Cubs' Starlin Castro (2HR 6RBI) tops players for Friday, Sept. 18; 4 top 10 pitchers fail to earn Box-Toppers points

Starlin Castro of the Cubs is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also, despite four top 10 pitchers from Box-Toppers player rankings starting Friday, none of them earned Player of the Game honors.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 18.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	23.1
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	22.7
3	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	20.4
4	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	20.1
5	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	19.7
6	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	19.4
7	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	19.4
8	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	17.1
9	Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	sf nl	17.0
10	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	17.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Castro hit a three-run homer and a two-run homer, going 3-for-3 and driving in six runs, in the 8-3 win over the Cardinals.

American League Player of the Day—Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander struck out seven over 8 2/3 innings, allowing two runs and five hits, in the 5-4, 12-inning win over the Royals. Verlander did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision because the Royals tied the game after he exited with a 3-2 lead.

Verlander earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 124.6 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 33rd place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. With his points Friday, Verlander passes two players on the “all-time” list—Jered Weaver (123.1) and Gary Sheffield (124.1). (Sheffield, who started his career in 1988, seven years prior to the start of Box-Toppers record keeping, would likely have about 150 career Box-Toppers points based on rough projections, if his entire career were tracked.) Verlander now trails 32nd-ranked player Mariano Rivera (126.4).

Among Friday’s 14 Players of the Game, Verlander has the most Box-Toppers points this season—6.4, ranking 111th among all players and 43rd among AL pitchers.

American League Batter of the Day—Danny Valencia of the Athletics hit two homers and went 3-for-3, driving in three runs, in the 4-3 win over the Astros.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day Friday because the overall Player of the Day was batter Starlin Castro.

Notable—Four pitchers in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings started Friday but none of them earned Player of the Game honors:

• Fifth-ranked Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke, 19.7 Box-Toppers points, did not earn Player of the Game honors, though the Dodgers beat the Pirates 6-2. Greinke (7IP 4H 2R 3K W) had a Box-Toppers game score of 0. Justin Ruggiano of the Dodgers (2-3 R BI) won Player of the Game honors with a Box-Toppers game score of +1.
• Eighth-ranked White Sox pitcher Chris Sale, 17.1 Box-Toppers points, did not earn Player of the Game honors in the 12-1 loss to the Indians. Sale (7IP 8H 7R 9K L) had a Box-Toppers game score of −3. Player of the Game was Carlos Santana of the Indians (1-4 R 4BI) with a Box-Toppers game score of +2.
• Ninth-ranked Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner, 17.0 Box-Toppers points, did not earn Player of the Game honors in the 2-0 loss to the Diamondbacks. Bumgarner (8IP 5H 2R 7K L) had a Box-Toppers game score of +4. Player of the Game was Diamondbacks pitcher Rubby De La Rosa (5.2IP H 0R 5K W) with a Box-Toppers game score of +5.2.
• Tenth-ranked Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, 17.0 Box-Toppers points, did not earn Player of the Game honors, though the Nationals beat the Marlins, 5-4 in 10 innings. Scherzer (7IP 5H 2R 6K ND) had a Box-Toppers game score of +1. Player of the Game was Nationals closing pitcher Casey Janssen (0.2IP 0H 0R K W) with a Box-Toppers game score of +1.2.

Scoring—Castro earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Verlander earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Valencia 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

9/18	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	8.0	Cubs	Starlin Castro, 2B	3	2	3	6	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.2	Dbacks	Rubby De La Rosa (W,13-8)	-	-	-	-	-	-		5.2	1	0	0	4	5
AL	5.2	`Tigers	Justin Verlander	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.2	5	2	2	1	7
BAT	5.0	Athletics	Danny Valencia, 3B	3	2	3	3	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Rockies	Chad Bettis (W,8-5)	-	-	-	-	-	-		5.0	4	1	1	1	6
	3.0	Mets	Juan Uribe, PH	1	1	1	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Braves	Arodys Vizcaino (S,5)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	1	3
	3.0	Mariners	Tom Wilhelmsen (S,12)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	2.0	Rays	Grady Sizemore, LF	4	1	2	3	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Indians	Carlos Santana, 1B	4	1	1	4	1	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.2	Nationals	Casey Janssen (W,2-5)	-	-	-	-	-	-		0.2	0	0	0	0	1
	1.0	Blue Jays	Justin Smoak, 1B	4	1	2	2	0	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	Dodgers	Justin Ruggiano, LF	3	1	2	1	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	0.0	Reds	Brandon Finnegan (W,4-0)	5	3	1	1	2	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Cardinals' Lackey tops players for Thursday, Sept. 17; Angels' Trout rises to 2nd among AL batters

Cardinals pitcher John Lackey is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Lackey pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing five hits, in the 6-3 win over the Brewers.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 17.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	23.1
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	22.7
3	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	20.4
4	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	20.1
5	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	19.7
6	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	19.4
7	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	19.4
8	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	17.1
9	Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	sf nl	17.0
10	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	17.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Lackey rises to 55th place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when record keeping began. He earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 106.8 for his career. With his points Thursday, he passes two players on the “all-time” list—Aramis Ramirez (105.8) and Frank Thomas (106.2). (Thomas began his career in 1990, five years before Box-Toppers record keeping began. If his entire career were tracked, based on rough projections, Thomas would likely have about 145 career Box-Toppers points.) Lackey now trails 54th-place player Lance Berkman (108.1).

Lackey has 8.7 Box-Toppers points for the season, 52nd among all players, 20th among NL pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Omar Infante of the Royals homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, driving in seven runs, in the 8-4 win over the Indians.

National League Batter of the Day—Addison Russell of the Cubs doubled and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 9-6 win over the Pirates.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day Thursday because the overall AL Player of the Day was batter Omar Infante.

Notable—Mike Trout of the Angels rose to second place among AL batters in Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors.

Trout (2HR 2-3 3R 5BI in the 11-8 win over the Twins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 11.0 for the season, rising to 29th place among all players.

Trout had a Box-Toppers game score of +7.0 Thursday, the same as Omar Infante. But Infante won AL Player of the Day honors on a tiebreaker because he had more at bats than Trout—four vs. three. Had Trout earned AL Player of the Day honors instead of Infante and earned 1.7 Box-Toppers points, Trout would have had 11.7 points for the season, enough to pass AL batting leader Prince Fielder of the Rangers (11.5). But he didn’t.

Trout led AL batters in Box-Toppers points much of July and all of August, but was passed by other players in September. This was Trout’s first Box-Toppers point since July 26.

Debut—Orioles pitcher Chaz Roe made his Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Roe (1.1IP 0H 0R 2K W in the 4-3 win over the Rays) made his Major League debut July 1, 2013, and was playing in his 58th career game. He is the 3,597th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Lackey earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Infante earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Russell earns 1.5 Box-Toppers 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

9/17	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	8.0	Cardinals	John Lackey (W,12-9)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	0	0	2	8
AL	7.0	Royals	Omar Infante, 2B	4	1	3	7	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	7.0	Angels	Mike Trout, CF	3	3	2	5	3	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	7.0	Blue Jays	Marco Estrada (W,13-8)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	3	0	0	2	4
	3.1	Orioles	Chaz Roe (MR) (W,4-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	2
	3.1	Marlins	A.J. Ramos (S,28)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	2
	3.0	Rangers	Shin-Soo Choo, RF	5	2	4	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Athletics	Sean Doolittle (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		2.0	1	0	0	0	2
BAT	2.0	Cubs	Addison Russell, SS	4	2	2	2	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-

Dodgers' Wood tops players for Wednesday, Sept. 16; Cubs' Arrieta retakes Box-Toppers points lead, Price leads AL pitchers

Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Wednesday, Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta regained the lead in Box-Toppers player rankings, marking the sixth September lead change between him and Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw in the topsy-turvy, see-saw race for Box-Toppers Player of the Year honors coming down to the season’s final days.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 16.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	23.1
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	22.7
3	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	20.4
4	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	20.1
5	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	19.7
6	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	19.4
7	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	19.4
8	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	17.1
9	Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	sf nl	17.0
10	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	17.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Plus, Blue Jays pitcher David Price Wednesday rose to lead American League pitchers in Box-Toppers points, rising to fourth place among all players.

In addition, Prince Fielder of the Rangers rose to lead AL batters in Box-Toppers points Wednesday.

Player of the Day—Wood pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out five, in the 2-0 win over the Rockies.

American League Player of the Day—Mariners pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma struck out nine over six innings, allowing one run and four hits, in the 3-1 win over the Angels.

Iwakuma earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 11.4 for the season. He becomes the 39th player this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points and rises to 27th place among all players, 14th place among AL pitchers.

American League Batter of the Day—Prince Fielder of the Rangers homered twice and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in five runs, in the 14-3 win over the Astros.

Fielder earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 11.5 for the season. He rises to lead AL batters in Box-Toppers points, passing previous leader Edwin Encarnacion of the Blue Jays (10.4). He ranks 26th among all players.

Fielder also earned AL Batter of the Day honors Monday, meaning he has 3.0 Box-Toppers points in the past three days. Fielder has earned his Box-Toppers points in bursts this season. He earned 6.5 Box-Toppers points between May 13 and May 26 and has earned 4.0 points since Sept. 1.

National League Batter of the Day—Thomas Pham of the Cardinals hit two home runs and a triple, going 3-for-4 and driving in four runs, in the 5-4 win over the Brewers.

This was Pham’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Pham made his Major League debut Sept. 9, 2014, and was playing in his 43rd career game. He is the 3,596th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Lead changes

Here are the season’s lead changes among players in Box-Toppers points. Chart shows the date and the player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total when they took the lead.  

Date	Player	Team	BTP
4/5	Adam Wainwright	stl nl	2.0
4/6	Felix Hernandez	sea al	2.0
4/13	Scott Kazmir	oak al	3.7
4/18	Felix Hernandez	sea al	4.0
6/26	Max Scherzer	dc nl	14.0
7/9	Felix Hernandez	sea al	14.4
7/12	Max Scherzer	dc nl	15.0
7/24	Felix Hernandez	sea al	15.4
7/26	Jacob deGrom	nym nl	16.4
9/2	Clayton Kershaw	lad nl	20.7
9/5	Jake Arrieta	chi nl	21.1
9/8	Clayton Kershaw	lad nl	21.7
9/11	Jake Arrieta	chi nl	22.1
9/14	Clayton Kershaw	lad nl	22.7
9/16	Jake Arrieta	chi nl	23.1

Overall leader—Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta reclaimed the Box-Toppers points lead from Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Arrieta (8IP 6H 2R 5K ND in the 3-2, 12-inning win over the Pirates) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 23.1 for the season. He passes Kershaw (22.7) for the third time in September.

AL pitching leader—Blue Jays pitcher David Price rose to lead AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.

Price (7IP 6H R 9K W in the 9-1 win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 20.1 for the season. Price passes Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez (19.4) for the lead among AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points. He rises to fourth place among all players. He also becomes the fourth player this season with 20.0 or more Box-Toppers points. It is the first time in his career Price has reached 20.0 Box-Toppers points in a season. His previous best season was 2014 when he had 19.1 Box-Toppers points with the Rays and Tigers.

Notable—Two others who earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday reached notable milestones:

• Indians pitcher Danny Salazar (7IP 4H R 6K W in the 5-1 win over the Royals) rose to 21st place in Box-Toppers player rankings, 11th among AL pitchers, earning 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.4 for the season.
• Giants pitcher Jake Peavy now has 135.8 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank at 25th among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers record keeping began). Peavy (6IP 7H 2R 8K W in the 5-3 win over the Reds) trails 24th-ranked player David Ortiz (137.9). Peavy has 4.0 Box-Toppers points for the season.

Debuts—in addition to Pham, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut Wednesday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:

• Marlins pitcher Adam Conley (7IP 3H 0R 6K W in the 6-0 win over the Mets) made his Major League debut June 10 and was playing in his 12th career game. He is the 3,594th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Red Sox pitcher Henry C. Owens (7.2IP 6H 0R 4K W in the 10-1 win over the Orioles) made his Major League debut Aug. 4 and was playing in his eighth career game. He is the 3,595th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Wood earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Iwakuma earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Fielder and Pham each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

9/16	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	12.0	Dodgers	Alex Wood (W,11-10)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	1	0	0	0	5
	10.0	Marlins	Adam Conley (W,4-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	0	0	0	6
AL	9.0	Mariners	Hisashi Iwakuma (W,8-4)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	4	1	1	0	9
	8.0	Nationals	Gio Gonzalez (W,11-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	2	2	2	12
BAT	6.0	Rangers	Prince Fielder, DH	5	3	3	5	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.2	Red Sox	Henry Owens (W,3-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.2	6	0	0	0	4
BAT	5.0	Cardinals	Thomas Pham, LF-CF	4	2	3	4	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	Blue Jays	David Price (W,16-5)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	6	1	1	3	9
	5.0	Indians	Danny Salazar (W,13-8)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	1	1	2	6
	4.2	`Tigers	Daniel Norris	-	-	-	-	-	-		3.2	1	1	1	0	4
	4.1	Padres	Craig Kimbrel (S,37)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	3
	4.0	Yankees	Andrew Miller (S,34)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	3
	3.0	`Cubs	Jake Arrieta	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	6	2	1	1	5
	2.0	Giants	Jake Peavy (W,7-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	7	2	2	1	8
	1.0	White Sox	Carlos Sanchez, 2B	4	2	1	2	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Nationals' Stephen Strasburg (8IP 0R H 14K) tops players for Tuesday, Sept. 15

Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to 12th among National League pitchers in Box-Toppers points.

Strasburg pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out 14, in the 4-0 win over the Phillies.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 15.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	22.7
2	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	22.1
3	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	20.4
4	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	19.7
5	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	19.4
6	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	19.4
7	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	19.1
8	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	17.1
9	Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	sf nl	17.0
10	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	17.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Strasburg earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points, giving him 11.0 for the season and rises to 26th place among all players. He becomes the 37th player this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points.

His Box-Toppers game score of 20.0 is only the sixth time a player has had a score that high this season. The highest Box-Toppers game score of the season was 25.0 by Indians pitcher Corey Kluber on May 13 (8IP H 0R 18K).

American League Player of the Day—Josh Reddick of Athletics hit a two-run homer an went 2-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 17-6 win over the White Sox.

Reddick earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 8.2 for the season and rising to 10th among AL batters.

National League Batter of the Day—Dee Gordon of the Marlins hit a two-run homer and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 9-3 win over the Mets.

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 Josh Reddick.

Notable—Two other NL pitchers who earned Player of the Game honors Tuesday achieved notable milestones:

• Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez (8IP 4H R 9K ND in the 3-1, 10-inning win over the Brewers) rose ninth place among NL pitchers in Box-Toppers points. Martinez earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.7 for the season. He ranks 16th among all players.
• Cubs pitcher Jon Lester (CG 5H R 9K W in the 2-1 win over the Pirates) became the 38th player with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points this season. Lester earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season. He ranks 15th among NL pitchers and 33rd among all players. Lester also rises to 37th place in career Box-Toppers point among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. Lester has 119.1 career points and passes Cliff Lee (119.1) on the “all-time” list (Lester beats Lee on a tiebreaker—he has more Box-Toppers points this season—10 vs. 0). Lester trails 36th-place player Cole Hamels (122.5).

Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors.

• Rockies pitcher Jairo Diaz (1IP 0H 0R 2K ND in the 5-4, 16-inning win over the Dodgers) made his Major League debut Sept. 8, 2014, and was playing in his 18th career game. He is the 3,592nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Ramon Cabrera of the Reds (1-1 2BI in the 9-8, 10-inning win over the Giants) made his Major League debut Sept. 5 and was playing in his sixth career game. He is the 3,593rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Strasburg earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Reddick earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Gordon earns 1.5 Box-Toppers 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

9/15	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	20.0	Nationals	Stephen Strasburg (W,9-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	1	0	0	1	14
	10.0	Cubs	Jon Lester (W,10-10)	-	-	-	-	-	-		9.0	5	1	1	1	9
	9.0	`Cardinals	Carlos Martinez	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	4	1	1	2	9
AL	5.0	Athletics	Josh Reddick, RF	4	3	2	4	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	3.0	Marlins	Dee Gordon, 2B	5	2	4	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Angels	Joe Smith (S,3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	1	0	0	0	3
	3.0	Pirates	Mark Melancon (S,46)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	3.0	`Rockies	Jairo Diaz (MR)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	2.0	Rangers	Adrian Beltre, 3B	5	1	4	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Rays	Nick Franklin, SS	2	1	1	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Reds	Ramon Cabrera, PH	1	0	1	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.1	Dbacks	Brad Ziegler (S,26)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.1	1	0	0	0	1
	1.0	Tigers	Victor Martinez, DH	4	0	3	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	Braves	Todd Cunningham, PR	0	1	0	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	0.1	Royals	Kris Medlen (W,4-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.1	5	0	0	1	0
	0.0	Orioles	Manny Machado, 3B	5	2	2	1	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Mariners' Walker tops players for Monday, Sept. 14; Dodgers' Kershaw regains Box-Toppers points lead for 3rd time in September

Mariners pitcher Taijuan Walker is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to eighth place among American League pitchers in Box-Toppers points.

Also Monday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw regained the Box-Toppers season points lead, marking the fifth lead change this month between him and Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta, a race for the lead coming down to the wire in the season’s final weeks.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 14.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	22.7
2	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	22.1
3	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	20.4
4	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	19.7
5	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	19.4
6	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	19.4
7	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	19.1
8	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	17.1
9	Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	sf nl	17.0
10	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	17.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Walker struck out seven over seven innings, allowing one run and four hits, in the 10-1 win over the Angels.

Walker earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 13.7 for the season. He ranks 16th among all players and eighth among AL pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher James Shields allowed one run over seven innings, striking out six and giving up four hits, in the 10-3 win over the Diamondbacks.

National League Batter of the Day—Jayson Werth of the Nationals hit two home runs and went 2-for-6, driving in five runs, in the 8-7 win over the Phillies.

American League Batter of the Day—Prince Fielder of the Rangers hit a two-run homer and went 2-for-4, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 5-3 win over the Astros.

Fielder earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 10.0 for the season. He becomes the 36th player (and sixth batter) this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points. He ranks 36th among all players and fourth among AL batters.

Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw regained the Box-Toppers season player rankings lead for the third time this month after earning Player of the Game honors Monday.

Lead changes

Here are the season’s lead changes among players in Box-Toppers points. Chart shows the date and the player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total when they took the lead.  

Date	Player	Team	BTP
4/5	Adam Wainwright	stl nl	2.0
4/6	Felix Hernandez	sea al	2.0
4/13	Scott Kazmir	oak al	3.7
4/18	Felix Hernandez	sea al	4.0
6/26	Max Scherzer	dc nl	14.0
7/9	Felix Hernandez	sea al	14.4
7/12	Max Scherzer	dc nl	15.0
7/24	Felix Hernandez	sea al	15.4
7/26	Jacob deGrom	nym nl	16.4
9/2	Clayton Kershaw	lad nl	20.7
9/5	Jake Arrieta	chi nl	21.1
9/8	Clayton Kershaw	lad nl	21.7
9/11	Jake Arrieta	chi nl	22.1
9/14	Clayton Kershaw	lad nl	22.7

Kershaw (7IP 3H R 5K W in the 4-1 win over the Rockies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 22.7 for the season. Kershaw passes Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta (22.1 Box-Toppers points) for the lead. Kershaw previously took the lead on Sept. 2 and Sept. 8, only holding it for three days each time when Arrieta passed him. Arrieta is slated to start Wednesday and could regain the lead.

Kershaw also rises to 13th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. Kershaw now has 156.3 career Box-Toppers points and passes two players on the “all-time” list—Mike Mussina (155.6) and Tim Hudson (156.0). (Mussina, who pitched for four seasons before Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995, would likely have about 190 Box-Toppers points if his entire career were tracked, based on rough projections.) Kershaw trails 12th-place player John Smoltz (160.9). Passing Hudson, Kershaw rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers points among active players and third among active pitchers, behind CC Sabathia (179.0) and Felix Hernandez (162.7).

Kershaw also had a Box-Toppers game score Monday of 5.0, the same as NL Player of the Day James Shields of the Padres. But Shields won the tiebreaker because he had more strikeouts—six vs. five.

Notable—Two others who earned Player of the Game honors Monday achieved notable milestones:

• Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia extended his lead in career Box-Toppers points among active pitchers. Sabathia (6.2IP 3H 0R 6K ND in the 4-1 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 179.0 for his career. Sabathia ranks fifth among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He ranks second among all active players, behind Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees (187.0). Sabathia has 5.7 Box-Toppers points this season.
• Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco rose to 16th place in Box-Toppers player rankings, seventh among AL pitchers. Carrasco (6IP 5H R 9K W in the 8-3 win over the Royals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 16.0 for the season.

Debut—White Sox pitcher Dan Jennings made his Box-Toppers debut Monday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Jennings (2IP 0H 0R 3K W in the 8-7 win over the Athletics) made his Major League debut April 30, 2012, and was playing in his 160th career game. He is the 3,591st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Walker earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Shields earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Werth and Fielder each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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

9/14	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	8.0	Mariners	Taijuan Walker (W,11-8)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	1	1	0	7
	7.2	`Yankees	CC Sabathia	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.2	3	0	0	2	6
	7.0	`Orioles	Kevin Gausman	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	2	0	0	4	7
	6.0	Indians	Carlos Carrasco (W,13-10)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	5	1	1	2	9
NL	5.0	Padres	James Shields (W,12-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	1	1	2	6
	5.0	Dodgers	Clayton Kershaw (W,14-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	1	1	2	5
	5.0	White Sox	Dan Jennings (W,2-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		2.0	0	0	0	0	3
BAT	3.0	Nationals	Jayson Werth, LF	6	2	2	5	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	3.0	Rangers	Prince Fielder, DH	4	3	2	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.1	Twins	Tyler Duffey (W,3-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.1	7	1	1	2	7
	2.1	Giants	George Kontos (MR) (W,3-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	1
	2.0	Mets	Hansel Robles (MR) (W,4-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	1
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Red Sox' Hill tops players for Sunday, Sept. 13; Dodgers' Greinke rises to 4th in player rankings

Red Sox pitcher Rich Hill is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, marking the first time he’s earned Box-Toppers points in more than six years.

Also Sunday, Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke rose to fourth place in Box-Toppers player rankings and Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer rose to 10th.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 13.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	22.1
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	21.7
3	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	20.4
4	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	19.7
5	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	19.4
6	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	19.4
7	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	19.1
8	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	17.1
9	Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	sf nl	17.0
10	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	17.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Hill pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out 10, in the 2-0, 13-inning win over the Rays. Hill did not pick up the win, earning a no-decision, because he exited with the game in a scoreless tie.

This was the first time Hill has earned Player of the Game honors since June 1, 2009, with the Orioles, when he was Player of the Day. Hill’s best season was 2007 with the Cubs when he had 11.7 Box-Toppers points.

National League Player of the Day—Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out 10, in the 4-3 win over the Diamondbacks.

Greinke earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 19.7 for the season and rising to fourth place in player rankings. He also ranks fourth place among NL pitchers.

Greinke now also has 145.4 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of 21st place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He trails 20th-place player Jim Thome (146.7).

American League Batter of the Day—Adrian Beltre of the Rangers hit two homers and drove in five runs in the 12-4 win over the Athletics.

National League Batter of the Day—Matt Adams of the Cardinals hit a two-run, pinch-hit home run in the 9-2 win over the Reds.

Rankings—Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer rose to 10th place in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday. Scherzer (8IP 5H 0R 6K W in the 5-0 win over the Marlins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 17.0 for the season. He ranks sixth among NL pitchers.

Scherzer also rises to 61st place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. With his point Sunday, Scherzer now has 102.0 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 60th-place player Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2).

Debut—Dixon Machado of the Tigers made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Machado (2B 2-3 2R 2BI in the 9-2 win over the Indians) made his Major League debut May 25 and was playing in his ninth career game. He is the 3,590th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Hill earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Greinke earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Beltre and Adams 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

9/13	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	15.0	`Red Sox	Rich Hill	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	1	0	0	1	10
NL	11.0	Dodgers	Zack Greinke (W,17-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	3	0	0	2	8
	10.0	Yankees	Masahiro Tanaka (W,12-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	0	0	0	7
	9.0	Nationals	Max Scherzer (W,12-11)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	5	0	0	0	6
	8.2	Twins	Kyle Gibson (W,10-10)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.2	5	0	0	1	7
BAT	4.0	Rangers	Adrian Beltre, 3B	5	2	2	5	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Astros	Jed Lowrie, DH	1	1	1	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Orioles	Jonathan Schoop, 2B	4	2	3	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Tigers	Dixon Machado, SS	3	2	2	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	3.0	Cardinals	Matt Adams, PH-1B	1	1	1	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Giants	Angel Pagan, CF	4	3	2	1	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Mets	Curtis Granderson, RF	3	1	1	3	2	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Phillies	Ryan Howard, 1B	3	1	1	3	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Pirates	Pedro Alvarez, 1B	2	2	1	1	2	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Rockies	John Axford (S,23)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	1	0	0	0	2
	1.0	Indians	Chris Johnson, 1B	4	0	3	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Giants' Bumgarner, nearly perfect, tops players for Saturday, Sept. 12, rises to 9th in player rankings

Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth place in season player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 12.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	22.1
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	21.7
3	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	20.4
4	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	19.4
5	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	19.4
6	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	19.1
7	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	18.0
8	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	17.1
9	Bumgarner, Madison 2753	pi sp	sf nl	17.0
10	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	pit nl	17.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Bumgarner pitched a complete-game, one-hit shutout, striking out nine, in the 8-0 win over the Padres. Bumgarner was perfect through 7 2/3 innings before allowing the only hit and only baserunner of the game.

Bumgarner earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 17.0 for the season. He ranks fifth among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Mike Moustakas of the Royals hit a grand slam and a three-run homer, going 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in nine runs, in the 14-6 win over the Orioles.

National League Batter of the Day—Corey Seager of the Dodgers homered, doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 9-5 win over the Diamondbacks.

This was Seager’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Seager made his Major League debut Sept. 3 and was playing in his ninth career game. He is the 3,587th 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 Saturday because the overall AL Player of the Day was batter Mike Moustakas.

Notable—David Ortiz of the Red Sox now has 137.9 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday. Ortiz (2HR 3-4 2R 4BI in the 10-4 win over the Rays) 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-place player Andy Pettitte (138.5). 

Ortiz ranks seventh among all batters since 1995. He ranks third among active batters, behind Alex Rodriguez (187.0) and Albert Pujols (174.3). He has 4.5 Box-Toppers points this season. On Saturday, Ortiz became the 27th player to hit 500 career home runs.

Debuts—In addition to Seager, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:

• Athletics pitcher Sean Nolin (5.2IP 5H R 5K W in the 5-2 win over the Rangers) made his Major League debut May 23, 2013, and was playing in his fourth career game. He is the 3,588th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Carlos Sanchez of the White Sox (2B 2-4 R 2BI in the 8-2 win over the Twins) made his Major League debut July 13, 2014, and was playing in his 132nd career game. He is the 3,589th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Bumgarner earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Moustakas earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Seager earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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

9/12	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	17.0	Giants	Madison Bumgarner (W,18-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		9.0	1	0	0	0	9
AL	10.0	Royals	Mike Moustakas, 3B	5	3	3	9	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	9.0	Reds	Anthony DeSclafani (W,9-10)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	4	1	1	1	10
	9.0	Marlins	Jose Fernandez (W,5-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		5.0	2	0	0	1	7
	7.1	Mariners	Roenis Elias (W,5-8)	-	-	-	-	-	-		5.1	1	2	0	3	8
	7.0	`Phillies	Jerad Eickhoff	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	1	1	3	8
	6.1	Pirates	Jeff Locke (W,8-10)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.1	3	1	1	2	7
BAT	6.0	Dodgers	Corey Seager, SS	4	3	4	3	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	Red Sox	David Ortiz, DH	4	2	3	4	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Blue Jays	Jose Bautista, RF	4	3	2	3	2	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Reds	Aroldis Chapman (S,30)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	3
	3.0	Angels	Huston Street (S,35)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	2.0	Blue Jays	Ben Revere, LF	6	2	4	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Mets	Jeurys Familia (S,40)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	1
	1.2	Athletics	Sean Nolin (W,1-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		5.2	5	1	1	2	5
	1.0	White Sox	Carlos Sanchez, 2B	4	1	2	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Rangers' Lewis tops players for Friday, Sept. 11; Cubs' Arrieta regains Box-Toppers points lead

Rangers pitcher Colby Lewis is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Friday, Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta regained the top spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings, three days after losing the lead to Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 11.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	22.1
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	21.7
3	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	20.4
4	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	19.4
5	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	19.4
6	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	19.1
7	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	18.0
8	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	17.1
9	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	pit nl	17.0
10	Gray, Sonny 3259	pi sp	oak al	16.8

What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Lewis pitched a complete-game, two-hit shutout, striking out four, in the 4-0 win over the Athletics. He allowed no hits until the eighth inning.

National League Player of the Day—Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out six, in the 4-2 win over the Mariners.

National League Batter of the Day—Nick Ahmed of the Diamondbacks hit a two-run homer, a double and went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 12-4 win over the Dodgers.

American League Batter of the Day—Steve Clevenger of the Orioles hit a grand slam and scored two runs in the 14-8 win over the Royals.

Rankings—Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta regained the top spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday. Arrieta (8IP 6H R 7K W in the 5-1 win over the Phillies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 22.1. He passes previous leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (21.7). Arrieta and Kershaw have traded three-day turns with the Box-Toppers season points lead since since Sept. 2, with Arrieta leading twice and Kershaw leading twice.

Notable—Three other Players of the Game from Friday hit notable milestones:

Lead changes

Here are the season’s lead changes among players in Box-Toppers points. Chart shows the date and the player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total when they took the lead.  

Date	Player	Team	BTP
4/5	Adam Wainwright	stl nl	2.0
4/6	Felix Hernandez	sea al	2.0
4/13	Scott Kazmir	oak al	3.7
4/18	Felix Hernandez	sea al	4.0
6/26	Max Scherzer	dc nl	14.0
7/9	Felix Hernandez	sea al	14.4
7/12	Max Scherzer	dc nl	15.0
7/24	Felix Hernandez	sea al	15.4
7/26	Jacob deGrom	nym nl	16.4
9/2	Clayton Kershaw	lad nl	20.7
9/5	Jake Arrieta	chi nl	21.1
9/8	Clayton Kershaw	lad nl	21.7
9/11	Jake Arrieta	chi nl	22.1

• Giants pitcher Jake Peavy now has 134.8 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of 25th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. Peavy (7IP 2H R 2K W in the 9-1 win over the Padres) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point. He trails 24th-ranked player David Ortiz (136.9) and has 3.0 Box-Toppers points this season.
• Angels pitcher Jered Weaver rises to 36th place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995 (when record keeping began). Weaver (6IP 5H 2R 7K W in the 3-2 win over the Astros) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 123.1 for his career. With his point Friday, he passes Justin Verlander (122.9) on the “all-time” list and trails 33rd-ranked player Gary Sheffield (124.1). Weaver has 7.7 Box-Toppers points this season.
• Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets became the 35th player (and fifth batter) with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points this season. Cespedes (HR 2B 3-5 R 3BI in the 5-1 win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.9 for the season. He rises to second place among NL batters —behind Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies (11.5)—and 26th among all players.

Scoring—Lewis earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Bettis earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Ahemd and Clevenger each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers 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

9/11	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	11.0	Rangers	Colby Lewis (W,15-8)	-	-	-	-	-	-		9.0	2	0	0	0	4
AL	7.0	Rockies	Chad Bettis (W,7-5)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	0	0	3	6
BAT	5.0	Dbacks	Nick Ahmed, SS	4	2	4	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	5.0	Orioles	Steve Clevenger, PH-C	2	2	1	4	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	Cubs	Jake Arrieta (W,19-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	6	1	1	2	7
	5.0	Giants	Jake Peavy (W,6-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	2	1	1	0	2
	4.0	Blue Jays	Russell Martin, C	5	2	3	4	0	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Cubs	Kyle Schwarber, LF	4	3	2	3	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Twins	Trevor Plouffe, 3B	5	2	3	3	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Pirates	Mark Melancon (S,45)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	3.0	`Marlins	Jarred Cosart	-	-	-	-	-	-		5.0	4	0	0	3	5
	2.0	Mets	Yoenis Cespedes, CF	5	1	3	3	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Rays	J.P. Arencibia, PH-C	2	1	1	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Angels	Jered Weaver (W,7-10)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	5	2	2	2	7
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Mariners' Hernandez tops players for Thursday, Sept. 10, rises to lead AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points

Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fourth in overall player rankings, first among American League pitchers.

Hernandez pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out eight, in the 5-0 win over the Rangers.

Top 10 players

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

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	21.7
2	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	21.1
3	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	20.4
4	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	19.4
5	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	19.4
6	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	19.1
7	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	18.0
8	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	17.1
9	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	pit nl	17.0
10	Gray, Sonny 3259	pi sp	oak al	16.8

What are those numbers after players' names?

He earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 19.4 for the season. He regains the lead among AL pitchers, passing previous leader Dallas Keuchel of the Astros (19.4). 

Hernandez led all players in Box-Toppers points much of the season—including all of May and much of June—but by August nearly fell out of the top 10 list before rebounding. Hernandez lost his lead among all players on July 26 and lost his lead among AL pitchers on Aug. 8.

Hernandez also rises to 11th place among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. Hernandez now has 162.7 Box-Toppers points, passing John Smoltz (160.9) on the “all-time” list. (It should be noted Smoltz began his career in 1988, so his first seven seasons weren’t recorded by Box-Toppers. Making rough extrapolations, Smoltz would likely have about 250 career Box-Toppers points if all his seasons were included.) Hernandez now trails 10th-ranked player Roger Clemens (164.8).

National League Player of the Day—Todd Frazier of the Reds homered, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 11-0 win over the Cardinals.

Frazier earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 8.9 for the season. He ranks fifth among NL batters.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall NL Player of the Day was batter Todd Frazier.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no AL Batter of the Day for Thursday because no AL batter earned Player of the Game honors.

Scoring—Hernandez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Frazier earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

9/10	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	9.0	Mariners	Felix Hernandez (W,17-8)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	3	0	0	4	8
NL	4.0	Reds	Todd Frazier, 3B	5	3	3	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Rockies	Justin Miller (MR) (W,2-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	3
	3.2	Indians	Cody Allen (W,2-4; BS,4)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.2	1	0	0	0	3
	3.0	Mets	Juan Uribe, 3B	4	1	3	3	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Brewers	Logan Schafer, CF	1	1	1	1	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-

Mariners' Nuno tops players for Wednesday, Sept. 9; Mets' deGrom is 3rd player with 20 Box-Toppers points in '15

Mariners pitcher Vidal Nuno is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Wednesday, Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom became the third player this season with 20.0 or more Box-Toppers points and maintains his rank of third place in player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 9.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	21.7
2	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	21.1
3	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	20.4
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	Gray, Sonny 3259	pi sp	oak al	16.8

What are those numbers after players' names?

Player of the Day—Nuno pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out 10, in the 6-0 win over the Rangers.

National League Player of the Day—Pirates pitcher J.A. Happ struck out 10 over six innings, allowing two runs and three hits, in the 5-4 win over the Reds.

Happ earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 12.1 for the season, rising to 20th in player rankings. He ranks 11th among NL pitchers.

American League Batter of the Day—Ryan Hanigan of the Red Sox doubled twice and went 3-for-3, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 10-4 win over the Blue Jays.

National League Batter of the Day—Michael Bourn of the Braves tripled and went 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 8-1 win over the Phillies.

Rankings—Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom became the third player this season with 20.0 or more Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Gamed honors Wednesday. deGrom (7IP 5H 2R 9K W in the 5-3 win over the Nationals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 20.4 for the season, maintaining his third-place ranking among players this season. He also ranks third among NL pitchers.

Notable—Angels pitcher Garrett Richards became the 34th player with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers poitns this season after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday. Richards (7.2IP 4H 2R 11K ND in the 3-2 win over the Dodgers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season. He ranks 31st among all players and 16th among AL pitchers.

Debut—Francisco Lindor of the Indians made his Box-Toppers debut Wednesday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Lindor (HR 3B 3-5 2R BI in the 6-4 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut June 14 and was playing in his 76th career game. He is the 3,586 player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Nuno earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Happ earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Hanigan and Bourn each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers 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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

9/9	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	14.0	Mariners	Vidal Nuno (W,1-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	1	0	0	2	10
NL	9.0	Pirates	J.A. Happ (W,9-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	2	2	0	10
	8.0	Marlins	Tom Koehler (W,9-13)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	4	2	2	2	10
	7.2	`Angels	Garrett Richards	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.2	4	2	2	3	11
	5.0	Mets	Jacob deGrom (W,13-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	2	2	2	9
	5.0	Orioles	Ubaldo Jimenez (W,11-9)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	3	3	0	8
	5.0	Rays	Jake Odorizzi (W,7-8)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	6	0	0	1	6
BAT	4.0	Red Sox	Ryan Hanigan, C	3	1	3	3	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Dbacks	Zack Godley (W,5-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		5.0	3	1	1	1	5
	4.0	Cardinals	Jonathan Broxton (MR) (W,2-4)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	3
BAT	3.0	Braves	Michael Bourn, CF	5	2	4	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Padres	Wil Myers, 1B	5	2	3	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Astros	Hank Conger, C	4	0	2	4	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Twins	Miguel Sano, PH	1	1	1	1	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	Indians	Francisco Lindor, SS	5	2	3	1	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Pirates' Liriano tops players for Tuesday, Sept. 8; Dodgers' Kershaw regains Box-Toppers player rankings lead

Pirates pitcher Francisco Liriano 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 2015 season as of Sept. 8.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	21.7
2	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	21.1
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	Gray, Sonny 3259	pi sp	oak al	16.8

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Tuesday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw regained the lead in Box-Toppers player rankings and Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray rose to 10th. Also, two players with more than 150 career Box-Toppers points earned Player of the Game honors Tuesday—Kershaw and Giants pitcher Tim Hudson, who rose to 13th place among all players since 1995.

Player of the Day—Liriano struck out 10 over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits, in the 7-3 win over the Reds.

Liriano earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 12.9 for the season. He rises to 16th place among all players and ninth among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—White Sox pitcher Carlos Rodon struck out eight over seven innings, allowing one run and five hits, in the 7-4 win over the Indians.

National League Batter of the Day—Starlin Castro of the Cubs hit a three-run homer and doubled, going 2-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 8-5 win over the Cardinals.

American League Batter of the Day—Eric Hosmer of the Royals hit a three-run double in the 4-2 win over the Twins.

Hosmer earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 9.0 for the season and rises to fifth among AL batters.

New leader—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw regained the top spot in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Lead changes

Here are the season’s lead changes among players in Box-Toppers points. Chart shows the date and the player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total when they took the lead.  

Date	Player	Team	BTP
4/5	Adam Wainwright	stl nl	2.0
4/6	Felix Hernandez	sea al	2.0
4/13	Scott Kazmir	oak al	3.7
4/18	Felix Hernandez	sea al	4.0
6/26	Max Scherzer	dc nl	14.0
7/9	Felix Hernandez	sea al	14.4
7/12	Max Scherzer	dc nl	15.0
7/24	Felix Hernandez	sea al	15.4
7/26	Jacob deGrom	nym nl	16.4
9/2	Clayton Kershaw	lad nl	20.7
9/5	Jake Arrieta	chi nl	21.1
9/8	Clayton Kershaw	lad nl	21.7

Kershaw (7IP 4H 2R 8K W in the 6-4 win over the Angels) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 21.7 for the season. He passes previous leader, Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta (21.1 points), who took the lead from Kershaw on Saturday, Sept. 5.

Kershaw also now has 155.3 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of 15th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He trails 14th-place player Mike Mussina (155.6).

Rankings—Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray rose to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings Tuesday. Gray (7IP 5H 0R 4K W in the 4-0 win over the Astros) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 16.8 for the season. He ranks fifth among AL pitchers.

Notable—Giants pitcher Tim Hudson rose to 13th place among all players in Box-Toppers since 1995 after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.

Hudson (6IP 4H R 4K W in the 6-2 win over the Diamondbacks) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 156.0 career Box-Toppers points. With his point Tuesday, he passes Mike Mussina (155.6) on the “all-time” list and trails 12th-place player Felix Hernandez (160.7). (Mussina started his career in 1991, before Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995, and would likely have an estimated 190 total Box-Toppers points if his entire career were tracked.) Hudson has 3.0 Box-Toppers points this season.

Debuts—Four players made their Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:

• Padres pitcher Colin Rea (7IP 2H 0R 4K W in the 2-1 win over the Rockies) made his Major League debut Aug. 11 and was playing in his sixth career game. He is the 3,582nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Marlins pitcher Kyle Barraclough (1.2IP 0H 0R 4K W in the 6-4 win over the Brewers) made his Major League debut Aug. 7 and was playing in his 15th career game. He is the 3,583rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Tigers pitcher Drew VerHagen (2.1IP 1H 0R 2K ND in the 8-7 win over the Rays) made his Major League debut July 19, 2014, and was playing in his 12th career game. He is the 3,584th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Orioles pitcher T.J. McFarland (2.1IP 0H 0R K ND in the 2-1 win over the Yankees) made his Major League debut Aug. 6, 2013, and was playing in his 98th career game. He is the 3,585th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Liriano earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Rodon earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Castro and Hosmer each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers 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

9/8	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	12.0	Pirates	Francisco Liriano (W,10-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	0	0	1	10
AL	7.0	White Sox	Carlos Rodon (W,7-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	1	1	1	8
	7.0	Phillies	Aaron Nola (W,6-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	6	0	0	1	7
	6.0	Dodgers	Clayton Kershaw (W,13-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	2	1	2	8
	6.0	`Padres	Colin Rea	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	2	0	0	3	4
	5.2	Marlins	Kyle Barraclough (MR) (W,2-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.2	0	0	0	0	4
BAT	5.0	Cubs	Starlin Castro, 2B	4	3	2	4	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Athletics	Sonny Gray (W,13-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	0	0	2	4
	4.0	Giants	Tim Hudson (W,7-8)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	4	1	1	0	4
	3.1	`Tigers	Drew VerHagen (MR)	-	-	-	-	-	-		2.1	1	0	0	0	2
	3.0	`Blue Jays	R.A. Dickey	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	4	1	1	1	4
	3.0	Rangers	Shawn Tolleson (S,31)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	2
	2.1	`Orioles	T.J. McFarland (MR)	-	-	-	-	-	-		2.1	0	0	0	1	1
	2.0	Mets	Kirk Nieuwenhuis, PH-LF	1	1	1	1	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	1.0	Royals	Eric Hosmer, 1B	4	1	1	3	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Red Sox' Jackie Bradley Jr. (2HR 4-4 4BI) tops players for Monday, Sept. 7

Jackie Bradley Jr. of the Red Sox is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Bradley hit two homers and went 4-for-4, driving in four runs, in the 11-4 win over the Blue Jays.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 7.  

	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?

Bradley earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 8.5 for the season. He ranks sixth among AL batters and 52nd among all players.

National League Player of the Day—Mets pitcher Hansel Robles pitched two scoreless innings of middle relief, allowing no hits and striking out four, in the 8-5 win over the Nationals. Robles earned a no decision in the game, as he held the Mets’ lead in the seventh and eighth innings.

This was Robles’ Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Robles made his Major League debut April 24 and was playing in his 48th career game. He is the 3,580th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

National League Batter of the Day—Scott Van Slyke of the Dodgers hit a two-run double and went 4-for-5, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 7-5 win over the Angels.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Monday because the overall Player of the Day was AL batter Jackie Bradley Jr.

Notable—Rockies pitcher Justin Miller earned his first Box-Toppers point in more than six years, earning Player of the Game honors Monday. Miller (1.1IP 0H 0R 4K ND in the 6-4 win over the Padres) last earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors July 11, 2009 with the Giants. Before that, it was nearly five years between Box-Toppers points for Miller—he was Player of the Game Sept. 8, 2004, with the Blue Jays. Miller first earned Box-Toppers points in 2002 with the Blue Jays and has 6.0 career points.

Debut—Brewers pitcher Zach Davies also made his Box-Toppers debut Monday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Davies (7IP 4H R 4K W in the 9-1 win over the Marlins) made his Major League debut Sept. 2 and was playing in his second career game. He is the 3,581st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Bradley earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Robles earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Van Slyke earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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

9/7	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	6.0	Red Sox	Jackie Bradley Jr., RF	4	2	4	4	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
NL	6.0	`Mets	Hansel Robles (MR) (H,9)	-	-	-	-	-	-		2.0	0	0	0	0	4
	5.1	`Rockies	Justin Miller (MR) (H,3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.1	0	0	0	0	4
	5.0	Brewers	Zach Davies (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	1	1	0	4
	5.0	Dbacks	Patrick Corbin (W,5-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	6	0	0	0	5
	4.1	Reds	Anthony DeSclafani (W,8-10)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.1	7	1	1	0	6
BAT	4.0	Dodgers	Scott Van Slyke, 1B	5	1	4	4	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Twins	Eduardo Escobar, SS	3	1	3	3	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Indians	Ryan Raburn, RF	2	2	2	2	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Braves	Williams Perez (W,5-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	6	2	2	0	7
	3.0	Tigers	Rajai Davis, LF	4	2	2	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Cubs	Dexter Fowler, CF	3	1	2	3	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Yankees	Greg Bird, 1B	3	2	1	3	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.1	Rangers	Yovani Gallardo (W,12-9)	-	-	-	-	-	-		5.1	5	0	0	2	4
	2.0	Athletics	Coco Crisp, PH-LF	2	1	1	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

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:

• Delino DeShields of the Rangers, Friday, Aug. 14.
• Twins pitcher Tyler Duffey, Saturday, Aug. 15.
• Addison Russell of the Cubs, Saturday, Aug. 15.
• Ryan Strausborger of the Rangers, Sunday, Aug. 16.
• Cole Gillespie of the Marlins, Tuesday, Aug. 18.
• Greg Bird of the Yankees, Wednesday, Aug. 19.
• Aaron Altherr of the Phillies, Wednesday, Aug. 19.
• Rockies pitcher Yohan Flande, Thursday, Aug. 20.
• Blake Swihart of the Red Sox, Friday, Aug. 21.
• Phillies pitcher Jerad Eickhoff, Friday, Aug. 21.
• Yankees pitcher Luis Severino, Saturday, Aug. 22.
• Darnell Sweeney of the Phillies, Saturday, Aug. 22.
• Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola, Sunday, Aug. 23.
• Stephen Piscotty of the Cardinals, Sunday, Aug. 23.
• Indians pitcher Jeff Manship, Wednesday, Aug. 26.
• Phillies pitcher Adam Morgan, Sunday, Aug. 30.
• Adam Duvall of the Brewers, Monday, Aug. 31.
• Rockies pitcher Simon Castro,  Monday, Aug. 31.
• Darin Ruf of the Phillies, Tuesday, Sept. 1.
• Marlins pitcher Justin Nicolino, Tuesday, Sept. 1.
• Hernan Perez of the Brewers, Thursday, Sept. 3.
• Rays pitcher Xavier Cedeno, Saturday, Sept. 5.
• Nationals pitcher Felipe Rivero, Sunday, Sept. 6.

•

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		-	-	-	-	-	-

Cubs' Jake Arrieta tops players for Saturday, Sept. 5, takes Box-Toppers player rankings lead

(Other duties have put us behind updating Box-Toppers. Playing catch up …)

Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Saturday, Sept. 5, and rises to the top of Box-Toppers season player rankings.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 5.  

	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	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	19.1
5	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	18.0
6	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	17.7
7	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	17.4
8	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	17.1
9	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	16.0
10	Archer, Chris 3194	pi sp	tb al	16.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Saturday, two other players in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings earned Player of the Game honors—Blue Jays pitcher David Price (fourth place) and Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez (seventh place).

Player of the Day—Arrieta took the Box-Toppers season player ranking lead for the first time in his career, passing Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (20.7 Box-Toppers points) who took the lead Wednesday, Sept. 2.

Arrieta has 21.1 Box-Toppers points and becomes the second player this season with 20.0 or more Box-Toppers points.

Arrieta pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out seven, in the 2-0 win over the Diamondbacks. Arrieta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 21.1 for the season, his most points in a season, beating his previous high of 14.7 in 2014.

Arrieta had a Box-Toppers game score Saturday of +11.0, the same as Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia (Player of the Game in his team’s 4-1 win over the Pirates). But Arrieta won overall Player of the Day on a tiebreaker because he had more innings pitched—eight vs. seven.

American League Player of the Day—Twins pitcher Ervin Santana struck out 11 over eight innings, allowing one run and six hits, in the 3-2 win over the Astros.

National League Batter of the Day—Travis d’Arnaud of the Mets homered and went 2-for-4, driving in four runs, in the 7-0 win over the Marlins.

Lead changes

Here are the season’s lead changes among players in Box-Toppers points. Chart shows the date and the player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total when they took the lead.  

Date	Player	Team	BTP
4/5	Adam Wainwright	stl nl	2.0
4/6	Felix Hernandez	sea al	2.0
4/13	Scott Kazmir	oak al	3.7
4/18	Felix Hernandez	sea al	4.0
6/26	Max Scherzer	dc nl	14.0
7/9	Felix Hernandez	sea al	14.4
7/12	Max Scherzer	dc nl	15.0
7/24	Felix Hernandez	sea al	15.4
7/26	Jacob deGrom	nym nl	16.4
9/2	Clayton Kershaw	lad nl	20.7
9/5	Jake Arrieta	chi nl	21.1

American League Batter of the Day—There is no AL Batter of the Day for Saturday because no AL batter earned Player of the Game honors.

Rankings—In addition to Arrieta, two other players in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings earned Player of the Game honors Saturday:

• Blue Jays pitcher David Price (7IP 3H R 8K W in the 5-1 win over the Orioles) maintained his rank of fourth place overall and first among AL pitchers. Price earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game, giving him 19.1 for the season.
• Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez (8IP 6H 3R 9K W in the 8-3 win over the Athletics) rose to seventh place in player rankings. He earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 17.4 for the season. He ranks third among AL pitchers, behind Price and Dallas Keuchel (17.7). Also, Hernandez now has 160.7 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of 12th place among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers record keeping began). Hernandez trails 11th-place player John Smoltz (160.9).

Debut—Rays pitcher Xavier Cedeno made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Cedeno (1.2 IP 0R 0H 4K W in the 3-2 win over the Yankees) made his Major League debut June 9, 2012, and was playing in his 132nd career game. He is the 3,578th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Arrieta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Santana earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. d’Arnaud earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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

9/5	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	11.0	Cubs	Jake Arrieta (W,18-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	4	0	0	0	7
	11.0	Cardinals	Jaime Garcia (W,8-4)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	0	0	1	9
	10.0	Nationals	Gio Gonzalez (W,10-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	2	0	0	4	10
AL	9.0	Twins	Ervin Santana (W,4-4)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	6	1	1	2	11
	8.0	Red Sox	Wade Miley (W,11-10)	-	-	-	-	-	-		9.0	5	2	2	0	8
	6.0	Rangers	Derek Holland (W,3-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	3	1	1	2	5
	6.0	Blue Jays	David Price (W,14-5)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	1	1	4	8
	6.0	Tigers	Alfredo Simon (W,12-9)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	2	0	0	4	5
	5.0	Mariners	Felix Hernandez (W,16-8)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	6	3	3	0	9
	5.0	White Sox	Jose Quintana (W,8-10)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	7	0	0	0	5
	4.2	Rays	Xavier Cedeno (MR) (W,4-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.2	0	0	0	1	4
	4.0	Dodgers	Alex Wood (W,10-9)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	0	0	4	4
BAT	3.0	Mets	Travis d'Arnaud, C	4	1	2	4	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Brewers	Adam Lind, PH	1	1	1	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Brewers	Elian Herrera, 3B	5	2	2	3	0	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	Giants	Gregor Blanco, RF	4	2	2	1	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-

Pirates' J.A. Happ (7IP 0R 3H 8K) tops players for Friday, Sept. 4

(Other duties have put us behind updating Box-Toppers. Playing catch up …)

Pirates pitcher J.A. Happ is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Friday, Sept. 4.

Happ pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing three hits, in the 9-3 win over the Cardinals.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 4.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	20.7
2	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	19.4
3	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	19.1
4	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	18.1
5	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	18.0
6	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	17.7
7	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	17.1
8	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	16.4
9	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	16.0
10	Archer, Chris 3194	pi sp	tb al	16.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Happ earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 10.4 for the season. He becomes the 32nd player this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points. He ranks 28th among all players and 12th among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Josh Tomlin pitched a complete game, allowing one run and four hits, striking out six, in the 8-1 win over the Tigers.

American League Batter of the Day—Kyle Seager of the Mariners homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 11-8 win over the Athletics.

National League Batter of the Day—Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs hit a grand slam and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 14-5 win over the Diamondbacks.

Rizzo earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 8.5 for the season, rising to fifth place among NL batters. He ranks 50th among all players.

Notable—Chris Davis of the Orioles became the 33rd player (and fourth batter) with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points for the season after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Davis (2HR 2-5 2R 3BI in the 10-2 win over the Blue Jays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season. He ranks third among AL batters, behind Edwin Encarnacion of the Blue Jays (10.4) and Mike Trout (10.0). He ranks 33rd among all players.

Scoring—Happ earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Tomlin earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Seager and Rizzo each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers 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

9/4	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	12.0	Pirates	J.A. Happ (W,8-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	0	0	0	8
AL	8.0	Indians	Josh Tomlin (W,4-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		9.0	4	1	1	1	6
	6.0	Rockies	Jorge De La Rosa (W,9-6)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	6	1	1	0	7
	5.2	Astros	Collin McHugh (W,15-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.2	7	0	0	1	6
BAT	5.0	Mariners	Kyle Seager, 3B	4	3	3	3	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	5.0	Cubs	Anthony Rizzo, 1B	3	2	2	4	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	White Sox	Alexei Ramirez, SS	5	3	4	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Angels	C.J. Cron, DH	4	0	3	5	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Nationals	Michael Taylor, PH	1	1	1	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Yankees	Brian McCann, C	1	3	1	1	2	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Dodgers	Justin Ruggiano, PH	1	1	1	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	`Red Sox	Junichi Tazawa (MR)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	1	0	0	0	3
	2.0	Marlins	Martin Prado, 3B	6	1	5	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Orioles	Chris Davis, 1B	5	2	2	3	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.