| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 18.4 | 1 | Strider, Spencer 4626 | pi sp | atl nl | 17.4 | |
| 2 | Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | tor al | 14.7 | 2 | Luzardo, Jesus 4282 | pi sp | fla nl | 15.1 | |
| 3 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | tor al | 13.4 | 3 | Gallen, Zac 4171 | pi sp | ari nl | 13.7 | |
| 4 | Lopez, Pablo 4028 | pi sp | min al | 13.4 | 4 | Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi sp | mil nl | 13.7 | |
| 5 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | tex al | 13.4 | 5 | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi sp | mil nl | 11.7 | |
| 6 | Miller, Bryce 4797 | pi sp | sea al | 13.1 | 6 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 11.0 | |
| 7 | Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 | pi sp | sea al | 11.4 | 7 | Garrett, Braxton 4341 | pi sp | fla nl | 10.7 | |
| 8 | Bradish, Kyle 4597 | pi sp | bal al | 11.0 | 8 | Senga, Kodai 4762 | pi sp | nym nl | 10.7 | |
| 9 | Bautista, Felix 4668 | pi cp | bal al | 11.0 | 9 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 10.1 | |
| 10 | Gilbert, Logan 4439 | pi sp | sea al | 10.7 | 10 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 10.0 | |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 18.4 | 1 | Alonso, Pete 4118 | 1b | nym nl | 9.0 | |
| 2 | Tucker, Kyle 4277 | rf | hou al | 11.0 | 2 | Gorman, Nolan 4633 | 2b dh | stl nl | 9.0 | |
| 3 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf dh | nyy al | 10.0 | 3 | Acuna, Ronald Jr. 3947 | rf | atl nl | 7.7 | |
| 4 | Devers, Rafael 4038 | 3b | bos al | 7.5 | 4 | Outman, James 4699 | cf | lad nl | 7.7 | |
| 5 | McCormick, Chas 4444 | lf cf | hou al | 7.5 | 5 | Betts, Mookie 3404 | rf 2b | lad nl | 7.0 | |
| 6 | Duran, Jarren 4783 | cf | bos al | 7.5 | 6 | Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 | 1b | stl nl | 6.7 | |
| 7 | Rengifo, Luis 4178 | 2b | ana al | 7.0 | 7 | Adames, Willy 4041 | ss | mil nl | 6.7 | |
| 8 | Semien, Marcus 3302 | 2b | tex al | 6.7 | 8 | Arraez, Luis 4219 | 2b | fla nl | 6.5 | |
| 9 | Rizzo, Anthony 3063 | 1b | nyy al | 6.4 | 9 | Yelich, Christian 3334 | lf | mil nl | 6.5 | |
| 10 | Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 6.2 | 10 | Ozuna, Marcell 3190 | dh | atl nl | 6.5 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Shohei Ohtani clings to the Box-Toppers season player rankings lead, despite a week in which he earned no Box-Toppers points and sustained an injury that will keep from pitching for the rest of 2023.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2023. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Thursday, Aug. 24.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 18.4 |
| 2 | Strider, Spencer 4626 | pi sp | atl nl | 17.4 |
| 3 | Luzardo, Jesus 4282 | pi sp | fla nl | 15.1 |
| 4 | Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | tor al | 14.7 |
| 5 | Gallen, Zac 4171 | pi sp | ari nl | 13.7 |
| 6 | Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi sp | mil nl | 13.7 |
| 7 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | tor al | 13.4 |
| 8 | Lopez, Pablo 4028 | pi sp | min al | 13.4 |
| 9 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | tex al | 13.4 |
| 10 | Miller, Bryce 4797 | pi sp | sea al | 13.1 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Back to top
The Angels pitcher/designated hitter leads player rankings for the 10th straight week, but the lead narrowed to just 1.0 Box-Toppers point, his slimmest lead since June 27.
NEW: Inbox notification of each post!
But Ohtani’s 18.4 Box-Toppers points still leads over second-place player, Braves pitcher Spencer Strider’s 17.4 points. Strider maintains his lead among National League pitchers and Pete Alonso of the Mets maintains his lead among NL batters.
Ohtani
Ohtani has 18.4 Box-Toppers points to maintain his lead among all players, earning no points in the past week and earning no points for more than two weeks.
Ohtani leads AL pitchers for the 10th straight week, ahead of second-place AL pitcher, Kevin Gausman of the Blue Jays (14.7). Ohtani also leads AL batters for the 14th straight week, ahead of Kyle Tucker of the Astros (11.0 points).
This week, Ohtani exited the first game of a doubleheader early after experiencing arm fatigue and it was later revealed he had a torn ligament in his pitching elbow. While he will not pitch the rest of the season, he will continue to bat and in fact, returned to the second game of the doubleheader as a designated hitter. It is unclear if Ohtani will require surgery for this injury. He did have Tommy John surgery in 2018, a season in which he continued to bat after injury forced him to discontinue pitching. He had surgery after the close of the season and did not pitch in 2019, though did continue serving as a designated hitter that season.
Ohtani has earned the bulk of his career Box-Toppers points as a pitcher (45.5 of 73.7 or 61.7 percent). However, this season his point total between pitching and batting is more evenly split. Ohtani has earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors 15 times in 2023—seven as a designated hitter and eight as a starting pitcher. He’s earned 8.7 of his Box-Toppers points as a batter and 9.7 as a starting pitcher. He is the only player to qualify to rank among both pitchers and batters in Box-Toppers rankings because he’s earned more than 25 percent of his Player of the Game honors in both categories.
Ohtani’s 8.7 points as a batter would rank third among AL batters, behind Tucker (11.0) and Aaron Judge of the Yankees (10.0). Ohtani’s 9.7 points as a pitcher by themselves would rank 13th among AL pitchers.
National League pitchers
Braves pitcher Spencer Strider leads the category for the fourth straight week with 17.4 Box-Toppers points, picking up 2.0 points in the past week. He leads over second-place NL pitcher Jesus Luzardo of the Marlins (15.1 points).
Strider ranks second overall.
National League batters
Pete Alonso of the Mets leads the category for the third week 9.0 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week. He leads over second-place NL batter Nolan Gorman of the Cardinals (9.0). Though Alonso and Gorman both have 9.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023, Alonso ranks higher because he has more 2022 Box-Toppers points—14.9 vs. 5.0.
Alonso ranks 31st among all players.
Box-Toppers almanac
Players who have earned Box-Toppers points so far in 2023—717 (there were 697 as of last week).
Players with more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points—341 (there were 329 as of last week).
Players with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points—26 (there were 20 as of last week).
Players who’ve made their Box-Toppers debut so far in 2023 (earning their first career Player of the Game honor)—151 (there were 144 as of last week).
Games completed so far in 2023—1,915, an average of 127.7 per team.
Percentage of scheduled season completed—78.8.
Pitchers won the majority of all Player of the Game honors this week—58 in the 94 games played (61.7 percent), with batters winning in 36 games (38.3 percent). Batters share of Player of the Game honors for the season decreased slightly from 40.9 percent last week to 40.7 percent this week (780 of the 1,915 games played). Pitchers have won in 1,135 games (59.3 percent).
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.
Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.
For additional updates, follow Box-Toppers on Twitter.