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Yankees pitcher Sonny Gray is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Gray struck out eight over eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 3-0, 13-inning win over the Blue Jays. Gray picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.
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 MoreAstros pitcher Lance McCullers is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to ninth place in season player rankings.
McCullers struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks, in the 11-0 win over the Athletics.
McCullers earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.7 for the season, rising to ninth place in season player rankings, sixth among American League pitchers.
With McCullers’ rise, Astros pitchers now make up four of the top 10 spots in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Read MoreThree of the four players who won Cy Young or Most Valuable Player awards in 2017 also led their teams in Box-Toppers points for the season.
The only exception: American League Most Valuable Player Jose Altuve did not lead Astros batters in Box-Toppers points. In fact, with only 2.5 Box-Toppers points, he finished 11th among Astros batters and 21st among all Astros players.
Read MoreEnrique Hernandez of the Dodgers is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Thursday’s National League Championship Series Game 5, as Los Angeles eliminates the Chicago Cubs.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka and Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta are Box-Toppers Players of the Game in Wednesday’s League Championship Series games.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Justin Verlander and Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen are Box-Toppers Players of the Game in Saturday’s two League Championship Series games.
Read MoreThe 2017 National League Championship Series is a rematch of the 2016 series between the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers. But this year, the tables are turned.
Last year, the Cubs were kings, leading Box-Toppers team rankings in 2016 almost wire-to-wire, and coming into their NLCS matchup against the Dodgers holding practically every advantage. This year, they’ve scraped together their success with a pitching staff that is little more than half as good as it was when it led them to a World Series title in 2016.
Read MoreAstros pitcher Dallas Keuchel is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series.
Keuchel struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 2-1 win over the Yankees. The Indians take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Read MoreAddison Russell of the Cubs is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Game in National League Division Series Game 5, as the Cubs eliminate the Nationals.
Read MoreNationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg and Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman are Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Players of the Day in two League Division Series games.
Read MoreCubs pitcher Jose Quintana is Monday’s Box-Toppers top Player of the Game among the four League Division Series playoff games.
The other three Players of the Game Monday are Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish, Yankees closer Tommy Kahnle and George Springer of the Astros.
Read MoreYankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka and Hanley Ramirez of the Red Sox are Box-Toppers Players of the Game in Sunday’s two American League Division Series games.
Read MoreTrevor Bauer of the Indians and Jose Altuve of the Astros are Box-Toppers Players of the Game in Thursday’s pair of American League Division Series openers.
Bauer struck out eight over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 4-0 win over the Yankees. The Indians now lead the Yankees 1-0 in the best-of-five series.
Read MoreCubs pitcher Jose Quintana is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer and Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw both had the chance to take the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings in their starts Sunday—but neither did. Scherzer moved closer to leader Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale, earning Player of the Game honors and Kershaw earned the win in his start, but did not earn Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreTwins pitcher Jose Berrios is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Saturday, Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale had the chance to rise to the Box-Toppers season player rankings lead in his start, but did not earn Player of the Game honors in his team’s loss. He remains in third place.
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Though he’s now on the disabled list, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw remains atop Box-Toppers weekly player rankings for the 11th straight week.
Meanwhile, Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians takes the lead among American League batters in Box-Toppers points, passing last week’s leader, Ryon Healy of the Athletics.
Read MoreIndians pitcher Corey Kluber is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth place in season player rankings.
Also Sunday, 2017 Box-Toppers points leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, is headed to the 10-day disabled list after pitching only two innings in his start against the Braves.
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While the Dodgers and Astros continue leading Box-Toppers team rankings, the Cubs, Nationals and Yankees make big gains thanks in part to post All-Star Game trades.
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Cubs pitcher Jose Quintana is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to ninth place in season player rankings.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 21.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 19.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 13.1 |
| 4 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 5 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 12.4 |
| 6 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 11.4 |
| 7 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 11.4 |
| 8 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 10.4 |
| 9 | Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.0 |
| 10 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 10.0 |
Quintana, making his debut for the Cubs after being traded from the White Sox during the All-Star break, struck out 12 over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 8-0 win over the Orioles.
Quintana earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 10.0 for the season, rising to ninth place among all players, sixth place among National League pitchers. Quintana is the 10th player this season to reach 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points.
American League Player of the Day—Astros pitcher Mike Fiers struck out 11 over seven innings, allowing two hits, four hits and no walks, in the 5-3 win over the Twins.
National League Batter of the Day—Daniel Murphy of the Nationals hit two homers and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 14-4 win over the Reds.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no AL Batter of the Day for Sunday because no AL batter earned Player of the Game honors.
Notable—Two players with 100.0 or more career Box-Toppers points earned Player of the Game honors Sunday:
Debut—Nick Williams of the Phillies made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Williams (HR 2-4 R 4BI in the 5-2 win over the Brewers) made his Major League debut June 30 and was playing in his 13th career game. He is the 3,852nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Quintana earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Fiers earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Murphyearns 1.5 points for being NL 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.
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| 7/16 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 16.0 | CHC 8, BAL 0 | Jose Quintana, W (5-8) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |
| AL | 10.0 | HOU 5, MIN 3 | Mike Fiers (W, 6-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 11 | |
| 9.0 | BOS 3, NYY 0 | David Price (W, 5-2) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 7.0 | LAD 3, MIA 2 | Rich Hill (W, 6-4) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | WSH 14, CIN 4 | Daniel Murphy (2B) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | ATL 7, ARI 1 | Jaime Garcia (W, 3-7) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | ||
| 4.0 | SEA 7, CHW 6 (F/10) | Edwin Diaz (S, 16) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.2 | SD 7, SF 1 | Trevor Cahill (W, 4-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 3.1 | `LAA 4, TB 3 | Parker Bridwell | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 3.0 | PHI 5, MIL 2 | Nick Williams (RF) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | COL 13, NYM 4 | Gerardo Parra (RF) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | OAK 7, CLE 3 | Sean Manaea (W, 8-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | ||
| 2.2 | `KC 4, TEX 3 | Ian Kennedy | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 2.0 | NYY 3, BOS 0 | CC Sabathia (W, 8-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | ||
| 2.0 | PIT 4, STL 3 | Wade LeBlanc (W, 4-2) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | `DET 6, TOR 5 (F/11) | Bruce Rondon | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.0 | 20.4 | 45.2 | 45.2 | -0.4 |
| Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.7 | 22.1 | 26.1 | 45.8 | -6.7 |
| Cahill, Trevor 2658 | pi sp | sd nl | 6.4 | 9.4 | 24.1 | 46.6 | 3.4 |
| Murphy, Daniel 2589 | 2b | dc nl | 6.0 | 13.5 | 34.5 | 38.5 | -1.5 |
| Sabathia, C.C. 1492 | pi sp | nyy al | 6.0 | 12.0 | 38.5 | 191.0 | 0.0 |
| Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 5.4 | 12.1 | 12.1 | 12.1 | -1.3 |
| Kennedy, Ian 2723 | pi sp | kc al | 5.0 | 15.0 | 46.1 | 71.5 | -5.0 |
| Parra, Gerardo 2746 | rf | col nl | 5.0 | 7.5 | 19.5 | 26.0 | 2.5 |
| Fiers, Michael 3029 | pi sp | hou al | 4.4 | 9.4 | 30.5 | 30.5 | -0.6 |
| Diaz, Edwin 3690 | pi cp | sea al | 4.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | -3.0 |
| Price, David 2593 | pi sp | bos al | 3.7 | 16.1 | 78.1 | 109.9 | -8.7 |
| LeBlanc, Wade 2669 | pi cp mr sp | pit nl | 3.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 13.0 | 0.0 |
| Garcia, Jaime 2508 | pi sp | atl nl | 2.0 | 10.0 | 28.1 | 45.8 | -6.0 |
| Bridwell, Parker 3844 | pi sp | ana al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Rondon, Bruce 3245 | pi mr | det al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 1.0 |
| Williams, Nick 3852 | rf | phi nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
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.