Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
McCullers struck out 10 over seven innings, allowing one run, two hits and two walks, in the 7-1 win over the White Sox.
McCullers earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 5.7 for the season, 59th among all players and 21st among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Marlins pitcher Jordan Holloway struck out six over five scoreless innings of middle relief, allowing no hits and two walks, in the 7-0, seven-inning win over the Phillies.
National League Batter of the Day—Wil Myers of the Padres hit two home runs, including a grand slam, in the 24-8 win over the Nationals. Myers went 3-for-6, scoring three times and driving in seven runs.
American League Batter of the Day—Whit Merrifield of the Royals doubled and went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 9-2 win over the Orioles.
Notable—Blue Jays pitcher Robbie Ray has the most 2021 Box-Toppers points among the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Friday.
Ray (6.2IP 4H 0R 2BB 8K W in the 10-2 win over the Rangers) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 7.0 for the season, 36th among all players and 10th among AL pitchers.
This was the second straight game Ray was Player of the Game for the Blue Jays, a feat that is difficult to achieve for a starting pitcher who normally takes several days off between starts. However, the Blue Jays last game prior to the All-Star break was Sunday, a game in which Ray was overall Player of the Day in the 3-1 win over the Rays (7IP H 0R BB 11K W).
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2021. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Friday, July 16.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 15.4 |
| 3 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 14.1 |
| 4 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 13.4 |
| 5 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 |
| 6 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 12.7 |
| 7 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 11.4 |
| 8 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 10.4 |
| 9 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 9.7 |
| 10 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 9.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Scoring—McCullers earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Holloway earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Myers and Merrifield 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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Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners
Here is the top player from each of the day’s games listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG).| 7/16 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +11.0 | HOU 7, CHW 1 | Lance McCullers Jr., (W 7‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 | |
| +9.2 | BOS 4, NYY 0 | Eduardo Rodriguez, (W 7‑5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | ||
| NL | +9.0 | MIA 7, PHI 0 (F/7) | Jordan Holloway, (W 2‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | |
| +8.2 | TOR 10, TEX 2 | Robbie Ray, (W 8‑4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | ||
| BAT | +7.0 | SD 24, WSH 8 | Wil Myers, RF | 6 | 3 | 3 | 7 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| BAT | +5.0 | KC 9, BAL 2 | Whit Merrifield, RF | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | MIL 11, CIN 6 | Willy Adames, SS | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | SF 7, STL 2 | Mike Yastrzemski, RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | PHI 5, MIA 2 (F/7) | Travis Jankowski, CF | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | TB 7, ATL 6 (F/10) | Matt Wisler, (W 1‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +3.0 | SEA 6, LAA 5 | Mitch Haniger, RF | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | LAD 10, COL 4 | Will Smith, C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | CHC 5, ARI 1 | Jason Heyward, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | OAK 5, CLE 4 | Sergio Romo, (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +1.0 | PIT 4, NYM 1 | Wilmer Difo, RF | 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 Player of the Game winners
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 (’21). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’20-21), the period 2016-2021 (’16-21) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2021 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2020 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’21 | ’20‑21 | ’16‑21 | Career | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | tor al | 7.0 | 8.0 | 47.1 | 51.1 | +6.0 |
| McCullers, Lance 3488 | pi sp | hou al | 5.7 | 8.4 | 34.6 | 41.3 | +3.0 |
| Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 | pi sp | bos al | 5.0 | 5.0 | 43.2 | 49.2 | +5.0 |
| Merrifield, Whit 3855 | 2b rf | kc al | 5.0 | 5.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | +5.0 |
| Haniger, Mitch 3772 | rf | sea al | 4.5 | 4.5 | 15.5 | 15.5 | +4.5 |
| Myers, Wil 3228 | rf | sd nl | 4.0 | 6.5 | 21.2 | 29.7 | +1.5 |
| Heyward, Jason 2695 | rf ph | chi nl | 3.5 | 7.2 | 14.7 | 32.2 | ‑0.2 |
| Holloway, Jordan 4467 | pi mr | fla nl | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | +2.7 |
| Adames, Willy 4041 | ss | mil nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | +2.0 |
| Difo, Wilmer 4375 | rf ph | pit nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +2.0 |
| Smith, Will 4175 | ca | lad nl | 1.0 | 4.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | ‑2.0 |
| Wisler, Matt 3522 | pi cp mr sp | tb al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 9.0 | 12.0 | +0.0 |
| Romo, Sergio 2539 | pi cp | oak al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 5.0 | 25.0 | +0.0 |
| Yastrzemski, Mike 4203 | rf | sf nl | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +0.0 |
| Jankowski, Travis 3696 | cf | phi nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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