Home run leader Mark Trumbo of the Orioles ranked 14th among AL batters in Box-Toppers points. Only three of the overall top 10 in home runs were among their league’s top 10 batters in Box-Toppers points.
Read MoreAngels' Hector Santiago tops players for Thursday, July 7; Padres' Drew Pomeranz rises to 10th in Box-Toppers rankings
Angels pitcher Hector Santiago is Thursday’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 July 7:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 2 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 13.4 |
| 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 13.4 |
| 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.0 |
| 5 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 10.8 |
| 6 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.7 |
| 7 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 10.7 |
| 8 | Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 10.5 |
| 9 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 10.4 |
| 10 | Pomeranz, Drew 3061 | pi sp | sd nl | 10.4 |
Also Thursday, Padres pitcher Drew Pomeranz rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Santiago pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out nine and allowing three hits and four walks, in the 5-1 win over the Rays.
National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Drew Pomeranz pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, striking out six, in the 6-0 win over the Dodgers.
Pomeranz earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 10.4 for the season, rising to 10th place among all players. He ranks sixth among NL pitchers. Pomeranz also becomes the 11th player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points.
Four pitchers among Thursday’s Players of the Game were tied for highest Box-Toppers game score of the day (+9.0)—Santiago, Pomeranz, plus Athletics pitcher Rich Hill and Twins pitcher Tyler Duffey. Santiago and Pomeranz ranked ahead of Hill and Duffey because they had more innings pitched (7 vs. 6). Santiago ranked ahead of Pomeranz to earn overall Player of the Day honors because he had more strikeouts (9 vs. 6).
National League Batter of the Day—Trevor Story of the Rockies hit two homers and went 2-for-3, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 11-2 win over the Phillies.
American League Batter of the Day—Salvador Perez of the Royals hit a ninth-inning, walk-off, two-run double in the 4-3 win over the Mariners. Perez went 3-for-4, scoring once.
Notable—Wilmer Flores of the Mets has earned Box-Toppers points two days in a row and three times in the past five days after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Flores (HR 1-2 R 3BI in the 9-7 win Thursday over the Nationals) was also Player of the Game Wednesday and was NL Batter of the Day in the Mets’ win Sunday, July 3. Flores has 3.5 Box-Toppers points for the season, all earned in the past five days.
Also notable—Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright now has 107.3 career Box-Toppers points—57th-most among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began—after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Wainwright (7IP 5H R BB 9K W in the 5-1 win over the Pirates) now trails 56th-ranked player on the “all-time” list, Lance Berkman (108.1). Wainwright has 5.5 Box-Toppers points for the season, 25th among NL pitchers.
Scoring—Santiago earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Pomeranz earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Story and Perez each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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.
Note—Friday’s usual Box-Toppers team power rankings report and player rankings report will be delayed until the All-Star break on Monday.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 7/7 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | LAA 5/TB 1 | Hector Santiago (W,6-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | |
| NL | 9.0 | SD 6/LAD 0 | Drew Pomeranz (W,8-7) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | |
| 9.0 | OAK 3/HOU 1 | Rich Hill (W,9-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 | ||
| 9.0 | MIN 10/TEX 1 | Tyler Duffey (W,5-6) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | ||
| 8.0 | STL 5/PIT 1 | Adam Wainwright (W,8-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | COL 11/PHI 2 | Trevor Story, SS | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.2 | `ATL 4/CHC 3 | Lucas Harrell | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | NYM 9/DC 7 | Wilmer Flores, 1B-3B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | KC 4/SEA 3 | Salvador Perez, C | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | TOR 5/DET 4 | Michael Saunders, LF | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | NYY 5/CLE 4 | Chase Headley, 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 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 | +/- |
| Pomeranz, Drew 3061 | pi sp | sd nl | 10.4 | 13.4 | 21.4 | 21.4 | 7.4 |
| Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | oak al | 9.4 | 13.4 | 13.4 | 33.1 | 5.4 |
| Santiago, Hector 3109 | pi sp | ana al | 8.4 | 16.4 | 28.8 | 28.8 | 0.4 |
| Wainwright, Adam 2150 | pi sp | stl nl | 5.5 | 8.5 | 56.6 | 107.3 | 2.5 |
| Saunders, Michael 2768 | lf | tor al | 4.2 | 4.2 | 13.9 | 14.9 | 4.2 |
| Perez, Salvador 2972 | ca | kc al | 4.0 | 8.5 | 21.7 | 21.7 | -0.5 |
| Duffey, Tyler 3558 | pi sp | min al | 4.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 0.0 |
| Story, Trevor 3607 | ss | col nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Flores, Wilmer 3345 | 3b 1b | nym nl | 3.5 | 6.0 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 1.0 |
| Headley, Chase 2552 | 3b | nyy al | 3.5 | 5.5 | 17.0 | 27.5 | 1.5 |
| Harrell, Lucas 2988 | pi sp | atl nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 2.0 |
Twins' Duffey tops players for Sunday, June 26; Marlins' Fernandez rises to 2nd in Box-Toppers rankings
Twins pitcher Tyler Duffey is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, two players who earned Player of the Game honors rise in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings:
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of June 26:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 2 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 13.4 |
| 3 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 11.7 |
| 4 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.7 |
| 5 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 10.7 |
| 6 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 10.0 |
| 7 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 10.0 |
| 8 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 9.8 |
| 9 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 9.7 |
| 10 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 9.4 |
- Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez rises to second place.
- White Sox pitcher Chris Sale rises to fifth place among all players and first place among AL pitchers.
Player of the Day—Duffey struck out eight over eight innings, allowing one run, two hits and no walks, in the 7-1 win over the Yankees.
Duffey had a Box-Toppers game score Sunday of +12, tied with Royals pitcher Ian Kennedy, Player of the Game in the 6-1 win over the Astros (7IP 3H R BB 11K W), but Duffey wins Player of the Day honors on a tiebreaker because he had more innings pitched.
National League Player of the Day—Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez struck out 13 over seven innings, allowing one run, four hits and three walks, in the 6-1 win over the Cubs.
Fernandez earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 13.4 for the season, rising to second place in season player rankings. He trails overall leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (20.0 Box-Toppers points).
Fernandez had a Box-Toppers game score Sunday of +11, tied with Braves pitcher Bud Norris, Player of the Game in the 5-2 win over the Mets (7IP 4H 0R 0BB 8K W), but Fernandez wins NL Player of the Day over Norris on a tiebreaker because he had more strikeouts.
American League Batter of the Day—Lonnie Chisenhall of the Indians homered, tripled and went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 9-3 win over the Tigers.
National League Batter of the Day—Trevor Story of the Rockies homered and went 2-for-2, scoring four runs, in the 9-7 win over the Diamondbacks.
Rankings—White Sox pitcher Chris Sale rises to fifth place among all players—and first among AL pitchers—after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Sale (8IP 5H 2R 2BB 7K W in the 5-2 win over the Blue Jays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.7 for the season. He becomes the seventh player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. He also takes the Box-Toppers points lead for the season among AL pitchers, passing Corey Kluber of the Indians (9.8).
Streak—Shin-Soo Choo of the Rangers has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of the season Sunday.
Choo (2B 3-4 2R in the 6-2 win over the Red Sox) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2007 with the Indians and has 47.7 for his career, sixth among active AL outfielders. His best season was 2010 with the Indians, when he had 9.0 Box-Toppers points, seventh among AL batters. In 2015, he had 4.5 Box-Toppers points with the Rangers, 13th among AL outfielders.
Debut—Pirates pitcher A.J. Schugel made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Schugel (2IP 0H 0R 0BB K ND in the 4-3 win over the Dodgers) made his Major League debut April 12, 2015, and was playing in his 27th career game. He is the 3,669th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Duffey earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Fernandez earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Chisenhall and Story each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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
| 6/26 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | MIN 7/NYY 1 | Tyler Duffey (W,3-6) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | |
| 12.0 | KC 6/HOU 1 | Ian Kennedy (W,6-6) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | ||
| NL | 11.0 | MIA 6/CHC 1 | Jose Fernandez (W,10-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 13 | |
| 11.0 | ATL 5/NYM 2 | Bud Norris (W,3-7) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 8.0 | CIN 3/SD 0 | Anthony DeSclafani (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 6.0 | DC 3/MIL 2 | Tanner Roark (W,7-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | CLE 9/DET 3 | Lonnie Chisenhall, RF | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 5.0 | COL 9/ARI 7 | Trevor Story, SS | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | SF 8/PHI 7 | Angel Pagan, LF | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | BAL 12/TB 5 | Chris Davis, DH | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | CHW 5/TOR 2 | Chris Sale (W,13-2) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 3.0 | LAA 7/OAK 6 | Mike Trout, CF | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | `PIT 4/LAD 3 | A.J. Schugel (H,1) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | STL 11/SEA 6 | Matt Carpenter, 2B | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | TEX 6/BOS 2 | Shin-Soo Choo, RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `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 | +/- |
| Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 13.4 | 18.1 | 44.1 | 44.1 | 8.7 |
| Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 10.7 | 29.5 | 81.7 | 83.7 | -8.1 |
| Davis, Chris 2478 | 1b | bal al | 7.5 | 18.5 | 49.4 | 57.9 | -3.5 |
| Kennedy, Ian 2723 | pi sp | kc al | 7.0 | 13.7 | 57.5 | 63.5 | 0.3 |
| Roark, Tanner 3261 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.7 | 7.7 | 22.7 | 22.7 | 5.7 |
| Trout, Mike 2949 | cf | ana al | 6.5 | 18.5 | 43.0 | 43.0 | -5.5 |
| Carpenter, Matt 2987 | 3b | stl nl | 6.5 | 12.0 | 26.5 | 26.5 | 1.0 |
| Duffey, Tyler 3558 | pi sp | min al | 3.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | -1.0 |
| Norris, Bud 2638 | pi sp | atl nl | 3.0 | 4.0 | 34.4 | 43.4 | 2.0 |
| Story, Trevor 3607 | ss | col nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Chisenhall, Lonnie 2959 | rf 3b | cle al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 1.5 |
| DeSclafani, Anthony 3441 | pi sp | cin nl | 1.0 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | -6.7 |
| Choo, Shin-Soo 2267 | rf | tex al | 1.0 | 5.5 | 22.0 | 47.7 | -3.5 |
| Pagan, Angel 2184 | lf | sf nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 14.5 | 25.5 | -1.0 |
| Schugel, A.J. 3669 | pi mr | pit nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Twins' Duffey tops players for Sunday, Sept. 20; Pirates' Cole rises to 8th in player rankings
Twins pitcher Tyler Duffey is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole rose to eighth place in Box-Toppers player rankings.
Player of the Day—Duffey pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing three hits, in the 8-1 win over the Angels.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Sept. 20.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 23.1 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.7 |
| 3 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 20.4 |
| 4 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | tor al | 20.1 |
| 5 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 19.7 |
| 6 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 19.4 |
| 7 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 19.4 |
| 8 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 18.0 |
| 9 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 17.1 |
| 10 | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 17.0 |
National League Player of the Day—Braves pitcher Julio Teheran struck out eight over 8 1/3 innings, allowing one run and five hits, in the 2-1 win over the Phillies. Teheran was perfect through six innings. He earned no decision, not picking up the win, because he exited the game with the score tied 1-1.
National League Batter of the Day—Yunel Escobar of the Nationals doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 13-3 win over the Marlins.
American League Batter of the Day—Logan Forsythe of the Rays hit a three-run homer and doubled, going 2-for-3, scoring twice, in the 7-6 win over the Orioles.
Rankings—Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole rose to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Cole (7IP 6H 3R 9K W in the 4-3 win over the Dodgers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 18.0 for the season. He ranks fifth among NL pitchers.
Notable—Two of Sunday's Players of the Game achieved notable milestones:
- Giants pitcher Tim Hudson rose to 13th place among players in Box-Toppers points since 1995 after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday. Hudson (6IP 4H 0R 3K in the 5-1 win over the Diamondbacks) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 157.0 for his career. With his point Sunday, he passes Clayton Kershaw (156.3) on the “all-time” list—Kershaw had caught and briefly passed Hudson on the “all-time” list only on Sept. 14. Hudson trails 12th-ranked player John Smoltz (160.9) and regains his spot as fifth among active players, third among active pitchers, behind CC Sabathia (179.0) and Felix Hernandez (162.7). Hudson has 4.0 Box-Toppers points so far in what is expected to be his final season.
- Justin Upton of the Padres rose to fifth place in Box-Toppers points among NL batters after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday. Upton (2B 3-5 R 3BI in the 10-4 win over the Rockies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.0 for the season. He ranks 49th among all players.
- Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez, ranked sixth in Box-Toppers player rankings (19.4 points) failed to earn Player of the Game honors in his start Sunday against the Rangers, despite earning the win. Hernandez (5.2IP 4H 2R 5K W in the 9-2 win) had a Box-Toppers game score of -2.8. Player of the Game was Robinson Cano (2-4 R 4BI) with a Box-Toppers game score of 3.0.
Scoring—Duffey earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Teheran earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Escobar and Forsythe each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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
| 9/20 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.0 | Twins | Tyler Duffey (W,4-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| NL | 8.1 | `Braves | Julio Teheran | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |
| 8.0 | Astros | Collin McHugh (W,17-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 8.0 | Royals | Danny Duffy (S,1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 7.0 | Nationals | Yunel Escobar, 3B | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.2 | Indians | Josh Tomlin (W,6-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Rays | Logan Forsythe, 2B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | Red Sox | Rich Hill (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 10 | ||
| 4.0 | Pirates | Gerrit Cole (W,17-8) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 9 | ||
| 3.0 | Brewers | Adam Lind, 1B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Mariners | Robinson Cano, 2B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Yankees | Greg Bird, 1B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.1 | Cardinals | Trevor Rosenthal (S,46) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | Padres | Justin Upton, LF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Giants | Tim Hudson (W,8-8) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||
Catching up on baseball with Box-Toppers, after falling behind by a ‘fair’ amount
Baseball proceeds whether we are ready or not.
In the past few weeks, other duties put me behind staying up-to-date with the Box-Toppers daily blog and I have been scrambling to catch up. I fell behind three weeks and three days ago, on Aug. 13 and only caught up today (Monday, Sept. 7) with yesterday’s games.
Usually when a person falls behind doing something, it’s best to just move ahead and ignore most of what was missed. But when you’re trying to keep comprehensive track of the baseball season, to assess and evaluate teams and players across an entire season, it is a mistake to simply ignore a chunk of the season, simply due to lack of convenience or lack of attention. So I’ve gone back and picked up the days I’ve missed, posting each day’s summary in the blog, even if was sometimes more than a week late.
During my catch-up phase, I did not post daily highlights to Box-Toppers’ Twitter and Facebook feeds. Instead, I’ve opted to post a summary of highlights of what was missed in the interim while I wasn’t posting to social media here in this post, with links to the relevant posts in the Box-Toppers blog:
New Box-Toppers leaders—Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta took over the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings on Saturday, Sept. 5. Arrieta has 21.1 Box-Toppers points and passed previous leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who took the lead Wednesday, Sept. 2. (Kershaw has 20.7 Box-Toppers points.) Previously, Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom led from July 26 to Sept. 1. He currently ranks third with 19.4 points.
Arrieta picked up 6.7 Box-Toppers points during the catch-up period (Aug. 13 to Sept. 6), including earning Player of the Day honors twice—on Sunday, Aug. 30 (when he pitched a no-hitter) and on Sept. 5.
New American League pitching leader—Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel took the lead among AL pitchers on Sunday, Sept. 6 with 19.4 Box-Toppers points. Previously, Blue Jays pitcher David Price led AL pitchers. He currently ranks second among AL pitchers with 19.1 points.
New American League batting leader—Edwin Encarnacion of the Blue Jays took the lead among AL batters on Saturday, Aug. 29 with 10.4 Box-Toppers points. Previously, Mike Trout of the Angels led AL batters. Trout currently has 10.0 Box-Toppers points and ranks second among AL batters.
New National League batting leader—Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies took the lead among NL batters on Thursday, Sept. 3 with 11.5 Box-Toppers points. Previously, Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets took the lead among NL batters on Friday, Aug. 21 with 9.9 points. Before that, Randal Grichuk of the Cardinals led NL batters. He currently ranks fourth with 9.5 points.
New Box-Toppers team rankings leader—The Kansas City Royals took over the lead among teams at the last Box-Toppers team ranking report, as of Thursday, Sept. 3. The St. Louis Cardinals rose to top NL teams. For three weeks previously (Aug. 13, 20 and 27), the Pittsburgh Pirates were the top-ranked team. The Pirates ranked third as of Sept. 3.
Notable—Here are some notable achievements by players that happened during the catch-up phase (Aug. 13 to Sept. 6):
- Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw was the first player with 20.0 or more points this season, earning it on Wednesday, Sept. 2, the same day he took the Box-Toppers points lead. Kershaw, who led players in Box-Toppers points in three of the past four seasons (2011, 2013 and 2014) and led National League pitchers the past four seasons, has now exceeded 20.0 Box-Toppers points for five straight seasons. Kershaw also rose to 15th place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He has 154.3 career Box-Toppers points.
- Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon rose to 22nd place among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995. He earned Player of the Day for Monday, Aug. 31, giving him 138.5 Box-Toppers points.
- Michael Cuddyer of the Mets extended to 12 the number of consecutive seasons in which he’s earned at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point on Sunday, Aug. 30.
- Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke earned 3.0 Box-Toppers points during the catch-up period and is currently ranked sixth among all players with 18.0 points. In addition, with his point earned Tuesday, Sept. 1, Greinke has 143.7 career Box-Toppers points and ranks 21st among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began.
- Astros pitcher Mike Fiers pitched a no-hitter on Friday, Aug. 21, earning Box-Toppers Player of the Day honors.
- Carlos Beltran of the Yankees earned Box-Toppers points in his 17th straight season, tying the record for the longest-active season streak on Friday, Aug. 14.
Debuts—Twenty-three players made their Box-Toppers debut during the catch-up phase. Here is the list with links to the blog post for the day they made their debut with more information:
- Delino DeShields of the Rangers, Friday, Aug. 14.
- Twins pitcher Tyler Duffey, Saturday, Aug. 15.
- Addison Russell of the Cubs, Saturday, Aug. 15.
- Ryan Strausborger of the Rangers, Sunday, Aug. 16.
- Cole Gillespie of the Marlins, Tuesday, Aug. 18.
- Greg Bird of the Yankees, Wednesday, Aug. 19.
- Aaron Altherr of the Phillies, Wednesday, Aug. 19.
- Rockies pitcher Yohan Flande, Thursday, Aug. 20.
- Blake Swihart of the Red Sox, Friday, Aug. 21.
- Phillies pitcher Jerad Eickhoff, Friday, Aug. 21.
- Yankees pitcher Luis Severino, Saturday, Aug. 22.
- Darnell Sweeney of the Phillies, Saturday, Aug. 22.
- Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola, Sunday, Aug. 23.
- Stephen Piscotty of the Cardinals, Sunday, Aug. 23.
- Indians pitcher Jeff Manship, Wednesday, Aug. 26.
- Phillies pitcher Adam Morgan, Sunday, Aug. 30.
- Adam Duvall of the Brewers, Monday, Aug. 31.
- Rockies pitcher Simon Castro, Monday, Aug. 31.
- Darin Ruf of the Phillies, Tuesday, Sept. 1.
- Marlins pitcher Justin Nicolino, Tuesday, Sept. 1.
- Hernan Perez of the Brewers, Thursday, Sept. 3.
- Rays pitcher Xavier Cedeno, Saturday, Sept. 5.
- Nationals pitcher Felipe Rivero, Sunday, Sept. 6.
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So what was I doing that was keeping me from Box-Toppers? I served as a volunteer coordinator for our local high school band’s major fundraiser. Over the course of the 11-day Iowa State Fair, I helped wrangle nearly 300 student and parent volunteers to fill 550 volunteer spots to serve ice cream and shakes at the fair’s Dairy Barn.
It’s a task that requires a few months of preparation to set up—to get volunteers signed up, to comply with various red-tape regulations and to develop and implement logistics to make it all work. But when the fair starts, the task can sometimes become even more time-consuming. As soon as the fair started on Aug. 13, Box-Toppers fell to the wayside.
My last “on-time” post was Thursday, Aug. 13, covering the games of Wednesday, Aug. 12. The very next post was more than a week later on Friday, Aug. 21, covering the games of Thursday, Aug. 13. After the fair ended on Aug. 23, I kept plugging away, finally catching up two more weeks later.
The fundraiser went well, by the way. All our volunteers made it, worked hard, had a little fun (and a little ice cream) and raised a lot of money for our high school band program. It was my fifth and final year of coordinating volunteers for the fundraiser. And though it put me a little behind updating the Box-Toppers blog, it was a lot of fun and now that it’s over, tremendously satisfying.
And now, with my attention returned more fully to baseball, onto the homestretch of the season …
Red Sox' Jackie Bradley (2HR 5-6 5R 7BI) tops players for Saturday, Aug. 15
(Other duties have put us behind updating Box-Toppers. Playing catch up …)
Jackie Bradley Jr. of the Red Sox is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Saturday, Aug. 15.
Also, Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander rose to 34th place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Aug. 15.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 18.4 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.7 |
| 3 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | tor al | 16.1 |
| 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.0 |
| 5 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 15.8 |
| 6 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 15.4 |
| 7 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 15.4 |
| 8 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 15.0 |
| 9 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 14.7 |
| 10 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 14.4 |
Player of the Day—Bradley hit two homers and three doubles, going 5-for-6, scoring five times and driving in seven runs, in the 22-10 win over the Mariners.
National League Player of the Day—Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits, in the 8-4 win over the Braves.
National League Batter of the Day—Matt Duffy of the Giants doubled twice, scored twice and drove in four runs, in the 12-6 win over the Nationals.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Saturday, Aug. 15, because the overall Player of the Day was AL batter Jackie Bradley Jr. of the Red Sox.
Notable—Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander rose to 34th place in Box-Toppers points among all players since 1995 after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Verlander (7IP 3H 0R 7K ND in the 4-2 win over the Astros) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 120.9 for his career. He passed two players on the “all-time” list (since record keeping began in 1995), Jered Weaver (120.4 Box-Toppers points) and Cole Hamels (120.8 points). Verlander trails 33rd-place player Gary Sheffield (124.1).
Verlander’s 120.9 Box-Toppers points ranks third among active AL pitchers, behind CC Sabathia of the Yankees (178.0 Box-Toppers points) and Felix Hernandez of the Mariners (158.7 points).
Verlander has 2.7 Box-Toppers points for the season.
Also notable—Chris Davis of the Orioles has the highest Box-Toppers season player ranking of all 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Davis (2HR 2-4 2R 3BI in the 4-3 win over the Athletics) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.0 for the season. He ranks 41st among all players and third among AL batters.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors.
- Twins pitcher Tyler Duffey (6IP H 0R 7K W in the 4-1 win over the Indians) made his Major League debut Aug. 5 and was playing in his second career game. He is the 3,558th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Addison Russell of the Cubs (2B 2-3 2R in the 6-3 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut April 21 and was playing in his 98th career game. He is the 3,559th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Bradley earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Corbin earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Duffy earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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
| 8/15 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.0 | Red Sox | Jackie Bradley Jr., RF | 6 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 9.0 | `Tigers | Justin Verlander | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | ||
| NL | 8.2 | Dbacks | Patrick Corbin (W,3-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | |
| 7.0 | Yankees | Masahiro Tanaka (W,9-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | ||
| 7.0 | Twins | Tyler Duffey (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | ||
| 7.0 | Pirates | Joe Blanton (W,4-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 5.0 | Rangers | Shin-Soo Choo, RF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Royals | Jarrod Dyson, CF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Giants | Matt Duffy, 3B | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Brewers | Scooter Gennett, 2B | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Orioles | Chris Davis, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Cardinals | Mark Reynolds, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Dodgers | Yasiel Puig, RF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Padres | Kevin Quackenbush (W,2-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | Cubs | Addison Russell, SS | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||