White Sox pitcher Carlos Rodon is Sunday’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 Sept. 25:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 24.7 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 24.4 |
| 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | died* | 22.4 |
| 4 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 22.1 |
| 5 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 21.2 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 17.8 |
| 7 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 15.7 |
| 8 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym al | 15.7 |
| 9 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 15.4 |
| 10 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 15.1 |
* Jose Fernandez died in a boating accident Sept. 25. His team was the Miami Marlins.
Also Sunday, Cubs pitcher Jon Lester rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Plus, Sunday: Jose Fernandez, 24, died in a Miami boating accident. Two of his friends also died. The Miami Marlins pitcher ranked third in Box-Toppers season player rankings with 22.4 Box-Toppers points. Box-Toppers will have more on Fernandez in a coming, separate post.
Player of the Day—Rodon struck out 11 over eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and walking three, in the 3-0 win over the Indians.
National League Player of the Day—Mets pitcher Robert Gsellman struck out eight over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 17-0 win over the Phillies.
This was Gsellman’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Gsellman made his Major League debut Aug. 23 and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,748th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
American League Batter of the Day—Alex Gordon of the Royals hit a homer and two doubles, going 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 12-9 win over the Tigers.
National League Batter of the Day—Jayson Werth of the Nationals hit a game-tying, eighth-inning, pinch-hit, two-run homer in the 10-7 win over the Pirates.
Rankings—Cubs pitcher Jon Lester rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Lester (6.2IP 3H 0R BB 7K W in the 3-1 win over the Cardinals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 22.1 for the season.
Lester now has 143.2 career Box-Toppers points, 26th-most since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He trails 25th-ranked player Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (143.9) on the “all-time” list.
Scoring—Rodon earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gsellman earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Gordon and Werth each earn 1.5 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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 9/25 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 14.0 | CHW 3, CLE 0 | Carlos Rodon (W,8-10) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 11 | |
| 11.1 | `BOS 3, TB 2 (10) | Eduardo Rodriguez | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 13 | ||
| NL | 10.0 | NYM 17, PHI 0 | Robert Gsellman (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | |
| 9.2 | CHC 3, STL 1 | Jon Lester (W,19-4) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 7.0 | KC 12, DET 9 | Alex Gordon, LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7.0 | OAK 7, TEX 1 | Jharel Cotton (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 6.0 | `TOR 4, NYY 3 | Marco Estrada | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 6.0 | CIN 4, MIL 2 | Brandon Finnegan (W,10-11) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | BAL 2, ARI 1 | Dylan Bundy (W,10-6) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | SEA 4, MIN 3 | Nelson Cruz, DH | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | WSH 10, PIT 7 | Jayson Werth, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.1 | `LAD 4, COL 3 (10) | Brandon McCarthy | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 2.0 | HOU 4, LAA 1 | Joe Musgrove (W,4-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 1.2 | SD 4, SF 3 | Brad Hand (S,1) | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 0.0 | stl-chc | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `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 | +/- |
| Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 22.1 | 34.1 | 80.3 | 143.2 | 10.1 |
| Estrada, Marco 2847 | pi sp | tor al | 11.0 | 19.0 | 43.1 | 43.1 | 3.0 |
| Rodon, Carlos 3494 | pi sp | chi al | 7.0 | 15.1 | 15.1 | 15.1 | -1.1 |
| Finnegan, Brandon 3535 | pi sp | cin nl | 7.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 4.0 |
| Cruz, Nelson Ramon 2224 | dh | sea al | 6.5 | 8.5 | 34.2 | 53.7 | 4.5 |
| Werth, Jayson 1664 | lf | dc nl | 6.0 | 9.0 | 23.0 | 50.2 | 3.0 |
| Bundy, Dylan 3655 | pi sp | bal al | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| Hand, Brad 2907 | pi mr | sd nl | 5.0 | 6.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 4.0 |
| Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 | pi sp | bos al | 4.7 | 10.7 | 10.7 | 10.7 | -1.3 |
| Musgrove, Joe 3705 | pi sp | hou al | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| McCarthy, Brandon 2082 | pi sp | lad nl | 2.7 | 4.7 | 27.8 | 36.5 | 0.7 |
| Cotton, Jharel 3733 | pi sp | oak al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Gsellman, Robert 3748 | pi sp | nym nl | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Gordon, Alex 2328 | lf | kc al | 1.5 | 6.0 | 22.0 | 31.5 | -3.0 |