Here are the top 10 players by category (AL & NL pitching & batting) in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Sept. 1.
| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 18.2 | 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 22.7 | |
| 2 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 16.8 | 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 | |
| 3 | Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | tor al | 12.7 | 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 18.4 | |
| 4 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 12.4 | 4 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 15.4 | |
| 5 | Tanaka, Masahiro 3305 | pi sp | nyy al | 12.4 | 5 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 | |
| 6 | Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 11.4 | 6 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.1 | |
| 7 | Pomeranz, Drew 3061 | pi sp | bos al | 11.4 | 7 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 14.0 | |
| 8 | Duffy, Danny 2915 | pi sp | kc al | 10.7 | 8 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 13.7 | |
| 9 | Fulmer, Michael 3640 | pi sp | det al | 10.7 | 9 | Lackey, John 1640 | pi sp | chi nl | 12.4 | |
| 10 | Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 10.5 | 10 | Matz, Steven 3516 | pi sp | nym nl | 12.1 | |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Altuve, Jose 3007 | 2b | hou al | 12.5 | 1 | Bryant, Kris 3465 | lf 3b rf | chi nl | 10.5 | |
| 2 | Machado, Manny 3087 | ss 3b | bal al | 11.7 | 2 | Arenado, Nolan 3306 | 3b | col nl | 9.0 | |
| 3 | Trout, Mike 2949 | cf | ana al | 10.0 | 3 | Carpenter, Matt 2987 | 3b 1b 2b | stl nl | 8.5 | |
| 4 | Cabrera, Miguel 1776 | 1b | det al | 10.0 | 4 | Votto, Joey 2366 | 1b | cin nl | 8.5 | |
| 5 | Donaldson, Josh 3144 | 3b | tor al | 9.7 | 5 | Braun, Ryan J. 2300 | lf | mil nl | 8.0 | |
| 6 | Beltre, Adrian 1141 | 3b | tex al | 9.5 | 6 | Bruce, Jay 2453 | rf | nym nl | 7.5 | |
| 7 | Martin, Russell 2202 | ca | tor al | 9.5 | 7 | Murphy, Daniel 2589 | 2b | dc nl | 7.5 | |
| 8 | Seager, Kyle 3031 | 3b | sea al | 8.5 | 8 | Myers, Wil 3228 | 1b | sd nl | 7.2 | |
| 9 | Trumbo, Mark 2851 | rf | bal al | 8.2 | 9 | Cespedes, Yoenis 3008 | cf lf | nym nl | 7.0 | |
| 10 | Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 | dh 1b | tor al | 8.0 | 10 | LeMahieu, DJ 3091 | 2b | col nl | 7.0 |
Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer extended his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings this week.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of Sept. 1:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 22.7 |
| 2 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 20.0 |
| 3 | Fernandez, Jose 3147 | pi sp | fla nl | 18.4 |
| 4 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 18.2 |
| 5 | Hamels, Cole 2135 | pi sp | tex al | 16.8 |
| 6 | Lester, Jon 2173 | pi sp | chi nl | 15.4 |
| 7 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | sf nl | 14.4 |
| 8 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.1 |
| 9 | Syndergaard, Noah 3472 | pi sp | nym nl | 14.0 |
| 10 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 13.7 |
Scherzer, who took the lead only a week ago on Aug. 25, now has 22.7 Box-Toppers points, ahead of second-place player, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (20.0).
All Box-Toppers category leaders are unchanged from last week:
National League pitchers—Scherzer leads with 22.7 Box-Toppers points.
American League pitchers—Corey Kluber of the Indians continues to lead with 18.2 Box-Toppers points, fourth among all players.
American League batters—Jose Altuve of the Astros leads with 12.5 Box-Toppers points. He ranks 12th among all players.
National League batters—Kris Bryant of the Cubs leads with 10.5 Box-Toppers points. He ranks 28th among all players.
With a month left to go in the season, both Altuve and Bryant are both currently in position to achieve a dubious Box-Toppers honor—the lowest single-season Box-Toppers point total to lead a category. Altuve’s 12.5 points is currently tied for the lowest point total to lead AL batters in a season. Two other players have previously led AL batters with 12.5 points—last year, Adrian Beltre of the Rangers and in 2008, Aubrey Huff of the Orioles. Last season, Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies had the lowest point total to lead NL batters (or any category) with 11.5 points. Bryant’s 10.5 would beat that.
In recent years, lower Box-Toppers point totals have won batting categories. Of the eight lowest totals to win a single-season batting category, six of them happened from 2012 to 2015. There have been 42 batting category winners (two each year in the past 21 years) since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. (For more details, see “A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2015.”)
So far this season, 669 different players have earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. There are 343 players who have more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points. There are 120 players who have made their Box-Toppers debut so far this season (eight in the past week), the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors.
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.