Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to 10th in season player rankings.
Also Saturday, Robinson Cano of the Mariners earned a Box-Toppers point in his 11th straight season and three players with more than 100 career Box-Toppers points—Kershaw, Aramis Ramirez and Jon Lester—earned Player of the Game honors.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of July 18.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 15.0 |
| 2 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 14.4 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 13.4 |
| 4 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 13.4 |
| 5 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | det al | 13.1 |
| 6 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 12.0 |
| 7 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 12.0 |
| 8 | Martinez, Carlos 3371 | pi sp | stl nl | 11.7 |
| 9 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | hou al | 11.1 |
| 10 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 11.0 |
Player of the Day—Kershaw pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out 14 and allowing three hits, in the 4-2 win over the Nationals.
Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 11.0 for the season and rises to 10th place in season Box-Toppers player rankings. Kershaw led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2014 with 31.5. He also led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2011 and 2013.
Kershaw is the 15th player this season with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points. It is the seventh straight season Kershaw has had 10.0 or more points.
Kershaw has 144.6 career Box-Toppers points, ranked 20th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He trails 19th-place player Jim Thome (146.7).
American League Player of the Day—Orioles pitcher Chris Tillman pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing one hit, in the 3-0 win over the Tigers.
National League Batter of the Day—Randal Grichuk of the Cardinals hit two home runs, going 3-for-3 and driving in six runs, in the 12-2 win over the Mets.
American League Batter of the Day—Robinson Cano of the Mariners hit a pair of two-run homers and went 3-for-4 in the 4-3 win over the Yankees.
Cano has now earned Box-Toppers points for 11 straight seasons with his first Player of the Game honor for 2015. He earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2005 with the Yankees. His best season was 2013 with the Yankees, when he had 12.5 Box-Toppers points, ranked fourth among AL batters. In 2014, he had 6.5 Box-Toppers points with the Mariners.
Cano has 62.4 career Box-Toppers points and ranks sixth among all second baseman since Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995. He ranks second in career points among active second basemen, behind Chase Utley of the Phillies (72.1).
Notables—In addition to Kershaw, two other players with more than 100 career Box-Toppers points earned Player of the Game honors Saturday:
- Cubs pitcher Jon Lester (7.1IP 2H 0R 7K W in the 4-0 win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 115.1 career Box-Toppers points. He rises to 42nd place among all players since 1995 when Box-Toppers record keeping began. With his point Saturday, he passes three players on the “all-time” list—Torii Hunter (114.4), Josh Beckett (114.9) and Tim Lincecum (115.0). He trails 41st-place player Todd Helton (116.4).
- Aramis Ramirez of the Brewers (HR 3-3 2R 2BI in the 8-5 win over the Pirates) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 103.3 career Box-Toppers points. He ranks 58th place among all players since 1995 when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He trails 57th-place player John Lackey (103.8).
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Matt den Dekker of the Nationals (2-R HR in the 5-3 win over the Dodgers) made his Major League debut Aug. 29, 2013, and was playing in his 98th career game. He is the 3,534th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Royals pitcher Brandon Finnegan (2IP H 0R 2K W in the 7-6, 13-inning win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut Sept. 6, 2014, and was playing in his 21st career game. He is the 3,535th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Tillman earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Grichuk and Cano each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s 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
| 7/18 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 19.0 | Dodgers | Clayton Kershaw (W,7-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | |
| AL | 14.0 | Orioles | Chris Tillman (W,7-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| 12.0 | Angels | Garrett Richards (W,10-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 11.1 | Cubs | Jon Lester (W,5-8) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 8.0 | Cardinals | Randal Grichuk, CF-LF-RF | 3 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.1 | Rangers | Colby Lewis (W,9-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 5.1 | `Athletics | Scott Kazmir | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | Mariners | Robinson Cano, 2B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | Giants | Buster Posey, 1B-C | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Brewers | Aramis Ramirez, 3B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | Padres | Craig Kimbrel (S,25) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | Nationals | Matt den Dekker PH LF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Royals | Brandon Finnegan (W,3-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.2 | `Rays | Erasmo Ramirez | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 2.0 | Indians | Carlos Santana, 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Phillies | Chad Billingsley (W,2-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||