Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, maintaining his second-place spot 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 2:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 18.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.0 |
| 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 |
Scherzer struck out 12 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 7-2 win over the Cardinals.
Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 16.0 for the season. He trails only overall leader Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (18.1 Box-Toppers points), who also leads all National League pitchers.
Scherzer also rises to 23rd place among all players in career Box-Toppers points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Sunday, Scherzer now has 147.7 career points and passes three players on the “all-time” list—David Ortiz (145.9), Jim Thome (146.7) and Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (146.9). Passing Cabrera, Scherzer also rises to seventh place in career points among all active players, trailing sixth-ranked Jon Lester of the Cubs (149.2).
American League Player of the Day—Orioles pitcher Kevin Gausman struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 7-1 win over the Rays.
American League Batter of the Day—Mookie Betts of the Red Sox hit two home runs and drove in eight total runs, in the 15-1 win over the Blue Jays. Betts hit a three-run homer and a two-run homer and went 4-for-6, scoring three times.
National League Batter of the Day—Brandon Belt of the Giants homered and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 5-3 win over the Pirates.
Scoring—Scherzer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gausman earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Betts and Belt each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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| 7/2 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 15.0 | WSH 7, STL 2 | Max Scherzer (W, 10-5) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 | |
| AL | 12.0 | BAL 7, TB 1 | Kevin Gausman (W, 5-7) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | |
| 10.0 | CHC 6, CIN 2 | Jake Arrieta (W, 8-6) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 9.0 | BOS 15, TOR 1 | Mookie Betts (RF) | 6 | 3 | 4 | 8 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 7.0 | CLE 11, DET 8 | Jose Ramirez (3B) | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 6.0 | HOU 8, NYY 1 | Chris Devenski (W, 5-3) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 5.0 | `ARI 4, COL 3 | Taijuan Walker | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | SF 5, PIT 3 | Brandon Belt (1B) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | PHI 7, NYM 1 | Nick Pivetta (W, 2-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | SD 5, LAD 3 | Jhoulys Chacin (W, 7-7) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 3.1 | SEA 5, LAA 3 | James Paxton (W, 6-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 3.1 | `ATL 4, OAK 3 (F/12) | Julio Teheran | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | ||
| 3.0 | MIA 10, MIL 3 | Marcell Ozuna (LF) | 6 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | CHW 6, TEX 5 | Melky Cabrera (LF) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | KC 6, MIN 2 | Alcides Escobar (SS) | 4 | 1 | 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 | +/- |
| Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.0 | 41.7 | 119.9 | 147.7 | -9.7 |
| Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 6.0 | 10.4 | 17.1 | 17.1 | 1.6 |
| Chacin, Jhoulys 2711 | pi sp | sd nl | 5.7 | 11.4 | 18.1 | 33.5 | 0.0 |
| Cabrera, Melky 2143 | lf | chi al | 5.7 | 9.7 | 19.7 | 36.2 | 1.7 |
| Betts, Mookie 3404 | rf | bos al | 5.0 | 11.2 | 16.2 | 16.2 | -1.2 |
| Devenski, Chris 3702 | pi mr | hou al | 5.0 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 1.3 |
| Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 4.5 | 6.0 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 3.0 |
| Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | bal al | 4.4 | 15.2 | 28.6 | 28.6 | -6.4 |
| Walker, Taijuan 3453 | pi sp | ari nl | 4.0 | 11.7 | 25.4 | 25.4 | -3.7 |
| Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 3.0 | 18.7 | 73.5 | 78.5 | -12.7 |
| Pivetta, Nick 3825 | pi sp | phi nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Ozuna, Marcell 3190 | lf | fla nl | 2.7 | 7.7 | 21.2 | 21.2 | -2.3 |
| Belt, Brandon 2943 | 1b lf | sf nl | 2.5 | 9.5 | 21.5 | 23.0 | -4.5 |
| Teheran, Julio 3176 | pi sp | atl nl | 2.0 | 12.7 | 48.5 | 48.5 | -8.7 |
| Escobar, Alcides 2663 | ss | kc al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 19.0 | 23.5 | 2.0 |