Pirates pitcher Steven Brault is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Monday, Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of Sept. 11:| 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 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 19.8 |
| 6 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 19.1 |
| 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 |
Player of the Day—Brault pitched six scoreless innings, allowing one hit, one walk and striking out six, in the 7-0 win over the Brewers.
This was Brault’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Brault made his Major League debut July 5, 2016, and was playing in his 16th career game. He is the 3,911th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco struck out nine over six scoreless innings, allowing seven hits and one walk, in the 11-0 win over the Tigers.
Carrasco earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 19.8 for the season, rising from sixth to fifth place in season player rankings. He rises to second place among AL pitchers, behind Chris Sale of the Red Sox (23.1).
American League Batter of the Day—Adam Engel of the White Sox hit a three-run homer and went 3-for-4, scoring twice, in the 11-3 win over the Royals.
This was Engel’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Engel made his Major League debut May 27 and was playing in his 78th career game. He is the 3,912th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Batter of the Day—Denard Span of the Giants homered and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 8-6 win over the Dodgers.
Top 10 watch—Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke (18.1 Box-Toppers points, ranked seventh) did not earn Player of the Game honors Monday in the 5-4 loss to the Rockies.
Greinke (7IP 5H 2R 0BB 6K ND) had a Box-Toppers game score Monday of +4.0. Player of the Game was Rockies middle relief pitcher Tyler Anderson (4IP H 0R 0BB 4K W) with a Box-Toppers game score of +7.0.
Team rankings—The Cleveland Indians, on a 19-game winning streak, became the second team in two days to pass the once-dominant Los Angeles Dodgers in Box-Toppers team rankings.
Through Monday’s games, Indians players have accumulated 123.7 Box-Toppers points on the season to rise to second place in team rankings, behind the Washington Nationals (124.9). The Nationals rose past the Dodgers to first place on Sunday.
The Dodgers lost their 11th straight game Monday and have lost 16 of their last 17 games. They fall to third place in team rankings with 123.2 Box-Toppers points. On Aug. 24, less than three weeks ago, the Dodgers had a seemingly insurmountable lead in Box-Toppers team rankings, 11.9 points ahead of the Nationals and 21.8 points ahead of the Indians. Here were the top three teams as of Aug. 24:
- Dodgers 121.2 Box-Toppers points
- Nationals 109.3
- Indians 99.4
Since then, the Dodgers have gained only 2.0 Box-Toppers points, while the Nationals have gained 15.6 and the Indians have gained 24.3.
Scoring—Brault earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Carrasco earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Engel and Span each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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| 9/11 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.0 | PIT 7, MIL 0 | Steven Brault (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| AL | 7.0 | CLE 11, DET 0 | Carlos Carrasco (W, 15-6) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |
| 7.0 | COL 5, ARI 4 | Tyler Anderson (W, 4-5) | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 5.2 | NYY 5, TB 1 | David Robertson (W, 8-2) | - | - | - | - | 2.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | CHW 11, KC 3 | Adam Engel CF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 4.0 | SF 8, LAD 6 | Denard Span CF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | TOR 4, BAL 3 | Marco Estrada (W, 8-8) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 2.0 | TEX 5, SEA 3 | Alex Claudio (S, 8) | - | - | - | - | 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 | +/- |
| Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 19.8 | 32.2 | 60.9 | 66.3 | 7.4 |
| Estrada, Marco 2847 | pi sp | tor al | 6.0 | 17.0 | 46.1 | 49.1 | -5.0 |
| Robertson, David 2774 | pi cp | nyy al | 6.0 | 11.0 | 28.0 | 32.0 | 1.0 |
| Span, Denard 2502 | cf | sf nl | 3.0 | 6.0 | 12.7 | 28.7 | 0.0 |
| Anderson, Tyler 3656 | pi sp mr | col nl | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 |
| Brault, Steven 3911 | pi sp | pit nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Engel, Adam 3912 | cf | chi al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Claudio, Alex 3459 | pi cp | tex al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 |