Five of top 10 batting average leaders in 2020 among overall top 100 in Box-Toppers points

Five of the top 10 players in batting average for 2020 are among Box-Toppers’ top 100 players.

DJ LeMahieu of the Yankees led all players with a .364 batting average in the pandemic-shortened, 60-game 2020 season. He had 3.5 Box-Toppers points, 75th among all players and 13th among American League batters.

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Players named to ‘All-MLB’ teams rarely coincided with 2020 Box-Toppers points leaders

Selections for Major League Baseball’s 2020 “All-MLB” teams announced this past week rarely coincided with the season’s Box-Toppers points leaders.

Only one All-MLB First Team batter was among the Box-Toppers points leaders at his position—Marcell Ozuna of the Braves led all designated hitters with 4.5 Box-Toppers points. However, three of the four All-MLB First Team starting pitchers were also among the top three players in Box-Toppers points for 2020—Shane Bieber of the Indians (11.4), Trevor Bauer of the Reds (10.0) and Yu Darvish of the Cubs (9.7).

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How 2020 Silver Sluggers winners fared in Box-Toppers rankings

Only three of the 18 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards this week also were among the leaders at their positions in 2020 Box-Toppers point totals.

The awards are given to the top batter in each position in both leagues, voted on by Major League Baseball coaches and managers. Box-Toppers analyzes traditional box scores and tracks which player most helps his team win the most games, awarding points for the top player in each game.

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A look at 2020 baseball awards finalists and how they fared in Box-Toppers rankings

Box-Toppers’ top two ranked pitchers are finalists for 2020 Cy Young Awards.

However, Box-Toppers’ top batters are not among the finalists for 2020 Most Valuable Player Awards.

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How 2019 Silver Sluggers winners fared in Box-Toppers rankings

Ten of the 17 batters winning Silver Slugger Awards this week also were among the leaders at their positions in 2019 Box-Toppers point totals.

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Astros’ Will Harris tops players in Thursday's ALCS Game 4 win over Yankees

Astros relief pitcher Will Harris is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Thursday’s American League Championship Series Game 4 win over the Yankees.

Harris struck out two in a scoreless and hitless seventh inning, allowing no walks. Harris did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision. The win went to reliever Ryan Pressly, who exited after the fifth inning with the Astros leading.

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Nationals’ Scherzer, Yankees’ Tanaka top players in Saturday's league championship series games

Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer and Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka are top players in Saturday’s pair of league championship games.

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Verlander, Strasburg among top players in Friday's four league division series games

In four league division series playoff games Friday these are Box-Toppers Players of the Game: Astros pitcher Justin Verlander, Braves pitcher Mike Foltynewicz, Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg, and DJ LeMahieu of the Yankees.

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Orioles’ Cashner tops players for Saturday, June 29; Diamondbacks’ Grienke rises to 4th in player rankings

Orioles pitcher Andrew Cashner is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Saturday, Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. He also becomes the fifth player to reach 200 career Box-Toppers points since player tracking began in 1995.

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Astros’ Lance McCullers tops players for Thursday, June 28; Phillies’ Nola rises to 7th in player rankings

Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Thursday, Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors.

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Athletics' Ryon Healy ‘most worthy but unchosen’ player for the 2017 All-Star Game

A look at the All-Star Game rosters through the Box-Toppers lens, including a look at the worthy left in the lurch and players whose selection Box-Toppers deems questionable.

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Marlins' Dan Straily tops players for Friday, June 16; Scherzer, 2nd in player rankings, earns Player of the Game

Marlins pitcher Dan Straily is Friday’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 June 16:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 14.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 13.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 11.4
4 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
5 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
6 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 8.2
7 Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 8.0
8 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 8.0
9 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 7.7
10 Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 7.7
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Friday, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings, earned Player of the Game honors. Plus, two other players rose into Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings for the season—Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood rose to seventh and Red Sox closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel rose to 10th.

Player of the Day—Straily struck out eight over 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks, in the 5-0 win over the Braves.

American League Player of the Day—Melky Cabrera of the White Sox homered, doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five runs, in the 11-4 win over the Blue Jays.

National League Batter of the Day—Paul DeJong of the Cardinals homered and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 11-2 win over the Orioles.

This was DeJong’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. DeJong made his Major League debut May 28 and was playing in his 14th career game. He is the 3,827th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Friday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Melky Cabrera.

Scherzer—Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer maintains his second-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Scherzer (8IP 4H R 2BB 10K W in the 7-2 win over the Mets) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.0 for the season. He trails overall leader and NL pitching leader Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (14.4 Box-Toppers points).

Scherzer also rises to 26th place in career Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Friday he has 144.7 career points, passing Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels (144.0) on the “all-time” list. He now trails 25th-ranked player David Ortiz (145.9).

Passing Hamels, Scherzer now ranks ninth among active players in career Box-Toppers points, seventh among active pitchers. He trails the eighth-ranked active player Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (146.9) and the sixth-ranked active pitcher Jon Lester of the Cubs (147.2).

Scherzer narrowly missed out on earning overall Player of the Day honors Friday. His Box-Toppers game score of 10.0 was topped by Straily’s game score of 10.1.

Rankings—Two players rose into Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list after earning Player of the Game honors Friday:

  • Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood (8IP 4H R 0BB 5K W in the 3-1 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.0 for the season, rising to seventh place in player rankings, fourth among NL pitchers.
  • Red Sox closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K Sv in the 2-1 win over the Astros) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.7 for the season, rising to 10th in player rankings, fourth among AL pitchers and most among all closing pitchers.

Notable—Adrian Beltre of the Rangers now has 112.3 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Beltre (1-2 2R 2BI in the 10-4 win over the Mariners) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, his first of the season, and ranks 53rd among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 52nd-ranked player Kevin Brown (112.8). Beltre ranks 16th among all batters since 1995 and third among all active batters in career points, behind Albert Pujols of the Angels (184.3) and Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (146.9).

Also notable—DJ LeMahieu of the Rockies earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Friday.

LeMahieu (2B 4-4 2R 2BI in the 10-8 win over the Giants) was also Box-Toppers NL Batter of the Day Thursday in the 10-9 win over the Giants. LeMahieu has 2.5 Box-Toppers points on the season, all earned in the past two days.

Scoring—Straily earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cabrera earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. DeJong earns 1.5 points for being NL 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

6/16 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 10.1 MIA 5, ATL 0 Dan Straily (W,5-4) - - - - 6.1 4 0 0 0 8
10.0 WSH 7, NYM 2 Max Scherzer (W,8-4) - - - - 8.0 4 1 1 2 10
7.0 LAD 3, CIN 1 Alex Wood (W,7-0) - - - - 8.0 4 1 1 0 5
AL 6.0 CHW 11, TOR 4 Melky Cabrera, LF 4 3 2 5 - - - - - -
BAT 5.0 STL 11, BAL 2 Paul DeJong, 2B 4 3 3 3 - - - - - -
5.0 KC 3, LAA 1 Ian Kennedy (W,1-6) - - - - 6.0 2 1 1 1 4
4.1 CLE 8, MIN 1 Carlos Carrasco (W,7-3) - - - - 6.1 4 1 1 3 7
4.0 COL 10, SF 8 DJ LeMahieu, 2B 4 2 4 2 - - - - - -
4.0 DET 13, TB 4 Justin Upton, LF 4 3 2 3 - - - - - -
3.1 `ARI 5, PHI 4 Archie Bradley (H,11) - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 2
3.0 CHC 9, PIT 5 Willson Contreras, C 3 1 2 3 - - - - - -
3.0 TEX 10, SEA 4 Adrian Beltre, 3B 2 2 1 2 - - - - - -
3.0 OAK 7, NYY 6 Santiago Casilla (S,11) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 1 3
2.0 BOS 2, HOU 1 Craig Kimbrel (S,19) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
1.0 MIL 6, SD 5 (F/10) Manny Pina, C 4 2 2 1 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 13.0 38.7 116.9 144.7 -12.7
Wood, Alex 3246 pi sp lad nl 8.0 9.0 27.4 27.4 7.0
Kimbrel, Craig 2825 pi cp bos al 7.7 15.7 60.4 66.4 -0.3
Carrasco, Carlos 2885 pi sp cle al 7.4 19.8 48.5 53.9 -5.0
Straily, Dan 3080 pi sp fla nl 6.0 13.0 23.7 23.7 -1.0
Cabrera, Melky 2143 lf chi al 4.7 8.7 18.7 35.2 0.7
Upton, Justin 2411 lf det al 4.0 10.7 36.9 55.1 -2.7
Contreras, Willson 3776 ca ph chi nl 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5
Pina, Manny 3769 ca mil nl 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5
Kennedy, Ian 2723 pi sp kc al 3.0 13.0 44.1 69.5 -7.0
LeMahieu, DJ 3091 2b col nl 2.5 10.5 23.5 23.5 -5.5
Dejong, Paul 3827 2b stl nl 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Beltre, Adrian 1141 3b tex al 1.0 10.5 44.4 112.3 -8.5
Casilla, Santiago 2301 pi cp oak al 1.0 4.0 19.7 24.7 -2.0
Bradley, Archie 3438 pi mr sp ari nl 1.0 4.0 5.0 5.0 -2.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Phillies' Nick Pivetta tops players for Thursday, June 15; Indians' Encarnacion tops AL players

Phillies pitcher Nick Pivetta is Thursday’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 June 15:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 14.4
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 12.0
3 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 11.4
4 Ray, Robbie 3502 pi sp ari nl 10.0
5 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp bos al 8.4
6 Judge, Aaron 3767 rf nyy al 8.2
7 Vargas, Jason 2055 pi sp kc al 8.0
8 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp ari nl 7.7
9 McCullers, Lance 3488 pi sp hou al 7.7
10 Martinez, Carlos 3371 pi sp stl nl 7.5
What are those numbers after players' names?

Pivetta struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks, in the 1-0 win over the Red Sox. Pivetta picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was tied 0-0 when he exited.

This was also Pivettta’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Pivetta made his Major League debut April 30 and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,825th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

American League Player of the Day—Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians homered and went 3-for-3, scoring four times, in the 12-5 win over the Dodgers.

Encarnacion earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 4.7 for the season, most of any of the 10 who earned Player of the Game honors Thursday. Encarnacion ranks 39th among all players in season player rankings, sixth among AL batters.

National League Batter of the Day—DJ LeMahieu of the Rockies went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 10-9 win over the Giants.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Edwin Encarnacion.

Debut—Brewers closing pitcher Oliver Drake made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday with his first career Player of the Game honor.

Drake (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv in the 6-4 win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut May 23, 2015, and was playing in his 57th career game. He is the 3,826th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Pivetta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Encarnacion earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. LeMahieu earns 1.5 points for being NL 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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score 

6/15 Score Game Player of the Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 10.0 `PHI 1, BOS 0 Nick Pivetta - - - - 7.0 4 0 0 2 9
AL 5.0 CLE 12, LAD 5 Edwin Encarnacion, DH 3 4 3 1 - - - - - -
BAT 4.0 COL 10, SF 9 DJ LeMahieu, 2B 5 3 4 2 - - - - - -
4.0 MIN 6, SEA 2 Chris Gimenez, C 4 2 2 4 - - - - - -
3.0 WSH 8, NYM 3 Gio Gonzalez (W,6-1) - - - - 7.0 5 2 2 0 5
3.0 KC 7, LAA 2 Matt Strahm (W,2-3) - - - - 5.0 3 1 0 1 3
3.0 MIL 6, STL 4 Oliver Drake (S,1) - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.0 DET 5, TB 3 Justin Wilson (W,3-2) - - - - 1.0 1 0 0 0 2
1.0 CHW 5, BAL 2 Matt Davidson, DH 4 2 2 1 - - - - - -
0.0 OAK 8, NYY 7 (F/10) Jed Lowrie, 2B 5 1 3 1 - - - - - -
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.
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 +/-
Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 dh cle al 4.7 12.7 47.8 71.8 -3.3
Gonzalez, Gio 2626 pi sp dc nl 2.0 8.0 59.1 88.5 -4.0
Lowrie, Jed 2437 2b ss oak al 2.0 3.0 17.5 29.0 1.0
Davidson, Matt 3292 3b dh chi al 2.0 2.0 4.0 4.0 2.0
Pivetta, Nick 3825 pi sp phi nl 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
LeMahieu, DJ 3091 2b col nl 1.5 9.5 22.5 22.5 -6.5
Wilson, Justin 3140 pi cp det al 1.0 2.0 7.0 7.0 0.0
Gimenez, Chris 2870 ca min al 1.0 2.0 4.0 5.0 0.0
Strahm, Matt 3724 pi sp kc al 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0
Drake, Oliver 3826 pi cp mil nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Cubs' Jason Hammel tops players for Tuesday, Aug. 16; Indians' Kluber rises to 3rd in Box-Toppers points

Cubs pitcher Jason Hammel 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 2016 season as of Aug. 16:  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 20.0
2 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 18.7
3 Kluber, Corey 3200 pi sp cle al 17.2
4 Fernandez, Jose 3147 pi sp fla nl 16.4
5 Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp sf nl 14.4
6 Hamels, Cole 2135 pi sp tex al 14.1
7 Strasburg, Stephen 2736 pi sp dc nl 14.1
8 Lester, Jon 2173 pi sp chi nl 13.4
9 Happ, J.A. 2536 pi sp tor al 12.7
10 Altuve, Jose 3007 2b hou al 12.5
What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Tuesday, Indians pitcher Corey Kluber rises to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Hammel pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing two hits and three walks, in the 4-1 win over the Brewers.

Hammel earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 11.0 for the season, becoming the 23rd player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. Hammel ranks 17th among all players and 12th among NL pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez pitched four scoreless innings, allowing no hits, walking two and striking out seven, in the 5-3 win over the Orioles. Rodriguez did not earn the win, picking up a no decision, because he did not pitch the requisite five innings to earn the win, exiting the game with an injury.

National League Batter of the Day—DJ LeMahieu of the Rockies homered, tripled and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 6-2 win over the Nationals.

American League Batter of the Day—Luke Maile of the Rays doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 15-1 win over the Padres.

This was Maile’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Maile made his Major League debut Sept. 1, 2015, and was playing in his 35th career game. He is the 3,709th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Rankings—Indians pitcher Corey Kluber rises to third place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Kluber (6IP 7H R 2BB 7K W in the 3-1 win over the White Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 17.2 for the season. He extends his lead among AL pitchers ahead of second-place Cole Hamels of the Rangers (14.1).

Notable—Royals pitcher Danny Duffy becomes the 24th player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Duffy (7.2IP 3H R 2BB 5K W in the 6-1 win over the Tigers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.7 for the season. Duffy ranks 19th among all players and sixth among AL pitchers.

Streak—Troy Tulowitzki of the Blue Jays has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2016 on Tuesday.

Tulowitzki (HR 4-5 2R 2BI in the 12-6 win over the Yankees) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2007 with the Rockies and has 59.8 career points, 15th among active AL batters and first among active AL shortstops. His best year was 2014 with the Rockies, when he had 11.6 Box-Toppers points, the season leader among NL batters. In 2015, he had 6.0 Box-Toppers points with the Rockies and the Blue Jays.

Debut—In addition to Maile, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, with their first career Player of the Game honors:

  • T.J. Rivera of the Mets (4-4 2R in the 7-5 win over the Diamondbacks) made his Major League debut Aug. 10 and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,710th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
  • Jett Bandy of the Angels (HR 2-4 2R BI in the 7-6 win over the Mariners) made his Major League debut Sept. 14, 2015, and was playing in his 45th career game. He is the 3,711th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Hammel earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Rodriguez earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. LeMahieu and Maile 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

8/16 Score Game Player of Game AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB 9.0 CHC 4, MIL 1 Jason Hammel (W,13-5) - - - - 7.0 2 0 0 3 7
AL 9.0 `BOS 5, BAL 3 Eduardo Rodriguez - - - - 4.0 0 0 0 2 7
7.0 MIN 4, ATL 2 Ervin Santana (W,6-9) - - - - 7.0 4 0 0 2 6
7.0 LAD 15, PHI 5 Kenta Maeda (W,12-7) - - - - 6.0 3 2 2 1 9
5.2 KC 6, DET 1 Danny Duffy (W,10-1) - - - - 7.2 3 1 1 2 5
BAT 5.0 COL 6, WSH 2 DJ LeMahieu, 2B 3 3 3 2 - - - - - -
BAT 4.0 TB 15, SD 1 Luke Maile, C 4 1 3 4 - - - - - -
4.0 CHC 4, MIL 0 Trevor Cahill (W,2-3) - - - - 5.0 2 0 0 2 3
4.0 `TEX 5, OAK 4 (10) Alex Claudio - - - - 4.0 2 0 0 1 3
3.0 TOR 12, NYY 6 Troy Tulowitzki, SS 5 2 4 2 - - - - - -
3.0 CIN 6, MIA 3 Tucker Barnhart, C 3 1 1 4 - - - - - -
3.0 STL 8, HOU 5 Seung Hwan Oh (S,12) - - - - 1.0 1 0 0 0 3
2.0 NYM 7, ARI 5 T.J. Rivera, 3B-2B 4 2 4 0 - - - - - -
2.0 CLE 3, CHW 1 Corey Kluber (W,13-8) - - - - 6.0 7 1 1 2 7
1.0 LAA 7, SEA 6 Jett Bandy, C 4 2 2 1 - - - - - -
0.0 PIT 4, SF 3 Andrew McCutchen, CF 3 1 2 0 - - - - - -
`Denotes that the 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 (16). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (15-16), the period 2011-2016 (11-16) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2016 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2015 total (+/-).  

Player of Game Pos Team 16 15-16 11-16 Career +/-
Kluber, Corey 3200 pi sp cle al 17.2 30.6 61.4 61.4 3.8
Hammel, Jason 2235 pi sp chi nl 11.0 20.7 44.1 57.2 1.3
Duffy, Danny 2915 pi sp kc al 10.7 14.7 29.7 29.7 6.7
LeMahieu, DJ 3091 2b col nl 7.0 14.0 20.0 20.0 0.0
Maeda, Kenta 3609 pi sp lad nl 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0
McCutchen, Andrew 2637 cf pit nl 4.5 15.0 45.7 51.4 -6.0
Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 4.0 9.4 47.8 97.3 -1.4
Oh, Seung Hwan 3693 pi cp stl nl 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 pi sp bos al 2.7 8.7 8.7 8.7 -3.3
Cahill, Trevor 2658 pi mr sp chi nl 2.0 3.0 26.1 39.2 1.0
Maile, Luke 3709 ca tb al 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Tulowitzki, Troy 2308 ss tor al 1.0 7.0 39.1 59.8 -5.0
Barnhart, Tucker 3519 ca cin nl 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0
Claudio, Alex 3459 pi mr tex al 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0
Bandy, Jett 3711 ca ana al 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Rivera, T.J. 3710 3b 2b nym nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?