Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, is the first player this season with 20 or more Box-Toppers points.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of July 4:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.1 |
| 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 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 10.4 |
| 6 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 10.4 |
| 7 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 10.0 |
| 8 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 10.0 |
| 9 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 9.7 |
| 10 | McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | hou al | 9.4 |
Kershaw struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 4-3 win over the Diamondbacks.
He earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 20.1 for the season, extending his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings. Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer ranks second with 16.0 Box-Toppers points.
This is the seventh consecutive season in which Kershaw has earned 20 or more Box-Toppers points, which is now one more than Randy Johnson, who earned 20 or more points in six straight seasons from 1997 to 2002. Johnson, the overall Box-Toppers points leader (278.8) earned 177.7 points in those six straight seasons. Kershaw has earned 170.3 in the seven straight seasons of earning 20 or more points each year (from 2011 to 2017).
Kershaw also now has 203.8 career Box-Toppers points, third among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails second-place player Pedro Martinez (244.8). Kershaw leads active players in career points.
American League Player of the Day—Andrew Benintendi of the Red Sox hit two home runs, including a three-run homer, driving in six total runs, in the 11-4 win over the Rangers. Benintendi also doubled, went 5-for-5 and scored four times.
Benintendi had a Box-Toppers game score Tuesday of +10.0, the third-highest for a batter this season. The two higher Box-Toppers game scores by batters in 2017:
• +15.0—April 30 by Anthony Rendon of the Nationals (3HR 2B 6-6 5R 10BI in the 23-5 win over the Mets).
• +14.0—June 6 by Scooter Gennett of the Reds (4HR 5-5 10BI in the 13-1 win over the Cardinals).
Rendon and Gennett’s efforts seem to be the top two Box-Toppers game scores for batters since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.
National League Batter of the Day—Daniel Murphy of the Nationals doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 11-4 win over the Mets.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Tuesday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Andrew Benintendi.
Scoring—Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Benintendi earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Murphy earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’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| 7/4 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 14.0 | LAD 4, ARI 3 | Clayton Kershaw (W, 13-2) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 11 | |
| AL | 10.0 | BOS 11, TEX 4 | Andrew Benintendi (LF) | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 8.0 | MIL 6, BAL 2 | Jimmy Nelson (W, 7-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 8.0 | PIT 3, PHI 0 | Jameson Taillon (W, 5-2) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | ||
| BAT | 5.0 | WSH 11, NYM 4 | Daniel Murphy (2B) | 5 | 1 | 4 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | HOU 16, ATL 4 | Josh Reddick (RF) | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | TOR 4, NYY 1 | J.A. Happ (W, 3-5) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | OAK 7, CHW 6 | Yonder Alonso (1B) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | DET 5, SF 3 | Justin Upton (LF) | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CIN 8, COL 1 | Scooter Gennett (PH) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | MIA 5, STL 2 | Jose Urena (W, 7-3) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 2.1 | `SD 1, CLE 0 | Trevor Cahill | - | - | - | - | 4.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 2.0 | MIN 5, LAA 4 | Byron Buxton (CF) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | TB 6, CHC 5 | Tim Beckham (2B) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | KC 7, SEA 3 | Eric Hosmer (1B) | 3 | 2 | 2 | 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 | +/- |
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.1 | 44.5 | 144.2 | 203.8 | -4.3 |
| Nelson, Jimmy 3299 | pi sp | mil nl | 8.0 | 11.0 | 21.4 | 21.4 | 5.0 |
| Reddick, Josh 2936 | rf lf | hou al | 5.5 | 9.0 | 28.9 | 29.9 | 2.0 |
| Gennett, Scooter 3254 | 2b | cin nl | 5.5 | 8.0 | 17.0 | 17.0 | 3.0 |
| Cahill, Trevor 2658 | pi sp | sd nl | 5.4 | 8.4 | 23.1 | 45.6 | 2.4 |
| Upton, Justin 2411 | lf | det al | 5.0 | 11.7 | 37.9 | 56.1 | -1.7 |
| Murphy, Daniel 2589 | 2b | dc nl | 4.5 | 12.0 | 33.0 | 37.0 | -3.0 |
| Benintendi, Andrew 3815 | lf | bos al | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 |
| Taillon, Jameson 3658 | pi sp | pit nl | 4.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | -1.0 |
| Urena, Jose 3492 | pi sp | fla nl | 3.0 | 5.7 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 0.3 |
| Alonso, Yonder 2945 | 1b | oak al | 3.0 | 5.0 | 14.5 | 16.0 | 1.0 |
| Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 2.0 | 16.7 | 42.2 | 53.2 | -12.7 |
| Hosmer, Eric 2886 | 1b | kc al | 2.0 | 10.5 | 30.5 | 33.0 | -6.5 |
| Buxton, Byron 3604 | cf | min al | 2.0 | 6.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 | -2.7 |
| Beckham, Tim 3452 | 2b | tb al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 |