Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fifth place in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of Sept. 28:| 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 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 21.8 |
| 6 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 21.1 |
| 7 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 20.8 |
| 8 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 20.1 |
| 9 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 16.1 |
| 10 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 16.0 |
Carrasco struck out 14 over 8 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing six hits and one walk, in the 5-2 win over the Twins.
Carrasco earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Game, giving him 21.8 for the season, rising from eighth to fifth place in season player rankings, third among American League pitchers, behind Chris Sale of the Red Sox (25.1) and teammate Corey Kluber (22.0).
Carrasco becomes the eighth player this season with 20 or more Box-Toppers points, which now sets the record for most players with 20 or more points in a single season. The previous record was 2015, when seven players had 20 or more points.
National League Player of the Day—Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks struck out nine over five scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 2-1, 11-inning win over the Cardinals. Hendricks did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Cardinals tied the game, 1-1, after he exited.
American League Batter of the Day—Carlos Correa of the Astros homered, doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 12-2 win over the Red Sox.
National League Batter of the Day—Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins hit two homers—his 58th and 59th of the season—in the 7-1 win over the Braves. Stanton went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs.
Stanton earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 14.2 for the season. He ranks 17th among all players and second among all NL batters, behind Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs (15.5). Stanton’s 14.2 Box-Toppers points is the fourth-highest total for a batter int the past five seasons. Since 2013, only three batters have had higher single-season Box-Toppers point totals:
- 16.9 by Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers in 2013, when he led AL batters.
- 15.5 by Jose Abreu of the White Sox in 2014, when he led AL batters.
- 15.5 by Rizzo in 2017. He currently leads NL batters.
Box-Toppers team rankings—The Cleveland Indians extended their lead with Carrasco earning Player of the Day honors (worth 2.0 points) and the second-place Dodgers being idle. The third-place Washington Nationals picked up 1.0 Box-Toppers point, when Edwin Jackson was Player of the Game in the 5-4 win over the Pirates. Here are Box-Toppers point totals of the top three teams:
- Indians 138.9
- Dodgers 136.4
- Nationals 133.6
Scoring—Carrasco earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Hendricks earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Correa and Stanton each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
Team and player rankings—Box-Toppers weekly team and player rankings reports are normally posted on Fridays. But since it is so close to the end of the season (with final regular season games Sunday, Oct. 1), there will be no weekly reports posted today, Friday, Sept. 29. Instead the weekly team and player reports will be posted after Sunday’s regular season final games, most likely on Monday, Oct. 2.
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| 9/28 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 15.1 | CLE 5, MIN 2 | Carlos Carrasco W (18-6) | - | - | - | - | 8.1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14 | |
| NL | 9.0 | `CHC 2, STL 1 (F/11) | Kyle Hendricks | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |
| BAT | 6.0 | HOU 12, BOS 2 | Carlos Correa SS | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.2 | OAK 4, TEX 1 | Sean Manaea W (12-10) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | MIA 7, ATL 1 | Giancarlo Stanton RF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | DET 4, KC 1 | Daniel Norris W (5-8) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 3.0 | `WSH 5, PIT 4 | Edwin Jackson | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 3.0 | MIL 4, CIN 3 | Corey Knebel S (39) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | CHW 5, LAA 4 | Rob Brantly C | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | TB 9, NYY 6 | Trevor Plouffe PH-1B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 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 | 21.8 | 34.2 | 62.9 | 68.3 | 9.4 |
| Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 | rf | fla nl | 14.2 | 20.7 | 44.9 | 53.4 | 7.7 |
| Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 7.4 | 14.1 | 14.1 | 14.1 | 0.7 |
| Correa, Carlos 3506 | ss | hou al | 7.0 | 14.7 | 21.9 | 21.9 | -0.7 |
| Knebel, Corey 3757 | pi cp | mil nl | 6.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 5.0 |
| Hendricks, Kyle 3386 | pi sp | chi nl | 3.7 | 17.1 | 31.8 | 31.8 | -9.7 |
| Plouffe, Trevor 2869 | 3b 1b ph | tb al | 2.0 | 6.5 | 22.5 | 25.5 | -2.5 |
| Jackson, Edwin 1812 | pi sp | dc nl | 2.0 | 5.0 | 20.0 | 45.8 | -1 |
| Norris, Daniel 3548 | pi sp | det al | 2.0 | 4.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 0.0 |
| Brantly, Rob 3103 | ca | chi al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 |