Royals pitcher Danny Duffy is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, earning the second-highest Box-Toppers game score of the season.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Aug. 1:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 17.0 |
| 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 16.4 |
| 4 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 14.5 |
| 5 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 14.1 |
| 7 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.1 |
| 8 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 12.4 |
| 9 | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 11.0 |
| 10 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 11.0 |
Also Monday, Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg maintained his seventh-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning National League Player of the Day honors.
Player of the Day—Duffy pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out 16 and allowing one hit and one walk, in the 3-0 win over the Rays.
Duffy had a Box-Toppers game score Monday of +22.0, tied for the highest game score of the season. But Duffy ranks second on the season to Vince Velasquez of the Phillies, who on April 14, also had a Box-Toppers game score of +22.0, because Velasquez had more innings pitched—nine vs. eight. (See chart below for the top Box-Toppers game score of 2016.) Duffy’s is the fifth Box-Toppers game score this season of +20.0 or greater.
National League Player of the Day—Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg struck out six over six innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 14-1 win over the Diamondbacks.
Strasburg earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 14.1 for the season, maintaining his seventh-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings. He ranks fifth among NL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day—Max Kepler of the Twins hit three two-run homers and went 4-for-6, in the 12-5 win over the Indians.
National League Batter of the Day—Travis Jankowski of the Padres went 3-for-3, scoring twice, in the 7-3 win over the Brewers.
This was Jankowski’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Jankowski made his Major League debut Aug. 21, 2015, and was playing in his 114th career game. He is the 3,696th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Duffy earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Strasburg earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Kepler and Jankowski 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
| 8/1 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 22.0 | KC 3, TB 0 | Danny Duffy (W,7-1) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | |
| 9.0 | `HOU 2, TOR 1 (14) | Doug Fister | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 7.0 | MIN 12, CLE 5 | Max Kepler, RF | 6 | 3 | 4 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.1 | `BOS 2, SEA 1 | Eduardo Rodriguez | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| NL | 5.0 | WSH 14, ARI 1 | Stephen Strasburg (W,15-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |
| 4.0 | CHC 5, MIA 0 | Kyle Hendricks (W,10-7) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | NYY 6, NYM 5 (10) | Adam Warren (W,4-2) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | SD 7, MIL 3 | Travis Jankowski, CF | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| `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 | +/- |
| Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.1 | 28.1 | 74.2 | 81.9 | 0.1 |
| Duffy, Danny 2915 | pi sp | kc al | 8.7 | 12.7 | 27.7 | 27.7 | 4.7 |
| Hendricks, Kyle 3386 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.0 | 17.7 | 22.7 | 22.7 | -1.7 |
| Kepler, Max 3664 | rf | min al | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Fister, Doug 2688 | pi sp | hou al | 3.0 | 5.0 | 50.5 | 54.2 | 1.0 |
| Warren, Adam 3169 | pi mr sp | nyy al | 2.0 | 5.7 | 9.7 | 9.7 | -1.7 |
| Jankowski, Travis 3696 | cf | sd nl | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 | pi sp | bos al | 1.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | -5.0 |
Highest Box-Toppers game scores of 2016
Here are the highest Box-Toppers game scores earned by Players of the Games in 2016. Phillies pitcher Vince Velasquez had the highest score of +22.0 on April 14 when he was Player of the Day (and 2.0 Box-Toppers points). All but two players among the top 13 here earned Player of the Day honors. Cardinals pitcher Jamie Garcia and Dodgers pitcher Kenta Maeda earned Player of the Game honors (worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point) because they finished behind that day’s overall top player—Garcia finished behind Velasquez on April 14 and Garcia finished behind Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner on July 10.| Date | Bonus | Score | Team | Players | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| 1 | 4/14 | MLB | 22.0 | Phillies | Vince Velasquez (W,2-0) | 9.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 2 | 8/1 | MLB | 22.0 | Royals | Danny Duffy (W,7-1) | 8.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 |
| 3 | 7/10 | MLB | 21.0 | Giants | Madison Bumgarner (W,10-4) | 9.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14 |
| 4 | 5/1 | MLB | 20.0 | Dodgers | Clayton Kershaw (W,3-1) | 9.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 5 | 4/14 | 20.0 | Cardinals | Jaime Garcia (W,1-0) | 9.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | |
| 6 | 5/11 | MLB | 19.0 | Nationals | Max Scherzer (W,4-2) | 9.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 20 |
| 7 | 5/12 | MLB | 18.0 | Dodgers | Clayton Kershaw (W,5-1) | 9.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 |
| 8 | 4/23 | MLB | 17.0 | Nationals | Tanner Roark (W,2-2) | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 15 |
| 9 | 6/5 | MLB | 17.0 | Marlins | Jose Fernandez (W,9-2) | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 10 | 4/15 | MLB | 16.0 | White Sox | Chris Sale (W,3-0) | 9.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 11 | 6/8 | MLB | 16.0 | Mariners | Taijuan Walker (W,3-6) | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 12 | 7/10 | 16.0 | Dodgers | Kenta Maeda (W,8-6) | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 13 | |
| 13 | 4/19 | MLB | 16.0 | `Rays | Drew Smyly | 8.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 11 |
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | |||||||||||