Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to sixth in season player rankings.
Also Thursday, Twins pitcher Ervin Santana earned a Box-Toppers point in his 11th straight season.
Player of the Day—Kershaw pitched a complete game, three-hit shutout, striking out 11, in the 3-0 win over the Mets.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of July 23.| 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 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 14.4 |
| 4 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 13.4 |
| 5 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | det al | 13.1 |
| 6 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 7 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 12.7 |
| 8 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 12.0 |
| 9 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 12.0 |
| 10 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 12.0 |
Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 13.0 for the season and rising to sixth in player rankings, third among NL pitchers.
Kershaw now has 146.6 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of 20th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He trails 19th-place player on the “all-time” list, Jim Thome (146.7).
Kershaw, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2011, 2013 and 2014, has far and away the most Box-Toppers points of all players since 2010. Since the start of the 2010 season, Kershaw has 129.2 Box-Toppers points. In second place is Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez (100.8), 28.4 points behind.
American League Player of the Day—Twins pitcher Ervin Santana pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out seven, in the 3-0 win over the Angels.
Thursday marked the first time Santana earned Player of the Game honors this season, giving him a streak of 11 straight seasons with Box-Toppers points. He earned his first points in 2005 with the Angels. His best year was 2008 with the Angels, when he had 16.7, most among AL pitchers. In 2014, he had 11.0 Box-Toppers points with the Braves.
Santana has 89.6 career Box-Toppers points, 93rd among all players since 1995 when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He ranks ninth in career Box-Toppers points among active AL pitchers.
Santana was suspended for the first 80 games of the season under baseball’s performance enhancing drug policy.
American League Batter of the Day—Jose Altuve of the Astros hit a walk-off homer in the 5-4 win over the Red Sox. Altuve also hit a double and went 4-for-5, scoring twice.
National League Batter of the Day—Randal Grichuk of the Cardinals hit a two-run homer and went 2-for-4 in the 4-3 win over the Royals.
Debut—Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Godley made his Box-Toppers debut Thursday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Godley (6IP 4H 0R 7K W in the 8-3 win over the Brewers) was also making his Major League debut. He is the 3,538th 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 Santana earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Altuve and Grichuk each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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 | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 17.0 | Dodgers | Clayton Kershaw (W,8-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | |
| AL | 11.0 | Twins | Ervin Santana (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| 9.0 | Pirates | Francisco Liriano (W,6-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 11 | ||
| 9.0 | Dbacks | Zack Godley (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 7.0 | Marlins | Tom Koehler (W,8-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | ||
| 5.0 | White Sox | Jeff Samardzija (W,7-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4.2 | Yankees | Masahiro Tanaka (W,7-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 4.1 | Blue Jays | R.A. Dickey (W,4-10) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Astros | Jose Altuve, 2B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | `Mariners | Hisashi Iwakuma | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 1.0 | Cardinals | Randal Grichuk, LF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||