Marlins pitcher Andrew Cashner is Wednesday’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. 7:| 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 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 15.1 |
| 8 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 9 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 14.0 |
| 10 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 13.7 |
Also Wednesday, Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Cashner pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out nine and allowing four hits and two walks, in the 6-0 win over the Phillies.
American League Player of the Day—Adam Lind of the Mariners hit two home runs, including a grand slam, in the 8-3 win over the Rangers. Lind went 2-for-3, driving in five runs.
National League Batter of the Day—Jung Ho Kang of the Pirates homered and went 3-for-4, driving in two runs, in the 4-3 win over the Cardinals.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Wednesday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Adam Lind.
Rankings—Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday, despite leaving the game early with an injury.
Strasburg (2.1IP 2H R 0BB 4K ND in the 5-4, 11-inning win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 15.1 for the season. He ranks fifth among NL pitchers.
Strasburg left the game in the third inning after experiencing elbow pain. He had been on the disabled list prior to his start Wednesday. He will undergo further testing today (Thursday).
It is rare for starting pitchers to earn Player of the Game honors pitching fewer than three innings, but Wednesday’s game presented those rare circumstances, helped by the fact that the Nationals used nine pitchers and the highest Box-Toppers game score achieved by a batter was +1.0. Strasburg won Player of the Game honors because he had a higher Box-Toppers game score and more innings pitched than the pitcher who otherwise would have won. Mat Latos, who served as closer, had a Box-Toppers game score of +1.1 (0.1IP 0H 0R 0BB K W) and would have been Player of the Game, but Strasburg had a higher Box-Toppers game score (+2.1) and more innings pitched (2.1).
Notable—Red Sox pitcher David Price becomes the 35th player in 2016 with 10 or more season Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Price (7IP 6H 2R 0BB 8K W in the 7-2 win over the Padres) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.4 for the season. He ranks 33rd among all players and 13th among AL pitchers. This is his sixth 10-point season in the past seven years.
Price now has 104.2 career Box-Toppers points, 64th-most since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He passes Jamie Moyer (104.0) on the “all-time” list and now trails 63rd-ranked player Carlos Beltran of the Rangers (104.9).
Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Wednesday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Athletics pitcher Jharel Cotton (6.1IP 2H R 2BB 3K W in the 4-1 win over the Angels) was making his Major League debut. He is the 3,733rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Cristhian Adames of the Rockies (2B 1-1 2BI in the 6-5 win over the Giants) made his Major League debut July 29, 2014, and was playing in his 136th career game. He is the 3,734th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Cashner earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lind earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Kang earns 1.5 points for being NL 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
| 9/7 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 8.1 | MIA 6, PHI 0 | Andrew Cashner (W,5-11) | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | |
| AL | 6.0 | SEA 8, TEX 3 | Adam Lind, 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | BOS 7, SD 2 | David Price (W,15-8) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 4.0 | `MIL 2, CHC 1 | Matt Garza | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | `NYY 2, TOR 0 | Luis Severino (H,1) | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.1 | OAK 4, LAA 1 | Jharel Cotton (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | TB 7, BAL 6 | Kevin Kiermaier, CF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CLE 6, HOU 5 | Cody Allen (S,25) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 2.1 | `WSH 5, ATL 4 (11) | Stephen Strasburg | - | - | - | - | 2.1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | PIT 4, STL 3 | Jung Ho Kang, 3B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | MIN 6, KC 5 | Robbie Grossman, LF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | NYM 6, CIN 3 | Wilmer Flores, PH-2B-1B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | LAD 3, ARI 1 | Yasiel Puig, RF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | COL 6, SF 5 | Cristhian Adames, PH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.1 | CHW 7, DET 4 | Chris Beck (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 1 | 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. | ||||||||||||||
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 | +/- |
| Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 15.1 | 29.1 | 75.2 | 82.9 | 1.1 |
| Price, David 2593 | pi sp | bos al | 10.4 | 31.5 | 87.5 | 104.2 | -10.7 |
| Allen, Cody 3265 | pi mr cp | cle al | 6.0 | 10.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 2.0 |
| Lind, Adam 2238 | 1b ph | sea al | 5.4 | 11.9 | 31.9 | 59.5 | -1.1 |
| Cashner, Andrew 2807 | pi sp | fla nl | 4.7 | 7.7 | 27.4 | 30.4 | 1.7 |
| Flores, Wilmer 3345 | 3b 1b 2b ph | nym nl | 4.5 | 7.0 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 2.0 |
| Garza, Matt 2343 | pi sp | mil nl | 3.7 | 5.4 | 35.1 | 71.8 | 2.0 |
| Puig, Yasiel 3193 | rf | lad nl | 3.5 | 7.0 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 0.0 |
| Kang, Jung-Ho 3464 | ss 3b | pit nl | 2.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | -0.5 |
| Severino, Luis 3567 | pi mr sp | nyy al | 2.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | -1.0 |
| Kiermaier, Kevin 3373 | cf | tb al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 1.0 |
| Grossman, Robbie 3267 | lf | min al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 2.0 |
| Beck, Chris 3708 | pi mr | chi al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Adames, Cristhian 3734 | ph | col nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Cotton, Jharel 3733 | pi sp | oak al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |