Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill is Wednesday’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. 27:| 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 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 21.1 |
| 6 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 20.8 |
| 7 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 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 Wednesday, Yankees pitcher Luis Severino rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Hill struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 10-0 win over the Padres.
Hill earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 12.7 for the season, ranked 20th among all players and 12th among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Danny Salazar struck out nine over 4 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 4-2 win over the Twins. Salazar did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because he did not pitch the requisite five innings to earn the win. However, since he did pitch more than three innings, he was automatically qualified to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors, which he did.
American League Batter of the Day—Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox homered and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 10-7 win over the Blue Jays.
National League Batter of the Day—Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies hit two doubles and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 15-9 win over the Marlins.
Rankings—Yankees pitcher Luis Severino rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Severino (6IP 4H R BB 9K W in the 6-1 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 21.1 for the season, rising from seventh to fifth place. He ranks third among AL pitchers, behind Chris Sale of the Red Sox (25.1) and Corey Kluber of the Indians (22.0).
Team rankings—With four days left in the season, there are only 0.5 Box-Toppers points separating the top two teams.
The Cleveland Indians lead with 136.9 Box-Toppers points and the Los Angeles Dodgers trail with 136.4. The Washington Nationals trail in third with 132.6 points.
The Indians and Dodgers both won Wednesday while the Nationals lost. The Indians picked up 1.7 Box-Toppers points with Danny Salazar earning AL Player of the Game honors. The Dodgers, however, moved closer to the first-place Indians, picking up 2.0 Box-Toppers points Wednesday, with Rich Hill earning overall Player of the Day honors.
In terms of actual percentages, the Dodgers have the best record (.642) ahead of the second-place Indians (.627), who are 2.5 games behind.
All-time leaders
Here are Box-Toppers top 20 players since record keeping began in 1995:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | retired | 278.8 |
| 2 | Pedro Martinez | pi sp | retired | 244.8 |
| 3 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | lad nl | 206.8 |
| 4 | Curt Schilling | pi sp | retired | 194.1 |
| 5 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 191.0 |
| 6 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 187.8 |
| 7 | Alex Rodriguez | dh | released | 187.0 |
| 8 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 176.2 |
| 9 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 171.4 |
| 10 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 11 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 12 | Johan Santana | pi sp | free agent | 166.6 |
| 13 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | retired | 164.8 |
| 14 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 15 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 16 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | dc nl | 156.7 |
| 17 | Mike Mussina | pi sp | retired | 155.6 |
| 18 | Justin Verlander | pi sp | hou al | 154.0 |
| 19 | Cole Hamels | pi sp | tex al | 153.4 |
| 20 | Barry Bonds | lf | retired | 153.2 |
List of top 100 players since 1995 as of July 30, 2017.
Notable—Two players with more than 100 career Box-Toppers points earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday:
- Astros pitcher Justin Verlander (6IP 6H 2R 0BB 11K W in the 12-2 win over the Rangers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 154.0 career points. Verlander rises to 18th among all players in career points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Wednesday, he passes two players on the “all-time” list—Barry Bonds (153.2) and Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels (153.4). (It should be noted that if Bonds entire career from 1986 were tracked, rough projections put his career Box-Toppers point total at about 230.) Verlander now trails 17th-ranked player Mike Mussina (155.6). Passing Hamels, Verlander now ranks seventh among active players in career points. Also Verlander now has 14.7 Box-Toppers points for 2017, 16th among all players and sixth among AL pitchers.
- Cubs pitcher John Lackey (6IP 2H R 2BB 3K W in the 5-1 win over the Cardinals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 127.2 career points, rising to 36th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Wednesday, he passes two players on the “all-time” list—Mariano Rivera (126.4) and Roy Oswalt (127.2). Lackey trails 35th-ranked player A.J. Burnett (127.8). Lackey has 6.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, 41st among NL pitchers.
Scoring—Hill earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Salazar earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Bogaerts and Gonzalez each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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| 9/27 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 13.0 | LAD 10, SD 0 | Rich Hill W (12-8) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | |
| AL | 11.2 | `CLE 4, MIN 2 | Danny Salazar | - | - | - | - | 4.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |
| 8.0 | NYY 6, TB 1 | Luis Severino W (14-6) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 7.0 | HOU 12, TEX 2 | Justin Verlander W (15-8) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 11 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | BOS 10, TOR 7 | Xander Bogaerts SS | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 4.0 | COL 15, MIA 9 | Carlos González RF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | NYM 7, ATL 1 | Dominic Smith PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | CIN 6, MIL 0 | Homer Bailey W (6-9) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | ||
| 3.1 | `ARI 4, SF 3 | Andrew Chafin | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | CHW 6, LAA 4 (F/10) | Nick Delmonico LF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | PIT 5, BAL 3 | Josh Bell 1B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CHC 5, STL 1 | John Lackey W (12-11) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | PHI 7, WSH 5 | Hector Neris S (26) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | OAK 6, SEA 5 | Matt Joyce RF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | KC 7, DET 4 | Paulo Orlando CF | 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 | +/- |
| Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 21.1 | 23.1 | 26.1 | 26.1 | 19.1 |
| Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 14.7 | 29.4 | 74.6 | 154.0 | 0.0 |
| Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | lad nl | 12.7 | 27.1 | 31.1 | 50.8 | -1.7 |
| Neris, Hector 3553 | pi cp | phi nl | 7.0 | 9.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 5.0 |
| Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 6.7 | 19.2 | 42.0 | 42.0 | -5.8 |
| Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | chi nl | 6.0 | 19.4 | 45.8 | 127.2 | -7.4 |
| Gonzalez, Carlos 2460 | rf | col nl | 5.5 | 11.0 | 44.2 | 64.2 | 0.0 |
| Bogaerts, Xander 3383 | ss | bos al | 5.5 | 6.5 | 12 | 12 | 4.5 |
| Bell, Josh E. 3682 | 1b | pit nl | 4.0 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 2.5 |
| Joyce, Matt 2480 | rf | oak al | 3.5 | 7.5 | 21.7 | 33.2 | -0.5 |
| Bailey, Homer 2324 | pi sp | cin nl | 2.0 | 4.0 | 33.4 | 49.1 | 0.0 |
| Delmonico, Nicky 3887 | dh lf | chi al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Smith, Dominic 3890 | 1b ph | nym nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Orlando, Paulo 3526 | cf | kc al | 1.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | -2.0 |
| Chafin, Andrew 3397 | pi mr | ari nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 |