Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to third in player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of June 29:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 2 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 13.4 |
| 3 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.0 |
| 4 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 11.7 |
| 5 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 10.8 |
| 6 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.7 |
| 7 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 10.7 |
| 8 | Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 10.5 |
| 9 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 10.4 |
| 10 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 10.0 |
Also Wednesday, Indians pitcher Danny Salazar rises to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Player of the Day—Scherzer struck out 10 over 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 4-2 win over the Mets.
Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 12.0 for the season, rising to third among all players and third among National League pitchers, behind Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (20.0) and Jose Fernandez of the Marlins (13.4).
Scherzer also now has 118.0 career Box-Toppers points and rises to 39th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Wednesday, he passes five players on the “all-time” list—Todd Helton (116.4), Mark Buehrle (116.7), Cubs pitcher John Lackey (117.2), Barry Zito (117.4) and Carlos Delgado (117.7).
American League Player of the Day—Indians pitcher Danny Salazar pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing five hits and no walks, in the 3-0 win over the Braves.
Salazar earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 10.5 for the season and rising to eighth in player rankings, third among AL pitchers, behind Corey Kluber of the Indians (10.8) and Chris Sale of the White Sox (10.7).
Salazar also becomes the 10th player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points.
American League Batter of the Day—Brian McCann of the Yankees hit two home runs, going 2-for-3, scoring three times and driving in four, in the 9-7 win over the Rangers.
With his first Player of the Game honor of the season, McCann has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons, beginning in 2006 with the Braves. He has 56.7 career Box-Toppers points, first among active catchers and fifth among all catchers since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. His best season was 2009 with the Braves when he had 8.5 points, first among NL catchers. In 2015, he had 6.5 points with the Yankees, first among AL catchers.
National League Batter of the Day—Sean Rodriguez of the Pirates hit two doubles and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 8-1 win over the Mariners.
Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Salazar earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. McCann and Rodriguez each earn 1.5 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
| 6/29 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 14.1 | DC 4/NYM 2 | Max Scherzer (W,9-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | |
| 11.0 | MIL 7/LAD 0 | Junior Guerra (W,5-1) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | ||
| AL | 10.0 | CLE 3/ATL 0 | Danny Salazar (W,10-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| 8.0 | TB 4/BOS 0 | Matt Moore (W,4-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | NYY 9/TEX 7 | Brian McCann, C | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 5.0 | PIT 8/SEA 1 | Sean Rodriguez, RF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | HOU 10/LAA 4 | Jose Altuve, 2B | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.2 | `KC 3/STL 2 | Edinson Volquez | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 3.0 | BAL 12/SD 6 | Mark Trumbo, RF | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | DET 10/MIA 3 | Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.2 | OAK 7/SF 1 | Sean Manaea (W,3-4) | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 2.0 | CHW 9/MIN 6 | Tyler Saladino, 3B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | TOR 5/COL 3 | Edwin Encarnacion, 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | PHI 9/ARI 8 | Cody Asche, LF | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.0 | CHC 9/CIN 2 | Javier Baez, 2B | 5 | 1 | 3 | 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 | +/- |
| Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.0 | 33.0 | 97.6 | 118.0 | -9.0 |
| Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 10.5 | 23.9 | 33.3 | 33.3 | -2.9 |
| Altuve, Jose 3007 | 2b | hou al | 8.5 | 15.5 | 25.0 | 25.0 | 1.5 |
| Volquez, Edinson 2220 | pi sp | kc al | 6.4 | 13.4 | 38.1 | 64.2 | -0.6 |
| Trumbo, Mark 2851 | rf | bal al | 6.2 | 8.7 | 31.9 | 31.9 | 3.7 |
| Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 | dh | tor al | 6.0 | 16.4 | 44.6 | 65.1 | -4.4 |
| Moore, Matt 2975 | pi sp | tb al | 5.7 | 5.7 | 31.2 | 31.2 | 5.7 |
| Guerra, Junior 3633 | pi sp | mil nl | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Saladino, Tyler 3645 | ss 3b | chi al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| McCann, Brian 2179 | ca | nyy al | 1.5 | 8.0 | 33.7 | 56.7 | -5.0 |
| Asche, Cody 3268 | lf 3b | phi nl | 1.0 | 4.5 | 10.0 | 10.0 | -2.5 |
| Rodriguez, Sean 2729 | rf1b 2b | pit nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 12.5 | 17.5 | 1.0 |
| Baez, Javier 3395 | 2b | chi nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 1.0 |
| Saltalamacchia, Jarod 2355 | ca | det al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 12.0 | 18.0 | 1.0 |