Orioles pitcher Dylan Bundy is Tuesday’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 Aug. 2:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 17.0 |
| 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 16.4 |
| 4 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 14.5 |
| 5 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 6 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 14.1 |
| 7 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.1 |
| 8 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 12.4 |
| 9 | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 11.0 |
| 10 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 11.0 |
Bundy pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit, one walk and striking out seven, in the 5-1 win over the Rangers.
National League Player of the Day—Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing four hits and one walk, in the 7-1 win over the Yankees.
National League Batter of the Day—Maikel Franco of the Phillies hit a three-run homer and doubled, going 4-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 13-8 win over the Giants.
American League Batter of the Day—Max Kepler of the Twins homered and went 1-for-2, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 10-6 win over the Indians.
Tuesday was the second straight day Kepler earned AL Batter of the Day honors and the third time he’s done it in less than a week. In other words, he’s earned 4.5 Box-Toppers points in that span (1.5 points for each AL Batter of the Day honor) on July 28, Aug. 1 and Aug. 2. Kepler has 6.5 Box-Toppers points on the season, 14th among AL batters.
Notable—Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers rises to 25th among all players in career Box-Toppers points (since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began) after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Cabrera (HR 2B 3-5 2R 3BI in the 11-5 win over the White Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 140.9 career points, passing Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels (140.3) on the “all-time” list. Cabrera now trails 24th-ranked player, Giants pitcher Jake Peavy (141.8).
Cabrera and Hamels have been passing each other in the career points list recently and with Tuesday’s honor, Cabrera again regains the 10th-place spot in career points among active players.
This was the second time in three days Cabrera has earned Player of the Game honors—he was AL Batter of the Day Sunday. Cabrera has 8.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, rising to fourth among AL batters.
Also notable—Cubs pitcher Jason Hammel is the season’s highest-ranked player among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Tuesday.
Hammel (6IP 4H 0R 2BB 3K W in the 3-2 win over the Marlins) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.0 for the season. He ranks 33rd among all players and 17th among NL pitchers.
Hammel and another of Tuesday’s top players, Miguel Cabrera, both have 8.0 Box-Toppers points but Hammel ranks higher because he had more Box-Toppers points in 2015—9.7 vs. 4.7. Cabrera ranks 35th among all players.
Scoring—Bundy earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and deGrom earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Franco and Kepler each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’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
| 8/2 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | BAL 5, TEX 1 | Dylan Bundy (W,4-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| NL | 10.0 | NYM 7, NYY 1 | Jacob deGrom (W,7-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| BAT | 7.0 | PHI 13, SF 8 | Maikel Franco, 3B | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 7.0 | COL 7, LAD 3 | Jon Gray (W,8-4) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | MIN 10, CLE 6 | Max Kepler, RF | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | TOR 2, HOU 1 | R.A. Dickey (W,8-12) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | LAA 5, OAK 4 | Cam Bedrosian (S,1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | DET 11, CHW 5 | Miguel Cabrera, 1B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CIN 7, STL 5 | Joey Votto, 1B | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CHC 3, MIA 2 | Jason Hammel (W,11-5) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | SEA 5, BOS 4 | Edwin Diaz (S,1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | MIL 3, SD 2 | Tyler Thornburg (S,3) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1.1 | KC 3, TB 2 | Chris Young (W,3-8) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1.0 | WSH 10, ARI 4 | Jayson Werth, LF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | PIT 5, ATL 3 | Tony Watson (S,1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 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 | +/- |
| Hammel, Jason 2235 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.0 | 17.7 | 41.1 | 54.2 | -1.7 |
| Cabrera, Miguel 1776 | 1b | det al | 8.0 | 12.7 | 61.3 | 140.9 | 3.3 |
| deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 7.7 | 30.1 | 43.1 | 43.1 | -14.7 |
| Votto, Joey 2366 | 1b | cin nl | 6.5 | 11.5 | 28.2 | 60.2 | 1.5 |
| Kepler, Max 3664 | rf | min al | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 |
| Dickey, R.A. 1734 | pi sp | tor al | 6.0 | 11.0 | 55.2 | 76.9 | 1.0 |
| Young, Chris R. 1933 | pi sp mr | kc al | 4.7 | 12.7 | 28.8 | 78.8 | -3.3 |
| Bundy, Dylan 3655 | pi sp mr | bal al | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Gray, Jon 3634 | pi sp | col nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Bedrosian, Cam 3694 | pi cp mr | ana al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Franco, Maikel 3510 | 3b | phi nl | 2.5 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | -0.7 |
| Werth, Jayson 1664 | lf | dc nl | 2.0 | 5.0 | 19.0 | 46.2 | -1.0 |
| Watson, Tony 3215 | pi mr cp | pit nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 1.0 |
| Thornburg, Tyler 3195 | pi mr cp | mil nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 2.0 |
| Diaz, Edwin 3690 | pi mr cp | sea al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |