| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 22.0 | 1 | Alcantara, Sandy 4061 | pi sp | fla nl | 18.1 | |
| 2 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 21.0 | 2 | Gallen, Zac 4171 | pi sp | ari nl | 16.7 | |
| 3 | Cease, Dylan 4231 | pi sp | chi al | 20.4 | 3 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.4 | |
| 4 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 15.4 | 4 | Rodon, Carlos 3494 | pi sp | sf nl | 16.4 | |
| 5 | McClanahan, Shane 4399 | pi sp | tb al | 15.4 | 5 | Fried, Max 4011 | pi sp | atl nl | 16.0 | |
| 6 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | sea al | 14.4 | 6 | Musgrove, Joe 3705 | pi sp | sd nl | 15.4 | |
| 7 | McKenzie, Triston 4303 | pi sp | cle al | 12.0 | 7 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 14.1 | |
| 8 | Valdez, Framber 4048 | pi sp | hou al | 12.0 | 8 | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi sp | mil nl | 13.4 | |
| 9 | Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | tor al | 11.7 | 9 | Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 13.0 | |
| 10 | Bieber, Shane 4005 | pi sp | cle al | 11.7 | 10 | Wright, Kyle 4349 | pi sp | atl nl | 12.4 | |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 21.0 | 1 | Alonso, Pete 4118 | 1b | nym nl | 13.2 | |
| 2 | Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 10.7 | 2 | Betts, Mookie 3404 | rf | lad nl | 11.7 | |
| 3 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf cf | nyy al | 10.2 | 3 | Tellez, Rowdy 4078 | 1b | mil nl | 8.2 | |
| 4 | Alvarez, Yordan 4209 | dh | hou al | 8.7 | 4 | Riley, Austin 4144 | 3b | atl nl | 8.0 | |
| 5 | Suarez, Eugenio 3355 | 3b | sea al | 8.0 | 5 | Canha, Mark 3454 | lf | nym nl | 7.7 | |
| 6 | Bregman, Alex 3721 | 3b | hou al | 7.7 | 6 | Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 | 1b | stl nl | 7.5 | |
| 7 | Rodriguez, Julio 4590 | cf | sea al | 7.5 | 7 | Muncy, Max 3969 | 3b | lad nl | 7.2 | |
| 8 | Bogaerts, Xander 3383 | ss | bos al | 7.0 | 8 | Arenado, Nolan 3306 | 3b | stl nl | 7.0 | |
| 9 | France, Ty 4243 | 1b | sea al | 7.0 | 9 | Cron, C.J. 3338 | 1b | col nl | 7.0 | |
| 10 | Story, Trevor 3607 | 2b | bos al | 7.0 | 10 | Blackmon, Charlie 2891 | rf dh ph | col nl | 6.5 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Astros pitcher Justin Verlander leads Box-Toppers weekly player rankings report for the sixth straight week.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2022. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Thursday, Sept. 8.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 22.0 |
| 2 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 21.0 |
| 3 | Cease, Dylan 4231 | pi sp | chi al | 20.4 |
| 4 | Alcantara, Sandy 4061 | pi sp | fla nl | 18.1 |
| 5 | Gallen, Zac 4171 | pi sp | ari nl | 16.7 |
| 6 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.4 |
| 7 | Rodon, Carlos 3494 | pi sp | sf nl | 16.4 |
| 8 | Fried, Max 4011 | pi sp | atl nl | 16.0 |
| 9 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 15.4 |
| 10 | Musgrove, Joe 3705 | pi sp | sd nl | 15.4 |
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Verlander also continues to lead American League pitchers and the other category leaders also remain the same as last week—Shohei Ohtani of the Angels leads AL batters, Sandy Alcantara of the Marlins leads National League pitchers and Pete Alonso of the Mets leads NL batters.
Overall leader—Verlander leads all players with 22.0 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week. He ranks ahead of Shohei Ohtani (21.0 points) and also ranks ahead of Ohtani among AL pitchers.
Verlander was placed on the 15-day injured list Aug. 30 with a right calf injury. He is eligible to return Sept. 14, but reports indicate it may be a few days after that before he is activated. The regular season ends Oct. 5.
American League batters—Shohei Ohtani of the Angels leads for the second week with 21.0 Box-Toppers points, picking up 1.0 point in the past week. He ranks ahead of second-place Jose Ramirez of the Guardians (10.7 points).
While Ohtani has only earned 5.0 of his 21.0 points as a batter this season, he still qualifies to rank among batters because he has more than 25 percent of his Player of the Game honors as a designated hitter (four of 15, 26.7 percent). However, if Ohtani earns his next Player of the Game honor in 2022 as a pitcher, he will no longer qualify to rank among batters, as that will bring his percentage of Player of the Game honors as a batter down to exactly 25 percent (four of 16).
Ohtani led AL batters in Box-Toppers points most of the season until Aug. 9, when he lost his status to be ranked among batters because he earned an overwhelming share of his Player of the Game honors as a starting pitcher (9 of 12). But he regained his status to be ranked among batters Aug. 28, when he earned Player of the Game honors as a batter, giving him four of his 14 honors as a batter, 28.6 percent.
Ohtani earned 16.1 Box-Toppers points in 2021, third among AL pitchers. While Ohtani also played as both a designated hitter and a starting pitcher in 2021, he was ranked only as a pitcher that season because he earned such an overwhelming majority of his Player of the Game honors as a pitcher (nine of 12).
Ohtani ranks second overall and also ranks second among AL pitchers.
National League pitchers—Sandy Alcantara of the Marlins leads for the eighth week with 18.1 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week. He leads ahead of second-place Zac Gallen of the Diamondbacks (16.7 points). Alcantara ranks fourth among all players.
National League batters—Pete Alonso of the Mets leads for the 13th week with 13.2 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week, ahead of second-place Mookie Betts of the Dodgers (11.7). Alonso ranks 15th among all players, up from 14th place last week.
Box-Toppers almanac
Players who have earned Box-Toppers points so far in 2022—729 (there were 711 a week ago).
Players with more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points—344 (there were 334 a week ago).
Players with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points—40 (there were 34 a week ago). In 2021, 49 players had 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points.
Players who’ve made their Box-Toppers debut so far in 2022 (earning their first career Player of the Game honor)—165 (there were 157 a week ago).
Games completed so far in 2022—2,054 an average of 136.9 per team.
Percentage of scheduled season completed—84.5.
In the 95 games completed from Sept. 2 to Sept. 8, pitchers won Player of the Game honors 59 times (62.1 percent) compared to 36 times for batters (37.9 percent). Batters’ overall percentage of Player of the Game honors earned for the season decreased from 39.00 last week to 38.95 this week (800 out of 2,054 games). There have been 2,447.4 total Box-Toppers points awarded to all Player of the Game winners in 2022 (including bonus points for the day’s top players). Pitchers have won 60.96 percent of that total (1,492.0), while batters have won 39.04 percent (955.4). That is on pace to break the record for the all-time record-low for share of a season Box-Toppers points won by batters (39.14 percent in 2014). Last year, in 2021, batters won just 39.15 percent of all Box-Toppers points awarded, the second-lowest in any season since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.
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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