Barnhart C | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | NYY 16, TEX 7 | Gary Sánchez DH | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | KC 11, MIN 3 | Brandon Moss DH | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | OAK 10, HOU 2 | Boog Powell PR-CF | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | TB 4, BOS 1 | Wilson Ramos C | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | ATL 10, MIA 8 (F/11) | Lane Adams PR-LF | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | MIL 3, CHC 1 | Zach Davies (W, 17-8) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | COL 8, LAD 1 | Tyler Chatwood (W, 7-12) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | CLE 3, BAL 2 | Cody Allen (S, 26) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | LAA 5, SEA 3 | Cam Bedrosian (W, 6-4) | - | - | - | - | 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 | 19.8 | 34.9 | 94.0 | 102.7 | 4.7 |
| Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 15.0 | 21.7 | 25.7 | 25.7 | 8.3 |
| Chatwood, Tyler 2856 | pi sp | col nl | 7.4 | 14.4 | 21.1 | 24.1 | 0.4 |
| Wacha, Michael 3276 | pi sp | stl nl | 7.0 | 9.0 | 26.7 | 26.7 | 5.0 |
| Davies, Zach 3581 | pi sp | mil nl | 6.7 | 12.7 | 15.7 | 15.7 | 0.7 |
| Moss, Brandon 2520 | dh | kc al | 6.0 | 10.0 | 31.0 | 33.0 | 2.0 |
| Allen, Cody 3265 | pi cp | cle al | 5.0 | 12.0 | 21.0 | 21.0 | -2.0 |
| Bedrosian, Cam 3694 | pi cp | ana al | 4.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 1.0 |
| Sanchez, Gary 3701 | ca dh | nyy al | 3.5 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | -1.0 |
| Adams, Lane 3850 | lf ph pr | atl nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Ramos, Wilson 2904 | ca | tb al | 2.0 | 3.5 | 15.0 | 18.0 | 0.5 |
| Powell, Boog 3908 | cf pr | oak al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Hernandez, Teoscar 3713 | cf | tor al | 1.7 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 0.2 |
| Barnhart, Tucker 3519 | ca | cin nl | 1.5 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | -0.5 |
| Fulmer, Carson 3910 | pi sp | chi al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |