Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, becoming the third player this season to reach 20 Box-Toppers points and is now only 1.0 point away from overall leader Clayton Kershaw.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of Aug. 13:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 22.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 21.1 |
| 4 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 14.4 |
| 5 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 14.0 |
| 6 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 13.7 |
| 7 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 13.4 |
| 8 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 13.4 |
| 9 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 10 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 12.7 |
Also Sunday, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, Box-Toppers’ second-ranked player in 2017, moved within 0.1 point of Kershaw after earning Player of the Game honors. In addition, Indians pitcher Corey Kluber rises to fifth in season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Sale struck out 12 over seven innings, allowing one run, four hits and two walks, in the 3-2, 10-inning win over the Yankees. Sale picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because the game was tied, 1-1, when he exited.
Sale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 21.1 for the season and now trails overall leader Kershaw by only 1.0 Box-Toppers point, meaning he could catch or pass him in his next start. Sale is the third player this season to reach 20 Box-Toppers points. It is the first time in his career he has reached 20 points.
Sale maintains his rank of third place in season player rankings and bolsters his lead among American League pitchers. Second-place AL pitcher Ervin Santana of the Twins has 14.4 Box-Toppers points, 6.7 points behind. It would take Santana at least four starts to catch Sale.
Sale also now has 107.5 career Box-Toppers points and rises to 62nd place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Sunday, he passes three players on the “all-time” list—Aramis Ramirez (105.8), Frank Thomas (106.2) and Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner (106.7). He trails 61st-ranked player Carlos Beltran of the Astros (107.6).
National League Player of the Day—Giants pitcher Chris Stratton struck out 10 over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing five hits and one walk, in the 4-2 win over the Nationals.
This was Stratton’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Stratton made his Major League debut May 30, 2016, and was playing in his 12th career game. He is the 3,883rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
National League Batter of the Day—Curtis Granderson of the Mets homered, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 6-2 win over the Phillies.
American League Batter of the Day—Whit Merrifield of the Royals hit a three-run homer and tripled in the 14-6 win over the White Sox. Merrifield also went 3-for-6 and drove in five runs.
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 | 186.8 |
| 8 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 171.4 |
| 9 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 10 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 169.5 |
| 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 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | dc nl | 153.7 |
| 18 | Barry Bonds | lf | retired | 153.2 |
| 19 | Bartolo Colon | pi sp | min al | 152.2 |
| 20 | Jon Lester | pi sp | chi nl | 151.9 |
List of top 100 players since 1995 as of July 30, 2017.
Scherzer—Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer rises to within 0.1 Box-Toppers point of overall leader, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Scherzer (7IP 5H 2R BB 10K ND in the 6-2, 11-inning win over the Giants) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 22.0 point for the season, trailing only Kershaw and his 22.1 points.
Scherzer had the chance to pass Kershaw Sunday if he had earned NL Player of the Day (worth 1.7 points) or overall Player of the Day (worth 2.0 points). Very similar to 2016, Scherzer trailed Kershaw’s commanding lead. But after Kershaw went on the disabled list in 2016, as he has this season, Scherzer eventually caught and passed him. In 2016, Scherzer passed Kershaw on Aug. 25 when he reached 20.7 Box-Toppers points. Scherzer went on to top players in 2016 Box-Toppers points with 25.7, ahead of Kershaw’s 24.4.
Scherzer now has 153.7 career Box-Toppers points and rises to 17th place among all players in career points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes Barry Bonds (153.2) on the “all-time” list and now trails 16th-ranked player Mike Mussina (155.6). (It should be noted that both Bonds and Mussina would have more career Box-Toppers points if their entire careers were tracked. If Bonds’ career from 1986 were tracked, rough projections put his career Box-Toppers point total at about 230. If Mussina’s career from 1991 were tracked, he would have about 193 points.)
Kluber—Indians pitcher Corey Kluber rises from eighth to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Kluber (7IP 4H 3R 2BB 9K W in the 4-3 win over the Rays) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.0 for the season. He ranks third among AL pitchers, behind Sale (21.1) and Twins pitcher Ervin Santana (14.4).
Notable—Marlins pitcher Javy Guerra earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the first time in more than six years Sunday.
Guerra (2IP 0H 0R BB 3K W in the 5-3 win over the Rockies) last earned Player of the Game honors on Aug. 4, 2011, with the Dodgers. It was the only other time he earned Player of the Game honors in his career and he now has 2.0 career Box-Toppers points. Since Guerra last earned Box-Toppers points, 959 players have made their Box-Toppers debut, earning Player of the Game honors for the first time in their careers.
Scoring—Sale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Stratton earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Granderson and Merrifield 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| 8/13 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 11.0 | `BOS 3, NYY 2 (F/10) | Chris Sale | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 12 | |
| NL | 10.2 | SF 4, WSH 2 | Chris Stratton (W, 1-2) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | |
| 7.0 | `WSH 6, SF 2 (F/11) | Max Scherzer | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 | ||
| 5.0 | TOR 7, PIT 1 | J.A. Happ (W, 6-8) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | NYM 6, PHI 2 | Curtis Granderson RF | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | LAD 6, SD 4 | Justin Turner 3B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | CLE 4, TB 3 | Corey Kluber (W, 11-3) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 9 | ||
| 4.0 | CHC 7, ARI 2 | Jake Arrieta (W, 12-8) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | MIA 5, COL 3 | Javy Guerra (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.1 | MIN 6, DET 4 | Trevor Hildenberger (S, 1) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | KC 14, CHW 6 | Whit Merrifield 2B | 6 | 1 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | HOU 2, TEX 1 | Ken Giles (S, 23) | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | OAK 9, BAL 3 | Matt Joyce RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | ATL 6, STL 3 | Arodys Vizcaíno (S, 6) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | MIL 7, CIN 4 | Domingo Santana RF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | LAA 4, SEA 2 | Parker Bridwell (W, 7-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 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 | 22.0 | 47.7 | 125.9 | 153.7 | -3.7 |
| Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 21.1 | 34.5 | 102.5 | 107.5 | 7.7 |
| Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 14.0 | 35.2 | 79.4 | 79.4 | -7.2 |
| Bridwell, Parker 3844 | pi sp | ana al | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Santana, Domingo 3507 | rf | mil nl | 4.5 | 4.5 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 4.5 |
| Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 4.0 | 19.7 | 74.5 | 79.5 | -11.7 |
| Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 4.0 | 18.7 | 44.2 | 55.2 | -10.7 |
| Giles, Ken 3402 | pi cp | hou al | 3.0 | 6.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 0.0 |
| Turner, Justin 2865 | 3b | lad nl | 2.5 | 5.0 | 11.0 | 14.5 | 0.0 |
| Merrifield, Whit 3855 | 2b | kc al | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Hildenberger, Trevor 3846 | pi mr cp | min al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Stratton, Chris 3883 | pi sp | sf nl | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Granderson, Curtis 2051 | rf | nym nl | 1.5 | 6.0 | 22.2 | 67.3 | -3.0 |
| Joyce, Matt 2480 | rf dh | oak al | 1.0 | 5.0 | 19.2 | 30.7 | -3.0 |
| Vizcaino, Arodys 3533 | pi cp | atl nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 0.0 |
| Guerra, Javy 2925 | pi mr | fla nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 |