Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2018 season through the games of July 6:


	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Severino, Luis 3567	pi sp	nyy al	16.7
2	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	16.4
3	Paxton, James 3280	pi sp	sea al	14.0
4	Berrios, Jose 3791	pi sp	min al	13.4
5	Nola, Aaron 3569	pi sp	phi nl	12.4
6	Cole, Gerrit 3232	pi sp	hou al	12.0
7	Morton, Charlie 2503	pi sp	hou al	11.8
8	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	11.7
9	Corbin, Patrick 3027	pi sp	ari nl	11.0
10	Snell, Blake 3688	pi sp	tb al	11.0

What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations

Also Friday, Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale rises to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—McCullers struck out 12 over seven innings, allowing one run, three hits and no walks, in the 11-4 win over the White Sox.

McCullers earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 10.7 for the season, rising to 12th place among all players, ninth place among AL pitchers.

McCullers becomes the 14th player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points. It is his first season with 10 or more points. In 2017, he had 9.4 points with the Astros, 16th among AL pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom struck out eight over eight innings, allowing one run, four hits and one walk, in the 5-1 win over the Rays. deGrom did not earn the win or save, picking up a no-decision, because the game was tied, 1-1, when he exited.

American League Batter of the Day—Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians doubled and went 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 10-4 win over the Athletics.

National League Batter of the Day—Scott Kingery of the Phillies went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in one run, in the 17-5 win over the Pirates.

This was Kingery’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Kingery made his Major League debut March 30 and was playing in his 81st career game.

Rankings—Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale rises to eighth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.

Sale (6IP 5H R BB 12K W in the 10-5 win over the Royals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 12.7 for the season. He ranks sixth among AL pitchers. Sale led all players in 2017 with 25.1 points.

Sale now has 123.2 career Box-Toppers points, 40th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his point Friday, he trails Gary Sheffield (124.1). (It should be noted that Sheffield would have an estimated 155 Box-Toppers points if his entire career from 1988 were tracked.)

Scoring—McCullers earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and deGrom earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Encarnacion and Kingery each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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 (BTG)




  
    7/6
    BTG
    Game
    Player
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    14.0
    HOU 11, CHW 4
    Lance McCullers (W, 10‑3)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    7.0
    3
    1
    1
    0
    12
  

    
    13.0
    DET 3, TEX 1
    Jordan Zimmermann (W, 4‑0)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    8.0
    4
    1
    1
    0
    11
  

    
    10.0
    BOS 10, KC 5
    Chris Sale (W, 9‑4)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    6.0
    5
    1
    1
    1
    12
  

    NL
    9.0
    `NYM 5, TB 1
    Jacob deGrom
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    8.0
    4
    1
    1
    1
    8
  

    
    6.0
    ARI 3, SD 1
    Zack Godley (W, 10‑6)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    6.0
    4
    1
    1
    1
    7
  

    
    5.1
    `LAA 3, LAD 2
    Felix Pena
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    5.1
    3
    2
    2
    1
    8
  

    BAT
    5.0
    CLE 10, OAK 4
    Edwin Encarnacion DH
    2
    2
    2
    3
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    
    4.0
    MIL 5, ATL 4
    Freddy Peralta (W, 4‑1)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    6.0
    3
    1
    1
    3
    6
  

    
    4.0
    COL 7, SEA 1
    German Marquez (W, 7‑8)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    6.0
    5
    1
    1
    0
    5
  

    BAT
    3.0
    PHI 17, PIT 5
    Scott Kingery SS
    5
    3
    4
    1
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    
    3.0
    TOR 6, NYY 2
    Justin Smoak 1B
    3
    1
    2
    3
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    
    2.0
    WSH 3, MIA 2
    Mark Reynolds PH
    1
    1
    1
    1
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    
    2.0
    SF 3, STL 2
    Will Smith (S, 3)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    1.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    1
  

    
    1.2
    CIN 3, CHC 2
    Tyler Mahle (W, 7‑6)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    6.2
    5
    1
    1
    2
    4
  

    
    0.0
    MIN 6, BAL 2
    Joe Mauer DH
    4
    1
    2
    1
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.

  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 Player of the Game winners. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’18). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’17-18), the period 2013-2018 (’13-18) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2018 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2017 total (+/-).

Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’18	’17‑18	’13‑18	Career	+/‑
Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	11.7	36.8	102.5	123.2	-13.4
McCullers, Lance 3488	pi sp	hou al	10.7	20.1	32.9	32.9	+1.3
deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	6.7	22.4	67.5	67.5	-9.0
Marquez, German 3788	pi sp	col nl	6.7	11.4	11.4	11.4	+2.0
Peralta, Freddy 3965	pi sp	mil nl	6.7	6.7	6.7	6.7	+6.7
Encarnacion, Edwin 2098	dh	cle al	6.5	18.6	55.2	85.7	-5.6
Mahle, Tyler 3929	pi sp	cin nl	6.0	6.0	6.0	6.0	+6.0
Godley, Zack 3538	pi sp	ari nl	4.0	15.0	19.7	19.7	-7.0
Reynolds, Mark 2297	1b ph	dc nl	4.0	9.0	22.0	60.4	-1.0
Smoak, Justin 2731	1b	tor al	3.5	10.0	21.2	32.9	-3.0
Zimmermann, Jordan 2612	pi sp	det al	3.0	5.0	44.7	65.4	+1.0
Pena, Felix 4002	pi sp	ana al	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	+3.0
Mauer, Joe 1869	1b dh	min al	2.0	8.5	22.5	79.1	-4.5
Smith, Will 3073	pi cp	sf nl	2.0	2.0	7.0	10.0	+2.0
Kingery, Scott 3938	ss ph	phi nl	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5	+1.5