Both pitchers who led their leagues in Box-Toppers points for the season unanimously won the 2026 Cy Young Awards on Wednesday.
Box-Toppers Cy Young ballot
Here is a look at Box-Toppers’ 2026 Cy Young Award ballot selections for the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) awards. The ballot requires votes out to five places for each league’s top pitcher.Players are shown with their team and their Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2026.
| AL Cy Young | |||
| Player | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Cam Schlittler | Yankees | 21.7 |
| 2 | Dylan Cease | Blue Jays | 21.4 |
| 3 | Bryan Woo | Mariners | 17.4 |
| 4 | Gavin Williams | Guardians | 17.4 |
| 5 | Logan Gilbert | Mariners | 16.7 |
| NL Cy Young | |||
| Player | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Jacob Misiorowski | Brewers | 26.1 |
| 2 | Jesús Luzardo | Phillies | 23.0 |
| 3 | Zack Wheeler | Phillies | 18.7 |
| 4 | Cristopher Sánchez | Phillies | 18.7 |
| 5 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | Dodgers | 17.4 |
Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski, who led all players with 26.1 Box-Toppers points, won the National League Cy Young Award. Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler, who led American League players with 21.7 Box-Toppers points, won the AL Cy Young Award.
A look at AL Cy Young voting and how candidates fared in Box-Toppers points.
A look at NL Cy Young voting and how candidates fared in Box-Toppers points.
The awards are voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). Ballots are cast at the end of the regular season, prior to the postseason.
AL Cy Young
Schlittler picked up all 30 first-place votes from baseball writers. He led AL pitchers with 21.7 Box-Toppers points, edging second-place Dylan Cease of the Blue Jays (21.4 points), who finished second in voting.
Schlittler led the AL in ERA (1.95) and tied Cease for second in strikeouts (239), behind Gavin Williams of the Guardians (248). He earned Player of the Game honors 15 times, including overall Player of the Day six times and AL Player of the Day once.
Finishing third in AL Cy Young voting was Parker Messick of the Guardians, whose 11.7 Box-Toppers points ranked 14th among AL pitchers.
Box-Toppers’ third- through seventh-place AL pitchers received no Cy Young votes:
3. Bryan Woo (Mariners), 17.4 Box-Toppers points, seventh overall.
4. Gavin Williams (Guardians), 17.4, ninth overall.
5. Logan Gilbert (Mariners), 16.7, 10th overall.
6. Jacob deGrom (Rangers), 16.4, 11th overall.
7. Taj Bradley (Twins), 15.4, 17th overall.
Two relievers received AL Cy Young votes: Cade Smith of the Guardians finished seventh (9.0 Box-Toppers points; 24th among AL pitchers, first among AL closers), and Bryan Baker of the Rays finished eighth (3.0 points; 97th among AL pitchers, 16th among AL closers).
NL Cy Young
Misiorowski captured all 30 first-place votes, leading NL pitchers with 26.1 Box-Toppers points ahead of second-place Jesús Luzardo of the Phillies (23.0 points).
Misiorowski led the NL in ERA (1.80) and strikeouts (252). He earned Player of the Game honors 19 times—winning overall Player of the Day five times and NL Player of the Day three times. His 26.1 points tie for the 19th-highest single-season total in Box-Toppers history (since 1995).
Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez finished second in NL Cy Young voting for the second straight season, earning 17 second-place votes. Sánchez accumulated 18.7 Box-Toppers points in 2026, fourth among NL pitchers—and third on his own staff behind:
Luzardo, whose 23.0 points were second among NL pitchers and second overall. He finished fifth in NL Cy Young voting with one third-place vote.
Zack Wheeler, whose 18.7 points were third among NL pitchers and fifth overall. Though Sánchez and Wheeler both had 18.7 points, Wheeler ranked higher on a tiebreaker with more 2025 points—20.1 vs. 15.4. Wheeler received no Cy Young votes.
Other Box-Toppers’ top 10 NL pitchers in 2026 who received no Cy Young votes:
6. Braxton Ashcraft (Pirates), 16.4 points, 12th overall.
8. Paul Skenes (Pirates), 15.7 points, 14th overall (the 2025 NL Cy Young winner).
9. Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers), 15.7 points, 15th overall. While Ohtani earned only 8.7 of his points as pitcher (and 7.0 as a batter), he qualified to rank among pitchers with his combined total. (His 8.7 points as a pitcher would have ranked 28th among NL pitchers.)
Finishing third in NL Cy Young voting was Chris Sale of the Braves, who received 11 second-place votes. Sale earned 15.4 Box-Toppers points in 2026, 10th among NL pitchers, 16th overall.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting with two second-place votes. He earned 17.4 Box-Toppers points in 2026, fifth among NL pitchers, eighth overall.
One reliever received NL Cy Young votes: Padres closer Mason Miller finished sixth with 16.0 Box-Toppers points (seventh among NL pitchers, first among NL closers). His 16.0 points mark the fourth-highest single-season total for a reliever since Box-Toppers began tracking relievers in 1998.
Misiorowski, Schlittler Also Box-Toppers’ Choices for MVPs
Misiorowski led all National League players with 26.1 Box-Toppers points—more than double top NL batter Sal Stewart of the Reds (13.0 points). Likewise, Schlittler led American League players with 21.7 points—more than double top AL batter Pete Alonso of the Orioles (10.7 points).
Box-Toppers doubles batters’ point totals when ranking them alongside pitchers for awards like Rookie of the Year and MVP to balance batters’ lower overall point-earning rate.
From 1995 through 2025, a league's top pitcher more than doubled the top batter's Box-Toppers total just 12 times in 62 instances. The only other season where both leagues' top pitchers doubled the top batters was 2018:
Blake Snell (Rays): 27.2 points vs. top AL batter J.D. Martinez (Red Sox, 12.5 points).
Max Scherzer (Nationals): 25.1 points vs. top NL batter Christian Yelich (Brewers, 11.5 points).
The trend of pitchers dominating Box-Toppers points is relatively recent. Twelve of the 14 instances of a top league pitcher doubling the point total of the top league batter have occurred since 2014, reflecting a broader decline in overall batter points. From 1995 to 2009, batters generally won half or more of all Box-Toppers points each season, but their share has dropped to around 40 percent over the past six seasons.
While 11 pitchers have won both the Cy Young and MVP in the same season since 1956—most recently Justin Verlander (2011) and Clayton Kershaw (2014)—a dual win will not happen in 2026, as neither Misiorowski nor Schlittler is an MVP finalist.
Schlittler, Misiorowski Win in IBWAA Cy Young Voting
Box-Toppers participates in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) postseason voting, which also selected Schlittler and Misiorowski as unanimous Cy Young winners:
American League
Cam Schlittler, Yankees (238 points)
Dylan Cease, Blue Jays (123 points)
Drew Rasmussen, Rays (66 points)
Parker Messick, Guardians (51 points)
Sonny Gray, Red Sox (27 points)
National League
Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers (238 points)
Cristopher Sánchez, Phillies (109 points)
Chris Sale, Braves (98 points)
Jesús Luzardo, Phillies (48 points)
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers (45 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 contributes most to their team’s victory. Using standard box score statistics, we identify the Player of the Game for every MLB contest. In the regular season, winners earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point, with bonus points awarded to the top overall and league-specific players of the day. More on how Box-Toppers works.
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American League Cy Young Award voting
Cam Schlittler of the Yankees was voted 2026 AL Cy Young Award winner as the league’s top pitcher. He also ranked first among AL pitchers in 2026 Box-Toppers points (21.7). Below are the AL pitchers in order of their voting finish, shown with their first- through fifth-place votes and their voting points total. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2026 and their rank in points among AL pitchers.| NL pitcher | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Points | BTP | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cam Schlittler | Yankees | pi sp | 30 | 210 | 21.7 | 1 | ||||
| 2 | Dylan Cease | Blue Jays | pi sp | 22 | 6 | 2 | 110 | 21.4 | 2 | ||
| 3 | Parker Messick | Guardians | pi sp | 7 | 12 | 9 | 2 | 84 | 11.7 | 14 | |
| 4 | Drew Rasmussen | Rays | pi sp | 1 | 12 | 15 | 2 | 72 | 15.0 | 9 | |
| 5 | Sonny Gray | Red Sox | pi sp | 3 | 15 | 21 | 14.0 | 10 | |||
| 6 | Reid Detmers | Angels | pi sp | 1 | 7 | 9 | 10.7 | 16 | |||
| 7 | Cade Smith | Guardians | pi cp | 2 | 2 | 9.0 | 24 | ||||
| 8 | Bryan Baker | Rays | pi cp | 1 | 1 | 3.0 | 97 | ||||
| 9 | Michael Wacha | Royals | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 9.7 | 20 |
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National League Cy Young Award voting
Jacob Misiorowski of the Brewers was voted 2026 NL Cy Young Award winner as the league’s top pitcher. He also ranked first among NL pitchers in 2026 Box-Toppers points (26.1). Below are the NL pitchers in order of their voting finish, shown with their first- through fifth-place votes and their voting points total. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2026 and their rank in points among NL pitchers.| AL pitcher | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Points | BTP | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacob Misiorowski | Brewers | pi sp | 30 | 210 | 26.1 | 1 | ||||
| 2 | Cristopher Sánchez | Phillies | pi sp | 17 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 99 | 18.7 | 4 | |
| 3 | Chris Sale | Braves | pi sp | 11 | 16 | 3 | 98 | 15.4 | 10 | ||
| 4 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | Dodgers | pi sp | 2 | 7 | 14 | 6 | 63 | 17.4 | 5 | |
| 5 | Jesús Luzardo | Phillies | pi sp | 1 | 7 | 17 | 34 | 23.0 | 2 | ||
| 6 | Mason Miller | Padres | pi cp | 4 | 4 | 16.0 | 7 | ||||
| 7 | Eduardo Rodríguez | Diamondbacks | pi sp | 2 | 2 | 9.0 | 25 |
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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.