| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Skubal, Tarik 4414 | pi sp | det al | 22.1 | 1 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 20.1 | |
| 2 | Crochet, Garrett 4434 | pi sp | bos al | 18.8 | 2 | Skenes, Paul 5005 | pi sp | pit nl | 20.1 | |
| 3 | Woo, Bryan 4842 | pi sp | sea al | 17.0 | 3 | Pivetta, Nick 3825 | pi sp | sd nl | 17.7 | |
| 4 | Eovaldi, Nathan 2928 | pi sp | tex al | 14.4 | 4 | Yamamoto, Yoshinobu 4964 | pi sp | lad nl | 16.7 | |
| 5 | Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 | pi sp | sea al | 14.1 | 5 | Suarez, Ranger 4228 | pi sp | phi nl | 15.8 | |
| 6 | Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | tor al | 14.1 | 6 | Luzardo, Jesus 4282 | pi sp | phi nl | 15.7 | |
| 7 | Fried, Max 4011 | pi sp | nyy al | 13.4 | 7 | Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi sp | mil nl | 14.7 | |
| 8 | Brown, Hunter 4729 | pi sp | hou al | 13.4 | 8 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | stl nl | 14.0 | |
| 9 | Rodon, Carlos 3494 | pi sp | nyy al | 12.7 | 9 | Sanchez, Cristopher 4850 | pi sp | phi nl | 13.7 | |
| 10 | Soriano, Jose 4884 | pi sp | ana al | 12.7 | 10 | Greene, Hunter 4651 | pi sp | cin nl | 13.4 | |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Springer, George 3337 | dh rf | tor al | 9.7 | 1 | Schwarber, Kyle 3536 | dh | phi nl | 12.0 | |
| 2 | Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 9.5 | 2 | Yelich, Christian 3334 | dh | mil nl | 11.2 | |
| 3 | Perez, Salvador 2972 | ca | kc al | 9.5 | 3 | Machado, Manny 3087 | 3b | sd nl | 9.5 | |
| 4 | Greene, Riley 4675 | lf cf | det al | 9.0 | 4 | Suzuki, Seiya 4924 | dh | chi nl | 9.5 | |
| 5 | Caminero, Junior 5089 | 3b | tb al | 9.0 | 5 | Crow-Armstrong, Pete 5073 | cf | chi nl | 9.5 | |
| 6 | Abreu, Wilyer 4911 | rf | bos al | 8.5 | 6 | Adames, Willy 4041 | ss | sf nl | 8.5 | |
| 7 | Ward, Taylor 4345 | lf | ana al | 8.5 | 7 | Devers, Rafael 4038 | dh | sf nl | 7.7 | |
| 8 | Altuve, Jose 3007 | lf 2b dh | hou al | 8.0 | 8 | Wood, James 5078 | lf dh | dc nl | 7.7 | |
| 9 | Story, Trevor 3607 | ss | bos al | 8.0 | 9 | Muncy, Max 3969 | 3b | lad nl | 7.5 | |
| 10 | Suarez, Eugenio 3355 | 3b | sea al | 7.5 | 10 | Alonso, Pete 4118 | 1b | nym nl | 7.2 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal leads Box-Toppers season player rankings for the third week in a row.
Meanwhile, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies rises this week to lead National League batters, passing the previous leader, Christian Yelich of the Brewers. Additionally, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, who is out for the season, continues to lead National League pitchers, as second-place Paul Skenes of the Pirates was again unable to surpass him this week.
In addition, George Springer of the Blue Jays maintains his lead among American League batters, but is on track to set the dubious record for lowest Box-Toppers point total to lead any category since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.
This is the next-to-last (and also penultimate) Box-Toppers player rankings report for the season. With a little over one week to go in the season, final player rankings will be posted after the conclusion of regular season games, Sunday, Sept. 28.
Skubal leads
Skubal has 22.1 Box-Toppers points, earning no points in the past week. He leads over second-place player, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler (20.1 points).
This is the 11th straight week Skubal has led AL pitchers, currently 3.3 points ahead of second-place Garrett Crochet of the Red Sox (18.8). Crochet is the only player with a realistic chance of passing Skubal in rankings this season. He has two starts remaining and so could earn up to 4.0 more points, giving him 22.8, more than Skubal’s 22.1 total. But Skubal could secure the season lead with 1.0 more point as Player of the Game in his final start (scheduled for next Tuesday), putting his total out of Crochet’s reach.
National League pitchers
Wheeler’s 20.1 points still narrowly ranks first among NL pitchers. But Paul Skenes of the Pirates, second among NL pitchers, has the same 20.1-point total for the season. Though Wheeler and Skenes have the same season total, Wheeler ranks higher because he has more 2024 points—21.4 vs. 13.0.
Skenes has one more scheduled start (Wednesday) and needs to win Player of the Game honors to pass Wheeler to become Box-Toppers’ 2025 NL Player of the Year. Skenes, however, cannot overtake Skubal for the overall lead in 2025 points. The most Skenes can earn in his final start is 2.0 points as Player of the Day, which would give him 22.1, the same as Skubal’s current total. But Skubal holds the tiebreaker, with more 2024 points—21.1 v. 13.0.
If Skenes does not earn Box-Toppers points in his final start, Wheeler would repeat as NL Player of the Year—he was overall Player of the Year in 2024—the first to do so since Max Scherzer won it three straight seasons with the Nationals from 2016 to 2018.
This is the 18th straight week Wheeler has led NL pitchers. Wheeler ranks second overall.
Wheeler last earned Player of the Game honors Aug. 10, went on the injured list Aug. 16 with a diagnosed blood clot and was ruled out for the season on Aug. 23 with a diagnosis of venous thoracic outlet syndrome. That is a condition in which the subclavian vein, located below the collar bone, is compressed, leading to symptoms like arm swelling, discoloration, and heaviness. Wheeler was set to undergo thoracic outlet decompression surgery, with recovery time expected to be six to eight months.
National League batters
Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies rises from second place last week to first place this week with 12.0 Box-Toppers points, passing Christian Yelich of the Brewers, who led for the past six weeks. Yelich falls to second place with 11.2 points.
Schwarber ranks 23rd among all players.
If both Phillies players—Wheeler and Schwarber—hold their Box-Toppers category leads through the end of the season, it would be only the second time since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995 that the top batter and pitcher in the league come from the same team. In 2013, two Tigers players led the AL categories—Max Scherzer led pitchers and Miguel Cabrera led batters.
American League batters
George Springer of the Astros leads for the third week with 9.7 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week. He leads over second-place José Ramírez of the Guardians (9.5 points).
Springer ranks 40th among all players.
With a little more than a week to go in the season, there is a chance this could be the lowest Box-Toppers point total to lead a single-season category since player tracking began in 1995. The record low is 10.7 points by Nolan Arenado of the Rockies to lead NL batters in 2016. The record low to lead AL batters in a season is 12.1 by Edwin Encarnacion of Cleveland in 2017. (Point totals to lead categories were lower in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.)
Box-Toppers almanac
Batters won Player of the Game honors in 33 of the 95 games played in the past week (34.7 percent) with pitchers winning the other 62 (65.3 percent).
Batters’ share of Player of the Game honors for the season decreased from 39.3 percent last week to 39.1 percent this week (897 times in 2,293 total games). Pitchers have won Player of the Game honors in the other 1,396 games (60.9 percent).
Batters’ share of Box-Toppers points earned this season decreased from 39.4 percent last week to 39.2 percent this week (1,067.5 points out of 2,725.9 total awarded). Pitchers have won 60.8 percent of all points.
Last year, batters had the lowest share of points compared to pitchers (37.2 percent) in any season since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.
While batters have struggled to reach parity with pitchers in recent seasons, it wasn’t always this way: From 1995 to 2009, batters generally won half or more of all Box-Toppers points each season. But their share of points dropped precipitously after 2009.
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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