Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, maintaining his player rankings lead among American League pitchers and becoming the 79th player since 1995 with 100 or more career Box-Toppers points.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of July 21:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 19.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 15.1 |
| 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 |
Also Friday, Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians rises to first place in Box-Toppers points among AL batters after earning AL Batter of the Day honors.
Player of the Day—Sale struck out nine over six scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks, in the 6-2 win over the Angels.
Sale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 15.1 for the season, maintaining his third-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings, behind Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22.1) and Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (19.0). Sale also solidifies his lead among AL pitchers, ahead of second-place Ervin Santana of the Twins (12.4).
In addition, Sale becomes the 79th player since 1995 (when Box-Toppers tracking began) to reach 100 or more career Box-Toppers points. With his points Friday, Sale now has 101.5 points and rises to 71st place among all players in career Box-Toppers points since 1995. He passes eight players on the “all-time” list—Larry Walker (100.1), Jeff Bagwell (100.4), Paul Konerko (100.7), Giants pitcher Matt Cain (100.7), Matt Holliday of the Yankees (100.8), Jason Schmidt (101.2), Mark Teixeira (101.3) and Tim Wakefield (101.4). Sale now trails 70th-ranked player Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto (101.8).
Sale has earned Box-Toppers points each season since 2010, meaning that over the eight seasons he has averaged 12.7 Box-Toppers points per year. He has earned 10 or more points in six straight seasons (from 2012 to 2017), averaging 16.1 points per season in that span.
National League Player of the Day—Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola struck out nine over seven innings, allowing one run, five hits and two walks, in the 6-1 win over the Brewers.
American League Batter of the Day—Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 13-3 win over the Blue Jays.
Encarnacion earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 9.4 for the season, rising from third to first among AL batters in 2017 Box-Toppers points, passing previous leader Ryon Healy of the Athletics (8.7). Encarnacion ranks 12th among all players in 2017 Box-Toppers points.
National League Batter of the Day—Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 13-5 win over the Rockies.
Notable—Aaron Judge of the Yankees maintains his second-place spot among AL batters in Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Judge (HR 1-2 R 4BI in the 5-1 win over the Mariners) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.2 for the season. While he passes previous AL batting leader Ryon Healy of the Athletics (8.7), he was passed Friday by AL Batter of the Day Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians (9.4) and so keeps his second-place spot in Box-Toppers AL batting rankings. Judge is in 14th place among all players in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Top 10 watch—Four pitchers among the top 10 in 2017 Box-Toppers points started Friday, but only Sale earned Player of the Game honors, earning overall Player of the Day honors. Here’s how the other three fared:
- Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, ranked second with 19.0 Box-Toppers points, did not earn Player of the Game honors in the 6-5 loss to the Diamondbacks. Scherzer (5IP 8H 5R 2BB 9K ND) had a Box-Toppers game score of -6.0. Player of the Game was A.J. Pollock of the Diamondbacks.
- Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood, ranked fourth with 13.0 Box-Toppers points, did not earn Player of the Game honors in the 12-3 loss to the Braves. Wood (4.2IP 9H 9R 7ER 4BB 4K L) had a Box-Toppers game score of -20.8, earning his first loss of the season (11-1). Player of the Game was Tyler Flowers of the Braves.
- Twins pitcher Ervin Santana, ranked sixth with 12.4 Box-Toppers points, did not earn Player of the Game honors in the 6-3 loss to the Tigers. Santana (3.1IP 7H 5R 2BB 3K L) had a Box-Toppers game score of -12.9. Player of the Game was Victor Martinez of the Tigers.
Scoring—Sale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Nola earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Encarnacion and McCutchen each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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| 7/21 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 9.0 | BOS 6, LAA 2 | Chris Sale (W, 12-4) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | |
| 8.0 | `TEX 4, TB 3 (F/10) | Yu Darvish | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 12 | ||
| 7.0 | HOU 8, BAL 7 | Mike Fiers (W, 7-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | ||
| NL | 7.0 | PHI 6, MIL 1 | Aaron Nola (W, 7-6) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | |
| BAT | 5.0 | CLE 13, TOR 3 | Edwin Encarnacion (DH) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 5.0 | PIT 13, COL 5 | Andrew McCutchen (CF) | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | NYM 7, OAK 5 | Michael Conforto (CF) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | ATL 12, LAD 3 | Tyler Flowers (C) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | NYY 5, SEA 1 | Aaron Judge (RF) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | SD 12, SF 9 (F/11) | Matt Szczur (CF) | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | KC 7, CHW 6 (F/10) | Alex Gordon (LF) | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | DET 6, MIN 3 | Victor Martinez (DH) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | MIA 3, CIN 1 | Jose Urena (W, 8-4) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 2.0 | ARI 6, WSH 5 | A.J. Pollock (CF) | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | STL 11, CHC 4 | Randal Grichuk (RF) | 4 | 2 | 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 | +/- |
| Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 15.1 | 28.5 | 96.5 | 101.5 | 1.7 |
| Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 | dh 1b | cle al | 9.4 | 17.4 | 52.5 | 76.5 | 1.4 |
| Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf | nyy al | 9.2 | 9.2 | 9.2 | 9.2 | 9.2 |
| Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 7.4 | 14.1 | 16.1 | 16.1 | 0.7 |
| Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | tex al | 7.0 | 17.4 | 62.6 | 62.6 | -3.4 |
| McCutchen, Andrew 2637 | cf | pit nl | 5.5 | 12.5 | 44.0 | 59.4 | -1.5 |
| Fiers, Michael 3029 | pi sp | hou al | 5.4 | 10.4 | 31.5 | 31.5 | 0.4 |
| Conforto, Michael 3622 | cf lf | nym nl | 5.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 0.0 |
| Grichuk, Randal 3474 | rf | stl nl | 5.0 | 6.0 | 15.5 | 15.5 | 4.0 |
| Urena, Jose 3492 | pi sp | fla nl | 4.0 | 6.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 1.3 |
| Flowers, Tyler 3101 | ca | atl nl | 2.5 | 5.0 | 13.5 | 13.5 | 0.0 |
| Pollock, A.J. 3142 | cf | ari nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 17.2 | 17.2 | 2.5 |
| Szczur, Matt 3704 | cf | sd nl | 2.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 0.5 |
| Martinez, Victor 1695 | dh | det al | 1.0 | 9.5 | 22.7 | 73.1 | -7.5 |
| Gordon, Alex 2328 | lf | kc al | 1.0 | 2.5 | 16.5 | 32.5 | -0.5 |