Dodgers' Kenta Maeda tops players for Thursday, May 17; Red Sox' Price tops AL players

Dodgers pitcher Kenta Maeda is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Maeda struck out eight over eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks, in the 7-0 win over the Marlins.

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Catching up on baseball with Box-Toppers, after falling behind by a ‘fair’ amount

Baseball proceeds whether we are ready or not.

In the past few weeks, other duties put me behind staying up-to-date with the Box-Toppers daily blog and I have been scrambling to catch up. I fell behind three weeks and three days ago, on Aug. 13 and only caught up today (Monday, Sept. 7) with yesterday’s games.

Usually when a person falls behind doing something, it’s best to just move ahead and ignore most of what was missed. But when you’re trying to keep comprehensive track of the baseball season, to assess and evaluate teams and players across an entire season, it is a mistake to simply ignore a chunk of the season, simply due to lack of convenience or lack of attention. So I’ve gone back and picked up the days I’ve missed, posting each day’s summary in the blog, even if was sometimes more than a week late.

During my catch-up phase, I did not post daily highlights to Box-Toppers’ Twitter and Facebook feeds. Instead, I’ve opted to post a summary of highlights of what was missed in the interim while I wasn’t posting to social media here in this post, with links to the relevant posts in the Box-Toppers blog:

New Box-Toppers leaders—Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta took over the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings on Saturday, Sept. 5. Arrieta has 21.1 Box-Toppers points and passed previous leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who took the lead Wednesday, Sept. 2. (Kershaw has 20.7 Box-Toppers points.) Previously, Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom led from July 26 to Sept. 1. He currently ranks third with 19.4 points.

Arrieta picked up 6.7 Box-Toppers points during the catch-up period (Aug. 13 to Sept. 6), including earning Player of the Day honors twice—on Sunday, Aug. 30 (when he pitched a no-hitter) and on Sept. 5.

New American League pitching leader—Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel took the lead among AL pitchers on Sunday, Sept. 6 with 19.4 Box-Toppers points. Previously, Blue Jays pitcher David Price led AL pitchers. He currently ranks second among AL pitchers with 19.1 points.

New American League batting leader—Edwin Encarnacion of the Blue Jays took the lead among AL batters on Saturday, Aug. 29 with 10.4 Box-Toppers points. Previously, Mike Trout of the Angels led AL batters. Trout currently has 10.0 Box-Toppers points and ranks second among AL batters.

New National League batting leader—Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies took the lead among NL batters on Thursday, Sept. 3 with 11.5 Box-Toppers points. Previously, Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets took the lead among NL batters on Friday, Aug. 21 with 9.9 points. Before that, Randal Grichuk of the Cardinals led NL batters. He currently ranks fourth with 9.5 points.

New Box-Toppers team rankings leader—The Kansas City Royals took over the lead among teams at the last Box-Toppers team ranking report, as of Thursday, Sept. 3. The St. Louis Cardinals rose to top NL teams. For three weeks previously (Aug. 13, 20 and 27), the Pittsburgh Pirates were the top-ranked team. The Pirates ranked third as of Sept. 3.

Notable—Here are some notable achievements by players that happened during the catch-up phase (Aug. 13 to Sept. 6):

  • Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw was the first player with 20.0 or more points this season, earning it on Wednesday, Sept. 2, the same day he took the Box-Toppers points lead. Kershaw, who led players in Box-Toppers points in three of the past four seasons (2011, 2013 and 2014) and led National League pitchers the past four seasons, has now exceeded 20.0 Box-Toppers points for five straight seasons. Kershaw also rose to 15th place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He has 154.3 career Box-Toppers points.
  • Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon rose to 22nd place among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995. He earned Player of the Day for Monday, Aug. 31, giving him 138.5 Box-Toppers points.
  • Michael Cuddyer of the Mets extended to 12 the number of consecutive seasons in which he’s earned at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point on Sunday, Aug. 30.
  • Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke earned 3.0 Box-Toppers points during the catch-up period and is currently ranked sixth among all players with 18.0 points. In addition, with his point earned Tuesday, Sept. 1, Greinke has 143.7 career Box-Toppers points and ranks 21st among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began.
  • Astros pitcher Mike Fiers pitched a no-hitter on Friday, Aug. 21, earning Box-Toppers Player of the Day honors.
  • Carlos Beltran of the Yankees earned Box-Toppers points in his 17th straight season, tying the record for the longest-active season streak on Friday, Aug. 14. 

Debuts—Twenty-three players made their Box-Toppers debut during the catch-up phase. Here is the list with links to the blog post for the day they made their debut with more information:

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So what was I doing that was keeping me from Box-Toppers? I served as a volunteer coordinator for our local high school band’s major fundraiser. Over the course of the 11-day Iowa State Fair, I helped wrangle nearly 300 student and parent volunteers to fill 550 volunteer spots to serve ice cream and shakes at the fair’s Dairy Barn.

It’s a task that requires a few months of preparation to set up—to get volunteers signed up, to comply with various red-tape regulations and to develop and implement logistics to make it all work. But when the fair starts, the task can sometimes become even more time-consuming. As soon as the fair started on Aug. 13, Box-Toppers fell to the wayside. 

My last “on-time” post was Thursday, Aug. 13, covering the games of Wednesday, Aug. 12. The very next post was more than a week later on Friday, Aug. 21, covering the games of Thursday, Aug. 13. After the fair ended on Aug. 23, I kept plugging away, finally catching up two more weeks later.

The fundraiser went well, by the way. All our volunteers made it, worked hard, had a little fun (and a little ice cream) and raised a lot of money for our high school band program. It was my fifth and final year of coordinating volunteers for the fundraiser. And though it put me a little behind updating the Box-Toppers blog, it was a lot of fun and now that it’s over, tremendously satisfying.

And now, with my attention returned more fully to baseball, onto the homestretch of the season …

Pirates' Cole tops players for Sunday, Sept. 6; Astros' Keuchel rises to lead AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points

Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth in player rankings.

Also Sunday, Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel rises to lead American League pitchers in Box-Toppers points, rising to fourth place in overall player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 6.  


 Player Pos Team BTP
1 Arrieta, Jake 2738 pi sp chi nl 21.1
2 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 20.7
3 deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp nym nl 19.4
4 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 19.4
5 Price, David 2593 pi sp tor al 19.1
6 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp lad nl 18.0
7 Hernandez, Felix 2064 pi sp sea al 17.4
8 Sale, Chris 2806 pi sp chi al 17.1
9 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp pit nl 17.0
10 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 16.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Cole pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out seven, in the 7-1 win over the Cardinals.

Cole earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 17.0 for the season and rising to ninth in season player rankings. He ranks fifth among NL pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel struck out 12 over eight innings, allowing three runs and five hits, in the 8-5 win over the Twins.

Keuchel earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 19.4 for the season. He rises to first place among AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points, passing previous leader David Price of the Blue Jays (19.1). Keuchel also rises to fourth place among all players in season player rankings.

American League Batter of the Day—Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays homered, doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 10-4 win over the Orioles.

Bautista earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 8.0 for the season, rising to seventh place among AL batters.

National League Batter of the Day—Miguel Montero of the Cubs hit a grand slam and went 2-for-3 in the 6-4 win over the Diamondbacks.

Notable—David Ortiz of the Red Sox now has 136.9 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday. Ortiz (HR 1-1 R 3BI in the 6-2 win over the Phillies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point and maintains his rank of 24th among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers record keeping began). Ortiz trails 23rd-ranked player Andy Pettitte (138.5). Ortiz has 3.5 Box-Toppers points this season.

Debut—Nationals pitcher Felipe Rivero made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Rivero (1.1IP 0H 0R 2K W in the 8-4 win over the Braves) made his Major League debut April 17 and was playing in his 35th career game. He is the 3,579th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Cole earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Keuchel earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Bautista and Montero each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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

9/6 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 9.0 Pirates Gerrit Cole (W,16-8) - - - - - - 7.0 2 0 0 3 7
AL 7.0 Astros Dallas Keuchel (W,17-6) - - - - - - 8.0 5 3 3 2 12
6.0 Indians Cody Anderson (W,3-3) - - - - - - 7.0 2 0 0 2 3
BAT 5.0 Blue Jays Jose Bautista, RF 3 3 2 3 1 0 - - - - - -
BAT 4.0 Cubs Miguel Montero, C 3 1 2 4 1 0 - - - - - -
4.0 Red Sox David Ortiz, DH 1 1 1 3 0 0 - - - - - -
3.1 Nationals Felipe Rivero (MR) (W,2-1) - - - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 0 2
3.0 Reds Brandon Phillips, 2B 4 2 3 2 1 0 - - - - - -
3.0 Giants Santiago Casilla (S,32) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
2.0 White Sox Adam Eaton, CF 5 3 3 1 0 1 - - - - - -
2.0 Yankees Brian McCann, C 3 1 1 3 1 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Marlins Justin Bour, PH 1 1 1 1 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Angels Hector Santiago (W,8-9) - - - - - - 6.0 1 0 0 6 3
1.1 Mariners Hisashi Iwakuma (W,7-3) - - - - - - 6.1 5 1 1 1 3
0.0 Dodgers Justin Turner, 2B 4 2 2 0 0 1 - - - - - -