Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija 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 Sept. 6:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 22.7 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 18.4 |
| 4 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 18.2 |
| 5 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 17.1 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 16.8 |
| 7 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 8 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.1 |
| 9 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 14.0 |
| 10 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 13.7 |
Also Tuesday, Manny Machado of the Orioles rises to lead American League batters in season Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Samardzija struck out nine over seven innings, allowing two runs, four hits and one walk, in the 3-2 win over the Rockies. Samardzija did not earn the win, picking up a no decision, because the Giants trailed when he exited.
American League Batter of the Day—White Sox pitcher Miguel Gonzalez pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing six hits, no walks and striking out four, in the 2-0 win over the Tigers.
National League Batter of the Day—Yadier Molina of the Cardinals hit a grand slam and two doubles in the 9-7 win over the Pirates. Molina went 4-for-5, scoring twice.
American League Batter of the Day—Kendrys Morales of the Royals hit two home runs, including a three-run homer, in the 10-3 win over the Twins. Morales went 2-for-5, driving in five runs.
Rankings—Manny Machado of the Orioles rises to lead AL batters in Box-Toppers points for the season after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Machado (GS 3-6 R 5BI in the 11-2 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.7 for the season. He passes Jose Altuve of the Astros (12.5) for the lead among AL batters in season Box-Toppers points. Machado ranks 14th among all players.
Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Astros pitcher James Hoyt (1.1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K W in the 4-3 win over the Indians) made his Major League debut Aug. 3 and was playing in his 12th career game. He is the 3,731st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Tyler Austin of the Yankees (HR 1-2 R 2BI in the 7-6 win over the Blue Jays) made his Major League debut Aug. 13 and was playing in his 15th career game. He is the 3,732nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Samardzija earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gonzalez earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Molina and Morales each earn 1.5 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
| 9/6 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 7.0 | `SF 3, COL 2 | Jeff Samardzija | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | |
| BAT | 5.0 | STL 9, PIT 7 | Yadier Molina, C | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| AL | 4.1 | CHW 2, DET 0 | Miguel Gonzalez (W,3-6) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| BAT | 4.0 | KC 10, MIN 3 | Kendrys Morales, DH | 5 | 2 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | MIL 12, CHC 5 | Ryan Braun, LF | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | PHI 4, MIA 3 | Adam Morgan (W,2-9) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 3.1 | HOU 4, CLE 3 | James Hoyt (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | TEX 10, SEA 7 | Elvis Andrus, SS | 6 | 3 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | BAL 11, TB 2 | Manny Machado, 3B | 6 | 1 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | WSH 9, ATL 7 | Anthony Rendon, 3B | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | LAD 5, ARI 2 | Ross Stripling (W,4-6) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | NYM 5, CIN 3 | Jeurys Familia (S,46) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | OAK 3, LAA 2 | Ryan Madson (S,28) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.2 | BOS 5, SD 1 | Clay Buchholz (W,6-10) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 2.0 | NYY 7, TOR 6 | Tyler Austin, 1B | 2 | 1 | 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 | +/- |
| Machado, Manny 3087 | 3b ss | bal al | 12.7 | 20.2 | 23.7 | 23.7 | 5.2 |
| Braun, Ryan J. 2300 | lf | mil nl | 9.0 | 14.0 | 45.0 | 86.7 | 4.0 |
| Samardzija, Jeff 2495 | pi sp | sf nl | 8.7 | 18.1 | 46.8 | 47.8 | -0.7 |
| Andrus, Elvis 2582 | ss | tex al | 7.7 | 7.7 | 15.2 | 18.2 | 7.7 |
| Gonzalez, Miguel 3062 | pi sp | chi al | 7.4 | 14.1 | 36.2 | 36.2 | 0.7 |
| Familia, Jeurys 3446 | pi cp | nym nl | 7.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | -1.0 |
| Morales, Kendrys 2142 | dh | kc al | 5.5 | 10.2 | 20.2 | 36.2 | 0.8 |
| Rendon, Anthony 3258 | 3b | dc nl | 4.5 | 5.5 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 3.5 |
| Buchholz, Clay 2363 | pi sp | bos al | 4.0 | 10.0 | 38.2 | 57.9 | -2.0 |
| Stripling, Ross 3629 | pi sp | lad nl | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| Madson, Ryan 1841 | pi cp | oak al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 6.0 | 23.7 | 3.0 |
| Molina, Yadier 1967 | ca ph | stl nl | 2.5 | 3.5 | 16.2 | 33.2 | 1.5 |
| Morgan, Adam 3572 | pi sp | phi nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 |
| Austin, Tyler 3732 | 1b | nyy al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Hoyt, James 3731 | pi mr | hou al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |