Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Godley is Thursday’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 Sept. 14:| 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 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 16.1 |
| 10 | Rizzo, Anthony 3063 | 1b | chi nl | 15.5 |
Also Thursday, Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors, extending his dominating lead among National League batters. Rizzo becomes the first batter since June 27 to be ranked among the season’s top 10 players.
Player of the Day—Godley pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing five hits and no walks, in the 7-0 win over the Rockies.
Godley earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 11.0 for the season. He becomes the 29th player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points and rises to 24th among all players, 13th among NL pitchers.
This is Godley’s first season with 10 or more points in his three seasons earning Box-Toppers points.
American League Player of the Day—Avisail Garcia of the White Sox hit a three-run homer and went 5-for-5, scoring twice and driving in seven runs, in the 17-7 win over the Tigers.
National League Batter of the Day—Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 14-6 win over the Mets.
Rizzo earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 15.5 for the season, rising to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings and extending his dominating lead among NL batters. Rizzo leads second-place NL batter Scooter Gennett of the Reds (10.7) by 4.8 points.
Rizzo becomes the first batter to be ranked among Box-Toppers top 10 players since June 27 when Ryon Healy of the Athletics was ranked 10th with 8.7 Box-Toppers points. (Healy now ranks 33rd with 9.7 points.) With Rizzo’s rise into the top 10, he pushes Diamondbacks pitcher Robbie Ray (15.0 points) off the list to 11th place.
Rizzo’s 15.5 Box-Toppers points is tied for the second-highest total for a batter in the past five seasons. Since the start of 2013, only Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers had a higher total for a batter (16.9 in 2013). Cabrera was the last batter to finish a season ranked among the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (eighth in 2013). Rizzo’s 15.5 points ties him with Jose Abreu of the White Sox, who had 15.5 points in 2014. Rizzo’s 15.5 points is the highest by an NL batter since Prince Fielder of the Brewers had 15.7 points in 2011.
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 Avisail Garcia.
Notable—Aaron Judge of the Yankees becomes the 30th player (and seventh batter) in 2017 with 10 or more Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Judge (2HR 3-4 3R 6BI in the 13-5 win over the Orioles) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.2 for the season. He ranks 27th among all players and third among AL batters, behind Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians (12.1) and Elvis Andrus of the Rangers (11.0).
This is Judge’s first season earning Box-Toppers points and so his first season with 10 or more points.
Box-Toppers points lead—Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale has the chance to take the Box-Toppers season points lead in his start Friday against the Rays.
Sale (23.1 Box-Toppers points, ranked second) could pass overall leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (23.1), if he earns at least Player of the Game honors (worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point). While Sale and Kershaw both have 23.1 Box-Toppers points on the season, Kershaw ranks higher on a tiebreaker—he had more 2016 Box-Toppers points than Sale (24.4 vs. 13.4).
Scoring—Godley earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Garcia earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Rizzo 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| 9/14 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.0 | ARI 7, COL 0 | Zack Godley (W, 8-7) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| AL | 9.0 | CHW 17, DET 7 | Avisail Garcia RF | 5 | 2 | 5 | 7 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 9.0 | STL 5, CIN 2 | Luke Weaver (W, 6-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 8.0 | NYY 13, BAL 5 | Aaron Judge RF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 6.0 | SEA 10, TEX 4 | Nelson Cruz DH | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | WSH 5, ATL 2 | Tanner Roark (W, 13-9) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 4.0 | `MIN 3, TOR 2 (F/10) | Trevor Hildenberger (H, 9) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | BOS 6, OAK 2 | Andrew Benintendi LF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | CHC 14, NYM 6 | Anthony Rizzo 1B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | PHI 10, MIA 0 | Rhys Hoskins LF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | CLE 3, KC 2 (F/10) | Jose Ramírez 2B | 4 | 1 | 4 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | HOU 5, LAA 2 | Marwin González LF-1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| Rizzo, Anthony 3063 | 1b | chi nl | 15.5 | 18.5 | 42.5 | 42.5 | 12.5 |
| Godley, Zack 3538 | pi sp | ari nl | 11.0 | 12.0 | 15.7 | 15.7 | 10.0 |
| Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf | nyy al | 10.2 | 10.2 | 10.2 | 10.2 | 10.2 |
| Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b 2b | cle al | 8.5 | 10.0 | 13.5 | 13.5 | 7.0 |
| Benintendi, Andrew 3815 | lf | bos al | 7.2 | 7.2 | 7.2 | 7.2 | 7.2 |
| Roark, Tanner 3261 | pi sp | dc nl | 7.0 | 19.7 | 35.7 | 35.7 | -5.7 |
| Weaver, Luke 3719 | pi sp | stl nl | 7.0 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 5.3 |
| Garcia, Avisail 3256 | rf | chi al | 6.7 | 9.2 | 17.7 | 17.7 | 4.2 |
| Cruz, Nelson 2224 | dh | sea al | 5.5 | 12.0 | 33.0 | 59.2 | -1.0 |
| Gonzalez, Marwin 3078 | lf 3b 1b | hou al | 5.0 | 6.0 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 4.0 |
| Hildenberger, Trevor 3846 | pi mr cp | min al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Hoskins, Rhys 3909 | 1b lf | phi nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |