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Tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score stats. A method to measure & compare baseball's top players.
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Box-Toppers’ top NL relief pitcher Edwin Díaz of the Mets wins 2025 NL Reliever of the Year. Aroldis Chapman of the Red Sox wins AL Reliever of the Year ahead of Box-Toppers’ top AL reliever Jeff Hoffman of the Blue Jays.

One of Box-Toppers’ top two relief pitchers—Edwin Díaz—wins Reliever of the Year

Shawn Plank November 26, 2025

Box-Toppers’ top-ranked National League relief pitcher won NL Reliever of the Year, but Box-Toppers’ top American League reliever did not win the AL Award.

Reliever of the Year

One of two Box-Toppers’ top-ranked relief pitchers was named Reliever of the Year by Major League Baseball. Edwin Díaz of the Mets won the NL Award. However, Box-Toppers' top-ranked AL reliever Jeff Hoffman of the Blue Jays did not win the AL award—that went to Aroldis Chapman of the Red Sox, whose 6.0 Box-Toppers points was fourth among AL closing pitchers.
Here are the three relief pitchers in each league with the most Box-Toppers points (BTP) in 2025.

AL Reliever of the Year
Player Team BTP
1 Jeff Hoffman Blue Jays 8.0
2 Josh Hader Astros 7.0
3 David Bednar Yankees 7.0
NL Reliever of the Year
Player Team BTP
1 Edwin Díaz Mets 8.0
2 Mason Miller Padres 7.0
3 Robert Suarez Padres 6.0
BTP—Box-Toppers points

Edwin Díaz of the Mets, who led NL relievers with 8.0 Box-Toppers points, won the NL award. But Aroldis Chapman of the Red Sox won the AL award, ahead of Box-Toppers’ top AL reliever, Jeff Hoffman of the Blue Jays.

Hoffman led AL closers with 8.0 Box-Toppers points while Chapman earned 6.0 points, fourth among AL closers.

Hoffman earned 33 saves in 2025, third among AL pitchers, while Chapman had 32, fourth among AL pitchers. Carlos Estévez of the Royals, who led AL pitchers with 42 saves, earned 5.0 Box-Toppers points, seventh among AL closing pitchers.

Second and third among AL relief pitchers in 2025 Box-Toppers points are Josh Hader of the Astros and David Bednar of the Yankees, both with 7.0 Box-Toppers points. Hader earned 28 saves, sixth among AL pitchers. Bednar began the season with the Pirates in the National League before being traded July 31 to the Yankees. He earned 27 saves in 2025, 17 with the Pirates and 10 with the Yankees. He earned 2.0 of his Box-Toppers points with the Pirates and 5.0 with the Yankees.

Díaz is NL Reliever of the Year

Díaz led NL pitchers with 8.0 Box-Toppers points, but ranked fifth among NL pitchers in saves with 28. Robert Suarez of the Padres, who led NL pitchers with 40 saves, ranked third among NL closers with 6.0 Box-Toppers points.

How 2025 AL saves leaders performed in Box-Toppers points: 42—Carlos Estévez #Royals 5.0, 7th* 38—Andres Muñoz #Mariners 3.0, 13th* 33—Jeff Hoffman #BlueJays 8.0, 1st* 32—Aroldis Chapman #Yankees 6.0, 4th* *2025 B-T points & ranking among AL closers

[image or embed]

— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Nov 26, 2025 at 7:58 AM

How 2025 NL saves leaders performed in Box-Toppers points: 40—Robert Suarez #Padres 6.0, 3rd* 32—Emilio Pagán #Reds 2.0, 24th* 30—Trevor Megill #Brewers 3.0, 9th* 29—Raisel Iglesias #Braves 1.0, 38th* *2025 B-T points & ranking among NL closers

[image or embed]

— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Nov 26, 2025 at 10:04 AM

Mason Miller of the Padres ranked second among NL closers with 7.0 Box-Toppers points. He began the season with the Athletics in the American League before being traded July 31 to the Padres. He earned 5.0 of his Box-Toppers points with the Athletics and 2.0 with the Padres. He had 22 saves in 2025, 20 with the Athletics and two with the Padres.

Previous wins

Díaz has won Reliever of the Year award three times. He won the AL award in 2018 with the Mariners and won the NL Award in 2022 with the Mets. Chapman won the Reliever of the Year award for a second time in 2025. He also won in 2019 with the Yankees.

Established in 2014, MLB’s Reliever of the Year Awards are voted by a panel of retired relievers.

Box-Toppers votes in IBWAA ballot

In separate voting, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA), of which Box-Toppers is a voting member, also voted Chapman as top AL reliever. But instead of Díaz, the IBWAA voted Robert Suarez of the Padres as top NL reliever. (Suarez finished third among NL closers with 6.0 Box-Toppers points.)

Here are those election results:

American League

  • 1st place: Aroldis Chapman, Boston Red Sox — 101 points

  • 2nd place: Andrés Muñoz, Seattle Mariners — 56 points

  • 3rd place: Carlos Estévez, Kansas City Royals — 23 points

National League:

  • 1st place: Robert Suarez, San Diego Padres — 91 points

  • 2nd place: Edwin Díaz, New York Mets — 83 points

  • 3rd place: Adrian Morejon, San Diego Padres — 24 points

IBWAA members include more than 800 baseball writers and content creators. Voting for full-season awards takes place prior to the start of the postseason each year, with selections announced in November.

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. (No Box-Toppers points are awarded in postseason games.)

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 Bluesky or Twitter (X).

Related

  • Final 2025 Box-Toppers player rankings: Tigers’ Skubal is 2025 Box-Toppers Player of the Year; Skenes rises to lead NL pitchers

  • Box-Toppers points leaders in 2025 seem likely to win 2 of 4 major postseason awards

  • Postseason awards wrap-up: Box-Toppers leaders win 3 of 6 major honors in 2025

  • Box-Toppers looks at past Reliever of the Year awards: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018

How Box-Toppers points leaders among AL closers performed in saves: 8.0—Jeff Hoffman #BlueJays 33, 3rd* 7.0—Josh Hader #Astros 28, 6th* 7.0—David Bednar #Yankees 27† *Saves, rank among AL closers †17 saves in NL with #Pirates, 10 in AL w/NYY

[image or embed]

— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Nov 26, 2025 at 1:38 PM

How Box-Toppers points leaders among NL closers performed in saves: 8.0—Edwin Díaz #Mets 28, 5th* 7.0—Mason Miller #Padres 22† 6.0—Robert Suarez #Padres 40, 1st* *Saves, rank among NL closers †20 saves in AL with #Athletics, 2 in NL with SD

[image or embed]

— Box-Toppers Baseball (@boxtoppers.bsky.social) Nov 26, 2025 at 2:43 PM
TagsPostseason awards, Reliever of the Year, Edwin Diaz, Aroldis Chapman, Jeff Hoffman, Carlos Estevez, Josh Hader, David Bednar, Robert Suarez, Mason Miller, Andres Munoz, Adrian Morejon
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Box-Toppers

Tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score stats. A method to measure & compare baseball's top players.

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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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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