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Cardinals pitcher Sonny Gray is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to eighth place in season player rankings.
Other Player of the Game winners Friday include Blue Jays pitcher José Berríos, Gary Sánchez of the Orioles and Trea Turner of the Phillies.
Read MorePadres pitcher Nick Pivetta is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to seventh place in season player rankings.
Also Sunday, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler extends his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. Other Player of the Game winners Sunday include Red Sox pitcher Brayan Bello, Braxton Fulford of the Rockies and gary Sánchez of the Orioles.
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The New York Mets are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2023 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the World Series champion Houston Astros saw the biggest decline.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Corbin Burnes is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease becomes the third player this season to reach 20 Box-Toppers points after earning American League Player of the Day honors. Cease maintains his third place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Read MoreCubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Gerrit Cole and Gary Sanchez of the Yankees are Saturday’s Box-Toppers top players in a pair of American League Division Series games.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and maintains his second-place spot in season player rankings in his final start of 2018.
Meanwhile, Christian Yelich of the Brewers rises to first place among National League batters in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning NL Batter of the Day honors, passing previous leader Javier Baez of the Cubs.
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The New York Yankees rise to lead Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report, passing the Houston Astros.
Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals maintain their lead among National League teams and the Minnesota Twins are the week’s hottest team.
Read MoreMariners pitcher James Paxton is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to sixth place in season player rankings.
Paxton pitched a complete game, striking out eight and allowing two runs, three hits and one walk, in the 7-2 win over the Tigers.
Read MoreMets pitcher Zack Wheeler is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Wheeler struck out seven over seven innings, allowing one run, two hits and one walk, in the 4-1 win over the Marlins.
Read MoreOnly 7 of 17 Silver Slugger Award winners also led their position in Box-Toppers points
Read MoreYankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka and Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta are Box-Toppers Players of the Game in Wednesday’s League Championship Series games.
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Red Sox pitcher Doug Fister is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Albert Pujols of the Angels passes Alex Rodriguez to take the lead in career Box-Toppers points among all batters (since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began). Plus, Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs extends his season Box-Toppers points lead among National League batters after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreIndians pitcher Danny Salazar is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreA look at the All-Star Game rosters through the Box-Toppers lens, including a look at the worthy left in the lurch and players whose selection Box-Toppers deems questionable.
Read MoreHow 2017 All-Star Home Run Derby participants fare in Box-Toppers points.
Read MoreTigers' Michael Fulmer wins AL Rookie of the Year and is Box-Toppers' top-ranked rookie. Corey Seager of the Dodgers is unanimous NL Rookie of the Year, but isn't among Box-Toppers' top five NL rookies.
Read MoreRookie of the Year finlists Fulmer, Maeda lead newcomers in Box-Toppers points. Cy Young finalists Scherzer, Kluber lead pitchers in points. But Box-Toppers batting leaders Arenado, Machado not among MVP finalists.
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Gary Sanchez of the Yankees is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 24.7 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.7 |
| 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 22.4 |
| 4 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 21.2 |
| 5 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 21.1 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 16.8 |
| 7 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym al | 15.7 |
| 8 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 15.4 |
| 9 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 15.1 |
| 10 | Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 14.7 |
Also Wednesday, three players reached notable milestones after earning Player of the Game honors:
Player of the Day—Sanchez hit two home runs—including a three-run shot—in the 11-5 win over the Rays. Sanchez went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five runs.
National League Player of the Day—Nolan Arenado of the Rockies hit a grand slam and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 11-1 win over the Cardinals.
Arenado earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 10.7 for the season, rising to first place among NL batters, passing previous leader Kris Bryant of the Cubs (10.5).
If Arenado’s lead with 10.7 points stands with a little more than week to go in the season, it will be the lowest point total to lead a category in Box-Toppers’ 22-season history. The record was set in 2015 when Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies led NL batters with 11.5 points. Interestingly, the previous record was 2014 when Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies led NL batters with 11.6. So if Arenado’s lead holds, not only will the low-point record be broken three years in a row, it will be broken each time by a batter from the Colorado Rockies.
Arenado becomes the 45th player (and ninth batter) in 2016 with 10 or more Box-Toppers points.
Batters of the Day—There are no separate AL and NL Batters of the Day for Wednesday because both the overall Player of the Day (Gary Sanchez) and NL Player of the Day (Nolan Arenado) are batters.
Rankings—Two players among Box-Toppers top five in season player rankings earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday:
Scherzer now has 130.7 career Box-Toppers points, 31st-most since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. He trails 30th-ranked player Jason Giambi (133.4) on the “all-time” list.
This will be the second time Kluber has led AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points in a season. He also did it in 2014 when he had 25.8 points and also won the AL Cy Young Award. In 2015 he had 13.4 Box-Toppers points, 10th among AL pitchers. Kluber also rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Notable—Two other players with 10 or more Box-Toppers points on the season earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday:
Also notable—Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez now has 168.7 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Hernandez (7IP 2H 0R 3BB 4K ND in the 2-1, 12-inning win over the Blue Jays) maintains his ninth-place rank in career Box-Toppers points since Box-Toppers player tracking began in 1995. He trails eighth-place player Roy Halladay (170.7) on the “all-time” list. (See Box-Toppers career top 20 list on the home page.) Hernandez has 6.0 Box-Toppers points on the season. If that total stands, it would be his lowest season total in his 12-year career. His previous low was 7.4 in 2008 with the Mariners.
Scoring—Sanchez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Arenado earns 1.7 points for being NL Player 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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Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 9/21 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 7.0 | NYY 11, TB 5 | Gary Sanchez, C | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | `SEA 2, TOR 1 (12) | Felix Hernandez | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | ||
| NL | 5.0 | COL 11, STL 1 | Nolan Arenado, 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | BOS 5, BAL 1 | Clay Buchholz (W,8-10) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | PIT 4, MIL 1 | Chad Kuhl (W,5-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 3.1 | CLE 4, KC 3 | Corey Kluber (W,18-9) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | ||
| 3.0 | HOU 6, OAK 5 | Evan Gattis, DH | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | ARI 3, SD 2 | Paul Goldschmidt, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | LAD 9, SF 3 | Kenta Maeda (W,16-9) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 2.2 | WSH 8, MIA 3 | Max Scherzer (W,18-7) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 2.0 | CHC 9, CIN 2 | Miguel Montero, C | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | PHI 8, CHW 3 | Tommy Joseph, 1B | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.1 | `ATL 4, NYM 3 | Chaz Roe | - | - | - | - | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | LAA 5, TEX 4 | Mike Trout, CF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||
| Player of Game | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 24.7 | 45.7 | 110.3 | 130.7 | 3.7 |
| Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 21.2 | 34.6 | 65.4 | 65.4 | 7.8 |
| Trout, Mike 2949 | cf | ana al | 11.0 | 23.0 | 47.5 | 47.5 | -1.0 |
| Arenado, Nolan 3306 | 3b | col nl | 10.7 | 19.2 | 20.7 | 20.7 | 2.2 |
| Maeda, Kenta 3609 | pi sp | lad nl | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 |
| Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 6.0 | 25.4 | 91.4 | 168.7 | -13.4 |
| Buchholz, Clay 2363 | pi sp | bos al | 5.0 | 11.0 | 39.2 | 58.9 | -1.0 |
| Gattis, Evan 3179 | ca | hou al | 5.0 | 9.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 1.0 |
| Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 | 1b | ari nl | 4.5 | 14.7 | 39.9 | 39.9 | -5.7 |
| Sanchez, Gary 3701 | ca dh | nyy al | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Joseph, Tommy 3681 | 1b ph | phi nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Kuhl, Chad 3687 | pi sp | pit nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Montero, Miguel 2304 | ca | chi nl | 1.0 | 6.5 | 20.7 | 30.9 | -4.5 |
| Roe, Chaz 3597 | pi mr | atl nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 20.7 |
| 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 | 17.2 |
| 5 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 16.8 |
| 6 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 15.4 |
| 7 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 8 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.1 |
| 9 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 13.7 |
| 10 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 13.0 |
Also Friday, Kris Bryant of the Cubs extended his lead in season Box-Toppers points among National League batters after earning NL Batter of the Day honors.
Player of the Day—Verlander struck out eight over 7 2/3 innings, allowing two runs, four hits and one walk, in the 4-2 win over the Angels.
Verlander earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 133.6 career points, rising to 29th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes Jason Giambi (133.4) on the “all-time” list and now trails 28th-ranked player, Cubs pitcher Jon Lester (136.5). Verlander has 9.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, 15th among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Cardinals pitcher Luke Weaver allowed one run over six innings, striking out seven and allowing four hits and two walks, in the 14-4 win over the Athletics.
This was Weaver’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Weaver made his Major League debut Aug. 13 and was playing in his third career game. He is the 3,719th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
American League Batter of the Day—Justin Smoak of the Blue Jays hit a three-run homer and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 15-8 win over the Twins.
Smoak and Gary Sanchez of the Yankees (Player of the Game in the 14-4 win over the Orioles) both had Box-Toppers game scores of +5.0 Friday, but Smoak holds the tiebreaker to earn AL Batter of the Day honors because he had more RBIs than Sanchez—5 vs. 4.
National League Batter of the Day—Kris Bryant of the Cubs hit two home runs and went 2-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 6-4, 10-inning win over the Dodgers.
Bryant earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 10.5 for the season, extending his lead among NL batters—second place NL batter is Matt Carpenter of the Cardinals (8.5).
Bryant becomes the 31st player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points, the fourth batter and the first NL batter. He is the sixth Cubs player to reach 10 points in 2016 (The others: Jon Lester—15.4, Jake Arrieta—13.7, John Lackey—12.4, Jason Hammel—11.0, Kyle Hendricks—10.7). He ranks 26th among all players in season player rankings. It is Bryant’s first 10-point season; in his rookie season of 2015, he had 8.5 points.
Streak—Rickie Weeks of the Diamondbacks has now earned Box-Toppers points in 12 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game of the season Friday.
Weeks (HR 3B 2-3 2R BI in the 4-3, 11-inning win over the Reds) earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2005 with the Brewers and has 37.1 career points, third among active NL second basemen. His best season was 2007 with the Brewers when he had 6.2 Box-Toppers points. In 2015, he had 1.0 Box-Toppers point with the Mariners.
Scoring—Verlander earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Weaver earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Smoak and Bryant each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 8/26 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 6.2 | DET 4, LAA 2 | Justin Verlander (W,14-7) | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | |
| BAT | 5.0 | TOR 15, MIN 8 | Justin Smoak, 1B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | NYY 14, BAL 4 | Gary Sanchez, C | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| NL | 5.0 | STL 3, OAK 1 | Luke Weaver (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | |
| 4.2 | SEA 3, CHW 1 | Edwin Diaz (S,11) | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | CLE 12, TEX 1 | Abraham Almonte, RF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | CHC 6, LAD 4 (10) | Kris Bryant, 3B | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | NYM 9, PHI 4 | Asdrubal Cabrera, SS | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | SF 7, ATL 0 | Jeff Samardzija (W,11-9) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | MIA 7, SD 6 | Fernando Rodney (W,2-3) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | KC 6, BOS 3 | Eric Hosmer, 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | PIT 5, MIL 3 | Jordy Mercer, SS | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | ARI 4, CIN 3 (11) | Rickie Weeks, LF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | WSH 8, COL 5 | Daniel Murphy, 2B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | HOU 5, TB 4 | Evan Gattis, C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Player of Game | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Bryant, Kris 3465 | lf 3b rf | chi nl | 10.5 | 19.0 | 19.0 | 19.0 | 2.0 |
| Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | det al | 9.0 | 15.4 | 78.6 | 133.6 | 2.6 |
| Murphy, Daniel 2589 | 2b | dc nl | 7.5 | 9.0 | 31.0 | 32.5 | 6.0 |
| Samardzija, Jeff 2495 | pi sp | sf nl | 6.7 | 16.1 | 44.8 | 45.8 | -2.7 |
| Hosmer, Eric 2886 | 1b | kc al | 6.0 | 15.0 | 28.5 | 28.5 | -3.0 |
| Rodney, Fernando 1803 | pi cp | fla nl | 5.0 | 6.0 | 23.0 | 35.0 | 4.0 |
| Diaz, Edwin 3690 | pi cp | sea al | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Smoak, Justin 2731 | 1b | tor al | 3.5 | 8.5 | 18.4 | 22.9 | -1.5 |
| Gattis, Evan 3179 | ca | hou al | 3.0 | 7.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | -1.0 |
| Mercer, Jordy 3206 | ss | pit nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 3.0 |
| Sanchez, Gary 3701 | dh ca | nyy al | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Cabrera, Asdrubal 2362 | ss | nym nl | 2.0 | 5.0 | 26.7 | 42.7 | -1.0 |
| Almonte, Abraham 3554 | rf ph | cle al | 2.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 0.5 |
| Weaver, Luke 3719 | pi sp | stl nl | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Weeks, Rickie 2035 | lf 2b | ari nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 17.9 | 37.1 | 0.0 |
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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.