Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day and rises to fourth place in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of Aug. 14:| 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 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 15.4 |
| 5 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 14.4 |
| 6 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 14.0 |
| 7 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 13.7 |
| 8 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 13.4 |
| 9 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 10 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 12.7 |
Also Monday, Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians becomes the 18th player—and first batter—to reach 10 or more Box-Toppers points, as he widens his Box-Toppers-point lead among American League batters. Plus, Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs rises to lead National League batters in Box-Toppers points after earning National League Batter of the Day honors Monday.
Player of the Day—Greinke struck out nine over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing five hits and two walks, in the 2-0 win over the Astros.
Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 15.4 for the season, rising from eighth to fourth place in season player rankings, third among NL pitchers, behind Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (22.1) and Max Scherzer of the Nationals (22.0).
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 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | ari nl | 171.5 |
| 9 | Felix Hernandez | pi sp | sea al | 171.4 |
| 10 | Roy Halladay | pi sp | retired | 170.7 |
| 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.
Greinke also rises to eighth place in career Box-Toppers points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. Greinke now has 171.5 career points and passes two players on the “all-time” list—Roy Halladay (170.7) and Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez (171.4). Greinke now trails seventh-ranked player Albert Pujols of the Angels (186.8). Passing Hernandez, Greinke now ranks fourth in career points among active players and third among active pitchers, behind Kershaw (205.8) and CC Sabathia of the Yankees (191.0).
American League Player of the Day—Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians hit two homers and went 2-for-4, driving in four runs, in the 7-3 win over the Red Sox.
Encarnacion earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 11.1 Box-Toppers points for the season, ranking 14th among all players and extending his lead among AL batters, ahead of second-place player Aaron Judge of the Yankees (9.2).
Encarnacion becomes the 18th player (and first batter) this season to reach 10 or more Box-Toppers points. It is also the highest single-season total of his career; his previous high was 10.4 in 2015 with the Blue Jays.
National League Batter of the Day—Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs homered and went 3-for-5, driving in five runs, in the 15-5 win over the Reds.
Rizzo earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 9.5 for the season and rising to lead NL batters in player rankings. He passes previous NL batting leader, Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers (8.7), who only took the lead Saturday.
Rizzo ranks 19th among all players in Box-Toppers points. His 9.5 points is a career single-season high; his previous high was 8.5 in 2015 with the Cubs.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Monday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Edwin Encarnacion.
Debut—Cam Gallagher of the Royals made his Box-Toppers debut Monday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Gallagher (GS 2B 2-3 R 4BI in the 6-2 win over the Athletics) made his Major League debut Aug. 6 and was playing in his fourth career game. He is the 3,884th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Greinke earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Encarnacion earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Rizzo earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Monday’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| 8/14 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 8.2 | ARI 2, HOU 0 | Zack Greinke (W, 14-5) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | |
| BAT | 4.0 | CHC 15, CIN 5 | Anthony Rizzo 1B | 5 | 1 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| AL | 4.0 | CLE 7, BOS 3 | Edwin Encarnación DH | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | SD 7, PHI 4 | Cory Spangenberg 3B | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | KC 6, OAK 2 | Cam Gallagher C | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.2 | `TOR 2, TB 1 | Aaron Loup (H, 4) | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | NYY 4, NYM 2 | David Robertson (W, 6-2) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | `COL 3, ATL 0 | Chad Bettis | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | BAL 11, SEA 3 | Chris Davis 1B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | TEX 6, DET 2 | Rougned Odor 2B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | MIA 8, SF 3 | Giancarlo Stanton RF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 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 | +/- |
| Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 15.4 | 25.1 | 94.4 | 171.5 | 5.7 |
| Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 | dh | cle al | 11.1 | 19.1 | 54.2 | 78.2 | 3.1 |
| Rizzo, Anthony 3063 | 1b | chi nl | 9.5 | 12.5 | 36.5 | 36.5 | 6.5 |
| Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 | rf | fla nl | 7.0 | 13.5 | 37.7 | 46.2 | 0.5 |
| Robertson, David 2774 | pi cp | nyy al | 5.0 | 10.0 | 27.0 | 31.0 | 0.0 |
| Odor, Rougned 3336 | 2b | tex al | 4.7 | 11.2 | 15.7 | 15.7 | -1.8 |
| Davis, Chris 2478 | 1b | bal al | 2.5 | 10.0 | 51.9 | 60.4 | -5.0 |
| Spangenberg, Cory 3487 | 2b 3b | sd nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 2.0 |
| Loup, Aaron 3146 | pi mr | tb al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 2.0 |
| Bettis, Chad 3481 | pi sp | col nl | 1.0 | 7.7 | 13.1 | 13.1 | -5.7 |
| Gallagher, Cam 3884 | ca | kc al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |