Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka is Friday’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 28:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 20.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 17.1 |
| 4 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 5 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.4 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 12.4 |
| 7 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 12.4 |
| 8 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 11.4 |
| 9 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 11.0 |
| 10 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 10.7 |
Tanaka struck out 14 over eight innings, allowing one run, two hits and no walks, in the 6-1 win over the Rays. Tanaka retired the first 17 batters and had a perfect game in the sixth inning before giving up his first hit.
Tanaka earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 8.4 for the season, most of any of the 14 who earned Player of the Game honors Friday. Tanaka ranks 24th in Box-Toppers season player rankings, ninth among AL pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Brewers pitcher Brent Suter pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits, one walk and striking out five, in the 2-1 win over the Cubs.
American League Batter of the Day—Jose Ramirez of the Indians homered and went 4-for-5, scoring four times and driving in three runs, in the 9-3 win over the White Sox.
American League Batter of the Day—Josh Reddick of the Astros hit a three-run homer and went 1-for-2, driving in five runs, in the 6-5 win over the Tigers.
Top 10 watch—Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood (13.0 Box-Toppers points in 2017, ranked fourth) did not earn Player of the Game honors in his start Friday.
Wood (7IP 8H 4R 0BB 5K W in the 6-4 win over the Giants) had a Box-Toppers game score Friday of -4.0. Player of the Game was teammate, closing pitcher Kenley Jansen (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 3K Sv), who had a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0.
Scoring—Tanaka earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Suter earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Ramirez and Reddick 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| 7/28 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 18.0 | NYY 6, TB 1 | Masahiro Tanaka (W, 8-9) | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 14 | |
| NL | 7.0 | MIL 2, CHC 1 | Brent Suter (W, 2-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| 7.0 | STL 1, ARI 0 | Michael Wacha (W, 8-4) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 6.0 | CLE 9, CHW 3 | Jose Ramirez (2B) | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 6.0 | SD 3, PIT 2 | Travis Wood (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 5.1 | LAA 7, TOR 2 | Parker Bridwell (W, 5-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | HOU 6, DET 5 | Josh Reddick CF-RF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | LAD 6, SF 4 | Kenley Jansen (S, 26) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.1 | PHI 10, ATL 3 | Joaquin Benoit (S, 2) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3.0 | TEX 8, BAL 2 | Nomar Mazara RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | MIA 7, CIN 4 | Mike Aviles PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.1 | NYM 7, SEA 5 | Jerry Blevins (W, 5-0) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | MIN 6, OAK 3 | Jason Castro (C) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | KC 4, BOS 2 | Mike Moustakas 3B | 4 | 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 | +/- |
| Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 | pi sp | nyy al | 8.4 | 22.5 | 43.2 | 43.2 | -5.7 |
| Reddick, Josh 2936 | rf lf cf | hou al | 7.0 | 10.5 | 30.4 | 31.4 | 3.5 |
| Wacha, Michael 3276 | pi sp | stl nl | 6.0 | 8.0 | 25.7 | 25.7 | 4.0 |
| Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 6.0 | 7.5 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 4.5 |
| Moustakas, Mike 2967 | 3b | kc al | 5.0 | 6.0 | 25.2 | 27.2 | 4.0 |
| Mazara, Nomar 3614 | rf | tex al | 4.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | -3.0 |
| Jansen, Kenley 2871 | pi cp | lad nl | 4.0 | 10.0 | 35.7 | 40.4 | -2.0 |
| Bridwell, Parker 3844 | pi sp | ana al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Blevins, Jerry 2788 | pi mr | nym nl | 2.7 | 2.7 | 7.7 | 8.7 | 2.7 |
| Suter, Brent 3843 | pi sp | mil nl | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| Benoit, Joaquin 1663 | pi mr cp | phi nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 10.0 | 31.5 | 1.0 |
| Wood, Travis 2777 | pi sp | sd nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 27.7 | 32.7 | 0.0 |
| Castro, Jason 2743 | ca | min al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 8.5 | 9.5 | 0.0 |
| Aviles, Mike 2467 | 2b ph | fla nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 4.5 | 14.4 | 1.0 |