Dodgers' Kershaw tops players for Tuesday, Sept. 29, maintains 2nd place in player rankings

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and maintains his spot at second place in season player rankings.

Kershaw pitched a complete-game, one-hit shutout, striking out 13, in the 8-0 win over the Giants.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 29.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	27.1
2	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	24.7
3	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	21.4
4	Keuchel, Dallas 3050	pi sp	hou al	21.4
5	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	21.1
6	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	19.7
7	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	19.4
8	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	19.0
9	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	pit nl	19.0
10	Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	18.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 24.7 for the season. He still trails overall and National League pitching leader Jake Arrieta (27.1) by 2.4 Box-Toppers points. And with five days left in the season, Kershaw has no realistic shot of catching him, ending his streak of four straight years leading NL pitchers and two straight years of leading all players in Box-Toppers points.

Kershaw had a Box-Toppers game score Tuesday of +20. It is the eighth time this season that a player has had a Box-Toppers game score of +20 or more.

Kershaw also rose to 13th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. With his points Tuesday, Kershaw has 158.3 career Box-Toppers points and passes Tim Hudson (157.0), who had earlier passed Kershaw. John Smoltz (160.9) is ranked just ahead of Kershaw on the “all-time” list at 12th place. Kershaw is the third-ranked active pitcher in career Box-Toppers points, behind CC Sabathia of the Yankees (187.0) and Felix Hernandez of the Mariners (162.7).

American League Player of the Day—Angels pitcher Nick Tropeano struck out 11 over 6 2/3 innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 8-1 win over the Athletics.

American League Batter of the Day—Blake Swihart of the Red Sox hit two homers and drove in five runs in the 10-4 win over the Yankees.

National League Batter of the Day—A.J. Pierzynski of the Braves hit two homers and went 3-for-3 in the 2-1 win over the Nationals.

With Tuesday’s Player of the Game honor, his first of the season, Pierzynski has now earned Box-Toppers points for 13 straight seasons. He earned his first Box-Toppers point in 2001 with the Twins, but his current 13-season streak began in 2003 with the Twins. His best year was 2012 with the White Sox, when he had 6.0 Box-Toppers points, ranked fourth among AL catchers. In 2014, he had 1.0 Box-Toppers point with the Red Sox (and later played with the Cardinals that season).

Pierzynski has 47.2 career Box-Toppers points, which ranks 331st among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. However, he ranks sixth among all catchers in that time and ranks second among active catchers in career Box-Toppers points, behind Brian McCann of the Yankees (55.2).

Notable—Others who earned Player of the Game honors Tuesday had notable achievements:

• Adrian Beltre of the Rangers rose to third place among AL batters in season Box-Toppers points. Beltre (3-5 R 2BI in the 7-6 win over the Tigers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.5 for the season. He trails Mike Trout of the Angels (12.0) and Prince Fielder of the Rangers (11.5). Beltre becomes the 43rd player—and eighth batter—this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points.
• Phillies pitcher Adam Loewen earned his first Box-Toppers points in four years and his first points as a pitcher in nine years Tuesday. Loewen (0.1IP 0H 0R K W in the 4-3 win over the Mets) last earned Box-Toppers points as a right fielder with the Blue Jays on Sept. 28, 2011. He last earned Box-Toppers points as a pitcher with the Orioles on Aug. 22, 2006.
• Cubs pitcher Dan Haren maintains his rank of 49th among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers record keeping began). Haren (7.1IP 3H 0R 6K W in the 4-1 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 112.2 for his career. He trails 48th-ranked player Kevin Brown (112.8). Haren has 4.0 Box-Toppers points on the season.

Debut—Diamondbacks pitcher Silvino Bracho made his Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Bracho (1.2IP 0H 0R 2K ND in the 4-3 win over the Rockies) made his Major League debut Aug. 30 and was playing in his 11th career game. He is the 3,605th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Tropeano earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Swihart and Pierzynski each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers 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

9/29	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	20.0	Dodgers	Clayton Kershaw (W,16-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		9.0	1	0	0	1	13
AL	11.2	Angels	Nick Tropeano (W,3-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.2	3	1	1	1	11
	10.1	Cubs	Dan Haren (W,10-9)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.1	3	0	0	0	6
BAT	5.0	Red Sox	Blake Swihart, C	4	2	2	5	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	4.0	Braves	A.J. Pierzynski, C	3	2	3	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.2	`Dbacks	Silvino Bracho (MR)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.2	0	0	0	0	2
	2.0	Brewers	Jean Segura, SS	4	1	2	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Mariners	Robinson Cano, 2B	3	1	1	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Rays	Asdrubal Cabrera, SS	3	2	1	2	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	White Sox	Carlos Sanchez, 2B	2	2	2	0	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.1	Phillies	Adam Loewen (MR) (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		0.1	0	0	0	0	1
	1.0	Rangers	Adrian Beltre, 3B	5	1	3	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Blue Jays' Hutchison, Marlins' Phelps top players for Thursday, April 23

Blue Jays pitcher Drew Hutchison is Thursday’s Player of the Day.

Hutchison struck out seven over eight innings and allowed two runs in the 7-6 win over the Orioles.

National League Player of the Day—Marlins pitcher David Phelps pitched seven shutout innings and struck out five in the 9-1 win over the Phillies. Phelps tied Hutchison for the day’s top Box-Toppers game score of +7, but Hutchison won overall Player of the Day on a tiebreaker—he had more innings pitched than Phelps (eight vs. seven).

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of April 23.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	4.0
2	Kazmir, Scott 1947	pi sp	oak al	3.7
3	DeSclafani, Anthony 3441	pi sp	cin nl	3.7
4	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	cin nl	3.4
5	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	3.0
6	Archer, Chris 3194	pi sp	tb al	3.0
7	Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	3.0
8	Gray, Sonny 3259	pi sp	oak al	3.0
9	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	pit nl	3.0
10	Bauer, Trevor 3065	pi sp	cle al	3.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

National League Batter of the Day—Daniel Murphy of the Mets drove in four runs and went 2-for-3 with a double, in the 6-3 win over the Braves.

American League Batter of the Day—There is no AL Batter of the Day Thursday because no AL batter earned Player of the Game honors.

Streak—Brewers pitcher Kyle Lohse has now earned at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point for 15 straight seasons. Lohse was Player of the Game in Thursday’s 4-2 win over the Reds (7IP 3H 2R 4K W) and earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, his first of the season. Lohse earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2001 with the Twins. His best season was 2011 with the Cardinals when he had 12.0 Box-Toppers points. In 2014, his second-best season, he had 11.1 points with the Brewers, ranking 17th among NL pitchers. He has 86.0 career Box-Toppers points, ranking him 17th among active pitchers currently in the NL.

The record for most consecutive seasons with at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point is 19, held by Jason Giambi (1995-2013). (Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995.) Three active players had Box-Toppers points in 16 straight seasons as of 2014, the longest current streaks—Tim Hudson of the Giants, Carlos Beltran of the Yankees and Torii Hunter of the Tigers. None of them has yet earned Box-Toppers points in 2015.

Debut—Angels pitcher Nick Tropeano made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Tropeano (6IP 5H 0R 5K W in the 2-0 win over the Athletics) made his Major League debut Sept. 10, 2014, and was playing in his fifth career game. He is the 3,451st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Notables—Three other notable facts from Thursday:

• Corey Dickerson of the Rockies earned Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Thursday (HR 2-3 in the 2-1 win over the Padres).
• Pirates pitcher Radhames Liz earned his first Box-Toppers point in more than five years. Liz (2IP H 0R 2K W in the 5-4 win over the Cubs) last earned Player of the Game honors Sept. 14, 2008 as a starting pitcher with the Orioles. It is the only other time he has earned Player of the Game honors.
• Thursday marks the first day of the season there are no changes in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings list. Hutchison is the highest-ranked player from Thursday’s list of Players of the Games. He has 2.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, ranked 23rd among all players.

Scoring—Hutchison earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Phelps earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Murphy earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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

4/23	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	7.0	Blue Jays	Drew Hutchison (W, 2-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	4	2	2	0	7
NL	7.0	Marlins	David Phelps (W, 1-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	0	0	2	5
	5.1	`Yankees	Masahiro Tanaka	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.1	3	1	1	2	6
	5.0	`Royals	Yordano Ventura	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	2	2	1	8
	5.0	Angels	Nick Tropeano (W, 1-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	5	0	0	1	5
	4.0	Cardinals	Michael Wacha (W, 3-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	1	1	2	6
BAT	3.0	Mets	Daniel Murphy 2B	3	0	2	4	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Brewers	Kyle Lohse (W, 1-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	2	2	1	4
	3.0	`Giants	Ryan Vogelsong	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	2	2	1	5
	3.0	Pirates	Radhames Liz (W, 1-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		2.0	1	0	0	0	2
	2.0	Rockies	Corey Dickerson LF	3	2	2	1	1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Rays	Brad Boxberger (W, 2-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	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.