Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fifth place in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of July 17:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 21.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 19.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 13.1 |
| 4 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 5 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.4 |
| 6 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 12.4 |
| 7 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 11.4 |
| 8 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 11.4 |
| 9 | Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.0 |
| 10 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 10.0 |
Strasburg struck out 11 over seven innings, allowing one run, four hits and one walk, in the 6-1 win over the Reds.
Strasburg earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 12.4 for the season, rising from eighth to fifth place in season player rankings, fourth place among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Jake Odorizzi allowed one run and one hit over seven innings, striking out five and walking two, in the 3-2 win over the Athletics.
National League Batter of the Day—Gregory Polanco of the Pirates hit two doubles and went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 4-2 win over the Brewers.
American League Batter of the Day—Steve Pearce of the Blue Jays homered and went 2-for-3, driving in two runs, in the 4-3 win over the Red Sox.
Notable—Cubs pitcher Jon Lester became the 21st player since 1995 to reach 150 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Monday.
Lester (7IP 3H R BB 6K W in the 4-3 win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 150.2 career points, 21st-most since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 20th-ranked player, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (150.7), who just passed Lester on the “all-time” list on Saturday.
Lester has 7.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, 14th among NL pitchers.
Scoring—Strasburg earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Odorizzi earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Polanco and Pearce each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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| 7/17 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.0 | WSH 6, CIN 1 | Stephen Strasburg (W, 10-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | |
| 7.0 | CHC 4, ATL 3 | Jon Lester (W, 6-6) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| AL | 7.0 | TB 3, OAK 2 | Jake Odorizzi (W, 6-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | |
| 4.2 | DET 10, KC 2 | Jordan Zimmermann (W, 6-7) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | PIT 4, MIL 2 | Gregory Polanco (RF) | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | MIA 6, PHI 5 (F/10) | Giancarlo Stanton (RF) | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | STL 6, NYM 3 | Tommy Pham (LF) | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | COL 9, SD 6 | Trevor Story (SS) | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | SEA 9, HOU 7 (F/10) | Edwin Diaz (S, 17) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.1 | `MIN 4, NYY 2 | Adalberto Mejia | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | TOR 4, BOS 3 | Steve Pearce (LF-1B) | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1.0 | `BAL 3, TEX 1 | Chris Tillman | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | ||
| 1.0 | CLE 5, SF 3 | Cody Allen (S, 17) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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 | 12.4 | 27.5 | 86.6 | 95.3 | -2.7 |
| Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 7.0 | 29.1 | 74.6 | 150.2 | -15.1 |
| Odorizzi, Jake 3291 | pi sp | tb al | 5.1 | 11.5 | 31.2 | 31.2 | -1.3 |
| Diaz, Edwin 3690 | pi cp | sea al | 5.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | -2.0 |
| Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 | rf | fla nl | 4.5 | 11.0 | 35.2 | 43.7 | -2.0 |
| Polanco, Gregory 3361 | rf | pit nl | 4.5 | 10.0 | 17.0 | 17.0 | -1.0 |
| Mejia, Adalberto 3812 | pi sp | min al | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Pearce, Steve 2371 | lf 1b | tor al | 3.5 | 5.5 | 17.5 | 19.5 | 1.5 |
| Pham, Thomas 3596 | lf | stl nl | 3.5 | 5.0 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 2.0 |
| Tillman, Chris 2754 | pi sp | bal al | 2.0 | 10.0 | 41.8 | 45.8 | -6.0 |
| Allen, Cody 3265 | pi cp mr | cle al | 2.0 | 9.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | -5.0 |
| Story, Trevor 3607 | ss | col nl | 1.0 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 | -5.5 |
| Zimmermann, Jordan 2612 | pi sp | det al | 1.0 | 4.0 | 54.4 | 61.4 | -2.0 |