Yankees' Masahiro Tanaka tops players for Friday, June 23; Dodgers' Wood rises to 7th in Box-Toppers player rankings

Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka 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 23:  

	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	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	10.1
5	Ray, Robbie 3502	pi sp	ari nl	10.0
6	Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	9.4
7	Wood, Alex 3246	pi sp	lad nl	9.0
8	Judge, Aaron 3767	rf	nyy al	8.2
9	Vargas, Jason 2055	pi sp	kc al	8.0
10	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	ari nl	7.7

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Friday, Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Tanaka struck out nine over eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 2-1, 10-inning win over the Rangers. Tanaka did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.

National League Player of the Day—Phillies pitcher Mark Leiter Jr. pitched six scoreless innings, striking out five and allowing three hits and one walk, in the 6-1 win over the Diamondbacks.

This was Leiter’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Leiter made his Major League debut April 28 and was playing in his 13th career game. He is the 3,834th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Leiter is the son of pitcher Mark Leiter Sr. who had 23.4 career Box-Toppers points from 1995 to 1998. Leiter would likely have more Box-Toppers point if his entire career beginning in 1990 were tracked (Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995).

American League Batter of the Day—Derek Norris of the Rays homered, doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 15-5 win over the Orioles.

National League Batter of the Day—Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets homered, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 11-4 win over the Giants.

Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood rises from eighth to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Wood (6IP 3H R 2BB 7K W in the 6-1 win over the Rockies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.0 for the season. He ranks fourth among NL pitchers.

With Wood earning a point Friday, it marks the first time this season that all of the Box-Toppers top 10 point leaders have different Box-Toppers point totals—there are for the first time in 2017 no ties among the top 10 players. However, 10th-ranked player, Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke, has 7.7 Box-Toppers points and beats out three other players with the same Box-Toppers point total on tiebreakers—Red Sox pitcher Craig Kimbrel, Marlins pitcher Dan Straily and Astros pitcher Lance McCullers.

Debut—Brian Goodwin of the Nationals made his Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.

Goodwin (2HR 3-4 2R 2BI in the 6-5, 10-inning win over the Reds) made his Major League debut Aug. 6, 2016, and was playing in his 54th career game. He is the 3,835th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Tanaka earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Leiter earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Norris and Cespedes each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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.

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 

6/23	Score	Game	Player of the Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	12.0	`NYY 2, TEX 1 (F/10)	Masahiro Tanaka	-	-	-	-		8.0	3	0	0	2	9
NL	7.0	PHI 6, ARI 1	Mark Leiter Jr. (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	0	0	1	5
	6.0	LAD 6, COL 1	Alex Wood (W,8-0)	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	1	1	2	7
BAT	5.0	TB 15, BAL 5	Derek Norris, C	3	3	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	SD 1, DET 0	Luis Perdomo (W,2-4)	-	-	-	-		6.0	2	0	0	5	6
	5.0	ATL 5, MIL 4	Mike Foltynewicz (W,5-5)	-	-	-	-		5.0	4	1	1	3	9
	4.0	BOS 9, LAA 4	Sandy Leon, C	4	1	3	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	OAK 3, CHW 0	Jharel Cotton (W,5-7)	-	-	-	-		5.0	3	0	0	1	3
	3.0	SEA 13, HOU 3	Danny Valencia, 1B	5	2	4	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	3.0	NYM 11, SF 4	Yoenis Cespedes, LF	5	2	3	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	WSH 6, CIN 5 (F/10)	Brian Goodwin, LF-CF	4	2	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	`PIT 4, STL 3	Jameson Taillon	-	-	-	-		6.0	4	2	2	2	7
	2.0	MIN 5, CLE 0	Adalberto Mejia (W,2-3)	-	-	-	-		5.0	2	0	0	5	4
	1.0	MIA 2, CHC 0	Giancarlo Stanton, RF	3	1	2	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	0.0	KC 5, TOR 4	Salvador Perez, C	4	1	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	+/-
Wood, Alex 3246	pi sp	lad nl	9.0	10.0	28.4	28.4	8.0
Tanaka, Masahiro 3305	pi sp	nyy al	4.7	18.8	39.5	39.5	-9.4
Perez, Salvador 2972	ca	kc al	4.5	8.5	23.7	26.2	0.5
Cotton, Jharel 3733	pi sp	oak al	3.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	1.0
Norris, Derek 3198	ca	tb al	3.0	4.0	16.0	16.0	2.0
Valencia, Danny 2772	1b 3b	sea al	2.7	7.2	11.7	15.7	-1.8
Cespedes, Yoenis 3008	lf	nym nl	2.5	10.5	42.4	42.4	-5.5
Leon, Sandy 3676	ca	bos al	2.5	5.5	5.5	5.5	-0.5
Stanton, Giancarlo 2737	rf	fla nl	2.0	8.5	32.7	41.2	-4.5
Taillon, Jameson 3658	pi sp	pit nl	2.0	7.0	7.0	7.0	-3.0
Perdomo, Luis D. 3715	pi sp	sd nl	2.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	0.0
Mejia, Adalberto 3812	pi sp	min al	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Leiter, Mark Jr. 3834	pi sp	phi nl	1.7	1.7	1.7	1.7	1.7
Foltynewicz, Mike 3455	pi sp	atl nl	1.0	5.0	7.7	7.7	-3.0
Goodwin, Brian 3835	lf cf	dc nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Tigers' Matthew Boyd tops players for Tuesday, April 11; Marlins' Ozuna tops NL players

Tigers pitcher Matthew Boyd is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Boyd pitched six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out six, in the 2-1 win over the Twins.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of April 11:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	3.0
2	Verlander, Justin 2112	pi sp	det al	2.7
3	Santana, Ervin 2005	pi sp	min al	2.7
4	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	2.0
5	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	2.0
6	Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	2.0
7	Martinez, Carlos 3371	pi sp	stl nl	2.0
8	Finnegan, Brandon 3535	pi sp	cin nl	2.0
9	Mazara, Nomar 3614	rf	tex al	2.0
10	Boyd, Matthew 3550	pi sp	det al	2.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Boyd earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first of the season, and rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings.

National League Player of the Day—Marcell Ozuna of the Marlins hit two homers and went 2-for-2, driving in six runs, in the 8-4 win over the Braves.

American League Batter of the Day—Christian Vazquez of the Red Sox tripled, doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 8-1 win over the Orioles.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Tuesday because the overall NL Player of the Day was batter Marcell Ozuna.

Rankings—Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday. Carrasco (7IP 4H R 0BB 7K ND in the 2-1, 10-inning win over the White Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 2.0 for the season.

Notable—Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets hit three home runs and earned Player of the Game honors the 14-4 win over the Phillies. However, Cespedes had the fourth-highest Box-Toppers game score (+6.0) among all players and the second-highest among NL batters (Ozuna had a Box-Toppers game score of +8.0). So, despite Cespedes’s three home runs, he did not earn Box-Toppers bonus points for being overall Player of the Day, NL Player of the Day or NL Batter of the Day. In addition to his home runs, Cespedes doubled and went 4-for-6, scoring three times and driving in five runs.

It was the second time in his career Cespedes hit three home runs in a game. He also did it on Aug. 21, 2015, when he had a Box-Toppers game score of +11.0, which was the highest game score for a batter in all of 2015.

Scoring—Boyd earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Ozuna earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Vazquez earns 1.5 points for being AL 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.

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 

4/11	Score	Game	Player	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	9.0	DET 2, MIN 1	Matthew Boyd (W,1-1)	-	-	-	-		6.0	1	0	0	2	6
NL	8.0	MIA 8, ATL 4	Marcell Ozuna, LF	2	2	2	6		-	-	-	-	-	-
	8.0	`CLE 2, CHW 1 (F/10)	Carlos Carrasco	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	1	1	0	7
	6.0	NYM 14, PHI 4	Yoenis Cespedes, LF	6	3	4	5		-	-	-	-	-	-
	6.0	WSH 8, STL 3	Daniel Murphy, 2B	5	2	4	5		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.2	ARI 4, SF 3	Robbie Ray (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-		6.2	4	0	0	5	8
BAT	4.0	BOS 8, BAL 1	Christian Vazquez, C	4	2	4	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	CIN 6, PIT 2	Scooter Gennett, 2B	4	2	3	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	HOU 7, SEA 5	Evan Gattis, PH	1	0	1	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	`MIL 4, TOR 3	Corey Knebel (H,1)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	2.0	COL 3, SD 2	Antonio Senzatela (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	2	2	1	5
	1.0	LAA 6, TEX 5 (F/10)	Carlos Perez, C	1	0	1	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 Game	Pos	Team	’17	’16-17	’12-17	Career	+/-
Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	2.0	14.4	43.1	48.5	-10.4
Boyd, Matthew 3550	pi sp	det al	2.0	8.1	9.1	9.1	-4.1
Senzatela, Antonio 3760	pi sp	col nl	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Ozuna, Marcell 3190	lf	fla nl	1.7	6.7	20.2	20.2	-3.3
Vazquez, Christian 3380	ca	bos al	1.5	2.5	5.5	5.5	0.5
Cespedes, Yoenis 3008	lf	nym nl	1.0	9.0	40.9	40.9	-7.0
Murphy, Daniel 2589	2b	dc nl	1.0	8.5	29.5	33.5	-6.5
Ray, Robbie 3502	pi sp	ari nl	1.0	7.7	11.7	11.7	-5.7
Gattis, Evan 3179	ca ph	hou al	1.0	6.0	12.0	12.0	-4.0
Gennett, Scooter 3254	2b	cin nl	1.0	3.5	12.5	12.5	-1.5
Perez, Carlos 3484	ca	ana al	1.0	2.5	3.5	3.5	-0.5
Knebel, Corey 3757	pi mr	mil nl	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	0.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Marcus Stroman tops players as Blue Jays beat Orioles in AL Wild Card Game

Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Tuesday’s American League Wild Card game.

Stroman pitched six innings, allowing two runs on four hits, striking out six and walking none, in the 5-2, 11-inning win over the Orioles. Stroman did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the game was tied 2-2 when he exited.

Stroman had 6.7 Box-Toppers points during the regular season, ranked 43rd among AL pitchers, 112th overall.

While the Blue Jays were the top-ranked Wild Card team, they rank lower in Box-Toppers team rankings. The Blue Jays rank ninth among all teams with 114.0 accumulated Box-Toppers points. The Orioles ranked seventh with 116.6.

The Blue Jays will face the Texas Rangers in the best-of-five AL Division Series beginning Thursday in Texas. The Rangers have the AL’s best winning percentage (.586), but rank third among AL teams and fifth among all teams in Box-Toppers team rankings with 122.5 points.

Top player from AL Wild Card Game

BTG	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
4.0	`TOR 5, BAL 2 (11)	Marcus Stroman	-	-	-	-		6.0	4	2	2	0	6
	`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.
	BTG: Box-Toppers game score

Box-Toppers’ NL Wild Card Preview

Coming Wednesday—The National League Wild Card Game is in New York, with the Giants facing the Mets. Here is the pitching match-up:

Giants—Madison Bumgarner, 13.0 Box-Toppers points, ranked 19th among all players, 12th among NL pitchers.

Mets—Noah Syndergaard, 16.7 Box-Toppers points, ranked seventh among all players, fourth among NL pitchers.

Bumgarner and Syndergaard also both rank among the top 10 NL pitchers in Box-Toppers points over the past two seasons. Bumgarner has 30.0 points over 2015 and 2016, ranking seventh. Syndergaard has 27.1 points in that span, ranking 10th. Bumgarner also ranks third among pitchers in Box-Toppers points earned since the start of 2011—he has an even 100.0 points and trails only Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers (150.2), and Max Scherzer, Nationals (111.3). Syndergaard was a rookie in 2015.

The Mets are sixth in Box-Toppers team rankings with 119.1 accumulated points, third-most among NL teams. The Giants rank 10th, fifth among NL teams, with 112.7, the lowest-ranked team to qualify for the postseason. However, in the final 10 days of the season, the Giants were the slightly hotter team, picking up 8.7 Box-Toppers points, while the Mets picked up 6.7.

The Mets have two players among Box-Toppers top 10 NL batters:

• Outfielder Jay Bruce has 8.5 Box-Toppers points, ranking eighth.
• Outfielder Yoenis Cespedes has 8.0 Box-Toppers points, ranking 10th.

The Giants highest-ranking batter is first baseman Brandon Belt with 7.0 Box-Toppers points, ranking 18th among NL batters.

The winner of the NL Wild Card game will face the Chicago Cubs in the best-of-five NL Divisional Series beginning Friday in Chicago. The Cubs have baseball’s best winning percentage (.640) and rank first in Box-Toppers team rankings with 139.5 points.

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.

Giants vs. Mets

Here are players for both teams in the NL Wild Card Game Wednesday. Players are listed for both teams ranked by Box-Toppers points earned in 2016. All players listed were on active Major or Minor League rosters at the end of the season—not necessarily all of them will be included on postseason rosters.  

San Francisco Giants				New York Mets
Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	16.4		Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	16.7
Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	13.0		Matz, Steven 3516	pi sp	12.1
Moore, Matt 2975	pi sp	12.4		deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	9.7
Samardzija, Jeff 2495	pi sp	10.7		Bruce, Jay 2453	rf	8.5
Belt, Brandon 2943	1b	7.0		Colon, Bartolo	pi sp	8.4
Panik, Joe 3401	2b	5.5		Cespedes, Yoenis 3008	cf lf	8.0
Nunez, Eduardo 2795	3b 2b ss	5.5		Familia, Jeurys 3446	pi cp	8.0
Peavy, Jake 1635	pi sp	5.0		Conforto, Michael 3622	lf	5.0
Posey, Buster 2745	ca 1b	3.5		Granderson, Curtis 2051	rf cf ph	4.5
Pence, Hunter 2287	rf	3.5		Flores, Wilmer 3345	3b 1b 2b ph	4.5
Casilla, Santiago 2301	pi cp	3.0		Walker, Neil 2756	2b	3.5
Kontos, George 3106	pi cp mr	3.0		Harvey, Matt 3075	pi sp	3.0
Span, Denard 2502	cf	3.0		Niese, Jonathon 2531	pi sp	2.0
Tomlinson, Kelby 3619	2b ph	3.0		Cabrera, Asdrubal 2362	ss	2.0
Cain, Matt 2081	pi sp	2.7		Reed, Addison 3023	pi mr	2.0
Brown, Trevor 3610	ca	2.5		Salas, Fernando 2853	pi cp	2.0
Crawford, Brandon 2878	ss	2.0		Reyes, Jose 1759	3b ss	2.0
Gillaspie, Conor 3218	3b ph	2.0		Loney, James 2206	1b ph	2.0
Blach, Ty 3754	pi sp	2.0		Reynolds, Matt 3650	ss ph	2.0
Law, Derek 3657	pi sp mr	2.0		Smoker, Josh 3725	pi cp mr	2.0
Pagan, Angel 2184	lf	1.0		Gsellman, Robert 3748	pi sp	1.7
Beckham, Gordon 2620	2b	1.0		De Aza, Alejandro 2950	cf	1.5
Strickland, Hunter 3546	pi mr	1.0		Verrett, Logan 3518	pi sp	1.0
Okert, Steven 3745	pi mr	1.0		Robles, Hansel 3580	pi cp	1.0
Osich, Josh 3677	pi mr	1.0		d’Arnaud, Travis 3384	ca	1.0
				Wright, David 1911	3b	1.0
				Goeddel, Erik 3672	pi mr	1.0
				Lugo, Seth 3729	pi sp	1.0
				Rivera, T.J. 3710	3b 2b	1.0
				Ynoa, Gabriel 3743	pi sp	1.0
Totals		112.7		Totals		119.1

What are those numbers after players' names?

Padres' Pomeranz tops players for Friday, June 3; Syndergaard, Salazar rise into Box-Toppers top 10

Padres pitcher Drew Pomeranz 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 2016 season as of June 3:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	14.0
2	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	9.7
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	Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	8.0
10	Salazar, Danny 3223	pi sp	cle al	7.8

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Friday, two players rose into Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list—Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard and Indians pitcher Danny Salazar. Plus, Eugenio Suarez of the Reds earned Player of the Game honors for the second straight day to take the season Box-Toppers points lead among National League batters, passing Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets.

Player of the Day—Pomeranz pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing two hits, in the 4-0 win over the Rockies.

American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Danny Salazar struck out nine over eight innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 6-1 win over the Royals.

Salazar earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 7.8 for the season, rising to 10th place in season player rankings, third among AL pitchers.

National League Batter of the Day—Corey Seager of the Dodgers hit three home runs, going 3-for-4, in the 4-2 win over the Braves.

American League Batter of the Day—Adrian Beltre of the Rangers hit a three-run homer and doubled, going 2-for-3 and driving in five total runs, in the 7-3 win over the Mariners.

Beltre earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 105.8 for his career, rising to 58th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes Aramis Ramirez (105.8) on the “all-time” list and now trails 57th-ranked player Frank Thomas (106.2). Beltre ranks fifth in career Box-Toppers points among active AL batters.

Rankings—Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Syndergaard (7IP 6H 2R 9K W in the 6-2 win over the Marlins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.0 for the season. He ranks sixth among NL pitchers.

Suarez—Eugenio Suarez of the Reds earned Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Friday and takes the Box-Toppers points lead among NL batters, passing Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets.

Suarez (HR 3-4 2R 2BI in the 7-2 win over the Nationals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.0 for the season, passing previous NL batting leader, Cespedes (6.0). Suarez ranks 14th among all players.

Suarez also earned NL Batter of the Day honors Thursday.

Notable—Cubs pitcher John Lackey now has 114.5 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Lackey (6.2IP 5H 0R 9K W in the 6-0 win over the Diamondbacks) maintains his rank of 46th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 45th-ranked player Josh Beckett (114.9). Lackey has 6.7 Box-Toppers points for the season, 10th-most among NL pitchers.

Debut—James McCann of the Tigers made his Box-Toppers debut Friday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.

McCann (HR 3B 3-4 2R 2BI in the 10-3 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut Sept. 1, 2014, and was playing in his 149th career game. He is the 3,649th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Pomeranz earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Salazar earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Seager and Beltre each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

6/3	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	11.0	SD 4/COL 0	Drew Pomeranz (W,5-5)	-	-	-	-		7.0	2	0	0	2	8
	8.2	CHC 6/ARI 0	John Lackey (W,6-2)	-	-	-	-		6.2	5	0	0	2	9
AL	7.0	CLE 6/KC 1	Danny Salazar (W,6-3)	-	-	-	-		8.0	3	1	1	5	9
BAT	5.0	LAD 4/ATL 2	Corey Seager, SS	4	3	3	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	5.0	TEX 7/SEA 3	Adrian Beltre, 3B	3	1	2	5		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	NYM 6/MIA 2	Noah Syndergaard (W,6-2)	-	-	-	-		7.0	6	2	2	1	9
	4.0	HOU 12/OAK 2	Evan Gattis, C	5	1	4	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	DET 10/CHW 3	James McCann, C	4	2	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	CIN 7/DC 2	Eugenio Suarez, 3B	4	2	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	PHI 6/MIL 3	Cameron Rupp, C	2	2	2	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.2	TOR 5/BOS 2	R.A. Dickey (W,3-6)	-	-	-	-		6.2	2	1	0	5	4
	2.0	LAA 9/PIT 2	Kole Calhoun, RF	4	2	2	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.1	BAL 6/NYY 5	Mychal Givens (W,5-0)	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	0
	1.0	SF 5/STL 1	Kelby Tomlinson, PH	0	1	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	TB 4/MIN 2	Erasmo Ramirez (W,7-4)	-	-	-	-		1.0	1	0	0	0	1

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	+/-
Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	8.0	18.4	18.4	18.4	-2.4
Salazar, Danny 3223	pi sp	cle al	7.8	21.2	30.6	30.6	-5.6
Suarez, Eugenio 3355	3b	cin nl	7.0	10.0	12.5	12.5	4.0
Lackey, John 1640	pi sp	chi nl	6.7	16.4	36.1	114.5	-3.0
Pomeranz, Drew 3061	pi sp mr	sd nl	6.0	9.0	17.0	17.0	3.0
Beltre, Adrian 1141	3b	tex al	4.0	16.5	42.4	105.8	-8.5
Dickey, R.A. 1734	pi sp	tor al	3.0	8.0	52.2	73.9	-2.0
Calhoun, Kole 3279	rf	ana al	3.0	6.2	13.7	13.7	-0.2
Ramirez, Erasmo 1786	pi sp mr	tb al	2.7	9.7	11.7	13.7	-4.3
Tomlinson, Kelby 3619	ph	sf nl	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Seager, Corey 3587	ss	lad nl	1.5	3.0	3.0	3.0	0.0
Gattis, Evan 3179	ca dh	hou al	1.0	5.0	7.0	7.0	-3.0
Givens, Mychal 3599	pi mr	bal al	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	0.0
Rupp, Cameron 3556	ca	phi nl	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	0.0
McCann, James 3649	ca	det al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?