Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, extending his lead in season player rankings and rising to sixth place in career Box-Toppers points since 1995.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of June 10:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 17.0 |
| 2 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 11.7 |
| 3 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 9.0 |
| 4 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.7 |
| 5 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 8.7 |
| 6 | Machado, Manny 3087 | ss 3b | bal al | 8.7 |
| 7 | Matz, Steven 3516 | pi sp | nym nl | 8.7 |
| 8 | Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.4 |
| 9 | Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | oak al | 8.4 |
| 10 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 8.0 |
Kershaw struck out 13 over eight innings, allowing two runs and five hits, in the 3-2 win over the Giants.
Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 17.0 for the season, extending his dominant lead in player rankings; second-place player, Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez (11.7 points) is 5.3 points behind. Kershaw has more than doubled the season Box-Toppers point totals of all but six other players.
Kershaw also rises in the rankings of career Box-Toppers points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Friday, Kershaw rises to sixth place, passing Albert Pujols of the Angels (176.3). (While both Kershaw and Pujols have 176.3 career points, Kershaw ranks ahead on a tiebreaker because he has more points in 2016—17.0 vs. 2.0).
All-time leaders
Here are Box-Toppers top 20 players since record keeping began in 1995:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | retired | 278.8 |
| 2 | Pedro Martinez | pi sp | retired | 244.8 |
| 3 | Curt Schilling | pi sp | retired | 194.1 |
| 4 | Alex Rodriguez | dh | nyy al | 187.0 |
| 5 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 182.0 |
| 6 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | lad nl | 176.3 |
| 7 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 176.3 |
| 8 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 9 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 10 | Johan Santana | pi sp | free agent | 166.6 |
| 11 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | retired | 164.8 |
| 12 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 164.7 |
| 13 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 14 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 15 | Mike Mussina | pi sp | retired | 155.6 |
| 16 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 154.4 |
| 17 | Barry Bonds | lf | retired | 153.2 |
| 18 | Greg Maddux | pi sp | retired | 151.7 |
| 19 | Chipper Jones | 3b | retired | 149.0 |
| 20 | Javier Vazquez | pi sp | retired | 148.3 |
Kershaw becomes the third-ranked active player in career Box-Toppers points behind only Alex Rodriguez (187.0) and CC Sabathia (182.0), both of the Yankees. Kershaw now trails fifth-ranked Sabathia (who also earned Player of the Game honors Friday) by 5.7 points.
American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Corey Kluber pitched a complete game, striking out eight and allowing two runs and three hits, in the 6-2 win over the Angels.
National League Batter of the Day—Justin Bour of the Marlins hit a pinch-hit grand slam in the 8-6 win over the Diamondbacks.
American League Batter of the Day—Dae-Ho Lee of the Mariners hit two home runs, going 2-for-4 and driving in four runs, in the 7-5 win over the Rangers.
Notable—Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia, the fifth-ranked player in career Box-Toppers points since 1995, earned Player of the Game honors Friday.
Sabathia (7IP 5H 0R 4K W in the 4-0 win over the Tigers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 182.0 for his career, maintaining his rank of fifth place. He trails fourth-place player, teammate Alex Rodriguez (187.0).
Sabathia has 3.0 Box-Toppers points this season.
Scoring—Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Kluber earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Bour and Lee each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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
| 6/10 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | LAD 3/SF 2 | Clayton Kershaw (W,9-1) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 13 | |
| AL | 9.0 | CLE 6/LAA 2 | Corey Kluber (W,6-6) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | |
| 8.0 | `NYM 2/MIL 1 | Matt Harvey | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 7.0 | ATL 5/CHC 1 | Bud Norris (W,2-7) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | MIA 8/ARI 6 | Justin Bour, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 4.0 | SEA 7/TEX 5 | Dae-Ho Lee, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | NYY 4/DET 0 | CC Sabathia (W,4-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 3.1 | BOS 8/MIN 1 | Steven Wright (W,7-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | STL 9/PIT 3 | Matt Carpenter, 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CHW 7/KC 5 | Alex Avila, C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | SD 7/COL 5 | Wil Myers, 1B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | DC 9/PHI 6 | Stephen Strasburg (W,10-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 10 | ||
| 3.0 | CIN 2/OAK 1 | Blake Wood (W,5-1) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | TB 4/HOU 3 | Steve Pearce, 1B | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | TOR 4/BAL 3 | Russell Martin, C | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `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 | +/- |
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 17.0 | 42.7 | 142.8 | 176.3 | -8.7 |
| Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 7.8 | 21.2 | 52.0 | 52.0 | -5.6 |
| Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 7.4 | 21.4 | 67.5 | 75.2 | -6.6 |
| Lee, Dae-Ho 3627 | 1b ph | sea al | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 |
| Carpenter, Matt 2987 | 3b | stl nl | 5.5 | 11.0 | 25.5 | 25.5 | 0.0 |
| Wright, Steven 3224 | pi sp | bos al | 5.0 | 8.7 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 1.3 |
| Martin, Russell 2202 | ca | tor al | 3.5 | 8.5 | 25.0 | 46.0 | -1.5 |
| Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 3.0 | 18.4 | 36.4 | 36.4 | -12.4 |
| Sabathia, C.C. 1492 | pi sp | nyy al | 3.0 | 8.7 | 43.5 | 182.0 | -2.7 |
| Myers, Wil 3228 | 1b | sd nl | 3.0 | 6.0 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 0.0 |
| Pearce, Steve 2371 | 1b | tb al | 2.0 | 4.5 | 14.0 | 16.0 | -0.5 |
| Bour, Justin 3433 | 1b ph | fla nl | 1.5 | 10.0 | 11.5 | 11.5 | -7.0 |
| Norris, Bud 2638 | pi sp | atl nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 32.4 | 41.4 | 0.0 |
| Avila, Alex 2642 | ca | chi al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 12.5 | 17.0 | 1.0 |
| Wood, Blake 2850 | pi mr | cin nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 1.0 |