Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is Monday’s Player of the Day, extending his overwhelming dominance in Box-Toppers season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of June 20:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 2 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 11.7 |
| 3 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.7 |
| 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 10.0 |
| 5 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 10.0 |
| 6 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 10.0 |
| 7 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 9.7 |
| 8 | Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | chi nl | 9.4 |
| 9 | Bumgarner, Madison 2753 | pi sp | sf nl | 9.0 |
| 10 | Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 8.8 |
Kershaw struck out eight over seven innings, allowing one run, six hits and no walks, in the 4-1 win over the Nationals.
Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 20.0 for the season. It is the sixth straight season Kershaw has had 20 or more Box-Toppers points. He now has twice as many Box-Toppers points this season than all but two players—Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez (11.7) and Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta (10.7).
Kershaw’s 20.0 Box-Toppers points on June 20, less than halfway into the season, would have put him in eighth place among all players in 2015—at the end of the season.
Kershaw seems to be on track to earn more than 40.0 Box-Toppers points this season. Randy Johnson holds the record for most Box-Toppers points in a single season (since 1995 when Box-Toppers tracking began) with 33.5. Johnson did it twice—in 2000 and 2002 with the Diamondbacks.
At this point in the 2000 season, Johnson had 20.7 Box-Toppers points, meaning Kershaw is slightly behind his pace. But at this point in the 2002 season, Johnson had only 11.7 points, putting Kershaw well ahead of that pace.
In Kershaw’s best season, 2014, he had 31.5 Box-Toppers points, tied for the fourth-best single season in Box-Toppers history (since 1995). And at this point in the 2014 season, Kershaw had only 10.7 Box-Toppers points.
Kershaw also now has 179.3 career Box-Toppers points, maintaining his rank of sixth place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails fifth-place player, Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia (182.0). (See homepage for updated rankings of top 20 players in career Box-Toppers points since 1995.)
Kershaw is now 99.5 Box-Toppers points behind “all-time” leader Johnson’s career mark of 278.8 Box-Toppers points. Since the start of the 2013 season—a span of three and a half seasons—Kershaw has earned 98.9 points, meaning at his current torrid pace, Kershaw could catch Johnson’s career points mark by the end of the 2019 season, when he will be 31 years old.
(It should be noted that Johnson began his career in 1988, before Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. If his entire career were tracked, Johnson would likely have many more Box-Toppers points. Rough Box-Toppers projections puts his estimated career total at 380—more than 100 more than his total from 1995 to 2009.)
American League Player of the Day—Carlos Correa of the Astros hit a two-run homer and doubled, going 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 10-7 win over the Angels.
National League Batter of the Day—Mark Reynolds of the Rockies hit two solo home runs, going 2-for-3, in the 5-3 win over the Marlins.
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 was batter Carlos Correa.
Scoring—Kershaw earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Correa earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Reynolds 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.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 6/20 | Score | Game | Player of Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 7.0 | LAD 4/DC 1 | Clayton Kershaw (W,11-1) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | |
| 4.2 | PIT 1/SF 0 | Jeff Locke (W,6-5) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| AL | 4.0 | HOU 10/LAA 7 | Carlos Correa, SS | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | CLE 7/TB 4 | Bryan Shaw (W,1-3) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.2 | ARI 3/PHI 1 | Shelby Miller (W,2-6) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 3.2 | `CHW 3/BOS 1 | Miguel Gonzalez | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | COL 5/MIA 3 | Mark Reynolds, 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | DET 8/SEA 7 | Justin Upton, LF | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.2 | STL 3/CHC 2 | Jaime Garcia (W,5-6) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 0.0 | TEX 4/BAL 3 | Elvis Andrus, SS | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the 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 (16). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (15-16), the period 2011-2016 (11-16) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2016 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2015 total (+/-).| Player of Game | Pos | Team | 16 | 15-16 | 11-16 | Career | +/- |
| Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 | 45.7 | 145.8 | 179.3 | -5.7 |
| Correa, Carlos 3506 | ss | hou al | 5.2 | 12.4 | 12.4 | 12.4 | -2.0 |
| Garcia, Jaime 2508 | pi sp | stl nl | 5.0 | 14.4 | 32.1 | 40.8 | -4.4 |
| Locke, Jeff 3133 | pi sp | pit nl | 3.7 | 9.7 | 21.1 | 21.1 | -2.3 |
| Andrus, Elvis 2582 | ss | tex al | 3.7 | 3.7 | 11.2 | 14.2 | 3.7 |
| Upton, Justin 2411 | lf | det al | 3.0 | 12.0 | 38.9 | 47.4 | -6.0 |
| Reynolds, Mark 2297 | 1b | col nl | 3.0 | 7.0 | 27.2 | 50.4 | -1.0 |
| Shaw, Bryan 2995 | pi mr | cle al | 3.0 | 4.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 2.0 |
| Gonzalez, Miguel 3062 | pi sp | chi al | 2.7 | 9.4 | 31.5 | 31.5 | -4.0 |
| Miller, Shelby 3134 | pi sp | ari nl | 1.0 | 11.0 | 37.1 | 37.1 | -9.0 |