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Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to second place in season player rankings.
Also Friday, Athletics pitcher Chris Bassitt rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreAngels pitcher Dylan Bundy is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Bundy pitched a complete game, striking out 10 and allowing one run, four hits and no walks, in the 6-1 win over the Mariners.
Read MoreMookie Betts of the Red Sox is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Betts hit three home runs and doubled in the 10-5 win over the Yankees. Betts went 4-for-5, scoring four times and driving in five runs.
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The New York Yankees are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2019 preseason rankings, rising from second place at the end of the 2018 season.
The 2018 World Series-champion Boston Red Sox fall from first at the end of last season to second place in the 2019 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the Cincinnati Reds made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points, while the Arizona Diamondbacks had the biggest decline.
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The Boston Red Sox maintain their lead in Box-Toppers team rankings for the fourth straight week.
Meanwhile, the Arizona Diamondbacks squeak past the Chicago Cubs to top National League teams and the St. Louis Cardinals are the week’s hottest team.
Read MoreDiamondbacks pitcher Zack Godley is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Tuesday, Astros pitcher Charlie Morton rises to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreJeff Kent has a dominating lead in Box-Toppers points among second basemen since tracking began in 1995.
Robinson Cano of the Mariners leads active second basemen in career Box-Toppers points. Other leaders at the position include Scooter Gennett, Jose Ramirez, Daniel Murphy and Rougned Odor.
Read MoreThe Box-Toppers All-Star teams for 2012-17 consist of the best players over the past six seasons, which includes 12 of the 27 players who are also on Box-Toppers 2016-17 All-Star teams.
Also, among the 27 players on the teams, there are 11 players who are on Box-Toppers 2017 All-Star teams and 10 who are on All-Star teams over all three time spans—for 2017, for 2016-17 and for 2012-17.Leading the 2012-17 All-Stars is Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who ranks first in Box-Toppers points over the past six seasons with 147.2.
Read MoreFive of the top 10 players in batting average for 2017 are among Box-Toppers’ top 100 players.
But two of the top 10 on the list were not even among the top half of players in 2017, including the overall batting average leader, Jose Altuve of the Astros, who ranked 387th among players in 2017 with just 2.5 Box-Toppers points.
Read MoreDodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw leads players in Box-Toppers points since the start of 2012.
Kershaw has 147.2 Box-Toppers points over the period 2012-2017, 18.3 points ahead of second-place player in that span, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (128.9). However, Kershaw’s lead in the six-year rolling Box-Toppers point total is down from last year and is his narrowest lead since 2013.
Read MoreOnly 7 of 17 Silver Slugger Award winners also led their position in Box-Toppers points
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 MoreDodgers pitcher Yu Darvish is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Mariners pitcher James Paxton rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
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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.
Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.
| 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 |
A look at the top 100 players in Box-Toppers points at the midseason break. League-leading teams—Nationals, Astros, Dodgers—have the most players on the list.
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Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, is the first player this season with 20 or more Box-Toppers points.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 13.1 |
| 4 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 12.4 |
| 5 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 10.4 |
| 6 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 10.4 |
| 7 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 10.0 |
| 8 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 10.0 |
| 9 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 9.7 |
| 10 | McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | hou al | 9.4 |
Kershaw struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 4-3 win over the Diamondbacks.
He earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 20.1 for the season, extending his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings. Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer ranks second with 16.0 Box-Toppers points.
This is the seventh consecutive season in which Kershaw has earned 20 or more Box-Toppers points, which is now one more than Randy Johnson, who earned 20 or more points in six straight seasons from 1997 to 2002. Johnson, the overall Box-Toppers points leader (278.8) earned 177.7 points in those six straight seasons. Kershaw has earned 170.3 in the seven straight seasons of earning 20 or more points each year (from 2011 to 2017).
Kershaw also now has 203.8 career Box-Toppers points, third among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails second-place player Pedro Martinez (244.8). Kershaw leads active players in career points.
American League Player of the Day—Andrew Benintendi of the Red Sox hit two home runs, including a three-run homer, driving in six total runs, in the 11-4 win over the Rangers. Benintendi also doubled, went 5-for-5 and scored four times.
Benintendi had a Box-Toppers game score Tuesday of +10.0, the third-highest for a batter this season. The two higher Box-Toppers game scores by batters in 2017:
• +15.0—April 30 by Anthony Rendon of the Nationals (3HR 2B 6-6 5R 10BI in the 23-5 win over the Mets).
• +14.0—June 6 by Scooter Gennett of the Reds (4HR 5-5 10BI in the 13-1 win over the Cardinals).
Rendon and Gennett’s efforts seem to be the top two Box-Toppers game scores for batters since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.
National League Batter of the Day—Daniel Murphy of the Nationals doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 11-4 win over the Mets.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Tuesday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Andrew Benintendi.
Scoring—Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Benintendi earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Murphy earns 1.5 points for being NL 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.
Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.
| 7/4 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 14.0 | LAD 4, ARI 3 | Clayton Kershaw (W, 13-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 11 | |
| AL | 10.0 | BOS 11, TEX 4 | Andrew Benintendi (LF) | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 8.0 | MIL 6, BAL 2 | Jimmy Nelson (W, 7-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 8.0 | PIT 3, PHI 0 | Jameson Taillon (W, 5-2) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | WSH 11, NYM 4 | Daniel Murphy (2B) | 5 | 1 | 4 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | HOU 16, ATL 4 | Josh Reddick (RF) | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | TOR 4, NYY 1 | J.A. Happ (W, 3-5) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | OAK 7, CHW 6 | Yonder Alonso (1B) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | DET 5, SF 3 | Justin Upton (LF) | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CIN 8, COL 1 | Scooter Gennett (PH) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | MIA 5, STL 2 | Jose Urena (W, 7-3) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 2.1 | `SD 1, CLE 0 | Trevor Cahill | - | - | - | - | 4.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 2.0 | MIN 5, LAA 4 | Byron Buxton (CF) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | TB 6, CHC 5 | Tim Beckham (2B) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | KC 7, SEA 3 | Eric Hosmer (1B) | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.1 | 44.5 | 144.2 | 203.8 | -4.3 |
| Nelson, Jimmy 3299 | pi sp | mil nl | 8.0 | 11.0 | 21.4 | 21.4 | 5.0 |
| Reddick, Josh 2936 | rf lf | hou al | 5.5 | 9.0 | 28.9 | 29.9 | 2.0 |
| Gennett, Scooter 3254 | 2b | cin nl | 5.5 | 8.0 | 17.0 | 17.0 | 3.0 |
| Cahill, Trevor 2658 | pi sp | sd nl | 5.4 | 8.4 | 23.1 | 45.6 | 2.4 |
| Upton, Justin 2411 | lf | det al | 5.0 | 11.7 | 37.9 | 56.1 | -1.7 |
| Murphy, Daniel 2589 | 2b | dc nl | 4.5 | 12.0 | 33.0 | 37.0 | -3.0 |
| Benintendi, Andrew 3815 | lf | bos al | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 |
| Taillon, Jameson 3658 | pi sp | pit nl | 4.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | -1.0 |
| Urena, Jose 3492 | pi sp | fla nl | 3.0 | 5.7 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 0.3 |
| Alonso, Yonder 2945 | 1b | oak al | 3.0 | 5.0 | 14.5 | 16.0 | 1.0 |
| Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 2.0 | 16.7 | 42.2 | 53.2 | -12.7 |
| Hosmer, Eric 2886 | 1b | kc al | 2.0 | 10.5 | 30.5 | 33.0 | -6.5 |
| Buxton, Byron 3604 | cf | min al | 2.0 | 6.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 | -2.7 |
| Beckham, Tim 3452 | 2b | tb al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 |
A look at top players in Box-Toppers points by position in both leagues over both 2017 and the combined 2016-17 seasons.
Read MoreClayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer hold dominant lead among players in Box-Toppers points over last several years. Using longer term measure, Chris Sale rises to lead AL pitchers, Yoenis Cespedes rises to lead NL batters.
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Los Angeles Dodgers edge out Washington Nationals as Box-Toppers' top preseason team. Champion Cubs slip to 5th after key player losses. Indians rank 1st among AL teams.
Read MoreJeff Kent holds dominating lead among second basemen in Box-Toppers points since 1995. Jose Altuve led second basemen in 2016.
Read MoreBox-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.