Box-Toppers MVP ballot
Here is a look at Box-Toppers’ 2025 Most Valuable Player ballot selections for the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) 2025 postseason awards. The ballot requires votes out to 10 places for each league’s top overall player.Players are shown with their team and their Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2025.
| AL Most Valuable Player | |||
| Player | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Tarik Skubal | Tigers | 22.1 |
| 2 | Garrett Crochet | Red Sox | 19.8 |
| 3 | George Springer | Blue Jays | 9.7 |
| 4 | José Ramírez | Guardians | 9.5 |
| 5 | Salvador Perez | Royals | 9.5 |
| 6 | Riley Greene | Tigers | 9.0 |
| 7 | Junior Caminero | Rays | 9.0 |
| 8 | Bryan Woo | Mariners | 18.0 |
| 9 | Wilyer Abreu | Red Sox | 8.5 |
| 10 | Lenyn Sosa | White Sox | 8.5 |
| NL Most Valuable Player | |||
| Player | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kyle Schwarber | Phillies | 12.0 |
| 2 | Christian Yelich | Brewers | 11.2 |
| 3 | Paul Skenes | Pirates | 21.1 |
| 4 | Zack Wheeler | Phillies | 20.1 |
| 5 | Manny Machado | Padres | 9.5 |
| 6 | Seiya Suzuki | Cubs | 9.5 |
| 7 | Pete Crow-Armstrong | Cubs | 9.5 |
| 8 | Nick Pivetta | Padres | 17.7 |
| 9 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | Dodgers | 17.7 |
| 10 | Jesús Luzardo | Phillies | 17.4 |
For example, in rankings for NL MVP, Kyle Schwarber ranks first with 12.0 points even though several pitchers (notably Paul Skenes of the Pirates with 21.1) have more points. Box-Toppers arbitrarily doubles batters’ point totals in figuring these rankings, which would give Schwarber 24.0 points, ahead of Skenes’ 21.1.
While MVP is traditionally a batter's award, it has been awarded to pitchers either when they have a dominant season, no batters particularly rise to the occasion—or both.
Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers won 2025 Most Valuable Player Awards Thursday over Box-Toppers’ choices for the awards, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal and Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies.
Both Judge and Ohtani won their league’s award for the second straight year—Judge in the American League and Ohtani in the National League.
When they won in 2024, both led their league’s batters in Box-Toppers points and were Box-Toppers’ choices for the awards. But this year, neither Judge, Ohtani, nor another AL MVP favorite, Cal Raleigh of the Mariners, performed well in the Box-Toppers metric, despite all hitting more than 50 home runs and racking up impressive statistics. In 2025, all three were comparatively rarely the player who contributed most to their team’s wins. Consequently, none were even among their league’s top 10 batters in Box-Toppers points in 2025 and none appeared on Box-Toppers’ MVP ballot, which included 10 players in each league.
A look at Box-Toppers’ Most Valuable Player ballot.
A look at AL MVP voting and how candidates fared in Box-Toppers points.
A look at NL MVP voting and how candidates fared in Box-Toppers points.
Voting was done by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). However, in a separate vote by the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA), of which Box-Toppers is a voting member, Cal Raleigh of the Mariners was voted AL MVP over Judge, with Ohtani winning NL honors.
AL Most Valuable Player
Judge won 17 of the 30 first-place votes for AL MVP in a narrow victory over Raleigh, who received 13 first-place votes and finished second in voting. Both players received all first- and second-place votes, with Judge receiving the 13 second-place votes from writers who chose Raleigh and Raleigh receiving the 17 second-place votes from writers who chose Judge.
In 2025, Judge won his first career batting title, with a .331 average, and led the Major Leagues in on-base percentage (.457), slugging percentage (.688) and runs scored (137). He also hit 53 home runs (second among AL players behind Raleigh’s 60) and had 114 runs batted in (second among AL players, behind Raleigh’s 125).
However, Judge earned 6.5 Box-Toppers points in 2025, 20th among AL batters. (In 2024, his 13.0 Box-Toppers points led AL batters, when he hit 58 home runs.)
Raleigh, meanwhile, earned 6.0 Box-Toppers points in 2025, 24th among AL batters. (In 2024, he earned 6.2 Box-Toppers points, 14th among AL batters, in a season in which he hit 34 home runs.)
Judge and Raleigh had such low Box-Toppers point totals because teammates—often pitchers—won Player of the Game honors in team wins in which they performed well. A Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 or better for a batter is an indication of an outstanding game, usually enough for that batter to win Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. But Judge had +3.0 or better game scores in eight team wins, including four in which he did not win Player of the Game honors. Raleigh had +3.0 or better game scores in nine team wins, including six in which he did not earn Player of the Game honors. (More: Judge, Raleigh frequently outscored in Player of the Game chances.)
Had either player won Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in each of those performances, they likely would have had 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points for the season, led AL batters in Box-Toppers points, and been among Box-Toppers’ contenders for AL MVP.
Box-Toppers choice Skubal finishes fifth in AL MVP voting
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, Box-Toppers’ choice for the award, who led all players with 22.1 Box-Toppers points, finished fifth in AL MVP voting.
Skubal had more than double the point total of Box-Toppers’ top-ranked AL batter, George Springer of the Blue Jays, who earned 9.7 Box-Toppers points in 2025. Springer’s 9.7 points is the lowest total to lead any category since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. Springer ranks third on our AL MVP ballot, behind two pitchers—Skubal and Garrett Crochet of the Red Sox, who earned 19.8 points. Springer finished seventh in AL MVP voting, just ahead of Crochet, who finished in eighth place. (More: Why Springer led AL batters.)
In cases in which the league’s top pitcher has more than twice as many Box-Toppers points as the league’s top batter, I choose pitchers for the award over batters. In the 31 seasons of Box-Toppers tracking (which began in 1995), there have been 62 instances of MVP voting, including this season’s. This is the 12th instance of a league top pitcher having more than double the points of a league top batter. (Here are the other 11 instances).
Judge was Box-Toppers’ choice for AL MVP in 2024 because he had a far more dominant season than 2025 from a Box-Toppers perspective, leading AL batters with 13.0 Box-Toppers points. (More: Why Judge was Box-Toppers’ AL MVP in 2024.)
Judge has now won AL MVP three times. Judge won AL MVP in 2022, but was second that year on Box-Toppers’ AL MVP ballot, behind Shohei Ohtani of the Angels.
How other players fared in the AL MVP ballot
José Ramírez of the Guardians finished third in AL MVP voting. Ramírez ranked second among AL batters in 2025 Box-Toppers points (9.5) and was fourth on Box-Toppers’ AL MVP ballot, behind Skubal, Crochet and Springer.
Skubal was one of three pitchers receiving AL MVP votes, along with Crochet, who finished eighth, and Aroldis Chapman of the Red Sox, who finished tied for 18th with one 10th-place vote. Chapman earned 6.0 Box-Toppers points in 2025, 55th among AL pitchers and fourth among AL closing pitchers.
Four of the five top AL batters in 2025 Box-Toppers points received AL MVP votes. In addition to Springer and Ramírez, they are:
Riley Greene of the Tigers, fourth among AL batters with 9.0 Box-Toppers points, finished 17th. (He was sixth on Box-Toppers’ AL MVP ballot.)
Junior Caminero of the Rays, fifth among AL batters with 9.0 Box-Toppers points, finished ninth. (He was seventh on Box-Toppers’ AL MVP ballot.)
Salvador Perez of the Royals, third among AL batters with 9.5 Box-Toppers points, received no AL MVP votes. (He was fifth on Box-Toppers’ AL MVP ballot).
NL Most Valuable Player
Ohtani won 30 of 30 first-place votes for NL MVP to win his second straight NL MVP honor after winning in 2024. He’s now won four total, second-most behind Barry Bonds, who won seven. Ohtani won the AL MVP in 2021 and 2023 with the Angels, and so now has won an MVP award (in different leagues) in three straight seasons.
In 2025, Ohtani led the NL in runs scored (146), total bases (380), slugging percntage (.622) and on-base plus slugging percntage (1.014). He was second among NL batters in home runs (55) behind Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies (56).
But Ohtani earned just 5.5 Box-Toppers points in 2025, 27th among NL batters and 55th among NL pitchers. (While he earned 3.5 points as a batter and 2.0 as a pitcher, he qualified to have his overall total rank in both categories.)
In 2024, by contrast, Ohtani earned 11.0 Box-Toppers points, first among NL batters in a season in which he hit 54 home runs and did not pitch.
While he returned to the mound in 2025 after undergoing 2023 elbow reconstruction surgery, he only began June 16 and only slowly ramped up his pitching from one inning to five or six by the end of the season, earning only 2.0 Box-Toppers points as a pitcher during the season. That compares to the 19.7 Box-Toppers points he earned as a pitcher with the Angels in 2022, which by itself ranked third among AL pitchers.
Schwarber is Box-Toppers’ NL MVP selection
Our choice for NL MVP, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies, led NL batters with 12.0 Box-Toppers points, 24th among all players. He finished second in the NL MVP vote, receiving 23 second-place votes.
Schwarber led all players in 2025 with 132 runs batted in. He also led the NL in home runs with 56.
Schwarber earning 12.0 Box-Toppers points in 2025 is more remarkable when you consider the Phillies pitchers he had to compete against to win Player of the Game honors. There were four Phillies pitchers among the top 10 NL pitchers, including:
Zack Wheeler, 20.1 Box-Toppers points, second among NL pitchers and fourth on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot.
Jesús Luzardo, 17.4 Box-Toppers points, fifth among NL pitchers and 10th on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot.
Ranger Suárez, 15.8 Box-Toppers points, sixth among NL pitchers.
Cristopher Sánchez, 15.4 Box-Toppers points, seventh among NL pitchers and one of two NL pitchers to receive NL MVP votes—he finished 15th.
Ohtani, by contrast, had only one other player on his team with more than 10 Box-Toppers points—pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, whose 17.7 Box-Toppers points ranked fourth among NL pitchers, placing him ninth on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot.
Other players receiving NL MVP votes
Two pitchers received NL MVP votes: Paul Skenes of the Pirates, who won the NL Cy Young Award, finished sixth. He led NL pitchers with 21.1 Box-Toppers points and was third on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot. Cristopher Sánchez of the Phillies finished 15th in NL MVP voting. His 15.4 Box-Toppers points in 2025 was seventh among NL pitchers.
Box-Toppers’ top five NL batters all received NL MVP votes. In addition to Schwarber, there were these four:
Christian Yelich of the Brewers, second with 11.2 Box-Toppers points, finished 12th in NL MVP voting. (He was second on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot.)
Manny Machado of the Padres, third with 9.5 Box-Toppers points, finished tied for 16th in NL MVP voting. (He was fifth on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot.)
Seiya Suzuki of the Cubs, fourth with 9.5 Box-Toppers points, finished tied for 20th in NL MVP voting. (He was sixth on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot.)
Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Cubs, fifth with 9.5 Box-Toppers points, finished ninth in NL MVP voting. (He was seventh on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP ballot.)
Juan Soto of the Mets finished third in NL MVP voting. He earned 7.0 Box-Toppers points in 2025, 12th among NL batters.
Raleigh, Ohtani win in IBWAA MVP voting
Internet baseball writers preferred Cal Raleigh of the Mariners as AL MVP over Aaron Judge of the Yankees, the “official” BBWAA choice. Box-Toppers votes for postseason awards as a member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA). Here are results from 2025 voting:
American League:
1st Place: Cal Raleigh, Mariners—347 points
2nd Place: Aaron Judge, Yankees—311 points
3rd Place: José Ramírez, Guardians—184 points
National League:
1st Place: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers—392 points
2nd Place: Juan Soto, Mets—191 points
3rd Place: Kyle Schwarber, Phillies—188 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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Related
American League Most Valuable Player Award voting
Aaron Judge of the Yankees was voted AL Most Valuable Player. Below are the AL players in order of their voting finish, shown with their first- through 10th-place votes and their voting points total. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers points (BTP) for 2025 and their rank among AL batters (except in the case of pitchers, denoted with †, in which case their rank among AL pitcher is shown).| 1st-10th place votes | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AL player | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points | BTP | Rank | |
| 1 | Aaron Judge | Yankees | dh rf | 17 | 13 | 355 | 6.5 | 20 | ||||||||
| 2 | Cal Raleigh | Mariners | ca | 13 | 17 | 335 | 6.0 | 24 | ||||||||
| 3 | José Ramírez | Guardians | 3b | 19 | 6 | 5 | 224 | 9.5 | 2 | |||||||
| 4 | Bobby Witt Jr. | Royals | ss | 9 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 215 | 2.5 | 76 | ||||||
| 5 | Tarik Skubal | Tigers | pi sp | 1 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 139 | 22.1 | 1† | ||||
| 6 | Julio Rodríguez | Mariners | cf | 1 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 136 | 5.5 | 28 | ||||
| 7 | George Springer | Blue Jays | dh rf | 1 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 125 | 9.7 | 1 | ||||
| 8 | Garrett Crochet | Red Sox | pi sp | 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 74 | 19.8 | 2† | ||||
| 9 | Junior Caminero | Rays | 3b | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 37 | 9.0 | 5 | ||||
| 10 | Jeremy Peña | Astros | ss | 4 | 7 | 6 | 32 | 1.0 | 149 | |||||||
| 11 | Byron Buxton | Twins | cf | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 30 | 5.0 | 30 | ||||||
| 12 | Nick Kurtz | Athletics | 1b ph | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 29 | 4.5 | 44 | |||||
| 13 | Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | Blue Jays | 1b | 1 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 4.0 | 47 | |||||||
| 14 | Cody Bellinger | Yankees | lf | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5.9 | 26 | |||||||
| 14 | Maikel Garcia | Royals | 3b | 3 | 1 | 7 | 3.5 | 59 | ||||||||
| 16 | Bo Bichette | Blue Jays | dh ss | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1.5 | 132 | ||||||||
| 17 | Riley Greene | Tigers | lf cf | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9.0 | 4 | ||||||||
| 18 | Aroldis Chapman | Red Sox | pi cp | 1 | 1 | 6.0 | 55† | |||||||||
| 18 | Yandy Díaz | Rays | ca dh | 1 | 1 | 3.2 | 61 | |||||||||
| 18 | Jacob Wilson | Athletics | ss | 1 | 1 | 4.0 | 51 | |||||||||
† When an AL pitcher received MVP votes, their Box-Toppers ranking is shown among AL pitchers.
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National League Most Valuable Player Award voting
Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers was voted NL Most Valuable Player. Below are the NL players in order of their voting finish, shown with their first- through 10th-place votes and their voting points total. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers points (BTP) for 2025 and their rank among NL batters (except in the case of pitchers, denoted with †, in which case their rank among NL pitchers is shown).| 1st-10th place votes | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NL player | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points | BTP | Rank | |
| 1 | Shohei Ohtani | Dodgers | dh pi sp | 30 | 420 | 5.5 | 27§ | |||||||||
| 2 | Kyle Schwarber | Phillies | dh | 23 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 260 | 12.0 | 1 | ||||||
| 3 | Juan Soto | Mets | rf | 4 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 231 | 7.0 | 12 | ||||||
| 4 | Geraldo Perdomo | D-backs | ss | 3 | 7 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 196 | 6.5 | 16 | ||
| 5 | Trea Turner | Phillies | ss | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 102 | 5.5 | 30 | ||
| 6 | Paul Skenes | Pirates | pi sp | 2 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 83 | 21.1 | 1† | ||||
| 6 | Corbin Carroll | D-backs | rf | 3 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 83 | 5.2 | 35 | ||||
| 8 | Fernando Tatis Jr. | Padres | rf | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 78 | 1.0 | 144 | |||
| 9 | Pete Crow‑Armstrong | Cubs | cf | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 63 | 9.5 | 5 | ||||
| 10 | Francisco Lindor | Mets | ss | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 61 | 7.5 | 9 | ||||
| 11 | Pete Alonso | Mets | 1b | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 48 | 7.2 | 11 | ||||
| 12 | Christian Yelich | Brewers | dh | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 34 | 11.2 | 2 | |||||
| 13 | Freddie Freeman | Dodgers | 1b | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 29 | 4.5 | 42 | |||||
| 14 | Brice Turang | Brewers | 2b | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 23 | 2.0 | 114 | ||||||
| 15 | Cristopher Sánchez | Phillies | pi sp | 1 | 4 | 3 | 16 | 15.4 | 7† | |||||||
| 16 | Michael Busch | Cubs | 1b | 1 | 1 | 11 | 4.4 | 48 | ||||||||
| 16 | Manny Machado | Padres | 3b | 1 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 9.5 | 3 | |||||||
| 18 | Matt Olson | Braves | 1b | 1 | 3 | 7 | 6.0 | 20 | ||||||||
| 19 | Nico Hoerner | Cubs | ss 2b | 1 | 5 | 0.0 | 217 | |||||||||
| 20 | Seiya Suzuki | Cubs | dh | 1 | 3 | 9.5 | 4 | |||||||||
| 20 | Will Smith | Dodgers | ca | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1.0 | 139 | ||||||||
| 22 | Ketel Marte | D-backs | 2b | 1 | 2 | 5.5 | 28 | |||||||||
| 23 | Elly De La Cruz | Reds | ss dh | 1 | 1 | 3.5 | 57 | |||||||||
§ Shohei Ohtani earned 5.5 total Box-Toppers points in 2025, 3.5 as a batter and 2.0 as a pitcher. He qualified to rank among both pitchers and batters in 2025. His 27th-place ranking as a batter is shown. Ohtani’s 5.5 points ranked 55th among NL pitchers.
† When an NL pitcher received MVP votes, their Box-Toppers ranking is shown among NL pitchers.
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