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Trade deadline deals helped both the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres rise closer to the top of Box-Toppers team rankings this week.
But the top two spots in Box-Toppers team rankings remain the same with the New York Yankees in first place and the top National League team, the Los Angeles Dodgers in second.
Read MoreBrewers pitcher Freddy Peralta is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to ninth place in season player rankings.
Peralta struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 1-0 win over the Braves.
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Mets pitcher Steven Matz is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels rose to 36th place among all players in Box-Toppers points since 1995, when record keeping began.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.0 |
| 2 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 13.4 |
| 3 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | det al | 12.1 |
| 4 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 12.0 |
| 5 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 12.0 |
| 6 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 11.4 |
| 7 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 11.4 |
| 8 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 10.7 |
| 9 | Martinez, Carlos 3371 | pi sp | stl nl | 10.7 |
| 10 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 9.7 |
Player of the Day—Matz pitched six scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing two hits, in the 8-0 win over the Dodgers.
American League Player of the Day—Kole Calhoun of the Angels hit a three-run homer and went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 12-6 win over the Rangers.
National League Batter of the Day—Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies homered and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 6-4 win over the Diamondbacks.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Sunday because the overall AL Player of the Day was a batter (Kole Calhoun).
Notable—Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels rose to 36th place in Box-Toppers points among players since 1995 after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Hamels (7IP 0R 6H 6K ND in the 4-0, 10-inning win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 118.8 for his career. With his point Sunday, he passes Justin Verlander (118.2) on the “all-time” list and now trails 34th-place player Cliff Lee (119.1). Hamels ranks 25th among all pitchers since 1995 and 12th among active pitchers.
Hamels also has the highest Box-Toppers season player ranking of any of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday. Hamels has 8.0 Box-Toppers points on the season and ranks 18th among all players, 10th among NL pitchers.
Debut—Curt Casali of the Rays made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Casali (2B 1-2 R BI in the 8-1 win over the Yankees) made his Major League debut July 18, 2014, and was playing in his 40th career game. He is the 3,524th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Matz earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Calhoun earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Gonzalez earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL 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.
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 7/5 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.0 | Mets | Steven Matz (W, 2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | |
| 9.0 | Nationals | Jordan Zimmermann (W, 7-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 8.0 | Cardinals | Lance Lynn (W, 6-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 8 | ||
| 7.1 | Cubs | Kyle Hendricks (W, 4-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 7.0 | `Phillies | Cole Hamels | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | Brewers | Taylor Jungmann (W, 3-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| AL | 3.0 | Angels | Kole Calhoun RF | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 3.0 | Rockies | Carlos Gonzalez RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Blue Jays | Devon Travis 2B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | `Red Sox | Eduardo Rodriguez | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 2.0 | Orioles | Steve Pearce 1B RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Rays | Curt Casali C | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Pirates | Mark Melancon (S, 27) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | Royals | Alex Gordon LF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Mariners | Seth Smith RF | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||
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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.