| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 19.4 | 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 17.4 | |
| 2 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 15.1 | 2 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 17.1 | |
| 3 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 13.7 | 3 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 | |
| 4 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 | 4 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 16.4 | |
| 5 | Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 12.7 | 5 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 16.1 | |
| 6 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | tor al | 11.0 | 6 | Buehler, Walker 3943 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.7 | |
| 7 | Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | chi al | 10.7 | 7 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.4 | |
| 8 | Giolito, Lucas 3900 | pi sp | chi al | 10.4 | 8 | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi sp | mil nl | 13.1 | |
| 9 | Eovaldi, Nathan 2928 | pi sp | bos al | 10.4 | 9 | Musgrove, Joe 3705 | pi sp | sd nl | 13.1 | |
| 10 | Flexen, Chris 4368 | pi sp | sea al | 10.0 | 10 | Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi sp | mil nl | 12.7 | |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 15.1 | 1 | Tatis, Fernando Jr. 4101 | ss | sd nl | 9.2 | |
| 2 | Martinez, J.D. 2922 | dh | bos al | 9.7 | 2 | Castellanos, Nicholas 3349 | rf | cin nl | 9.0 | |
| 3 | Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 8.5 | 3 | Duvall, Adam 3573 | rf lf | atl nl | 8.0 | |
| 4 | Bogaerts, Xander 3383 | ss | bos al | 7.5 | 4 | Votto, Joey 2366 | 1b | cin nl | 8.0 | |
| 5 | Lowe, Brandon 4108 | 2b | tb al | 7.5 | 5 | Winker, Jesse 3988 | lf | cin nl | 7.5 | |
| 6 | Abreu, Jose 3308 | 1b | chi al | 7.0 | 6 | Reynolds, Bryan 4169 | cf | pit nl | 7.0 | |
| 7 | Olson, Matt 3836 | 1b | oak al | 7.0 | 7 | Swanson, Dansby 3751 | ss | atl nl | 7.0 | |
| 8 | Devers, Rafael 4038 | 3b | bos al | 6.5 | 8 | Arenado, Nolan 3306 | 3b | stl nl | 7.0 | |
| 9 | Renfroe, Hunter 3749 | rf | bos al | 6.0 | 9 | Riley, Austin 4144 | 3b | atl nl | 6.5 | |
| 10 | Alvarez, Yordan 4209 | dh lf | hou al | 6.0 | 10 | Crawford, Brandon 2878 | ss | sf nl | 6.5 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole leads in Box-Toppers season player rankings for the second straight week.
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 Thursday, Aug. 26.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 19.4 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 17.4 |
| 3 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 17.1 |
| 4 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 5 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 16.4 |
| 6 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 16.1 |
| 7 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 15.1 |
| 8 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 13.7 |
| 9 | Buehler, Walker 3943 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.7 |
| 10 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.4 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Meanwhile, Max Scherzer of the Dodgers rises to lead National League pitchers in Box-Toppers rankings. Both league batting leaders remain the same since last week—Shohei Ohtani of the Angels leads American League batters and Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres leads NL batters.
Cole has 19.4 Box-Toppers points, picking up 1.0 point in the past week, ahead of overall second-place player Scherzer (17.4 points). Cole maintains his lead among AL pitchers for the ninth straight report, dating back to June 17. Cole leads AL pitchers ahead of second-place Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (15.1), who also leads AL batters.
National League pitchers—Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer rises to lead the category with 17.4 Box-Toppers points, passing previous leader Zack Wheeler of the Phillies (17.1), who falls to second place.
American League batters—Shohei Ohtani of the Angels leads for the fifth straight week with 15.1 Box-Toppers points, picking up 0.0 points in the past week. He ranks ahead of second-place J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (9.7).
Ohtani ranks seventh among all players, the only batter among the overall top 10.
Ohtani has earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors 11 times in 2021, three as a designated hitter and the other eight as a starting pitcher. Uniquely, Ohtani qualifies in Box-Toppers rankings among both batters and pitchers (ranking second among AL pitchers).
However, Ohtani now barely qualifies to be listed and ranked among batters. In order for players to be listed at a certain position, they need to have more than 25 percent of their Player of the Game honors at that position. Currently, Ohtani has won Player of the Game as a designated hitter in 27 percent of his 11 such honors. If his next Player of the Game honor comes as a pitcher, that will fall to 25 percent and he will no longer be listed as a designated hitter, only a starting pitcher and will be entirely removed from the list of AL batting leaders. Ohtani’s last three Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors and his most-recent 3.7 Box-Toppers points have all been earned as a starting pitcher.
National League batters—Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres maintains the lead with 9.2 Box-Toppers points, picking up 0.0 points in the past week. He leads second-place player Nick Castellanos of the Reds (9.0). Tatis ranks 39th among all players in 2021 Box-Toppers points.
Top 10 list exits and entrances—Two players rise in the Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list this week—Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler (13.7 points) rises to ninth place and Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias (13.4 points) rises to 10th. They displace Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes (13.1, who falls to 11th) and Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow (12.7, who falls to 13th).
The #BT40—The Box-Toppers 40 (#BT40) is made up of the 40 players on Box-Toppers’ four top 10 category lists—AL and NL pitchers and batters. The #BT40 are listed in the chart at the top of this page.
Four players joined the #BT40 this week:
Lucas Giolito of the White Sox rises to eighth place among AL pitchers with 10.4 points.
Nathan Eovaldi of the Red Sox rises to ninth place among AL pitchers with 10.4 points.
Hunter Renfroe of the Red Sox rises to ninth place among AL batters with 6.0 points.
Joe Musgrove of the Padres rises to ninth place among NL pitchers with 13.1 points.
Those four displace these four players: Indians pitcher Aaron Civale, White Sox pitcher Carlos Rodon, Randal Grichuk of the Blue Jays and Padres pitcher Yu Darvish.
It should be noted that the #BT40 are not the overall top 40 players, but the top 10 in each of four categories (in fact, with Ohtani’s inclusion on two top 10 lists, it actually includes 39 total players). The lowest-ranking player among the #BT40 is Yordan Alvarez of the Astros (6.0 points, 10th among AL batters), who ranks 95th overall.
Box-Toppers almanac
Players who have earned Box-Toppers points so far in 2021—720 (it was 700 as of last week).
Players with more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points—333 (it was 318 as of last week).
Players who’ve made their Box-Toppers debut so far in 2021 (earning their first career Player of the Game honor)—164 (it was 156 as of last week).
Games completed so far in 2021—1,912, an average of 127.5 per team.
Percentage of scheduled season completed—78.7.
In the 90 games completed from Aug. 20 to Aug. 26, pitchers won Player of the Game honors in 60 of the games (66.7 percent), while batters won Player of the Game honors in 30 (33.3 percent). That increased the overall share of Player of the Game honors won by pitchers this season to 62.2 percent of all games (1,189 out of 1,912), compared to 37.8 percent won by batters (723 out of 1,912). (Last week, through games of Aug. 19, pitchers had 62.1 percent of all Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors this season.)
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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