Phillies pitcher Zach Eflin is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Eflin pitched a complete-game, three-hit shutout, striking out six and walking none, in the 4-0 win over the Pirates.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of July 22:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 2 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 16.4 |
| 3 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.0 |
| 4 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 13.4 |
| 5 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 12.5 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 12.1 |
| 7 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 11.4 |
| 8 | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 11.0 |
| 9 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 11.0 |
| 10 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.7 |
American League Player of the Day—Mariners pitcher James Paxton struck out nine over seven innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 2-1 win over the Blue Jays.
Paxton had a Box-Toppers game score of +10.0, tied with Athletics pitcher Sean Manaea, who was Player of the Game in the 1-0, 13-inning win over the Blue Jays. But Paxton edged Manaea to earn AL Player of the Day because he earned the win in his game, while Manaea picked up a no decision (8IP 5H 0R 7K ND).
National League Batter of the Day—Dexter Fowler of the Cubs homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 5-2 win over the Brewers.
American League Batter of the Day—Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers hit two doubles and went 4-for-4, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 7-5 win over the White Sox.
Cabrera earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 138.4 for his career, regaining the 26th place spot among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels (138.3) on the “all-time” list. Hamels had passed Cabrera on July 17 when he earned Player of the Day. Cabrera now trails 25th-ranked player Andy Pettitte (138.5). Cabrera again ranks 10th among active players in career Box-Toppers points.
Cabrera has 5.5 points on the season, more than the 4.7 points he earned in 2015, which was his lowest total since his 2003 rookie season. Cabrera’s 5.5 points ranks 15th among AL batters this season.
Notable—Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka has the most season Box-Toppers points among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Friday.
Tanaka (6IP 4H 0R 2BB 4K ND in the 3-2 win over the Giants) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.7 for the season, 20th among all players and eighth among AL pitchers.
Scoring—Eflin earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Paxton earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Fowler and Cabrera 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
| 7/22 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | PHI 4, PIT 0 | Zach Eflin (W,3-3) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| AL | 10.0 | SEA 2, TOR 1 | James Paxton (W,3-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |
| 10.0 | `OAK 1, TB 0 (13) | Sean Manaea | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 9.0 | MIN 2, BOS 1 | Kyle Gibson (W,3-6) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 8.0 | HOU 2, LAA 1 | Lance McCullers (W,5-4) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 10 | ||
| 6.0 | COL 4, ATL 3 | Jon Gray (W,6-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 4.2 | `STL 4, LAD 3 (16) | Tyler Lyons | - | - | - | - | 4.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | CHC 5, MIL 2 | Dexter Fowler, CF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | SD 5, WSH 3 | Matt Kemp, RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | `NYY 3, SF 2 | Masahiro Tanaka | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | BAL 5, CLE 1 | Dylan Bundy (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | DET 7, CHW 5 | Miguel Cabrera, 1B | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | CIN 6, ARI 2 | Joey Votto, 1B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | NYM 5, MIA 3 | James Loney, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.2 | KC 3, TEX 1 | Danny Duffy (W,6-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| `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 | +/- |
| Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 | pi sp | nyy al | 8.7 | 16.7 | 29.4 | 29.4 | 0.7 |
| Duffy, Danny 2915 | pi sp | kc al | 6.7 | 10.7 | 25.7 | 25.7 | 2.7 |
| Votto, Joey 2366 | 1b | cin nl | 5.5 | 10.5 | 27.2 | 59.2 | 0.5 |
| Cabrera, Miguel 1776 | 1b | det al | 5.5 | 10.2 | 58.8 | 138.4 | 0.8 |
| McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | hou al | 4.4 | 11.1 | 11.1 | 11.1 | -2.3 |
| Kemp, Matt 2151 | rf | sd nl | 4.0 | 9.5 | 34.0 | 55.6 | -1.5 |
| Eflin, Zach 3679 | pi sp | phi nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Gibson, Kyle 3312 | pi sp | min al | 3.0 | 11.0 | 17.0 | 17.0 | -5.0 |
| Gray, Jon 3634 | pi sp | col nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Loney, James 2206 | 1b ph | nym nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 13.0 | 34.4 | 2.0 |
| Bundy, Dylan 3655 | pi mr sp | bal al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 1.7 | 2.7 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 0.7 |
| Fowler, Dexter 2698 | cf | chi nl | 1.5 | 4.0 | 17.0 | 18.0 | -1.0 |
| Lyons, Tyler 3178 | pi mr sp | stl nl | 1.0 | 4.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | -2.0 |