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 |
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.
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.)
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