Pirates pitcher Jameson Taillon 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 2016 season as of June 14:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 17.0 |
| 2 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 11.7 |
| 3 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 10.0 |
| 4 | Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | chi nl | 9.4 |
| 5 | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 9.0 |
| 6 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 9.0 |
| 7 | Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 8.8 |
| 8 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.7 |
| 9 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 8.7 |
| 10 | Machado, Manny 3087 | ss 3b | bal al | 8.7 |
Also Tuesday, Cubs pitcher John Lackey and Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner rise in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Taillon pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits, one walk and striking out five, in the 4-0 win over the Mets.
This was Taillon’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Taillon made his Major League debut June 8 and was playing in his second career game. He is the 3,658th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
American League Player of the Day—Josh Donaldson of the Blue Jays hit a grand slam and two doubles, going 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five total runs, in the 11-3 win over the Phillies.
Donaldson earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 7.2 for the season, rising to second place among AL batters, trailing only Manny Machado of the Orioles (8.7 Box-Toppers points). Donaldson ranks 19th among all players.
National League Batter of the Day—Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies homered and doubled, going 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 13-10 win over the Yankees.
Gonzalez, who led NL batters in Box-Toppers points in 2015 with 11.5, has 2.5 points in 2016.
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 was batter Josh Donaldson.
Rankings—Two players rose in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday:
- Cubs pitcher John Lackey rises to fourth place in season rankings with 9.4 Box-Toppers points. Lackey (6IP 4H 2R 7K ND in the 4-3 win over the Nationals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point Tuesday and now has 117.2 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 41st place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes two players on the “all-time” list—Todd Helton (116.4) and Mark Buehrle (116.7). Lackey now trails 40th-ranked player Barry Zito (117.4).
- Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner rises to fifth place in season rankings with 9.0 Box-Toppers points. Bumgarner (8IP 4H 2R 8K W in the 3-2 win over the Brewers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point Tuesday and now has 101.7 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 64th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes four players on the “all-time” list—Carlos Beltran of the Yankees (100.9), Jason Schmidt (101.2), Tim Wakefield (101.4) and Dodgers pitcher Scott Kazmir (101.4). Bumgarner now trails 63rd-ranked player Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2).
Scoring—Taillon earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Donaldson earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Gonzalez earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 6/14 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.0 | PIT 4/NYM 0 | Jameson Taillon (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| AL | 7.0 | TOR 11/PHI 3 | Josh Donaldson, 3B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 7.0 | SF 3/MIL 2 | Madison Bumgarner (W,8-2) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 5.0 | BAL 3/BOS 2 | Chris Tillman (W,9-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | COL 13/NYY 10 | Carlos Gonzalez, RF | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | TB 8/SEA 7 | Corey Dickerson, LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | DET 11/CHW 8 | Justin Upton, LF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | TEX 10/OAK 6 | Ryan Rua, 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | LAD 7/ARI 4 | Kenley Jansen (S,18) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.1 | HOU 5/STL 2 | Doug Fister (W,7-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | MIA 5/SD 2 | Jeff Mathis, C | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | `CHC 4/DC 3 | John Lackey | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 2.0 | LAA 5/MIN 4 | Kole Calhoun, RF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | CIN 3/ATL 1 | Brandon Finnegan (W,3-4) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | ||
| 1.2 | KC 3/CLE 2 | Joakim Soria (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||
Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players
Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (16). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (15-16), the period 2011-2016 (11-16) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2016 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2015 total (+/-).| Player of Game | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | chi nl | 9.4 | 19.1 | 38.8 | 117.2 | -0.3 |
| Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 9.0 | 26.0 | 96.0 | 101.7 | -8.0 |
| Donaldson, Josh 3144 | 3b | tor al | 7.2 | 17.1 | 37.1 | 37.1 | -2.7 |
| Tillman, Chris 2754 | pi sp | bal al | 6.0 | 10.7 | 39.8 | 41.8 | 1.3 |
| Calhoun, Kole 3279 | rf | ana al | 4.0 | 7.2 | 14.7 | 14.7 | 0.8 |
| Rua, Ryan 3631 | 1b lf | tex al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Gonzalez, Carlos 2460 | rf | col nl | 2.5 | 14.0 | 42.7 | 55.7 | -9.0 |
| Upton, Justin 2411 | lf | det al | 2.0 | 11.0 | 37.9 | 46.4 | -7.0 |
| Jansen, Kenley 2871 | pi cp | lad nl | 2.0 | 6.0 | 32.4 | 32.4 | -2.0 |
| Dickerson, Corey 3222 | lf | tb al | 2.0 | 5.0 | 14.0 | 14.0 | -1.0 |
| Finnegan, Brandon 3535 | pi sp | cin nl | 2.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | -1.0 |
| Taillon, Jameson 3658 | pi sp | pit nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Soria, Joakim 2258 | pi cp | kc al | 1.0 | 6.7 | 13.7 | 45.7 | -4.7 |
| Fister, Doug 2688 | pi sp | hou al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 48.5 | 52.2 | -1.0 |
| Mathis, Jeff 2412 | ca | fla nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 6.0 | 11.5 | 1.0 |