Indians pitcher Danny Salazar 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 22:| 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 Saturday, Cubs pitcher Jon Lester rises to 18th place on Box-Toppers “all-time” career points list after earning National League Player of the Day honors.
Player of the Day—Salazar pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit, no walks and striking out eight, in the 2-1, 10-inning win over the Blue Jays. Salazar picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because after he exited, the Blue Jays tied the game.
National League Player of the Day—Cubs pitcher Jon Lester struck out 10 over eight innings, allowing two runs, three hits and no walks, in the 3-2 win over the Cardinals.
Lester earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 151.9 career points, rising to 18th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Saturday, he passes three players on the “all-time” Box-Toppers career points list—Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (150.7), Twins pitcher Bartolo Colon (151.2) and Greg Maddux (151.7). (It should be noted that Maddux began his career in 1986, prior to the start of Box-Toppers tracking in 1995. If his entire career were tracked, his projected Box-Toppers career point total would be 250.) Lester now trails 17th-ranked player Barry Bonds (153.2).
All-time leaders
Here are Box-Toppers top 20 players since record keeping began in 1995:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | retired | 278.8 |
| 2 | Pedro Martinez | pi sp | retired | 244.8 |
| 3 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | lad nl | 205.8 |
| 4 | Curt Schilling | pi sp | retired | 194.1 |
| 5 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | nyy al | 191.0 |
| 6 | Alex Rodriguez | dh | released | 187.0 |
| 7 | Albert Pujols | 1b dh | ana al | 185.3 |
| 8 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 171.4 |
| 9 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 10 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 167.5 |
| 11 | Manny Ramirez | lf dh | retired | 167.2 |
| 12 | Johan Santana | pi sp | free agent | 166.6 |
| 13 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | retired | 164.8 |
| 14 | John Smoltz | pi sp | retired | 160.9 |
| 15 | Tim Hudson | pi sp | retired | 157.0 |
| 16 | Mike Mussina | pi sp | retired | 155.6 |
| 17 | Barry Bonds | lf | retired | 153.2 |
| 18 | Jon Lester | pi sp | chi nl | 151.9 |
| 19 | Greg Maddux | pi sp | retired | 151.7 |
| 20 | Bartolo Colon | pi sp | min al | 151.2 |
List of top 100 players since 1995 at the close of the 2016 season.
With Lester rising back into the top 20 on the “all-time” career Box-Toppers points list, Scherzer falls from the list to 21st. Scherzer only rose to 20th place on Sunday, July 15.
Lester also now has 8.7 Box-Toppers points on the season, most of any of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Saturday. Lester ranks 18th among all players in 2017 Box-Toppers points, 10th among NL pitchers.
National League Batter of the Day—Ryan Braun of the Brewers homered, doubled and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 9-8 win over the Phillies.
American League Batter of the Day—Marwin Gonzalez of the Astros hit a pinch-hit, three-run homer in the 8-4 win over the Orioles. Gonzalez also doubled and went 2-for-2.
Not really that notable—If this were 1997, when the Brewers were in the American League and the Astros were in the National League, both Braun and Gonzalez would still be top two batters of the day, except that Braun would be AL Batter of the Day and Gonzalez would be NL Batter of the Day.
Notable—Albert Pujols of the Angels now has 185.3 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors, coming within 2.0 points of Box-Toppers “all-time” batting leader, Alex Rodriguez.
Pujols (2B 3-4 2R 2BI in the 7-3 win over the Red Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point. His 185.3 career Box-Toppers points ranks seventh among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began and second among all batters, behind Alex Rodriguez (187.0). Pujols ranks third among active players, behind Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (205.8) and Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia (191.0).
Pujols has 3.0 Box-Toppers points on the season.
Scoring—Salazar earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lester earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Braun and Gonzalez 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| 7/22 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 14.0 | `CLE 2, TOR 1 (F/10) | Danny Salazar | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| NL | 11.0 | CHC 3, STL 2 | Jon Lester (W, 7-6) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 10 | |
| 10.0 | WSH 4, ARI 3 | Tanner Roark (W, 8-6) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 | ||
| BAT | 7.0 | MIL 9, PHI 8 | Ryan Braun (LF) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 7.0 | COL 7, PIT 3 | German Marquez (W, 8-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | ||
| 5.0 | MIA 5, CIN 4 | J.T. Realmuto (C) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.2 | SF 5, SD 4 (F/12) | Josh Osich (W, 3-1) | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | HOU 8, BAL 4 | Marwin Gonzalez (PH-3B) | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | LAD 6, ATL 2 | Chris Taylor (LF) | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.1 | `SEA 6, NYY 5 (F/10) | David Phelps (H, 1) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | LAA 7, BOS 3 | Albert Pujols (DH) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | TEX 4, TB 3 | Elvis Andrus (SS) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | KC 7, CHW 2 | Mike Moustakas (3B) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | NYM 6, OAK 5 | Travis d'Arnaud (C) | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.1 | MIN 6, DET 5 | Brandon Kintzler (S, 27) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 1 | 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 | +/- |
| Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 8.7 | 30.8 | 76.3 | 151.9 | -13.4 |
| Kintzler, Brandon 3150 | pi cp | min al | 6.0 | 6.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 6.0 |
| Roark, Tanner 3261 | pi sp | dc nl | 5.0 | 17.7 | 33.7 | 33.7 | -7.7 |
| Andrus, Elvis 2582 | ss | tex al | 4.5 | 13.7 | 18.7 | 24.2 | -4.7 |
| Moustakas, Mike 2967 | 3b | kc al | 4.0 | 5.0 | 24.2 | 26.2 | 3.0 |
| Gonzalez, Marwin 3078 | lf 3b ph | hou al | 4.0 | 5.0 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 3.0 |
| Braun, Ryan J. 2300 | lf | mil nl | 3.5 | 14.0 | 39.5 | 91.7 | -7.0 |
| Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 3.0 | 15.5 | 38.3 | 38.3 | -9.5 |
| Pujols, Albert 1438 | dh | ana al | 3.0 | 11.0 | 35.5 | 185.3 | -5.0 |
| Realmuto, J.T. 3491 | ca | fla nl | 3.0 | 8.5 | 13.5 | 13.5 | -2.5 |
| d’Arnaud, Travis 3384 | ca | nym nl | 2.7 | 3.7 | 10.2 | 10.2 | 1.7 |
| Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| Taylor, Chris 3684 | cf lf | lad nl | 2.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 1.0 |
| Phelps, David 2994 | pi mr sp | sea al | 1.0 | 7.7 | 24.5 | 24.5 | -5.7 |
| Osich, Josh 3677 | pi cp | sf nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |