Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, bolstering his spot atop season player rankings and becoming only the third player to reach 200 career Box-Toppers points.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of June 24:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.4 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 13.0 |
| 3 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 11.4 |
| 4 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 10.1 |
| 5 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 10.0 |
| 6 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 9.4 |
| 7 | McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | hou al | 9.4 |
| 8 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 9.0 |
| 9 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf | nyy al | 8.2 |
| 10 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 8.0 |
Also Saturday, Astros pitcher Lance McCullers rises to seventh place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Kershaw struck out eight over six scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 4-0 win over the Rockies.
Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 16.4 for the season. He leads second-place player, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, who has 13.0 points. Kershaw has now also earned 15 or more Box-Toppers points for eight straight seasons.
Kershaw also now has 200.1 career Box-Toppers points, only the third player to reach that total since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. Kershaw is the first player whose entire career has been tracked by Box-Toppers to reach 200 points. The other two players, Randy Johnson (278.8) and Pedro Martinez (244.4), both began their careers before 1995 and would likely have more Box-Toppers points if their entire careers were tracked.
American League Player of the Day—Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. struck out seven over eight innings, allowing one run, four hits and one walk, in the 5-2 win over the Mariners.
McCullers earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 9.4 for the season, rising to seventh among all players and fourth among AL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day—Matt Olson of the Athletics hit two home runs and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 5-2 win over the Mariners.
This was Olson’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Olson made his Major League debut Sept. 12, 2016, and was playing in his 20th career game. He is the 3,836th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Batter of the Day—Hector Sanchez of the Padres hit a go-ahead, two-run, eighth-inning homer in the 7-3 win over the Tigers.
Scoring—Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and McCullers earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Olson and Sanchez each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’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| 6/24 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | LAD 4, COL 0 | Clayton Kershaw (W,11-2) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| 8.0 | NYM 5, SF 2 | Jacob deGrom (W,7-3) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| AL | 7.0 | HOU 5, SEA 2 | Lance McCullers Jr. (W,7-1) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | |
| BAT | 5.0 | OAK 10, CHW 2 | Matt Olson, RF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 5.0 | ATL 3, MIL 1 | R.A. Dickey (W,6-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 5.0 | LAA 6, BOS 3 | JC Ramirez (W,7-5) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 3.0 | BAL 8, TB 3 | Trey Mancini, 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | SD 7, DET 3 | Hector Sanchez, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | WSH 18, CIN 3 | Joe Ross (W,4-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 2.1 | `MIN 4, CLE 2 | Tyler Duffey | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | CHC 5, MIA 3 | Javier Baez, 3B-2B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | ARI 9, PHI 2 | Chris Herrmann, C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | KC 3, TOR 2 | Alcides Escobar, SS | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | TEX 8, NYY 1 | Carlos Gomez, CF | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | PIT 7, STL 3 | Gerrit Cole (W,6-6) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
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 | +/- |
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.4 | 40.8 | 140.5 | 200.1 | -8.0 |
| McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | hou al | 9.4 | 15.5 | 22.2 | 22.2 | 3.3 |
| Mancini, Trey 3766 | lf 1b | bal al | 6.2 | 6.2 | 6.2 | 6.2 | 6.2 |
| deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 5.7 | 15.4 | 50.8 | 50.8 | -4.0 |
| Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 5.0 | 11.5 | 40.9 | 40.9 | -1.5 |
| Ramirez, JC 3778 | pi sp | ana al | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Baez, Javier 3395 | 2b 3b | chi nl | 4.2 | 6.2 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 2.2 |
| Dickey, R.A. 1734 | pi sp | atl nl | 3.7 | 10.7 | 50.9 | 81.6 | -3.3 |
| Ross, Joe 3499 | pi sp | dc nl | 3.0 | 8.7 | 13.7 | 13.7 | -2.7 |
| Gomez, Carlos 2397 | cf | tex al | 2.5 | 7.0 | 21.5 | 34.5 | -2.0 |
| Sanchez, Hector 3130 | ca ph | sd nl | 1.5 | 1.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 1.5 |
| Olson, Matt 3836 | rf | oak al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Duffey, Tyler 3558 | pi mr sp | min al | 1.0 | 8.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | -6.0 |
| Herrmann, Chris 3196 | ca | ari nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 0.0 |
| Escobar, Alcides 2663 | ss | kc al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 18.0 | 22.5 | 1.0 |