| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Skubal, Tarik 4414 | pi sp | det al | 22.1 | 1 | Skenes, Paul 5005 | pi sp | pit nl | 21.1 | |
| 2 | Crochet, Garrett 4434 | pi sp | bos al | 19.8 | 2 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 20.1 | |
| 3 | Woo, Bryan 4842 | pi sp | sea al | 18.0 | 3 | Pivetta, Nick 3825 | pi sp | sd nl | 17.7 | |
| 4 | Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 | pi sp | sea al | 16.1 | 4 | Yamamoto, Yoshinobu 4964 | pi sp | lad nl | 17.7 | |
| 5 | Fried, Max 4011 | pi sp | nyy al | 14.4 | 5 | Luzardo, Jesus 4282 | pi sp | phi nl | 17.4 | |
| 6 | Eovaldi, Nathan 2928 | pi sp | tex al | 14.4 | 6 | Suarez, Ranger 4228 | pi sp | phi nl | 15.8 | |
| 7 | Gausman, Kevin 3191 | pi sp | tor al | 14.1 | 7 | Sanchez, Cristopher 4850 | pi sp | phi nl | 15.4 | |
| 8 | Rodon, Carlos 3494 | pi sp | nyy al | 13.7 | 8 | Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi sp | mil nl | 14.7 | |
| 9 | Brown, Hunter 4729 | pi sp | hou al | 13.4 | 9 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | stl nl | 14.0 | |
| 10 | Gilbert, Logan 4439 | pi sp | sea al | 13.1 | 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 | Sosa, Lenyn 4907 | 2b 1b | chi al | 8.5 | 7 | Devers, Rafael 4038 | dh | sf nl | 7.7 | |
| 8 | Ward, Taylor 4345 | lf | ana al | 8.5 | 8 | Wood, James 5078 | lf dh | dc nl | 7.7 | |
| 9 | Altuve, Jose 3007 | lf 2b dh | hou al | 8.0 | 9 | Lindor, Francisco 3586 | ss | nym nl | 7.5 | |
| 10 | Story, Trevor 3607 | ss | bos al | 8.0 | 10 | Muncy, Max 3969 | 3b | lad nl | 7.5 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal is 2025 Box-Toppers Player of the Year, holding the lead in Box-Toppers points since Aug. 31.
Meanwhile, Paul Skenes of the Pirates rises to first place among National League pitchers, passing previous leader Zack Wheeler of the Phillies on Sept. 24.
Box-Toppers Players of the Year
Here are Box-Toppers Player of the Year winners in each season of Box-Toppers tracking since 1995. Player of the Year is the player with the season’s highest Box-Toppers point total:| Year | Player | Pos | Team | BTP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | Mariners | 23.7 |
| 1996 | John Smoltz | pi sp | Braves | 26.1 |
| 1997 | Roger Clemens | pi sp | Blue Jays | 27.4 |
| 1998 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | Astros† | 26.4 |
| 1999 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | Dbacks | 31.5 |
| 2000 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | Dbacks | 33.7 |
| 2001 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | Dbacks | 29.4 |
| 2002 | Randy Johnson | pi sp | Dbacks | 33.7 |
| 2003 | Jason Schmidt | pi sp | Giants | 24.7 |
| 2004 | Johan Santana | pi sp | Twins | 26.8 |
| 2005 | Johan Santana | pi sp | Twins | 24.1 |
| 2006 | Johan Santana | pi sp | Twins | 25.7 |
| 2007 | Jake Peavy | pi sp | Padres | 23.4 |
| 2008 | CC Sabathia | pi sp | Brewers* | 26.7 |
| 2009 | Zack Greinke | pi sp | Royals | 21.5 |
| 2010 | Jon Lester | pi sp | Red Sox | 23.4 |
| 2011 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | Dodgers | 26.1 |
| 2012 | Justin Verlander | pi sp | Tigers | 24.8 |
| 2013 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | Dodgers | 21.7 |
| 2014 | Clayton Kershaw | pi sp | Dodgers | 31.5 |
| 2015 | Jake Arrieta | pi sp | Cubs | 29.1 |
| 2016 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | Nationals | 25.7 |
| 2017 | Chris Sale | pi sp | Red Sox | 25.1 |
| 2018 | Blake Snell | pi sp | Rays | 27.2 |
| 2019 | Gerrit Cole | pi sp | Astros | 32.2 |
| 2020 | Shane Bieber | pi sp | Indians | 11.4§ |
| 2021 | Max Scherzer | pi sp | Dodgers** | 25.1 |
| 2022 | Justin Verlander | pi sp | Astros | 26.0 |
| 2023 | Spencer Strider | pi sp | Braves | 21.1 |
| 2024 | Zack Wheeler | pi sp | Phillies | 21.4 |
| 2025 | Tarik Skubal | pi sp | Tigers | 22.1 |
* Played for the Indians before trade to the Brewers.
** Played for the Nationals before trade to the Dodgers.
§ Season shortened from 162 to 60 games due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In addition, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies finishes in first among National League batters and George Springer of the Blue Jays finishes first among American League batters, but sets the record for the lowest Box-Toppers point total to lead any category since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.
Skubal leads
Skubal has 22.1 Box-Toppers points, earning no points in the final 10 days of the season. He leads over second-place player, Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes (21.1 points).
This is the 12th straight week Skubal has led AL pitchers, 2.3 points ahead of second-place Garrett Crochet of the Red Sox (19.8).
National League pitchers
Skenes finally passed Wheeler in the final days of the season with 21.1 Box-Toppers points over Wheeler’s 20.1.
Wheeler led NL pitchers for 18 straight weeks and held the lead for more than a month after his season ended early due to injury. Wheeler was ruled out for the season on Aug. 23 with a diagnosis of venous thoracic outlet syndrome. Despite being out, Wheeler still ranks third overall and second among NL pitchers for the season.
National League batters
Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies leads for the second week with 12.0 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the final 10 days of the season. He leads over second-place NL batter Christian Yelich of the Brewers (11.2 points).
Schwarber ranks 24th among all players.
American League batters
George Springer of the Astros leads for the fourth 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 46th among all players.
This is the lowest Box-Toppers point total to lead any category in a regular-length season since tracking began in 1995. The previous record low was 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 was 12.1 by Edwin Encarnacion of Cleveland in 2017, so Springer’s total was 2.4 points lower than that. (Point totals to lead categories were lower in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.)
Only two batters reached 10 Box-Toppers points in 2025—Schwarber and Yelich—the fewest number of batters to reach that milestone in a regular-length season since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. The previous low (in a non-pandemic season) was four in 2022.
Also, 44 players overall reached 10 Box-Toppers points in 2025, including 42 pitchers. That is the lowest total since 2017 (when 38 did it) and the lowest number of pitchers since 2019 (when 41 did it). (During the 2020 pandemic year, only two players, both pitchers, reached 10 Box-Toppers points.)
Since 1995, in an average, non-shortened season, 51.7 players reach 10 Box-Toppers points each season, including 15.2 batters. However, the number of batters reaching 10 points in a season dropped dramatically after 2009. In the previous 10 full-length seasons since 2014, an average of 6.9 batters per season have reached 10 points. Seven did it in 2023 and six did it in 2024.
Box-Toppers almanac
Batters collapsed in the final days of the season, winning Player of the Game honors in less than 30 percent of all games played.
Batters won Player of the Game honors in 40 of the 136 games played in the final 10 days of the season (29.4 percent) with pitchers winning the other 96 (70.6 percent).
Batters’ share of Player of the Game honors for the season decreased from 39.1 percent last week to 38.6 percent this week (938 times in 2,430 total games). Pitchers won Player of the Game honors in the other 1,492 games (61.4 percent).
Batters’ share of Box-Toppers points earned this season decreased from 39.2 percent last week to 38.7 percent this week (1,118.0 points out of 2,887.7 total awarded). Pitchers have won 61.3 percent of all points.
The 38.7 percent share won by batters is the third-lowest in a season since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. The lowest was last season, 2024 at 37.2 percent. Second-lowest was 38.1 percent in 2021. It is the sixth season that batters’ share has been below 40 percent and all have happened in 2014 or later.
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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