Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, maintaining his third-place spot 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 23:| 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 | 16.0 |
| 4 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 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 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 11.0 |
| 10 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.7 |
Also Saturday, Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto maintained his fourth-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Scherzer struck out 10 over seven innings, allowing two runs, four hits and no walks, in the 3-2 win over the Padres. Scherzer did not earn the win, picking up a no decision, because he exited with the game tied.
Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 16.0 for the season, maintaining his spot in third place in season player rankings. He also ranks third among National League pitchers, behind Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (20.0) and Jose Fernandez of the Marlins (16.4).
Scherzer also now has 122.0 Box-Toppers points for his career, 38th-most since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 37th-ranked player Gary Sheffield (124.1).
American League Player of the Day—Orioles pitcher Kevin Gausman pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out seven, in the 5-2 win over the Indians. Gausman also allowed four hits and walked three.
National League Batter of the Day—Trevor Story of the Rockies hit two home runs and went 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five, in the 8-4 win over the Braves.
American League Batter of the Day—Nelson Cruz of the Mariners hit two home runs, including a grand slam, in the 14-5 win over the Blue Jays. Cruz went 2-for-5, driving in seven total runs.
Rankings—Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto maintained his fourth-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday.
Cueto (6IP 6H R BB 9K ND in the 2-1, 12-inning win over the Yankees) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.4 for the season. Cueto also ranks fourth among NL pitchers.
Debut—Andrew Toles of the Dodgers made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Toles (2B 3-4 2R in the 7-2 win over the Cardinals) made his Major League debut July 8 and was playing in his 10th career game. He is the 3,692nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gausman earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Story and Cruz each earn 1.5 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
| 7/23 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | `WSH 3, SD 2 | Max Scherzer | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 10 | |
| BAT | 8.0 | COL 8, ATL 4 | Trevor Story, SS | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| AL | 7.0 | BAL 5, CLE 2 | Kevin Gausman (W,2-7) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | |
| 7.0 | `SF 2, NYY 1 (12) | Johnny Cueto | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | SEA 14, TOR 5 | Nelson Cruz, DH | 5 | 2 | 2 | 7 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | MIL 6, CHC 1 | Kirk Nieuwenhuis, CF | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | HOU 7, LAA 2 | Evan Gattis, C | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.2 | CIN 6, ARI 1 | Michael Lorenzen (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 2.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 4.0 | MIN 11, BOS 9 | Eddie Rosario, LF | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | TEX 7, KC 4 | Nomar Mazara, RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | MIA 7, NYM 2 | Giancarlo Stanton, RF | 5 | 1 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | PIT 7, PHI 4 | Mark Melancon (S,29) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | LAD 7, STL 2 | Andrew Toles, RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | OAK 4, TB 3 | Jake Smolinski, RF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
` 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 | +/- |
| Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.0 | 37.0 | 101.6 | 122.0 | -5.0 |
| Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 | 27.2 | 78.4 | 97.8 | 1.6 |
| Story, Trevor 3607 | ss | col nl | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 |
| Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 | rf | fla nl | 5.5 | 11.0 | 32.7 | 38.2 | 0.0 |
| Cruz, Nelson Ramon 2224 | dh | sea al | 4.5 | 6.5 | 32.2 | 51.7 | 2.5 |
| Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | bal al | 4.4 | 10.1 | 17.8 | 17.8 | -1.3 |
| Mazara, Nomar 3614 | rf | tex al | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Melancon, Mark 2792 | pi cp | pit nl | 2.0 | 9.0 | 22.0 | 23.0 | -5.0 |
| Gattis, Evan 3179 | ca dh | hou al | 2.0 | 6.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | -2.0 |
| Rosario, Eddie 3542 | lf | min al | 2.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 0.5 |
| Nieuwenhuis, Kirk 3022 | cf | mil nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 12.5 | 12.5 | -3.0 |
| Lorenzen, Michael 3479 | pi mr | cin nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| Smolinski, Jake 3424 | rf | oak al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 1.0 |
| Toles, Andrew 3692 | rf | lad nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |