Twins pitcher Tyler Duffey is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole rose to eighth place in Box-Toppers player rankings.
Player of the Day—Duffey pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing three hits, in the 8-1 win over the Angels.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 20.| 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 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 18.0 |
| 9 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 17.1 |
| 10 | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 17.0 |
National League Player of the Day—Braves pitcher Julio Teheran struck out eight over 8 1/3 innings, allowing one run and five hits, in the 2-1 win over the Phillies. Teheran was perfect through six innings. He earned no decision, not picking up the win, because he exited the game with the score tied 1-1.
National League Batter of the Day—Yunel Escobar of the Nationals doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 13-3 win over the Marlins.
American League Batter of the Day—Logan Forsythe of the Rays hit a three-run homer and doubled, going 2-for-3, scoring twice, in the 7-6 win over the Orioles.
Rankings—Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole rose to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Cole (7IP 6H 3R 9K W in the 4-3 win over the Dodgers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 18.0 for the season. He ranks fifth among NL pitchers.
Notable—Two of Sunday's Players of the Game achieved notable milestones:
- Giants pitcher Tim Hudson rose to 13th place among players in Box-Toppers points since 1995 after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday. Hudson (6IP 4H 0R 3K in the 5-1 win over the Diamondbacks) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 157.0 for his career. With his point Sunday, he passes Clayton Kershaw (156.3) on the “all-time” list—Kershaw had caught and briefly passed Hudson on the “all-time” list only on Sept. 14. Hudson trails 12th-ranked player John Smoltz (160.9) and regains his spot as fifth among active players, third among active pitchers, behind CC Sabathia (179.0) and Felix Hernandez (162.7). Hudson has 4.0 Box-Toppers points so far in what is expected to be his final season.
- Justin Upton of the Padres rose to fifth place in Box-Toppers points among NL batters after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday. Upton (2B 3-5 R 3BI in the 10-4 win over the Rockies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.0 for the season. He ranks 49th among all players.
- Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez, ranked sixth in Box-Toppers player rankings (19.4 points) failed to earn Player of the Game honors in his start Sunday against the Rangers, despite earning the win. Hernandez (5.2IP 4H 2R 5K W in the 9-2 win) had a Box-Toppers game score of -2.8. Player of the Game was Robinson Cano (2-4 R 4BI) with a Box-Toppers game score of 3.0.
Scoring—Duffey earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Teheran earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Escobar and Forsythe 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
| 9/20 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.0 | Twins | Tyler Duffey (W,4-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| NL | 8.1 | `Braves | Julio Teheran | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |
| 8.0 | Astros | Collin McHugh (W,17-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 8.0 | Royals | Danny Duffy (S,1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 7.0 | Nationals | Yunel Escobar, 3B | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.2 | Indians | Josh Tomlin (W,6-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Rays | Logan Forsythe, 2B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | Red Sox | Rich Hill (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 10 | ||
| 4.0 | Pirates | Gerrit Cole (W,17-8) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 9 | ||
| 3.0 | Brewers | Adam Lind, 1B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Mariners | Robinson Cano, 2B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Yankees | Greg Bird, 1B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.1 | Cardinals | Trevor Rosenthal (S,46) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | Padres | Justin Upton, LF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Giants | Tim Hudson (W,8-8) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||