Blue Jays pitcher Marco Estrada is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Estrada struck out 12 over 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run and five hits, in the 3-1 win over the Orioles.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of May 21:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 8.7 |
| 2 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 |
| 3 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 7.7 |
| 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 5 | Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 6 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 6.0 |
| 7 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 6.0 |
| 8 | Holland, Greg 2906 | pi cp | col nl | 6.0 |
| 9 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 5.4 |
| 10 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 5.4 |
National League Player of the Day—Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg struck out 11 over 7 2/3 innings, allowing two runs and five hits, in the 3-2 win over the Braves.
Strasburg earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 4.4 for the season, most among the 16 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday. Strasburg ranks 22nd among all players and eighth among NL pitchers.
Strasburg also has the most career Box-Toppers points among the 16 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday with 87.3. That ranks 14th among active NL pitchers and 107th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began.
National League Batter of the Day—Kris Bryant of the Cubs homered twice and went 3-for-3, scoring four times and driving in two runs, in the 13-6 win over the Brewers.
American League Batter of the Day—Yan Gomes of the Indians homered, doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 8-6 win over the Astros.
Notable—Kyle Freeland of the Rockies became the third pitcher this season to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for batting.
Freeland (HR 2B 2-2 2R BI in the 6-4 win over the Reds) had a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 for batting, best among Rockies players Sunday. He had a Box-Toppers game score of -5.8 for pitching (5.2IP 5H 4R 2BB 3K W).
Previously this season, two Cardinals have earned Player of the Game honors for batting—Adam Wainwright on April 21 and Carlos Martinez on May 8. In 2016, pitchers earned Player of the Game honors for batting eight times.
Scoring—Estrada earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Strasburg earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Bryant and Gomes 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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score| 5/21 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.2 | TOR 3, BAL 1 | Marco Estrada (W,3-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | |
| NL | 8.2 | WSH 3, ATL 2 | Stephen Strasburg (W,5-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 | |
| 8.0 | SD 5, ARI 1 | Clayton Richard (W,3-5) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 7.0 | `PIT 1, PHI 0 | Chad Kuhl | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | CHC 13, MIL 6 | Kris Bryant, 3B | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 6.0 | CLE 8, HOU 6 | Yan Gomes, C | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | LAD 6, MIA 3 | Brandon McCarthy (W,4-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 4.1 | NYY 3, TB 2 | Dellin Betances (S,2) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4.0 | LAA 12, NYM 5 | Mike Trout, CF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | CHW 8, SEA 1 | Derek Holland (W,4-3) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 3.2 | `TEX 5, DET 2 | Sam Dyson (H,3) | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | KC 6, MIN 4 | Brandon Moss, DH | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | BOS 12, OAK 3 | Hanley Ramirez, DH | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | STL 8, SF 3 | Randal Grichuk, RF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | COL 6, CIN 4 | Kyle Freeland, P | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | MIN 8, KC 4 | Robbie Grossman, RF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` 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 (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 4.4 | 19.5 | 78.6 | 87.3 | -10.7 |
| Holland, Derek 2634 | pi sp | chi al | 4.0 | 8.0 | 30.1 | 49.8 | 0.0 |
| Richard, Clayton 2584 | pi sp | sd nl | 4.0 | 6.0 | 14.2 | 33.6 | 2.0 |
| Estrada, Marco 2847 | pi sp | tor al | 3.0 | 14.0 | 43.1 | 46.1 | -8.0 |
| Betances, Dellin 3333 | pi mr cp | nyy al | 3.0 | 7.0 | 15.7 | 15.7 | -1.0 |
| McCarthy, Brandon 2082 | pi sp | lad nl | 3.0 | 5.7 | 25.4 | 39.5 | 0.3 |
| Gomes, Yan 3177 | ca | cle al | 3.0 | 4.0 | 12.2 | 12.2 | 2.0 |
| Freeland, Kyle 3763 | pi sp | col nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Grichuk, Randal 3474 | rf | stl nl | 2.5 | 3.5 | 13.0 | 13.0 | 1.5 |
| Bryant, Kris 3465 | 3b lf | chi nl | 1.5 | 12.0 | 20.5 | 20.5 | -9.0 |
| Trout, Mike 2949 | cf | ana al | 1.0 | 13.5 | 48.5 | 50.0 | -11.5 |
| Ramirez, Hanley 2119 | dh 1b | bos al | 1.0 | 8.0 | 23.5 | 58.6 | -6.0 |
| Moss, Brandon 2520 | dh rf lf 1b | kc al | 1.0 | 5.0 | 26.0 | 28.0 | -3.0 |
| Grossman, Robbie 3267 | rf | min al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | -1.0 |
| Kuhl, Chad 3687 | pi sp | pit nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | -1.0 |
| Dyson, Sam 3399 | pi mr | tex al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 1.0 |