Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, maintaining his rank of second place in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of July 18:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 2 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 16.4 |
| 3 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.0 |
| 4 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 13.4 |
| 5 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 12.5 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 12.1 |
| 7 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 11.4 |
| 8 | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 11.0 |
| 9 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.7 |
| 10 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 10.7 |
Fernandez struck out 14 over 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs, four hits and two walks, in the 3-2, 11-inning win over the Phillies. Fernandez picked up a no decision and did not earn the win because the Marlins were trailing when he exited the game.
Fernandez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 16.4 for the season. He ranks second, 3.6 points (and at least two more stellar starts) behind Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (20.0 Box-Toppers points), who went on the disabled list with a herniated disk in late June. Kershaw’s return date is uncertain.
American League Player of the Day—Tigers pitcher Matt Boyd pitched six scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing three hits and one walk, in the 1-0 win over the Twins.
American League Batter of the Day—Jarrod Dyson of the Royals hit a grand slam and tripled, going 2-for-3, in the 7-3 win over the Indians.
National League Batter of the Day—Joey Votto of the Reds hit a two-run homer and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 8-2 win over the Braves.
Notable—Cubs pitcher Jon Lester became the 15th player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Monday.
Lester (7.2IP 4H R 3BB 3K W in the 5-1 win over the Mets) now has 10.7 Box-Toppers points on the season, 11th among all players and eighth among NL pitchers. This is the eighth season in which Lester has earned 10 or more Box-Toppers points, the fourth consecutive season.
Lester now has 131.8 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of 29th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 28th-place player Jason Giambi (133.4.). Lester ranks 12th among active players in career Box-Toppers points.
Scoring—Fernandez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Boyd earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Dyson and Votto each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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 | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.1 | `MIA 3, PHI 2 (11) | Jose Fernandez | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 14 | |
| 9.0 | STL 10, SD 2 | Mike Leake (W,7-7) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 | ||
| AL | 9.0 | DET 1, MIN 0 | Matt Boyd (W,1-2) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| 5.0 | `LAA 9, TEX 5 | Jhoulys Chacin | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | KC 7, CLE 3 | Jarrod Dyson, CF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 4.0 | CIN 8, ATL 2 | Joey Votto, 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | SEA 4, CHW 3 | Adam Lind, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | COL 7, TB 4 | Trevor Story, SS | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | OAK 7, HOU 4 | Yonder Alonso, 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.2 | CHC 5, NYM 1 | Jon Lester (W,10-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | ||
| 1.0 | NYY 2, BAL 1 | Ivan Nova (W,7-5) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||
| `Denotes that the 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 (16). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (15-16), the period 2011-2016 (11-16) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2016 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2015 total (+/-).| Player of Game | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 16.4 | 21.1 | 47.1 | 47.1 | 11.7 |
| Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.7 | 22.7 | 68.9 | 131.8 | -1.3 |
| Story, Trevor 3607 | ss | col nl | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Votto, Joey 2366 | 1b | cin nl | 4.5 | 9.5 | 26.2 | 58.2 | -0.5 |
| Leake, Mike 2709 | pi sp | stl nl | 4.0 | 14.0 | 39.1 | 43.6 | -6.0 |
| Nova, Ivan 2796 | pi sp | nyy al | 3.0 | 4.0 | 25.1 | 26.1 | 2.0 |
| Chacin, Jhoulys 2711 | pi sp mr | ana al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 17.4 | 25.1 | 3.0 |
| Lind, Adam 2238 | 1b ph | sea al | 2.7 | 9.2 | 29.2 | 56.8 | -3.8 |
| Boyd, Matt 3550 | pi sp | det al | 2.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 1.7 |
| Dyson, Jarrod 2813 | cf | kc al | 1.5 | 3.5 | 7.0 | 8.0 | -0.5 |
| Alonso, Yonder 2945 | 1b | oak al | 1.0 | 2.5 | 12.0 | 12.0 | -0.5 |