Astros pitcher Justin Verlander is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, becoming the 27th player this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points and the 23rd player since 1995 to reach 150.0 career points.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of Sept. 12:| 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 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 19.0 |
| 8 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 18.1 |
| 9 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 15.0 |
| 10 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 14.7 |
Also Tuesday, Indians pitcher Corey Kluber rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Plus, 2017 Box-Toppers points leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (23.1), failed to add to his lead in his start Tuesday, in the win over the Giants.
Player of the Day—Verlander struck out nine over eight scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 1-0 win over the Angels.
Verlander earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 11.7 for the season, becoming the 27th player this season with 10 or more points. He rises to 19th place among all players and seventh among American League pitchers. It is Verlander’s ninth season with 10.0 or more points in the 12 seasons he has earned Box-Toppers points.
Verlander also becomes the 23rd player in Box-Toppers tracking history (which began in 1995) to earn 150 career Box-Toppers points. With his points Tuesday, Verlander now has 151.0 career points and ranks 23rd among all players since 1995. He trails 22nd-ranked player, Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels (151.4). Both Verlander and Hamels made their Box-Toppers debuts early in the 2006 season—Verlander on April 8 and Hamels on May 12.
Verlander becomes the fifth player this season to reach the 150.0 career point threshold. The others who have done it:
- Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (currently has 154.7 career points, ranked 17th since 1995).
- Twins pitcher Bartolo Colon (152.2 career points, ranked 19th).
- Cubs pitcher Jon Lester (151.9 career points, ranked 20th).
- Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels (151.4 career points, ranked 22nd).
National League Player of the Day—Rockies pitcher Jon Gray struck out 10 over seven innings, allowing two runs, seven hits and no walks, in the 4-2 win over the Diamondbacks.
American League Batter of the Day—Brandon Moss of the Royals hit a grand slam and went 2-for-2, in the 4-3 win over the White Sox.
National League Batter of the Day—Freddie Freeman of the Braves hit a three-run homer and doubled, going 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 8-0 win over the Nationals.
Rankings—Indians pitcher Corey Kluber rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Kluber (CG 5H 0R 0BB 8K W in the 2-0 win over the Tigers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 19.0 for the season, rising from eighth to seventh place. He ranks fourth among AL pitchers.
Despite pitching a complete game shutout, Kluber’s Box-Toppers game score of +12.0 was second-highest Tuesday, behind Verlander’s +15.0. So Kluber did not earn Player of the Day honors and, because Verlander is a fellow American League pitcher, did not earn AL Player of the Day honors either, having to settle for just 1.0 Box-Toppers point, despite the impressive outing.
Kershaw—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw did not add to his season Box-Toppers points lead in his start Tuesday, as the Dodgers snapped an 11-game losing streak against the Giants.
Kershaw (6IP 8H 2R 1ER BB 6K W in the 5-3 win) had a Box-Toppers game score of 0.0. Player of the Game was Dodgers closing pitcher Kenley Jansen (1.1IP 3H 0R 0BB 3K Sv) who had a Box-Toppers game score of +1.1. Jansen now has 7.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, second among NL closers, behind Greg Holland of the Rockies (8.0).
Kershaw remains in first place in Box-Toppers season player rankings with 23.1 Box-Toppers points. That’s the same total as second-place player, Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale, but Kershaw ranks ahead on a tie-breaker because he had more 2016 Box-Toppers points (24.4 vs. 13.4). Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is close behind in third place with 23.0 Box-Toppers points.
Scherzer has the chance to take the lead in his start Wednesday against the Braves if he earns at least Player of the Game honors.
Team rankings—After Tuesday’s games only 0.7 Box-Toppers points separate the top three teams in Box-Toppers team rankings:
- Washington Nationals 124.9
- Cleveland Indians 124.7
- Los Angeles Dodgers 124.2
The Nationals lost to the Braves Tuesday but remain in first in Box-Toppers team rankings with its players accumulating 124.9 Box-Toppers points over the season. The Cleveland Indians, winning their 20th straight game, earn 1.0 point to close within 0.2 of the Nationals. And the Dodgers, snapping their 11-game losing streak, add 1.0 point.
If not for Verlander’s performance as Player of the Day Tuesday, Kluber of the Indians would have likely earned Player of the Day for his complete game shutout, which would have given the Indians 1.0 additional point, pushing them ahead of the Nationals Tuesday.
Scoring—Verlander earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gray earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Moss and Freeman each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’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| 9/12 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 15.0 | HOU 1, LAA 0 | Justin Verlander (W, 12-8) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |
| 12.0 | CLE 2, DET 0 | Corey Kluber (W, 16-4) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 8.0 | BOS 11, OAK 1 | Eduardo Rodríguez (W, 5-5) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | ||
| 8.0 | MIN 16, SD 0 | Kyle Gibson (W, 10-10) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| NL | 6.0 | COL 4, ARI 2 | Jon Gray (W, 8-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 10 | |
| BAT | 5.0 | KC 4, CHW 3 | Brandon Moss DH | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | PHI 9, MIA 8 (F/15) | Edubray Ramos (W, 2-7) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | `TB 2, NYY 1 | Blake Snell | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | ATL 8, WSH 0 | Freddie Freeman 1B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | STL 13, CIN 4 | Paul DeJong SS | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CHC 8, NYM 3 | Kyle Schwarber LF | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | MIL 5, PIT 2 | Corey Knebel (S, 35) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | SEA 10, TEX 3 | Ben Gamel LF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.2 | `TOR 3, BAL 2 | Tom Koehler | - | - | - | - | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.1 | LAD 5, SF 3 | Kenley Jansen (S, 37) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
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 | +/- |
| Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 19.0 | 40.2 | 84.4 | 84.4 | -2.2 |
| Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 11.7 | 26.4 | 71.6 | 151.0 | -3.0 |
| Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 | pi sp | bos al | 7.7 | 12.4 | 18.4 | 18.4 | 3.0 |
| Moss, Brandon 2520 | dh | kc al | 7.5 | 11.5 | 32.5 | 34.5 | 3.5 |
| Jansen, Kenley 2871 | pi cp | lad nl | 7.0 | 13.0 | 38.7 | 43.4 | 1.0 |
| Gamel, Ben 3784 | lf rf | sea al | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| Knebel, Corey 3757 | pi cp | mil nl | 5.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 4.0 |
| Schwarber, Kyle 3536 | lf | chi nl | 4.5 | 4.5 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 4.5 |
| Gray, Jon 3634 | pi sp | col nl | 3.7 | 10.7 | 10.7 | 10.7 | -3.3 |
| Dejong, Paul 3827 | ss 2b | stl nl | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Freeman, Freddie 2887 | 1b | atl nl | 3.0 | 10.5 | 36.2 | 41.7 | -4.5 |
| Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | tb al | 2.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | -2.0 |
| Gibson, Kyle 3312 | pi sp | min al | 2.0 | 5.0 | 19.0 | 19.0 | -1.0 |
| Ramos, Edubray 3901 | pi mr cp | phi nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Koehler, Tom 3159 | pi mr sp | tor al | 1.0 | 6.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | -4.0 |