Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Twins pitcher Ervin Santana earns Player of the Game honors, maintaining his rank of third place in season player rankings, first among American League pitchers.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of June 25:| 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 | 12.4 |
| 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 |
Player of the Day—Gray struck out seven over seven innings, allowing two runs, four hits and one walk, in the 5-3 win over the White Sox.
National League Player of the Day—Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers hit two home runs and went 3-for-5, driving in four runs, in the 12-6 win over the Rockies.
Bellinger earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 6.2 for the season, rising to second among NL batters, behind Matt Adams of the Braves (6.5).
American League Batter of the Day—Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays homered and went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 8-2 win over the Royals.
Bautista has now earned Box-Toppers points in 12 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2017. He earned his first points in 2006 with the Pirates and has 64.4 career points, 10th among active AL batters. His best season was 2010 with the Blue Jays when he had 15.2 Box-Toppers points, first among AL batters. He’s had three seasons with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. He’s barely kept the streak alive in two seasons, earning just 1.0 Box-Toppers point in both 2009 and 2016, both with the Blue Jays.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Sunday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Cody Bellinger.
Rankings—Twins pitcher Ervin Santana, third in Box-Toppers season player rankings, earns Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Santana (6IP 9H 0R 0BB 7K W in the 4-0 win over the Indians) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.4 for the season. He maintains his rank of third among all players in 2017 points, behind Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (16.4) and Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (13.0). Santana ranks first among AL pitchers, ahead of Chris Sale of the Red Sox (10.1).
Santana also now has 109.7 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 55th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Sunday, he passes Jeff Kent (109.7) on the “all-time” list and now trails 54th-ranked player Tom Glavine (110.6).
Debut—Kaleb Cowart of the Angels made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Cowart (2B 2-3 R 2BI in the 4-2 win over the Red Sox) made his Major League debut Aug. 18, 2015, and was playing in his 66th career game. He is the 3,837th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Gray earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Bellinger earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Bautista earns 1.5 points for being AL 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| 6/25 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 6.0 | OAK 5, CHW 3 | Sonny Gray (W,3-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |
| 6.0 | HOU 8, SEA 2 | Michael Feliz (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| NL | 4.0 | LAD 12, COL 6 | Cody Bellinger, RF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | MIN 4, CLE 0 | Ervin Santana (W,10-4) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 4.0 | `ARI 2, PHI 1 (F/11) | Randall Delgado | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 3.2 | NYM 8, SF 2 | Rafael Montero (W,1-4) | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 3.0 | CIN 6, WSH 2 | Scooter Gennett, 2B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | TOR 8, KC 2 | Jose Bautista, RF | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | MIL 7, ATL 0 | Keon Broxton, CF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | BAL 8, TB 5 | Caleb Joseph, C | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | STL 8, PIT 4 | Yadier Molina, C | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | DET 7, SD 5 | Justin Wilson (S,6) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.1 | MIA 4, CHC 2 | AJ Ramos (S,12) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | LAA 4, BOS 2 | Kaleb Cowart, 3B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | TEX 7, NYY 6 | Shin-Soo Choo, RF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 12.4 | 16.4 | 49.2 | 109.7 | 8.4 |
| Bellinger, Cody 3781 | 1b | lad nl | 6.2 | 6.2 | 6.2 | 6.2 | 6.2 |
| Gennett, Scooter 3254 | 2b | cin nl | 4.5 | 7.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 2.0 |
| Broxton, Keon 3785 | cf | mil nl | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Ramos, A.J. 3210 | pi cp | fla nl | 4.0 | 6.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 2.0 |
| Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 4.0 | 5.0 | 36.8 | 36.8 | 3.0 |
| Choo, Shin-Soo 2267 | rf dh | tex al | 3.5 | 4.5 | 24.5 | 51.2 | 2.5 |
| Molina, Yadier 1967 | ca | stl nl | 2.0 | 6.0 | 15.5 | 36.7 | -2.0 |
| Wilson, Justin 3140 | pi cp | det al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 1.0 |
| Bautista, Jose 2169 | rf | tor al | 1.5 | 2.5 | 25.5 | 64.4 | 0.5 |
| Feliz, Michael 3632 | pi mr cp | hou al | 1.0 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 | -2.7 |
| Joseph, Caleb 3368 | ca | bal al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 1.0 |
| Delgado, Randall 2939 | pi sp | ari nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 9.4 | 10.4 | 1.0 |
| Montero, Rafael 3410 | pi sp | nym nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 |
| Cowart, Kaleb 3837 | 3b | ana al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |