Cubs pitcher Jon Lester is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, two players who earned their first Player of the Game honors of the season extended their streaks of seasons with at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point:
- Giants pitcher Jake Peavy—14 seasons.
- Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander—10 seasons.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of July 29.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.4 |
| 2 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 15.4 |
| 3 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 15.0 |
| 4 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 14.4 |
| 5 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | det al | 13.1 |
| 6 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 13.1 |
| 7 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 8 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 13.0 |
| 9 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 13.0 |
| 10 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 12.7 |
Player of the Day—Lester struck out 14 over eight innings, allowing two runs and five hits, in the 3-2 win over the Rockies.
Lester earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 117.1 for his career, rising to 40th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. With his points Wednesday, he passes two players on the “all-time” list, Todd Helton (116.4) and Mark Buehrle (116.7). He trails 39th-place player Barry Zito (117.4).
Lester is also the season’s highest-ranked of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday. With 8.0 Box-Toppers points this season, Lester ranks 31st among all players and 15th among NL pitchers.
Lester had a Box-Toppers game score of 12 Wednesday, the same as Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander (Player of the Game in the win over the Rays) but Lester won overall Player of the Day on a tiebreaker—he had more strikeouts than Verlander (14 vs. 10).
American League Player of the Day—Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander struck out 10 over eight innings, allowing one run and four hits, in the 2-1 win over the Rays.
Verlander, earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2015, has now earned Box-Toppers points for 10 straight seasons. He earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2006 with the Tigers. His best season was 2012 with the Tigers when he had 24.8 Box-Toppers points, first among all players that season. Verlander also led AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points in 2011, when he had 24.4. In 2014, he had 4.0 Box-Toppers points.
Verlander earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day and now has 119.9 for his career, rising to 35th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. With his points Wednesday, Verlander passes two players on the “all-time” list, Cliff Lee (119.1) and Jered Weaver (119.4). He trails 34th-place player Cole Hamels (120.8).
National League Batter of the Day—Bryce Harper of the Nationals hit two home runs and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four, in the 7-2 win over the Marlins.
Harper earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 8.0 for the season and rises to second place among NL batters, behind Randal Grichuk of the Cardinals (8.5).
American League Batter of the Day—Troy Tulowitzki of the Blue Jays homered, doubled twice and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 8-2 win over the Phillies.
This was Tulowitzki’s first game since being traded from the Rockies. Tulowitzki led all NL batters in Box-Toppers points in 2014 with 11.6. With the 1.5 Box-Toppers points earned Wednesday for being AL Batter of the Day, Tulowitzki now has 6.0 for the season and ranks eighth among AL batters.
Streak—Giants pitcher Jake Peavy has now earned Box-Toppers points for 14 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Wednesday.
Peavy (6IP 4H 0R 3K ND in the 5-0 win over the Brewers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, his first of the season.
Peavy earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2002 with the Padres. His best year was 2007 with the Padres when he had 23.4 Box-Toppers points, first among all players that season. In 2014, Peavy had 5.7 Box-Toppers points with the Red Sox and Giants.
Peavy has 132.8 career Box-Toppers points and ranks 27th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers record keeping began. He trails 26th-place player Miguel Cabrera (132.9). Peavy’s 132.8 career Box-Toppers points ranks fifth among active NL pitchers.
Debut—Enrique Hernandez of the Dodgers made his Box-Toppers debut Wednesday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Hernandez (PH 2B 1-1 R 2BI in the 10-7 win over the Athletics) made his Major League debut July 1, 2014, and was playing in his 91st career game. He is the 3,541st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Lester earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Verlander earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Harper and Tulowitzki each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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
| 7/29 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | Cubs | Jon Lester (W,6-8) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 14 | |
| AL | 12.0 | Tigers | Justin Verlander (W,1-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | |
| 7.0 | Indians | Corey Kluber (W,6-11) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 6.2 | Orioles | Chris Tillman (W,8-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | Nationals | Bryce Harper, RF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | Astros | Lance McCullers (W,5-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 5.0 | Dbacks | Patrick Corbin (W,2-3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 5.0 | `Giants | Jake Peavy | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Blue Jays | Troy Tulowitzki, SS | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | Reds | Anthony DeSclafani (W,6-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | Pirates | Andrew McCutchen, CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Dodgers | Enrique Hernandez, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Rangers | Shawn Tolleson (S,18) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | Padres | Yangervis Solarte, 3B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | White Sox | Adam Eaton, CF | 6 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||