Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to second place in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2020. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Thursday, Sept. 3.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | cle al | 8.7 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.7 |
| 3 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | chi nl | 6.7 |
| 4 | Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 6.7 |
| 5 | Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cin nl | 6.0 |
| 6 | Giolito, Lucas 3900 | pi sp | chi al | 6.0 |
| 7 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 6.0 |
| 8 | Bundy, Dylan 3655 | pi sp | ana al | 6.0 |
| 9 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 5.7 |
| 10 | Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | tex al | 5.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Kershaw struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 5-1 win over the Diamondbacks.
Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.7 for the season, second overall and rising to first place among National League pitchers, passing previous leader Yu Darvish of the Cubs (6.7). While Kershaw has the same 2020 Box-Toppers point total as two other players—Darvish and Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola, he ranks ahead of them because he has more 2019 Box-Toppers points—Kershaw 12.7, Darvish 10.4 and Nola 9.7.
Kershaw also now has 234.2 career Box-Toppers points, third-most among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails second-ranked player Pedro Martinez (244.8). Kershaw extends his lead in career points among active players ahead of second-place player, Astros pitcher Zack Greinke (209.1).
American League Player of the Day—Angels pitcher Andrew Heaney struck out six over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 2-0 win over the Padres.
American League Batter of the Day—Tim Anderson of the White Sox homered and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 11-6 win over the Royals.
National League Batter of the Day—Bryan Reynolds of the Pirates hit a three-run homer, doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 6-2 win over the Cubs.
Notable—Blue Jays pitcher Rafael Dolis earned his first Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor in more than eight years Thursday.
Dolis (1.1IP 0H 0R BB 3K W in the 6-2, 10-inning win over the Red Sox) last earned Player of the Game honors May 14, 2012, with the Cubs. With the 1.0 Box-Toppers point earned Thursday, Dolis now has 3.0 career points.
Dolis left the Cubs in 2013 and played with the Tigers before playing in Japan from 2016 to 2019.
Scoring—Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Heaney earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Anderson and Reynolds 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.
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 (BTG)| 9/3 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +11.0 | LAD 5, ARI 1 | Clayton Kershaw, (W 5‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | |
| AL | +8.0 | LAA 2, SD 0 | Andrew Heaney, (W 3‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | |
| +5.0 | NYM 9, NYY 7 (F/10) | Edwin Díaz, (W 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| +3.1 | TOR 6, BOS 2 (F/10) | Rafael Dolis, (W 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| BAT | +3.0 | CHW 11, KC 6 | Tim Anderson, SS | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +2.0 | HOU 8, TEX 4 | Michael Brantley, DH | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| BAT | +2.0 | PIT 6, CHC 2 | Bryan Reynolds, LF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +1.0 | PHI 6, WSH 5 (F/10) | Didi Gregorius, SS | 3 | 1 | 2 | 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 Player of the Game winners. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’20). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’19-20), the period 2015-2020 (’15-20) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2020 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2019 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’20 | ’19‑20 | ’15‑20 | Career | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.7 | 19.4 | 100.6 | 234.2 | ‑6.0 |
| Anderson, Tim 3659 | ss | chi al | 4.5 | 9.5 | 18.5 | 18.5 | ‑0.5 |
| Heaney, Andrew 3515 | pi sp | ana al | 3.4 | 8.4 | 23.1 | 23.1 | ‑1.6 |
| Reynolds, Bryan 4169 | lf | pit nl | 3.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | +0.0 |
| Diaz, Edwin 3690 | pi cp | nym nl | 2.0 | 4.0 | 29.0 | 29.0 | +0.0 |
| Gregorius, Didi 3184 | ss | phi nl | 1.0 | 5.2 | 14.7 | 16.7 | ‑3.2 |
| Brantley, Michael 2785 | dh lf | hou al | 1.0 | 2.5 | 8.7 | 24.9 | ‑0.5 |
| Dolis, Rafael 3015 | pi cp | tor al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations