Angels pitcher Ricky Nolasco is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of July 1:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 18.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 13.1 |
| 4 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 12.4 |
| 5 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 10.4 |
| 6 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 10.0 |
| 7 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 10.0 |
| 8 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 9.7 |
| 9 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 9.4 |
| 10 | McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | hou al | 9.4 |
Also Saturday, Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale rises to third place in Box-Toppers player rankings—first among American League pitchers—after earning Player of the Game honors. Two others who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday also rise in Box-Toppers top 10 player rankings—Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco and Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke.
Player of the Game—Nolasco pitched a complete-game, three-hit shutout, striking out seven and walking none, in the 4-0 win over the Mariners.
Nolasco had a Box-Toppers game score Saturday of +13.0, tied with two others who earned Player of the Game Saturday—Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill and Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale. But Nolasco beat them both on a tiebreaker since he had more innings pitched (9 vs. 7 vs. 7).
National League Player of the Day—Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 8-0 win over the Dodgers.
American League Batter of the Day—Eddie Rosario of the Twins went 5-for-5, scoring three times and driving in one run, in the 10-5 win over the Royals.
National League Batter of the Day—Orlando Arcia of the Brewers homered and went 3-for-4, scoring twice, in the 8-4 win over the Marlins.
Rankings—Three players who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday rose in Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings:
- Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale (7IP 4H 0R BB 11K W in the 7-1 win over the Blue Jays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.1 for the season. He rises from fourth to third place in season player rankings, behind Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (18.1) and Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (14.0). Sale also rises to first place among AL pitchers, passing previous leader Ervin Santana of the Twins (12.4).
- Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco (7IP 4H R BB 7K W in the 4-1 win over the Tigers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.4 for the season. He rises from eighth to fifth place in season player rankings and third among AL pitchers. He is the seventh player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points. It is the fourth straight season Carrasco has earned 10 or more points.
- Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke (7IP 3H 2R 0BB 8K in the 6-2 win over the Rockies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.7 for the season. He rises to eighth in Box-Toppers season player rankings, fifth among NL pitchers. He also now has 165.8 career Box-Toppers points, 12th-most among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 11th-place player Johan Santana (166.6).
Streaks—Two players extended streaks of 10 or more consecutive seasons earning Box-Toppers points after both earned their first Player of the Game honors Saturday:
- Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels (6.2IP 2H 2R 0BB 6K W in the 10–4 win over the White Sox) has now earned Box-Toppers points for 12 straight seasons. He earned his first points in 2006 with the Phillies and has 145.0 career points, 27th-most among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 26th-ranked player, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (145.7). Hamels’ best season was 2016 with the Rangers when he had 17.8 Box-Toppers points, second among AL pitchers.
- Asdrubal Cabrera of the Mets (HR 2B 2-4 2R 2BI in the 7-6 win over the Phillies) has now earned Box-Toppers points for 11 straight seasons. He earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2007 with the Indians and has 43.7 career points, 21st among active NL batters. His best season was 2011 with the Indians, when he had 14.7 points, first among AL batters. Interestingly, his second-best season is not within 10 Box-Toppers points of that—he had 4.5 points in both 2008 and 2009 with the Indians. He had 2.0 Box-Toppers points in 2016 with the Mets.
Scoring—Nolasco earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Hill earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Rosario and Arcia 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| 7/1 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 13.0 | LAA 4, SEA 0 | Ricky Nolasco (W, 4-9) | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| NL | 13.0 | LAD 8, SD 0 | Rich Hill (W, 5-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | |
| 13.0 | BOS 7, TOR 1 | Chris Sale (W, 11-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | ||
| 10.0 | STL 2, WSH 1 | Michael Wacha (W, 5-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 8.0 | ARI 6, COL 2 | Zack Greinke (W, 10-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 7.0 | CLE 4, DET 1 | Carlos Carrasco (W, 9-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 6.2 | TEX 10, CHW 4 | Cole Hamels (W, 3-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | MIN 10, KC 5 | Eddie Rosario (LF) | 5 | 3 | 5 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | HOU 7, NYY 6 | Yuli Gurriel (1B) | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | TB 10, BAL 3 | Logan Morrison (1B) | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | KC 11, MIN 6 | Brandon Moss (DH) | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | DET 7, CLE 4 | Justin Wilson (S, 8) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | ATL 4, OAK 3 | Jim Johnson (S, 18) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.1 | `SF 2, PIT 1 (F/11) | George Kontos | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | MIL 8, MIA 4 | Orlando Arcia (SS) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | NYM 7, PHI 6 | Asdrubal Cabrera (2B) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.1 | CIN 5, CHC 3 | Raisel Iglesias (S, 15) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 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 | +/- |
| Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 13.1 | 26.5 | 94.5 | 99.5 | -0.3 |
| Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 10.4 | 22.8 | 51.5 | 56.9 | -2.0 |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 9.7 | 19.4 | 88.7 | 165.8 | 0.0 |
| Rosario, Eddie 3542 | lf | min al | 5.2 | 8.2 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 2.2 |
| Hill, Rich 2215 | pi sp | lad nl | 4.7 | 19.1 | 23.1 | 42.8 | -9.7 |
| Morrison, Logan 2794 | 1b | tb al | 4.2 | 6.2 | 16.2 | 21.7 | 2.2 |
| Nolasco, Ricky 2125 | pi sp | ana al | 4.0 | 15.4 | 32.1 | 91.2 | -7.4 |
| Johnson, Jim 2417 | pi cp | atl nl | 4.0 | 8.0 | 19.0 | 25.7 | 0.0 |
| Wilson, Justin 3140 | pi cp | det al | 4.0 | 5.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 3.0 |
| Gurriel, Yuli 3796 | 1b | hou al | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| Moss, Brandon 2520 | dh rf lf 1b | kc al | 2.0 | 6.0 | 27.0 | 29.0 | -2.0 |
| Iglesias, Raisel 3467 | pi cp | cin nl | 2.0 | 5.0 | 7.7 | 7.7 | -1.0 |
| Wacha, Michael 3276 | pi sp | stl nl | 2.0 | 4.0 | 21.7 | 21.7 | 0.0 |
| Arcia, Orlando 3717 | ss | mil nl | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 0.5 |
| Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 1.0 | 18.8 | 70.0 | 145.0 | -16.8 |
| Kontos, George 3106 | pi mr cp | sf nl | 1.0 | 4.0 | 8.7 | 8.7 | -2.0 |
| Cabrera, Asdrubal 2362 | 2b ss | nym nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 13.0 | 43.7 | -1.0 |