| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 16.4 | 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 | |
| 2 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 | 2 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 15.1 | |
| 3 | Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 12.7 | 3 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 14.4 | |
| 4 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 12.4 | 4 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 13.7 | |
| 5 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 11.7 | 5 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 12.4 | |
| 6 | Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | chi al | 9.7 | 6 | Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi sp | mil nl | 11.7 | |
| 7 | Civale, Aaron 4173 | pi sp | cle al | 9.7 | 7 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 11.4 | |
| 8 | Rodon, Carlos 3494 | pi sp | chi al | 8.7 | 8 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 11.4 | |
| 9 | Cease, Dylan 4231 | pi sp | chi al | 8.7 | 9 | Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | sf nl | 10.7 | |
| 10 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | tor al | 8.0 | 10 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 10.4 | |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 12.4 | 1 | Castellanos, Nicholas 3349 | rf | cin nl | 8.0 | |
| 2 | Martinez, J.D. 2922 | dh | bos al | 9.7 | 2 | Votto, Joey 2366 | 1b | cin nl | 8.0 | |
| 3 | Abreu, Jose 3308 | 1b | chi al | 7.0 | 3 | Tatis, Fernando Jr. 4101 | ss | sd nl | 7.5 | |
| 4 | Devers, Rafael 4038 | 3b | bos al | 6.5 | 4 | Duvall, Adam 3573 | rf | atl nl | 7.0 | |
| 5 | Bogaerts, Xander 3383 | ss | bos al | 6.5 | 5 | Reynolds, Bryan 4169 | cf | pit nl | 7.0 | |
| 6 | Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 6.0 | 6 | Machado, Manny 3087 | 3b | sd nl | 5.9 | |
| 7 | Alvarez, Yordan 4209 | dh lf | hou al | 6.0 | 7 | Story, Trevor 3607 | ss | col nl | 5.7 | |
| 8 | Grichuk, Randal 3474 | dh cf rf | tor al | 5.5 | 8 | Riley, Austin 4144 | 3b | atl nl | 5.5 | |
| 9 | Olson, Matt 3836 | 1b | oak al | 5.5 | 9 | Swanson, Dansby 3751 | ss | atl nl | 5.5 | |
| 10 | Bichette, Bo 4233 | ss | tor al | 5.5 | 10 | Escobar, Eduardo 3135 | 3b | mil nl | 5.5 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom maintains his lead in Box-Toppers player rankings, despite not playing in nearly a month.
Meanwhile, all other category leaders also remain the same as last 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. 5.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 16.4 |
| 3 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 15.1 |
| 4 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 14.4 |
| 5 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 13.7 |
| 6 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 |
| 7 | Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 12.7 |
| 8 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 12.4 |
| 9 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 12.4 |
| 10 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 11.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Gerrit Cole of the Yankees leads American League pitchers.
Shohei Ohtani of the Angels leads AL batters.
Nick Castellanos of the Reds leads National League batters.
deGrom has 16.7 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points since last week’s player rankings, to maintain his lead ahead of second-place player Cole (16.4). It is the sixth straight player rankings report deGrom has led, dating back to June 24. deGrom also leads NL pitchers for the sixth straight time, ahead of second-place Zack Wheeler of the Phillies (15.1). deGrom last appeared in a game July 7 (earning Player of the Day honors), has been on the injured list and reports indicate he will not pitch again until September.
American League pitchers—Cole leads the category for the sixth straight report with 16.4 points, picking up no points in the past week. He ranks ahead of second-place Tyler Glasnow of the Rays (12.7). Cole ranks second overall.
American League batters—Shohei Ohtani of the Angels leads for the second straight week with 12.4 Box-Toppers points, picking up 1.0 point in the past week. He ranks ahead of second-place J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (9.7).
Ohtani ranks ninth among all players, the only batter among the overall top 10.
Ohtani has earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors nine times in 2021, three as a designated hitter and the other six as a starting pitcher. Uniquely, Ohtani qualifies in Box-Toppers rankings among both batters and pitchers.
National League batters—Castellanos leads for the fifth straight report with 8.0 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week, ahead of second-place NL batter Joey Votto, also of the Reds (8.0 points). Though both Votto and Castellanos have 8.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, Castellanos ranks higher because he has more 2020 Box-Toppers points—1.0 vs. 0.0.
Castellanos ranks 37th among all players in 2021 Box-Toppers points.
Top 10 list exits and entrances—Two players rise into the overall top 10 season player list this week:
Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer rises to eighth place with 12.4 points.
Athletics pitcher Chris Bassitt rises to 10th place with 11.7 points.
Those two displace Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta and Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who were among the top 10 last week.
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.
Eight players joined the #BT40 this week:
Dylan Cease of the White Sox rises to ninth place among AL pitchers with 8.7 points.
Matt Olson of the Athletics rises to ninth place among AL batters with 5.5 points.
Bo Bichette of the Blue Jays rises to 10th place among AL batters with 5.5 points.
Julio Urias of the Dodgers rises to eighth place among NL pitchers with 11.4 points.
Kevin Gausman of the Giants rises to ninth place among NL pitchers with 10.7 points.
Trevor Story of the Rockies rises to seventh place among NL batters with 5.7 points.
Dansby Swanson of the Braves rises to ninth place among NL batters with 5.5 points.
Eduardo Escobar of the Brewers rises to 10th place among NL batters with 5.5 points.
Those eight displace these eight players: Mariners pitcher Chris Flexen, Mitch Haniger of the Mariners, Marcus Semien of the Blue Jays, Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler, Braves pitcher Charlie Morton, Brandon Crawford of the Giants, Jesse Winker of the Reds and Joc Pederson of the Braves.
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 players). The lowest-ranking player among the #BT40 is Bo Bichette of the Blue Jays (5.5 points, 10th among AL batters), who ranks 91st overall.
Box-Toppers almanac
Players who have earned Box-Toppers points so far in 2021—664 (it was 642 as of last week).
Players with more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points—283 (it was 263 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)—136 (it was 126 as of last week).
Games completed so far in 2021—1,632, an average of 108.8 per team.
Percentage of scheduled season completed—67.2.
Pitchers have won 61.9 percent of all Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors compared to 38.1 percent won by batters. (Through games of July 29, pitchers had won Player of the Game honors in 62.5 percent of all games played.)
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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