Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Mariners pitcher James Paxton rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of Aug. 4:| 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 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 14.4 |
| 5 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 13.7 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 13.4 |
| 7 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 8 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.4 |
| 9 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 12.0 |
| 10 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 11.4 |
Player of the Day—Darvish struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 6-0 win over the Mets.
This was Darvish’s first start with the Dodgers since he was dealt Monday at the trade deadline from the Texas Rangers. Darvish earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 9.0 for the season, rising to 11th among National League pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Tyler White of the Astros hit two home runs, doubled and went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in five runs, in the 16-7 win over the Blue Jays.
National League Batter of the Day—Daniel Murphy of the Nationals hit two homers and went 3-for-4, driving in three runs, in the 4-2 win over the Cubs.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Friday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Tyler White.
Rankings—Mariners pitcher James Paxton rises to fifth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Paxton (6IP 4H 2R BB 7K W in the 5-2 win over the Royals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 13.7 for the season. He rises from seventh to fifth in season player rankings and ranks third among AL pitchers, behind Chris Sale of the Red Sox (17.1) and Ervin Santana of the Twins (14.4).
Notable—Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander now has 143.0 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Verlander (7IP 6H 2R 0BB 10K W in the 5-2 win over the Orioles) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point and ranks 28th among all players in career points since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 27th-ranked player David Ortiz (145.9). Verlander has 3.7 Box-Toppers points in 2017.
Verlander had a Box-Toppers game score Friday of +7.0, same as Tyler White of the Astros, who was Player of the Game in his team’s win over the Blue Jays. But White won overall AL Player of the Day over Verlander because in cases of Box-Toppers game score ties, batters rank ahead of pitchers.
Debuts—Two players made their Box-Toppers debuts Friday with their first career Player of the Game honors:
- Diamondbacks pitcher Anthony Banda (6IP 3H R 4BB 7K W in the 2-1 win over the Giants) made his Major League debut July 22 and was playing in his second career game. He is the 3,867th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
- Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff (6.1IP 7H 0R 2BB 6K W in the 2-0 win over the Rays) was making his Major League debut Friday. He is the 3,868th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Darvish earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and White 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 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| 8/4 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 13.0 | LAD 6, NYM 0 | Yu Darvish (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | |
| AL | 7.0 | HOU 16, TOR 7 | Tyler White (1B) | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 7.0 | DET 5, BAL 2 | Justin Verlander (W, 7-7) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 10 | ||
| 4.1 | `COL 4, PHI 3 | Chris Rusin | - | - | - | - | 3.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | WSH 4, CHC 2 | Daniel Murphy (2B) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | PIT 10, SD 6 | Gregory Polanco (PH) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | SEA 5, KC 2 | James Paxton (W, 12-3) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 4.0 | ARI 2, SF 1 | Anthony Banda (W, 1-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | ||
| 4.0 | CIN 3, STL 2 | Asher Wojciechowski (W, 2-1) | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 3.1 | MIL 2, TB 0 | Brandon Woodruff (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | MIN 8, TEX 4 | Brian Dozier (2B) | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CLE 7, NYY 2 | Trevor Bauer (W, 10-8) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 3.0 | LAA 8, OAK 6 | Bud Norris (S, 18) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.0 | BOS 3, CHW 2 (F/11) | Mitch Moreland (1B) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | ATL 5, MIA 3 | Brandon Phillips (3B) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 | +/- |
| Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 13.7 | 18.1 | 24.8 | 24.8 | 9.3 |
| Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | lad nl | 9.0 | 19.4 | 64.6 | 64.6 | -1.4 |
| Murphy, Daniel 2589 | 2b | dc nl | 7.5 | 15.0 | 36.0 | 40.0 | 0.0 |
| Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 6.0 | 17.4 | 35.5 | 35.5 | -5.4 |
| Norris, Bud 2638 | pi cp | ana al | 6.0 | 11.7 | 36.4 | 52.1 | 0.3 |
| Polanco, Gregory 3361 | rf lf | pit nl | 5.5 | 11.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 0.0 |
| Moreland, Mitch 2799 | 1b | bos al | 4.0 | 7.5 | 20.7 | 22.7 | 0.5 |
| Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | det al | 3.7 | 18.4 | 63.6 | 143.0 | -11.0 |
| Phillips, Brandon 1691 | 2b 3b | atl nl | 2.5 | 4.5 | 26.2 | 66.6 | 0.5 |
| Rusin, Chris 3236 | pi sp mr | col nl | 2.0 | 4.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 | -0.7 |
| Wojciechowski, Asher 3804 | pi mr sp | cin nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| White, Tyler 3638 | 1b | hou al | 1.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 0.7 |
| Dozier, Brian 3219 | 2b | min al | 1.0 | 3.0 | 14.7 | 14.7 | -1.0 |
| Banda, Anthony 3867 | pi sp | ari nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |