Cubs pitcher Jose Quintana is Sunday’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. 24:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 25.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 25.0 |
| 3 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 23.1 |
| 4 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 22.0 |
| 5 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 20.8 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 20.1 |
| 7 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 20.1 |
| 8 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 19.8 |
| 9 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 16.1 |
| 10 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 16.0 |
Also, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer and Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw both had the chance to take the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings in their starts Sunday—but neither did. Scherzer moved closer to leader Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale, earning Player of the Game honors and Kershaw earned the win in his start, but did not earn Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Quintana pitched a complete-game, three-hit shutout, striking out 10 and walking one, in the 5-0 win over the Brewers.
Quintana earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 15.0 for the season. He ranks 15th among all players and ninth among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Athletics pitcher Jharel Cotton pitched five scoreless innings, striking out six and allowing one hit and one walk, in the 8-1 win over the Rangers.
National League Batter of the Day—Yasmani Grandal of the Dodgers homered and went 1-for-1, driving in three runs, in the 3-1 win over the Giants.
American League Batter of the Day—Joe Mauer of the Twins went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 10-4 win over the Tigers.
Best seasons
Here are all players who have earned 25 or more Box-Toppers points in a single season since 1995, ranked by their single-season Box-Toppers point total. When Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer reached 25.0 points Sunday, it marked the 25th time a player reached 25 points in a season. Scherzer's 25.0 points for 2017 now ranks 25th-best for a single season.| Player | Team | Pos | Year | BTP | |
| 1 | Randy Johnson | Dbacks | pi sp | 2000 | 33.7 |
| 1 | Randy Johnson | Dbacks | pi sp | 2002 | 33.7 |
| 3 | Pedro Martinez | Red Sox | pi sp | 2000 | 33.5 |
| 4 | Randy Johnson | Dbacks | pi sp | 1999 | 31.5 |
| 4 | Clayton Kershaw | Dodgers | pi sp | 2014 | 31.5 |
| 6 | Pedro Martinez | Red Sox | pi sp | 1999 | 31.4 |
| 7 | Randy Johnson | Dbacks | pi sp | 2001 | 29.4 |
| 8 | Jake Arrieta | Cubs | pi sp | 2015 | 29.1 |
| 9 | Pedro Martinez | Red Sox | pi sp | 2002 | 28.8 |
| 10 | Curt Schilling | Dbacks | pi sp | 2002 | 28.4 |
| 11 | Roger Clemens | Blue Jays | pi sp | 1997 | 27.4 |
| 12 | Johan Santana | Twins | pi sp | 2004 | 26.8 |
| 13 | Pedro Martinez | Expos | pi sp | 1997 | 26.7 |
| 13 | CC Sabathia | Indians/Brewers | pi sp | 2008 | 26.7 |
| 15 | Randy Johnson | Mariners/Astros | pi sp | 1998 | 26.4 |
| 16 | John Smoltz | Braves | pi sp | 1996 | 26.1 |
| 16 | Clayton Kershaw | Dodgers | pi sp | 2011 | 26.1 |
| 18 | Roger Clemens | Blue Jays | pi sp | 1998 | 25.8 |
| 18 | Corey Kluber | Indians | pi sp | 2014 | 25.8 |
| 20 | Johan Santana | Twins | pi sp | 2006 | 25.7 |
| 20 | Clayton Kershaw | Dodgers | pi sp | 2015 | 25.7 |
| 20 | Max Scherzer | Nationals | pi sp | 2016 | 25.7 |
| 23 | Cliff Lee | Phillies | pi sp | 2011 | 25.4 |
| 24 | * Chris Sale | Red Sox | pi sp | 2017 | 25.1 |
| 25 | * Max Scherzer | Nationals | pi sp | 2017 | 25.0 |
| * Current season | |||||
Box-Toppers points lead—Two pitchers—Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer and Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw—had the chance to retake the Box-Toppers season player rankings lead Sunday, but neither did.
Scherzer came close, earning 1.0 Box-Toppers point Sunday as Player of the Game in the 3-2 win over the Mets. He needed to earn at least NL Player of the Day honors (worth 1.7 points) to pass Sale. And his Box-Toppers game score Sunday of +10.0 normally would have been good enough to do that. But Player of the Day and fellow NL player, Cubs pitcher Jose Quintana, beat Scherzer out with a Box-Toppers game score of +15.0.
Kershaw, on the other hand, did not earn Player of the Game honors in his start, despite earning the win and having a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0.
So Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale still leads with 25.1 Box-Toppers points. Scherzer’s added point gives him 25.0 points, moving him within 0.1 point of Sale with one week—and perhaps one start—remaining in the season. Kershaw, earning no points, remains in third place with 23.1 points.
Scherzer (6IP 3H R BB 10K W in the 3-2 win over the Mets) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 25.0 for the season. It is the 25th time in Box-Toppers tracking history (begun in 1995) that a player has reached 25.0 Box-Toppers points in a season; Scherzer’s 25.0 points ranks 25th-best since 1995. It is the second time Scherzer has earned 25.0 or more in a season—he had 25.7 to lead all players in 2016.
Scherzer also has 156.7 career Box-Toppers points, ranking 16th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 15th-ranked player Tim Hudson (157.0).
Kershaw (8IP 8H R 0BB 6K W in the 3-1 win over the Giants) did not earn Player of the Game honors Sunday. He had a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0, same as teammate Yasmani Grandal (HR 1-1 R 3BI). But Grandal earned Player of the Game honors because in cases of game score ties, batters have the edge.
Rankings—Indians pitcher Corey Kluber maintains his fourth-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Kluber (7IP 6H 2R 0ER 2BB 10K W in the 4-2 win over the Mariners) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 22.0 for the season. He ranks second among AL pitchers, behind Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale (25.1).
Debut—Angels pitcher Keynan Middleton made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday, earning his first career Player of the Game honor.
Middleton (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 7-5 win over the Astros) made his Major League debut May 5 and was playing in his 62nd career game. He is the 3,918th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Quintana earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cotton earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Grandal and Mauer each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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| 9/24 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 15.0 | CHC 5, MIL 0 | Jose Quintana W (7-3) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | |
| 10.0 | WSH 3, NYM 2 | Max Scherzer W (16-6) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | ||
| AL | 9.0 | OAK 8, TEX 1 | Jharel Cotton W (9-10) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| 7.0 | CLE 4, SEA 2 | Corey Kluber W (18-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 10 | ||
| 5.0 | CHW 8, KC 1 | Lucas Giolito W (3-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | LAD 3, SF 1 | Yasmani Grandal C | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | PHI 2, ATL 0 | Nick Pivetta W (7-10) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | PIT 4, STL 1 | Jameson Taillon W (8-7) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | `BAL 9, TB 4 | Darren O'Day | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | COL 8, SD 4 | Pat Valaika PH-3B | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | ARI 3, MIA 2 | Fernando Rodney W (5-4) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | LAA 7, HOU 5 | Keynan Middleton W (6-1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | `BOS 5, CIN 4 | Addison Reed H (11) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 1.0 | MIN 10, DET 4 | Joe Mauer DH | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1.0 | TOR 9, NYY 5 | Russell Martin C | 4 | 0 | 2 | 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 | +/- |
| Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 25.0 | 50.7 | 128.9 | 156.7 | -0.7 |
| Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 22.0 | 43.2 | 87.4 | 87.4 | 0.8 |
| Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi nl | 15.0 | 25.4 | 50.2 | 50.2 | 4.6 |
| Taillon, Jameson 3658 | pi sp | pit nl | 8.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | 3.0 |
| Rodney, Fernando 1803 | pi cp | ari nl | 7.0 | 12.0 | 30.0 | 42.0 | 2.0 |
| Pivetta, Nick 3825 | pi sp | phi nl | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| Mauer, Joe 1869 | 1b | min al | 6.5 | 8.0 | 29.5 | 77.1 | 5.0 |
| Cotton, Jharel 3733 | pi sp | oak al | 5.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 3.7 |
| Valaika, Patrick 3793 | ss 3b 2b ph | col nl | 5.2 | 5.2 | 5.2 | 5.2 | 5.2 |
| Giolito, Lucas 3900 | pi sp | chi al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Martin, Russell 2202 | ca | tor al | 2.0 | 12.5 | 27.0 | 55.0 | -8.5 |
| Reed, Addison 3023 | pi cp mr | bos al | 2.0 | 4.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | 0.0 |
| Grandal, Yasmani 3058 | ca | lad nl | 1.5 | 8.7 | 18.7 | 18.7 | -5.7 |
| O’Day, Darren 2577 | pi cp | bal al | 1.0 | 4.0 | 13.7 | 14.7 | -2.0 |
| Middleton, Kenyan 3918 | pi mr | ana al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |