Twins pitcher Jose Berrios 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 2017 season as of Aug. 30:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 23.0 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.1 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 22.1 |
| 4 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.1 |
| 5 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 15.4 |
| 6 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 15.1 |
| 7 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 15.1 |
| 8 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 15.0 |
| 9 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 14.7 |
| 10 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 14.4 |
Also Wednesday, Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors. Plus, Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians extends his 2017 Box-Toppers points lead among American League batters after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Berrios struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 11-1 win over the White Sox.
National League Player of the Day—Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg pitched a complete-game, six-hit shutout, striking out eight and walking one, in the 4-0 win over the Marlins.
Strasburg earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 16.1 for the season, rising from ninth to fourth place in season player rankings. He ranks third among NL pitchers, behind teammate Max Scherzer (23.0) and Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (22.1).
American League Batter of the Day—Wellington Castillo of the Orioles homered, doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 8-7 win over the Mariners.
National League Batter of the Day—Jonathan Villar of the Brewers homered and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 6-5 win over the Cardinals.
Rankings—Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians extended his 2017 Box-Toppers points lead among AL batters after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Encarnacion (HR 2-4 2R 2BI in the 9-4 win over the Yankees) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.1 for the season. He leads second-place AL batter Ryon Healy of the Athletics (9.7) by 2.4 points. He ranks 15th among all players.
Notable—Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander now has 148.0 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Verlander (6IP 3H R BB 9K W in the 6-2 win over the Rockies) ranks 25th among all players in career points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 24th-ranked player Javier Vazquez (148.3). Verlander has 8.7 Box-Toppers points on the season, 13th among AL pitchers.
Scoring—Berrios earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Strasburg earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Castillo and Villar each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score| 8/30 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 13.0 | MIN 11, CHW 1 | Jose Berríos (W, 12-6) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | |
| NL | 10.0 | WSH 4, MIA 0 | Stephen Strasburg (W, 11-4) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| 9.1 | NYM 2, CIN 0 | Rafael Montero (W, 3-9) | - | - | - | - | 8.1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | ||
| 9.0 | TEX 8, HOU 1 | Andrew Cashner (W, 8-9) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 9.0 | DET 6, COL 2 | Justin Verlander (W, 10-8) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 8.2 | ARI 6, LAD 4 | Robbie Ray (W, 11-5) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 | ||
| 7.0 | ATL 9, PHI 1 | R.A. Dickey (W, 9-8) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 6.2 | ATL 5, PHI 2 | Julio Teherán (W, 9-11) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | BAL 8, SEA 7 | Wellington Castillo C | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | LAA 10, OAK 8 | Mike Trout CF | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | BOS 7, TOR 1 | Mitch Moreland PH-DH | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | CHC 17, PIT 3 | Jose Quintana (W, 5-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 9 | ||
| 4.1 | CLE 2, NYY 1 | Cody Allen (S, 22) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | TB 5, KC 3 | Steve Cishek (H, 10) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.1 | SD 5, SF 0 | Brad Hand (S, 14) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | MIL 6, STL 5 | Jonathan Villar 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | CLE 9, NYY 4 | Edwin Encarnación 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` 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 (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.1 | 31.2 | 90.3 | 99.0 | 1.0 |
| Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 | dh 1b | cle al | 12.1 | 20.1 | 55.2 | 79.2 | 4.1 |
| Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi nl | 12.0 | 22.4 | 47.2 | 47.2 | 1.6 |
| Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 12.0 | 18.7 | 22.7 | 22.7 | 5.3 |
| Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 |
| Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | det al | 8.7 | 23.4 | 68.6 | 148.0 | -6.0 |
| Teheran, Julio 3176 | pi sp | atl nl | 5.0 | 15.7 | 51.5 | 51.5 | -5.7 |
| Moreland, Mitch 2799 | 1b dh ph | bos al | 5.0 | 8.5 | 21.7 | 23.7 | 1.5 |
| Dickey, R.A. 1734 | pi sp | atl nl | 4.7 | 11.7 | 51.9 | 82.6 | -2.3 |
| Castillo, Wellington 3251 | ca | bal al | 4.0 | 9.0 | 15.5 | 15.5 | -1.0 |
| Hand, Brad 2907 | pi cp | sd nl | 3.7 | 8.7 | 12.7 | 13.7 | -1.3 |
| Trout, Mike 2949 | cf | ana al | 3.0 | 15.5 | 50.5 | 52.0 | -9.5 |
| Allen, Cody 3265 | pi cp | cle al | 3.0 | 10.0 | 19.0 | 19.0 | -4.0 |
| Villar, Jonathan 3233 | 2b ss | mil nl | 2.5 | 6.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 | -1.5 |
| Cishek, Steve 2997 | pi mr cp | tb al | 2.0 | 7.0 | 27.0 | 27.0 | -3.0 |
| Montero, Rafael 3410 | pi sp | nym nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 2.0 |
| Cashner, Andrew 2807 | pi sp | tex al | 1.0 | 5.7 | 27.4 | 31.4 | -3.7 |