Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of July 3:| 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 |
Happ struck out 11 over seven innings, allowing one run, five hits and no walks, in the 17-1 win over the Indians.
National League Player of the Day—Dodgers pitcher Brandon McCarthy pitched five scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing two hits and one walk, in the 4-1 win over the Rockies.
National League Batter of the Day—Wilmer Flores of the Mets hit two homers and went 6-for-6, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 14–3 win over the Cubs.
American League Batter of the Day—Sandy Leon of the Red Sox homered and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 10-5 win over the Angels.
This was Leon’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Leon made his Major League debut May 14, 2012, and was playing in his 89th career game. He is the 3,676th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Notable—Seth Smith of the Mariners earned Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Sunday.
Smith (grand slam 1-4 in the 9-4 win over the Orioles) was also Player of the Game Saturday in the Mariners 12-6 win over the Orioles.
Also notable—Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg has the most 2016 Box-Toppers points of any of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Strasburg (6.2 IP 0H 0R 4BB 5K W in the 12-1 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.4 for the season, 13th among all players, ninth among NL pitchers.
Debuts—In addition to Leon, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:
- Yankees pitcher Chad Green (6IP 3H R 8K W in the 6-3 win over the Padres) made his Major League debut May 16 and was playing in his third career game. He is the 3,675th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Giants pitcher Josh Osich (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K W in the 5-4 win over the Diamondbacks) made his Major League debut July 3, 2015, and was playing in his 76th career game. He is the 3,677th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Happ earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and McCarthy earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Flores and Leon each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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
| 7/3 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.0 | TOR 17/CLE 1 | J.A. Happ (W,11-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 | |
| NL | 10.0 | LAD 4/COL 1 | Brandon McCarthy (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| 9.0 | NYY 6/SD 3 | Chad Green (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 7.2 | DC 12/CIN 1 | Stephen Strasburg (W,11-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 7.0 | NYM 14/CHC 3 | Wilmer Flores, 3B | 6 | 3 | 6 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | STL 9/MIL 8 | Stephen Piscotty, RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 5.0 | CHW 4/HOU 1 | Jose Quintana (W,6-8) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 3.0 | MIA 5/ATL 2 | J.T. Realmuto, C | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | PHI 7/KC 2 | Maikel Franco, 3B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | BOS 10/LAA 5 | Sandy Leon, C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | PIT 6/OAK 3 | David Freese, 1B | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | DET 5/TB 1 | Ian Kinsler, 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | SEA 9/BAL 4 | Seth Smith, LF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | MIN 5/TEX 4 | Brian Dozier, 2B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | SF 5/ARI 4 | Josh Osich (W,1-1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
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 | +/- |
| Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 9.4 | 23.4 | 69.5 | 77.2 | -4.6 |
| Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi al | 6.7 | 12.7 | 31.5 | 31.5 | 0.7 |
| Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 6.0 | 19.1 | 34.5 | 42.5 | -7.1 |
| Kinsler, Ian 2144 | 2b | det al | 4.5 | 11.0 | 30.2 | 60.6 | -2.0 |
| Realmuto, J.T. 3491 | ca | fla nl | 3.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 | -1.5 |
| Piscotty, Stephen 3570 | rf | stl nl | 3.0 | 7.2 | 7.2 | 7.2 | -1.2 |
| Smith, Seth 2489 | rf lf | sea al | 3.0 | 4.0 | 22.0 | 36.2 | 2.0 |
| McCarthy, Brandon 2082 | pi sp | lad nl | 1.7 | 3.7 | 26.8 | 35.5 | -0.3 |
| Flores, Wilmer 3345 | 3b ss 2b | nym nl | 1.5 | 4.0 | 6.5 | 6.5 | -1.0 |
| Leon, Sandy 3676 | ca | bos al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Dozier, Brian 3219 | 2b | min al | 1.0 | 4.7 | 12.7 | 12.7 | -2.7 |
| Franco, Maikel 3510 | 3b | phi nl | 1.0 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | -2.2 |
| Freese, David 2710 | 1b 3b | pit nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 21.2 | 23.2 | 1.0 |
| Green, Chad 3675 | pi sp | nyy al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Osich, Josh 3677 | pi mr | sf nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |