Manny Machado of the Orioles is Friday’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. 18:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 22.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 21.1 |
| 4 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 15.4 |
| 5 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 14.4 |
| 6 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy nl | 14.1 |
| 7 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 14.0 |
| 8 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.0 |
| 9 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 13.7 |
| 10 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 13.4 |
Machado hit three home runs, including a walk-off, ninth-inning grand slam, in the 9-7 win over the Angels. Machado, who also hit a three-run homer, went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in seven runs.
National League Player of the Day—Brandon Crawford of the Giants homered, doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 10-2 win over the Phillies.
Batters of the Day—There are no separate American League or National League Batters of the Day for Friday because the overall Player of the Day is AL batter Manny Machado and the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Brandon Crawford.
Notable—Jay Bruce of the Indians has the most 2017 Box-Toppers points of any of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Friday.
Bruce (2HR 3-5 3R 5BI in the 10-1 win over the Royals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.0 for the season. He ranks 23rd among all players and third among AL batters, behind Edwin Encarnacion of the Blue Jays (11.1) and Aaron Judge of the Yankees (9.2).
Top 10 watch—Three pitchers in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings were scheduled to start Friday, but none of them earned Player of the Game honors or Box-Toppers points:
- Second-ranked Max Scherzer of the Nationals (22.0 Box-Toppers points) was scratched from his scheduled start against the Padres and was placed on the disabled list with a sore neck. Scherzer had the chance to take the season lead in Box-Toppers points, passing Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22.1), if he had earned Player of the Game honors Friday. Scherzer’s replacement as starter, Matt Grace, earned Player of the Game honors, making his Box-Toppers debut (see below).
- Fifth-ranked Ervin Santana of the Twins (14.4 Box-Toppers points) did not earn Player of the Game honors in the 10-3 win over the Diamondbacks. Santana (6.0IP 7H 3R 3BB 6K W) had a Box-Toppers game score of -4.0. Player of the Game was Miguel Sano of the Twins (3-4 2R 3BI) with a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0.
- Seventh-ranked Corey Kluber of the Indians (14.0 Box-Toppers points) did not earn Player of the Game honors in the 10-1 win over the Royals. Kluber (5.1IP 6H R BB 4K W) had a Box-Toppers game score of +0.1. Player of the Game was Jay Bruce (2HR 3-5 3R 5BI) with a Box-Toppers game score of +6.0. Kluber exited the game with a minor ankle sprain.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debuts Friday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Nicky Delmonico of the White Sox (2HR 2-3 2R 3BI in the 4-3 win over the Rangers) made his Major League debut Aug. 1 and was playing in his 15th career game. He is the 3,887th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Nationals pitcher Matt Grace (4.1IP 2H 0R BB K ND in the 7-1 win over the Padres) made his Major League debut April 22, 2015, and was playing in his 61st career game. He is the 3,888th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Machado earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Crawford earns 1.7 points for being NL Player 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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score| 8/18 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 8.0 | BAL 9, LAA 7 | Manny Machado 3B | 5 | 3 | 3 | 7 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | CLE 10, KC 1 | Jay Bruce RF | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | HOU 3, OAK 1 | Dallas Keuchel (W, 11-2) | - | - | - | - | 0 | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | |
| 4.0 | MIN 10, ARI 3 | Miguel Sanó 3B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | BOS 9, NYY 6 | Christian Vázquez C | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | CHW 4, TEX 3 | Nicky Delmonico DH | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | SEA 7, TB 1 | Erasmo Ramírez (W, 5-4) | - | - | - | - | 0 | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
| NL | 3.0 | SF 10, PHI 2 | Brandon Crawford SS | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | LAD 8, DET 5 | Logan Forsythe 2B | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.1 | CHC 7, TOR 4 | Jake Arrieta (W, 13-8) | - | - | - | - | 0 | 6.1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |
| 2.1 | `WSH 7, SD 1 | Matt Grace | - | - | - | - | 0 | 4.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2.0 | STL 11, PIT 10 | Paul DeJong SS | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | COL 8, MIL 4 | Carlos González RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | CIN 5, ATL 3 | Raisel Iglesias (S, 23) | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| 1.0 | MIA 3, NYM 1 | Marcell Ozuna LF | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| Bruce, Jay 2453 | rf | cle al | 9.0 | 17.5 | 34.7 | 67.8 | 0.5 |
| Sano, Miguel 3527 | 3b | min al | 8.5 | 11.5 | 17.5 | 17.5 | 5.5 |
| Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 8.4 | 15.4 | 51.2 | 51.2 | 1.4 |
| Ozuna, Marcell 3190 | lf | fla nl | 7.2 | 12.2 | 25.7 | 25.7 | 2.2 |
| Machado, Manny 3087 | 3b | bal al | 7.0 | 19.7 | 30.7 | 30.7 | -5.7 |
| Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 5.0 | 20.7 | 75.5 | 80.5 | -10.7 |
| Ramirez, Erasmo 1786 | pi sp cp mr | sea al | 4.0 | 7.7 | 16.7 | 18.7 | 0.3 |
| Iglesias, Raisel 3467 | pi cp | cin nl | 4.0 | 7.0 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 1.0 |
| Vazquez, Christian 3380 | ca | bos al | 3.5 | 4.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 2.5 |
| Gonzalez, Carlos 2460 | rf | col nl | 3.0 | 8.5 | 41.7 | 61.7 | -2.5 |
| Dejong, Paul 3827 | 2b ss | stl nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Forsythe, Logan 3364 | 2b | lad nl | 2.0 | 4.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 | -0.5 |
| Crawford, Brandon 2878 | ss | sf nl | 1.7 | 3.7 | 16.2 | 18.2 | -0.3 |
| Delmonico, Nicky 3887 | dh | chi al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Grace, Matt 3888 | pi sp | dc nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |