Rays pitcher Jake Odorizzi is Tuesday’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. 5:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 23.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 23.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 22.1 |
| 4 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 18.1 |
| 5 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 17.8 |
| 6 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 17.1 |
| 7 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 16.1 |
| 8 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 16.0 |
| 9 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 14.7 |
| 10 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 14.4 |
Also Tuesday, Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors. Plus, Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke maintains his fourth-place spot in player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Odorizzi allowed one hit over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out six and walking one, in the 2-1 win over the Twins. Odorizzi had a no-hitter going into the seventh inning.
National League Player of the Day—Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg struck out eight over six scoreless innings, giving up six hits and no walks, in the 2-1 win over the Marlins.
Strasburg earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 17.8 for the season, rising from sixth to fifth place in season player rankings. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.
Strasburg also becomes the 80th player since 1995 (when Box-Toppers tracking began) to reach 100 career Box-Toppers points. Strasburg now has 100.7 career points and rises to 76th place on the “all-time” list, passing five players—White Sox pitcher James Shields (99.4), Larry Walker (100.1), Jeff Bagwell (100.4), Paul Konerko (100.7) and Giants pitcher Matt Cain (100.7). Strasburg now trails 75th-ranked player, Matt Holliday of the Yankees (100.8).
Of all the players in Box-Toppers top 100 in career points, only two players made their Box-Toppers debuts after Strasburg (who debuted June 8, 2010):
- Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale (108.5 career points, ranked 59th) made his Box-Toppers debut Sept. 6, 2010).
- Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner (106.7 career points, ranked 63rd) made his Box-Toppers debut July 6, 2010).
American League Batter of the Day—John Hicks of the Tigers hit two homers and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 13-2 win over the Royals.
National League Batter of the Day—Jose Martinez of the Cardinals hit two home runs, doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 8-4 win over the Padres.
Rankings—Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke maintains his fourth-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Greinke (7IP 4H R BB 6K ND in the 3-1, 10-inning win over the Dodgers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 18.1 for the season. He ranks third among NL pitchers, behind Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (23.1) and Max Scherzer of the Nationals (23.0).
Top 10 watch—Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom (14.7 Box-Toppers points in 2017, ranked ninth) did not earn Player of the Game honors in his start Tuesday.
deGrom (3.1IP 10H 9R 6ER 2BB 5K L in the 9-1 loss to the Phillies) had a Box-Toppers game score Tuesday of -18.8. Player of the Game was Phillies pitcher Ben Lively, who had a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 for batting (more on that below).
Notable—Justin Verlander rises to 23rd place on the career Box-Toppers points list after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday in his debut with the Houston Astros.
Verlander (6IP 6H R BB 7K W in the 3-1 win over the Mariners) now has 149.0 career Box-Toppers points and passes two players on the “all-time” list—Javier Vazquez (148.3) and Chipper Jones (149.0). Verlander now trails 22nd-ranked player, Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels (151.4).
Verlander, who spent his entire career from 2005 with the Detroit Tigers, was traded Aug. 31 to the Astros. Verlander now has 9.7 Box-Toppers points in 2017, eighth among AL pitchers.
Also notable—Reds closing pitcher Raisel Iglesias earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Tuesday.
Iglesias (2IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv in the 9-3 win over the Brewers) was also Player of the Game Monday in the 5-4 win over the Brewers.
Iglesias has 6.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, fourth among NL closing pitchers.
Also notable—Phillies pitcher Ben Lively earns Box-Toppers Player of the Game for batting, the second time this season he’s done that.
Lively (HR 2-4 R 4BI in the 9-1 win over the Mets) also earned Player of the Game honors for batting in his previous start on Thursday, Aug. 31, which was also his Box-Toppers debut. In other words, Lively, a starting pitcher, has twice earned Player of the Game honors in his career and both times he’s done it as a batter and both times he’s done it in the past week. It is the sixth time this season a pitcher has earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for batting and Lively has done it twice.
Lively had a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 for batting. He had a Box-Toppers game score of +2.0 for pitching (7IP 4H R 3BB 4K W).
Scoring—Odorizzi earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Strasburg earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Hicks and Martinez 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| 9/5 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.2 | TB 2, MIN 1 | Jake Odorizzi (W, 8-7) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| NL | 8.0 | WSH 2, MIA 1 | Stephen Strasburg (W, 12-4) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| BAT | 6.0 | DET 13, KC 2 | John Hicks 1B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 6.0 | STL 8, SD 4 | Jose Martínez 1B | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | `ARI 3, LAD 1 (F/10) | Zack Greinke | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | LAA 8, OAK 7 (F/10) | C.J. Cron 1B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | HOU 3, SEA 1 | Justin Verlander (W, 11-8) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 4.0 | PIT 4, CHC 3 | Wade LeBlanc (W, 5-2) | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 4.0 | CIN 9, MIL 3 | Raisel Iglesias (S, 25) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | PHI 9, NYM 1 | Ben Lively P | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | BAL 7, NYY 6 | Zach Britton (W, 2-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | `BOS 3, TOR 2 (F/19) | Eduardo Rodríguez | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 2.0 | CLE 9, CHW 4 | Yan Gomes C | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | COL 9, SF 6 | Carlos González PH | 1 | 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 | +/- |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 18.1 | 27.8 | 97.1 | 174.2 | 8.4 |
| Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 17.8 | 32.9 | 92.0 | 100.7 | 2.7 |
| Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 9.7 | 24.4 | 69.6 | 149.0 | -5.0 |
| Odorizzi, Jake 3291 | pi sp | tb al | 7.1 | 13.5 | 33.2 | 33.2 | 0.7 |
| Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 | pi sp | bos al | 6.7 | 11.4 | 17.4 | 17.4 | 2.0 |
| Iglesias, Raisel 3467 | pi cp | cin nl | 6.0 | 9.0 | 11.7 | 11.7 | 3.0 |
| Gomes, Yan 3177 | ca | cle al | 5.5 | 6.5 | 14.7 | 14.7 | 4.5 |
| Gonzalez, Carlos 2460 | rf | col nl | 4.0 | 9.5 | 42.7 | 62.7 | -1.5 |
| LeBlanc, Wade 2669 | pi cp mr sp | pit nl | 4.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 14.0 | 1.0 |
| Hicks, John 3777 | 1b | det al | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Martinez, Jose 3830 | rf lf 1b ph | stl nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Lively, Ben 3903 | pi sp | phi nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Britton, Zach 2835 | pi cp | bal al | 1.0 | 6.0 | 26.4 | 34.1 | -4.0 |
| Cron, C.J. 3338 | 1b | ana al | 1.0 | 4.7 | 11.7 | 11.7 | -2.7 |