Blog
Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Stroman struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks in the 4-2 win over the Athletics. Stroman did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Athletics tied the game after he exited.
Read More
Phillies pitcher Jerad Eickhoff is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 15.0 |
| 2 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 11.7 |
| 3 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 9.0 |
| 4 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.7 |
| 5 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 8.7 |
| 6 | Machado, Manny 3087 | ss 3b | bal al | 8.7 |
| 7 | Matz, Steven 3516 | pi sp | nym nl | 8.7 |
| 8 | Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | oak al | 8.4 |
| 9 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 8.0 |
| 10 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 8.0 |
Also Tuesday, Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Eickhoff struck out eight over seven innings, allowing one run and two hits, in the 3-2 win over the Cubs.
American League Player of the Day—Mark Trumbo of the Orioles homered, doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 9-1 win over the Royals.
National League Batter of the Day—Chris Carter of the Brewers hit two homers and went 2-for-4, driving in five runs, in the 5-4 win over the Athletics.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Tuesday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Mark Trumbo.
Rankings—Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Grienke rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Greinke (CG 3H 0R 2K in the 5-0 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.0 for the season. He ranks sixth among NL pitchers.
Greinke also now has 154.4 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of 16th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. (See list of Box-Toppers’ updated top 20 players since 1995.) Greinke trails 15th-ranked player, Mike Mussina (155.6).
Debut—Three players made their Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:
Scoring—Eickhoff earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Trumbo earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Carter earns 1.5 points for being NL 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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 6/7 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | PHI 3/CHC 2 | Jerad Eickhoff (W,3-8) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| 6.0 | ARI 5/TB 0 | Zack Greinke (W,8-3) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | MIL 5/OAK 4 | Chris Carter, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | PIT 3/NYM 1 | Juan Nicasio (W,5-4) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 5.0 | `LAD 5/COL 3 | Julio Urias | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| AL | 4.0 | BAL 9/KC 1 | Mark Trumbo, RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | SEA 7/CLE 1 | Nelson Cruz, RF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | DC 10/CHW 5 | Anthony Rendon, 3B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | PIT 3/NYM 1 | Jonathon Niese (W,6-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | `MIN 6/MIA 4 | Fernando Abad | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 2.1 | `CIN 7/STL 6 | John Lamb | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 2.0 | TEX 4/HOU 3 | Jake Diekman (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | DET 3/TOR 2 | Justin Wilson (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | BOS 5/SF 3 | Junichi Tazawa (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | NYY 6/LAA 3 | Starlin Castro, 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | SD 4/ATL 3 | Matt Thornton (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||
| Player of Game | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 8.0 | 28.7 | 93.8 | 154.4 | -12.7 |
| Eickhoff, Jerad 3566 | pi sp | phi nl | 5.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 0.0 |
| Carter, Chris 2828 | 1b | mil nl | 5.0 | 6.0 | 23.9 | 24.9 | 4.0 |
| Nicasio, Juan 2888 | pi sp | pit nl | 5.0 | 6.0 | 21.4 | 21.4 | 4.0 |
| Trumbo, Mark 2851 | rf dh | bal al | 4.2 | 6.7 | 29.9 | 29.9 | 1.7 |
| Castro, Starlin 2767 | ss 2b | nyy al | 3.0 | 7.5 | 20.5 | 21.5 | -1.5 |
| Cruz, Nelson 2224 | dh rf | sea al | 3.0 | 5.0 | 30.7 | 50.2 | 1.0 |
| Niese, Jonathon 2531 | pi sp | pit nl | 2.0 | 8.0 | 23.7 | 30.7 | -4.0 |
| Rendon, Anthony 3258 | 3b | dc nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 0.0 |
| Tazawa, Junichi 3151 | pi mr | bos al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 0.0 |
| Wilson, Justin 3140 | pi cp | det al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 0.0 |
| Diekman, Jake 3266 | pi mr | tex al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 1.0 |
| Thornton, Matt 1928 | pi cp mr | sd nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 4.7 | 26.4 | 1.0 |
| Abad, Fernando 3653 | pi mr | min al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Lamb, John 3654 | pi sp | cin nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Last year's lowest-ranked team tops 1st team rankings of 2016; Cubs rank 2nd; Orioles top AL teams.
Read More
Phillies pitcher Jerad Eickhoff is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Eickhoff struck out nine over seven scoreless innings in the 2-1 win over the Padres.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 3.0 |
| 2 | Volquez, Edinson 2220 | pi sp | kc al | 2.7 |
| 3 | Davis, Chris 2478 | 1b | bal al | 2.5 |
| 4 | Brown, Trevor 3610 | ca | sf nl | 2.5 |
| 5 | Liriano, Francisco 2104 | pi sp | pit nl | 2.0 |
| 6 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 2.0 |
| 7 | Wacha, Michael 3276 | pi sp | stl nl | 2.0 |
| 8 | Rizzo, Anthony 3063 | 1b | chi nl | 2.0 |
| 9 | Estrada, Marco 2847 | pi sp | tor al | 2.0 |
| 10 | Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | phi nl | 2.0 |
American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco struck out eight over eight innings, allowing one run and four hits, in the 4-1 win over the Rays.
National League Batter of the Day—Nolan Arenado of the Rockies hit two home runs, a double and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in seven runs, in the 10-6 win over the Giants.
American League Batter of the Day—Ryan Goins of the Blue Jays hit two doubles and went 3-for-4, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 7-2 win over the Yankees.
Scoring—Eickhoff earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Carrasco earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Arenado and Goins each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 4/13 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | Phillies | Jerad Eickhoff (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | |
| AL | 9.0 | Indians | Carlos Carrasco (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |
| BAT | 8.0 | Rockies | Nolan Arenado, 3B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 7.0 | `Mets | Logan Verrett | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 7.0 | Angels | Matt Shoemaker (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | ||
| 5.0 | Mariners | Steve Cishek (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | Nationals | Tanner Roark (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | White Sox | Carlos Rodon (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | Red Sox | Craig Kimbrel (S,2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.2 | Dodgers | Kenley Jansen (S,3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | Brewers | Jonathan Lucroy, C | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Tigers | Shane Greene (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | ||
| 3.0 | `Royals | Yordano Ventura | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Blue Jays | Ryan Goins, 2B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Cubs | Kris Bryant, 3B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||
Phillies pitcher Jerad Eickhoff is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also, Adrian Beltre of the Rangers, earning Player of the Game honors for the third straight day, rises to lead American League batters in Box-Toppers points with three days to go in the season.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 27.1 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 24.7 |
| 3 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 21.4 |
| 4 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 21.4 |
| 5 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | tor al | 21.1 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 19.7 |
| 7 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 19.4 |
| 8 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 19.0 |
| 9 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 19.0 |
| 10 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 18.0 |
Player of the Day—Eickhoff pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out 10 and allowing four hits, in the 3-0 win over the Mets.
American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Jake Odorizzi struck out seven over seven innings, allowing four hits and one unearned run, in the 4-1 win over the Marlins.
American League Batter of the Day—Manny Machado of the Orioles homered twice and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 6-4 win over the Blue Jays.
National League Batter of the Day—Socrates Brito of the Diamondbacks tripled and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in one run, in the 8-6 win over the Rockies.
This was Brito’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Brito made his Major League debut Sept. 8 and was playing in his 15th career game. He is the 3,606th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Rankings—Adrian Beltre of the Rangers rose to first place among AL batters in Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday for the third straight day.
Beltre (2B 2-3 R 3BI in the 5-3 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.5 for the season. He passes Mike Trout of the Angels (12.0) to lead AL batters.
A week ago, Beltre ranked sixth among AL batters with 9.5 Box-Toppers points. He’s earned Player of the Game honors Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to rise to the AL lead and ranks 24th among all players.
If Beltre’s lead holds through the final three days of the season, his 12.5 Box-Toppers points would be tied for the lowest point total to lead AL batters in a single season. In 2008, Aubrey Huff of the Orioles led AL batters with 12.5 points. In 2012, Beltre led AL batters with 13.0 Box-Toppers points, his best season. He had 0.0 Box-Toppers points in 2014. While in 2014, Beltre had batting numbers similar to or better than this year, the Rangers did not win as many games.
Beltre also rises to 62nd place among players in Box-Toppers points since 1995 (when record keeping began). Beltre has 101.8 career Box-Toppers points and passes three players on the “all-time” list—Jason Schmidt (101.2), Tim Wakefield (101.4) and Adam Wainwright (101.8). He trails 61st-ranked player Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2).
It should be noted that Wakefield and Griffey both began their careers before the advent of Box-Toppers and would likely have higher point totals if their entire career were tracked. Wakefield started in 1992 and would likely have about 110 Box-Toppers points, according to rough projections. Griffey started in 1989 and would likely have about 140. Schmidt debuted in 1995 and Wainwright in 2005, so their entire careers have been tracked by Box-Toppers.
Notable—Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg rose to 10th place among NL pitchers in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Strasburg (6IP 6H 0R 7K W in the 3-0 win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.0 for the season. He ranks 17th among all players.
Reports—Our usual Friday reports on team and player rankings will be delayed until after the season’s final games Sunday. Here are last week’s penultimate (and also next-to-last) team rankings and player rankings reports of the season.
Scoring—Eickhoff earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Odorizzi earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Machado and Brito each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers 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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 10/1 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | Phillies | Jerad Eickhoff (W,3-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | |
| 10.0 | Padres | Ian Kennedy (W,9-15) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 | ||
| AL | 7.0 | Rays | Jake Odorizzi (W,9-9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | |
| 6.0 | Nationals | Stephen Strasburg (W,11-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | Orioles | Manny Machado, 3B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | Cubs | Jason Hammel (W,10-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | `Yankees | Adam Warren (MR) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Dbacks | Socrates Brito, PH-LF | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Rangers | Adrian Beltre, 3B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.2 | Dodgers | Brett Anderson (W,10-9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 2.0 | Royals | Jonny Gomes, RF | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Twins | Kevin Jepsen (S,15) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||
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):
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:
•
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 …
(Other duties have put us behind updating Box-Toppers. Playing catch up …)
Astros pitcher Mike Fiers, pitching a no-hitter, is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Friday, Aug. 21.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 19.4 |
| 2 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | tor al | 17.1 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 17.1 |
| 4 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.7 |
| 5 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.0 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.0 |
| 7 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 15.8 |
| 8 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 15.4 |
| 9 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 15.4 |
| 10 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 15.4 |
Also Friday, Blue Jays pitcher David Price rose to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings and White Sox pitcher Chris Sale rose to third. Plus, Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets took the lead among NL batters in Box-Toppers points.
Player of the Day—Fiers threw 134 pitches in the 3-0 no-hitter over the Dodgers. He struck out 10 and walked three.
Fiers earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season. They were his first Box-Toppers points since being traded from the Brewers.
National League Player of the Day—Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets hit three home runs—a grand-slam, a two-run homer and a solo shot—in the 14-9 win over the Rockies. Cespedes also hit a double and went 5-for-6, scoring five times and driving in seven runs.
Cespedes earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 9.9 for the season and rising to first among NL batters. He passes previous leader Randal Grichuk of the Cardinals (9.5 Box-Toppers points). Cespedes has 3.2 of his Box-Toppers points since being traded from the Tigers.
American League Batter of the Day—Blake Swihart of the Red Sox doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 7-2 win over the Royals.
This was Swihart’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Swihart made his Major League debut May 2 and was playing in his 59th career game. He is the 3,565th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Friday because the overall NL Player of the Day is a batter—Yoenis Cespedes.
Rankings—Two players rose in Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 after earning Player of the Game honors Friday:
Notable—Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco (6IP 5H R 11K W in the 7-3 win over the Yankees) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game, giving him 15.0 for the season. He ranks 12th among all players and sixth among AL pitchers.
Debut—In addition to Swihart, one other player made his Box-Toppers debut Friday—Phillies pitcher Jerad Eickhoff (6IP 5H 0R 5K W in the 7-1 win over the Marlins), who also was making his Major League debut. He is the 3,566th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Fiers earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cespedes earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Swihart earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 8/21 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 16.0 | Astros | Mike Fiers (W,6-9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | |
| NL | 11.0 | Mets | Yoenis Cespedes, CF-LF | 6 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 10.0 | White Sox | Chris Sale (W,12-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 14 | ||
| 9.2 | Indians | Carlos Carrasco (W,12-9) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | ||
| 7.0 | Padres | Andrew Cashner (W,5-12) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 6.0 | Blue Jays | David Price (W,12-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | Red Sox | Blake Swihart, C | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | Phillies | Jerad Eickhoff (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | Twins | Kevin Jepsen (S,6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | Dbacks | A.J. Pollock, CF | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Rangers | Shawn Tolleson (S,24) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 2.0 | Brewers | Kyle Lohse (S,1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 2.0 | Cubs | Jason Motte (MR) (W,8-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.2 | Rays | Drew Smyly (W,1-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | Giants | Marlon Byrd, RF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.