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Anthony Rendon of the Nationals had the best single-game performance by a batter in the 2017 season as measured by Box-Toppers game score.
It also appears to be the highest game score for a batter in Box-Toppers’ 23 seasons of record keeping.
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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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Angels pitcher JC Ramirez is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, making his Box-Toppers debut.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.0 |
| 2 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 5.7 |
| 3 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 5.0 |
| 4 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 4.7 |
| 5 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc al | 4.0 |
| 6 | Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | dc nl | 4.0 |
| 7 | Holland, Greg 2906 | pi cp | col nl | 4.0 |
| 8 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 3.7 |
| 9 | Chacin, Jhoulys 2711 | pi mr sp | sd nl | 3.7 |
| 10 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 3.4 |
Also Wednesday, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershawmaintains his first-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors. And Twins pitcher Ervin Santana rises to second place—first among American League players—after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Ramirez pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing two hits, in the 2-1, 11-inning win over the Athletics. Ramirez picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was in a scoreless tie when he exited.
This was also Ramirez’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Ramirez made his Major League debut June 23, 2013, and was playing in his 114th career game. He is the 3,778th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Player of the Day—Trea Turner of the Nationals hit for the cycle and went 4-for-6, scoring four times and driving in seven runs, in the 15-12 win over the Rockies.
American League Batter of the Day—Ian Kinsler of the Tigers doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring four times and driving in two runs, in the 19-9 win over the Mariners.
Kinsler has now earned Box-Toppers points in 12 straight seasons. He earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Rangers and has 63.6 career points, second Among active AL second basemen (trailing Robinson Cano of the Mariners, who has 75.4). Kinsler’s best season was 2009 with the Rangers, when he had 11.2 points, eighth among AL batters. He had 6.0 points in 2016 with the Tigers, fifth among AL second basemen.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Tuesday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Trea Turner.
Rankings—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw maintained his spot atop Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Kershaw (7IP 6H R BB 7K W in the 2-1 win over the Giants) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 6.0 for the season. Kershaw also now has 189.7 career Box-Toppers points, fourth-most among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails third-ranked player Curt Schilling (194.1). Kershaw leads active players in career Box-Toppers points.
Also, Twins pitcher Ervin Santana rises to second place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Santana (7IP 4H R 2BB 6K W in the 8-1 win over the Rangers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 5.7 for the season, rising from fourth to second place among all players and first among AL players, passing Royals pitcher Jason Vargas (5.0).
Santana also now has 103.0 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 67th-place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Tuesday, he passes two players on the “all-time” list—Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2) and Miguel Tejada (102.3). (It should be noted that if Griffey’s entire career from 1989 were tracked, rough estimates would give him about 150 Box-Toppers points.) Santana now trails 66th-ranked player Jamie Moyer (104.0).
Scoring—Ramirez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Turner earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Kinsler earns 1.5 points for being AL 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.
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| 4/25 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.0 | `LAA 2, OAK 1 (F/11) | JC Ramirez | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | |
| NL | 9.0 | WSH 15, COL 12 | Trea Turner, SS | 6 | 4 | 4 | 7 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | TB 2, BAL 0 | Chase Whitley (W,1-0; H,2) | - | - | - | - | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | DET 19, SEA 9 | Ian Kinsler, 2B | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | ARI 9, SD 3 | Paul Goldschmidt, 1B | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | MIL 9, CIN 1 | Hernan Perez, SS-CF | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | LAD 2, SF 1 | Clayton Kershaw (W,4-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 5.0 | MIN 8, TEX 1 | Ervin Santana (W,4-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | TOR 6, STL 5 (F/11) | Jason Grilli (W,1-2) | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.2 | CHW 10, KC 5 | Dan Jennings (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | CHC 1, PIT 0 | Kyle Hendricks (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 1.0 | HOU 4, CLE 2 | Norichika Aoki, RF-LF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.0 | 30.4 | 130.1 | 189.7 | -18.4 |
| Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 5.7 | 9.7 | 42.5 | 103.0 | 1.7 |
| Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 | 1b | ari nl | 2.0 | 6.5 | 37.9 | 41.9 | -2.5 |
| Grilli, Jason 2209 | pi cp mr | tor al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 16.7 | 27.4 | 1.0 |
| Ramirez, JC 3778 | pi sp | ana al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Turner, Trea 3730 | ss | dc nl | 1.7 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | -0.8 |
| Kinsler, Ian 2144 | 2b | det al | 1.5 | 7.5 | 29.5 | 63.6 | -4.5 |
| Hendricks, Kyle 3386 | pi sp | chi nl | 1.0 | 14.4 | 29.1 | 29.1 | -12.4 |
| Perez, Hernan 3577 | ss cf 3b 2b | mil nl | 1.0 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | -4.0 |
| Jennings, Dan 3591 | pi mr cp | chi al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 |
| Aoki, Norichika 3110 | rf lf | hou al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 1.0 |
| Whitley, Chase 3352 | pi mr sp | tb al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 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.