Postseason awards wrap-up: Box-Toppers leaders win 3 of 6 major honors in 2026

Here's how Box-Toppers points leaders fared in the six major postseason awards for 2026 as voted by the Baseball Writers Association of America. The winners of the six major awards are listed at left with the Box-Toppers points (BTP) leader in each category listed at right. Rank shows the players’ rank among all players in 2026.

Most Valuable Player
AL winner	Team	Pos	BTP	Rank		AL BTP leader	Team	Pos	BTP	Rank
Yordan Alvarez	Astros	dh	7.5	83		Cam Schlittler*	Yankees	pi sp	21.7	3
NL winner	Team	Pos	BTP	Rank		NL BTP leader	Team	Pos	BTP	Rank
Pete Crow‑Armstrong	Cubs	cf	8.5	68		Jacob Misiorowski*	Brewers	pi sp	26.1	1
Cy Young Award
AL winner	Team	Pos	BTP	Rank		AL BTP leader	Team	Pos	BTP	Rank
Cam Schlittler	Yankees	pi sp	21.7	3		Cam Schlittler	Yankees	pi sp	21.7	3
NL winner	Team	Pos	BTP	Rank		NL BTP leader	Team	Pos	BTP	Rank
Jacob Misiorowski	Brewers	pi sp	26.1	1		Jacob Misiorowski	Brewers	pi sp	26.1	1
Rookie of the Year
AL winner	Team	Pos	BTP	Rank		AL BTP leader	Team	Pos	BTP	Rank
Kevin McGonigle	Tigers	3b ss	3.5	297		Munetaka Murakami**	White Sox	1b	7.0	103
NL winner	Team	Pos	BTP	Rank		NL BTP leader	Team	Pos	BTP	Rank
Sal Stewart	Reds	1b	13.0	23		Sal Stewart	Reds	1b	13.0	23

BTP: Box-Toppers points
* Sal Stewart (Reds) earned the most Box-Toppers points solely as an NL batter in 2026 (13.0) and Pete Alonso (Orioles) led AL batters (10.7). However, Box-Toppers’ MVP choices in both leagues were pitchers (Schlittler and Misiorowski) who had more than twice as many Box-Toppers points as their league’s top batter.

** Guardians pitcher Parker Messick led AL rookies with 11.7 points in 2026 (winning a tiebreaker over Red Sox pitcher Payton Tolle), but Box-Toppers gives batters the benefit of the doubt in head-to-head award comparisons by doubling their point totals. Munetaka Murakami's 7.0 points double to an adjusted 14.0, edging Messick's 11.7 for Box-Toppers' AL Rookie of the Year nod.

Box-Toppers postseason honors ballot

Here is a look at Box-Toppers’ ballot selections for the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) 2026 postseason awards. The ballot requires votes out to 10 places for Most Valuable Player in both leagues, five for Cy Young Awards and Rookie of the Year in each league, plus three for Manager of the Year and Reliever of the Year in each league.

Players are shown with their team and their Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2026.

	AL Most Valuable Player
	Player	Team	BTP
1	Cam Schlittler	Yankees	21.7
2	Pete Alonso	Orioles	10.7
3	Dylan Cease	Blue Jays	21.4
4	Riley Greene	Tigers	9.0
5	Bryan Woo	Mariners	17.4
6	Gavin Williams	Guardians	17.4
7	Logan Gilbert	Mariners	16.7
8	Jacob deGrom	Rangers	16.4
9	Taj Bradley	Twins	15.4
10	Yordan Alvarez	Astros	7.5
	NL Most Valuable Player
	Player	Team	BTP
1	Jacob Misiorowski	Brewers	26.1
2	Sal Stewart	Reds	13.0
3	Jesús Luzardo	Phillies	23.0
4	Shohei Ohtani	Dodgers	15.7
5	CJ Abrams	Nationals	9.5
6	Michael Harris II	Braves	9.5
7	Ty France	Padres	9.5
8	Zack Wheeler	Phillies	18.7
9	Cristopher Sánchez	Phillies	18.7
10	Dansby Swanson	Cubs	9.2
	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
	AL Rookie of the Year
	Player	Team	BTP
1	Munetaka Murakami	White Sox	7.0
2	Kazuma Okamoto	Blue Jays	6.0
3	Parker Messick	Guardians	11.7
4	Payton Tolle	Red Sox	11.7
5	Wade Meckler	Angels	5.0
	NL Rookie of the Year
	Player	Team	BTP
1	Sal Stewart	Reds	13.0
2	Carson Benge	Mets	6.0
3	Logan Henderson	Brewers	10.4
4	JJ Wetherholt	Cardinals	5.0
5	Nolan McLean	Mets	8.0
	AL Manager of the Year
	Manager	Team	Team BTP
1	Aaron Boone	Yankees	120.1
2	Kevin Cash	Rays	115.0
3	Stephen Vogt	Guardians	112.1
	NL Manager of the Year
	Manager	Team	Team BTP
1	Dave Roberts	Dodgers	142.7
2	Pat Murphy	Brewers	137.3
3	Don Mattingly	Phillies	117.4
	AL Reliever of the Year
	Player	Team	BTP
1	Cade Smith	Guardians	9.0
2	Jacob Latz	Rangers	8.0
3	Louis Varland	Blue Jays	7.0
	NL Reliever of the Year
	Player	Team	BTP
1	Mason Miller	Padres	16.0
2	Chad Patrick	Brewers	7.0
3	Andrew Alvarez	Nationals	6.0

Box-Toppers doubles batters’ point totals when ranking them in direct competition with pitchers for awards such as Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player. This adjustment balances batters’ lower overall point-earning totals against pitchers.
For example, in the American League Rookie of the Year standings, Munetaka Murakami ranks first with 7.0 Box-Toppers points, ahead of Guardians pitcher Parker Messick (11.7 points). Doubling Murakami's total gives him an adjusted 14.0 points for ranking purposes, placing him ahead of Messick.
While Rookie of the Year and MVP honors historically lean toward position players, pitchers can earn the award during dominant campaigns or in years without a runaway batter candidate.

Box-Toppers’ choices for baseball’s major postseason player awards won three of six 2026 honors:

• Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler won the American League Cy Young Award.

• Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski won the National League Cy Young Award.

• Sal Stewart of the Reds won the NL Rookie of the Year Award.

Schlittler and Misiorowski both led their leagues’ pitchers in Box-Toppers points and Stewart led NL rookies in Box-Toppers points.

However, for three other awards announced this week—voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA)—Box-Toppers’ top choices did not win.

Here is a summary of how Box-Toppers’ choices fared in the 2026 postseason awards:

American League Most Valuable Player

Yordan Alvarez of the Astros was unanimously voted 2026 AL MVP Thursday, finishing ahead of Box-Toppers’ choice for the award, Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler.

Alvarez earned 7.5 Box-Toppers points in 2026, third among AL batters and 10th on Box-Toppers’ AL MVP ballot. Alvarez won the AL batting title (.316) and led the league in slugging percentage (.601), OPS (1.033), total bases (341), extra-base hits (77), and times on base (299), while finishing second behind Orioles first baseman Pete Alonso in both home runs (42 to 43) and RBIs (106 to 113). However, Alvarez won Player of the Game honors just six times—in part because Houston won 81 games (the lowest win total among 2026 postseason qualifiers) and Astros pitchers outscored him for Player of the Game in three other wins in which he posted a +3.0 or better game score.

Our choice for AL MVP, Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler, led all AL players with 21.7 Box-Toppers points. In cases in which a league’s top pitcher has more than twice as many Box-Toppers points as the league’s top batter, Box-Toppers selects pitchers for league MVP. Schlittler more than doubled the point total of top AL batter Pete Alonso (10.7 points, which doubled to 21.4 adjusted points to place Alonso second on our ballot).

Schlittler finished fourth in AL MVP voting.

National League Most Valuable Player

Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Cubs was unanimously voted 2026 NL MVP Thursday, finishing ahead of Box-Toppers’ choice, Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski.

In 2026, Crow-Armstrong led the NL in runs scored (119), total bases (397), and extra-base hits (84), tied for the league lead in home runs (45), and ranked third in RBIs (107). Yet he earned just 8.5 Box-Toppers points, ranking 10th among NL batters and 15th on Box-Toppers’ NL MVP leaderboard. Although Crow-Armstrong posted a +3.0 or better Box-Toppers game score in 14 Cubs victories, he won Player of the Game honors in only five of those contests because teammates posted higher game scores in the other nine. (More: How is Crow-Armstrong not among Box-Toppers' contenders for 2026 NL MVP?)

Award finalists

Here are finalists for the Cy Young, Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year and Reliever of the Year awards to be given this month, as named by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Players are listed with their Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2026 and their Box-Toppers rank in their award category.

Cy Young finalists
AL finalists	Team	BTP	Rank*
Cam Schlittler	Yankees	21.7	1
Dylan Cease	Blue Jays	21.4	2
Parker Messick	Guardians	11.7	14
NL finalists	Team	BTP	Rank*
Jacob Misiorowski	Brewers	26.1	1
Cristopher Sánchez	Phillies	18.7	4
Chris Sale	Braves	15.4	10
Most Valuable Player Awards finalists
AL finalists	Team	BTP	Rank*
Yordan Alvarez	Astros	7.5	3
Junior Caminero	Rays	5.0	23
Bobby Witt Jr.	Royals	4.2	34
**Pete Alonso	Orioles	10.7	1
NL finalists	Team	BTP	Rank*
Shohei Ohtani	Dodgers	15.7	1
Pete Crow-Armstrong	Cubs	8.5	10
Brice Turang	Brewers	4.7	39
**Sal Stewart	Reds	13.0	2
Rookie of the Year finalists
AL finalists	Team	BTP	Rank†
Parker Messick	Guardians	11.7	1
Payton Tolle	Red Sox	11.7	2
Kevin McGonigle	Tigers	3.5	18
**Munetaka Murakami	White Sox	7.0	5
NL finalists	Team	BTP	Rank†
Sal Stewart	Reds	13.0	1
Carson Benge	Mets	6.0	6
JJ Wetherholt	Cardinals	5.0	8
Rookie of the Year finalists
AL finalists	Team	BTP	Rank†
Parker Messick	Guardians	11.7	1
Payton Tolle	Red Sox	11.7	2
Kevin McGonigle	Tigers	3.5	T17
**Munetaka Murakami	White Sox	7.0	5
NL finalists	Team	BTP	Rank†
Sal Stewart	Reds	13.0	1
Carson Benge	Mets	6.0	6
JJ Wetherholt	Cardinals	5.0	8
Reliever of the Year finalists
AL finalists	Team	BTP	Rank††
Cade Smith	Guardians	9.0	1
Louis Varland	Blue Jays	7.0	3
Bryan Baker	Rays	3.0	16
NL finalists	Team	BTP	Rank††
Mason Miller	Padres	16.0	1
Jhoan Duran	Phillies	5.0	4
Trevor Megill	Brewers	4.0	6

BTP—Box-Toppers points
* Rank shows a player’s rank among potential players eligible for the award. For example, AL Cy Young finalists are ranked among AL pitchers, AL MVP finalists are ranked among AL batters.
** Player led the league category in Box-Toppers points but is not among the three finalists for the award.
† Rookie of the Year candidates are ranked among their league’s rookies in Box‑Toppers points. Box-Toppers doubles batters’ point totals when ranking them in direct competition with pitchers for awards such as Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player. This adjustment balances batters’ lower overall point-earning totals against pitchers.
†† Reliever of the Year candidates are ranked among their league's closing pitchers in Box-Toppers points.

Our choice for NL MVP, Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski, led all MLB players with 26.1 Box-Toppers points—more than double the 13.0 points earned by top NL batter Sal Stewart of the Reds. Misiorowski finished fifth in NL MVP voting.

American League Cy Young Award

Schlittler was unanimously voted 2026 AL Cy Young Award winner Wednesday and was also Box-Toppers’ choice for the award.

His 21.7 Box-Toppers points led all AL players, edging second-place AL pitcher Dylan Cease of the Blue Jays (21.4 points), who also finished second in BBWAA voting.

Schlittler led the AL in earned run average (1.95) and tied Cease for second in strikeouts (239), behind Gavin Williams of the Guardians (248). He won Player of the Game honors 15 times during the regular season, including overall Player of the Day six times and AL Player of the Day once.

National League Cy Young Award

Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski was unanimously voted 2026 NL Cy Young Award winner Wednesday and was also Box-Toppers’ choice for the award.

His 26.1 Box-Toppers points led all MLB players, finishing ahead of Phillies pitcher Jesús Luzardo (23.0 points, second overall), who placed fifth in BBWAA voting. Misiorowski’s 26.1 points tie for the 19th-highest single-season total in Box-Toppers history (since 1995).

Misiorowski led the NL in ERA (1.80) and strikeouts (252), winning Player of the Game honors 19 times—including overall Player of the Day five times and NL Player of the Day three times. Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sánchez (18.7 points, fourth among NL pitchers) finished second in BBWAA voting for the second straight year.

American League Rookie of the Year

Kevin McGonigle of the Tigers, who won the AL Rookie of the Year Award Monday, was not among Box-Toppers’ top five choices for top AL rookie. White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami, Box-Toppers’ choice for top AL rookie, finished fourth in BBWAA voting.

McGonigle earned 3.5 Box-Toppers points in 2026, tied for 17th among AL rookies and tied for fifth among AL rookie batters. He hit 18 home runs with 72 RBIs and an .806 OPS across 156 games, ranking second in the AL in times on base (266) and fifth in hits (168), but won Player of the Game honors just three times.

By contrast, Murakami earned 7.0 Box-Toppers points—most among AL rookie batters and ninth among all AL batters—despite missing over a month with a hamstring strain. Because Box-Toppers doubles batters’ point totals when ranking them directly against pitchers for major awards, Murakami’s adjusted 14.0 points topped the 11.7 points earned by AL rookie pitching co-leaders Parker Messick of the Guardians (second in BBWAA voting) and Payton Tolle of the Red Sox (third in BBWAA voting).

National League Rookie of the Year

Sal Stewart of the Reds, Box-Toppers’ choice for 2026 NL Rookie of the Year, was also voted winner of the honor by baseball writers Monday.

Stewart’s 13.0 Box-Toppers points led all MLB rookies, ranked 23rd among all players, and led all full-time batters in 2026 (ranking second among NL batters behind two-way player Shohei Ohtani’s 15.7 combined points). When doubled to compare directly against pitchers, Stewart’s 26.0 adjusted points easily outpaced Box-Toppers’ runner-up, Mets rookie Carson Benge (6.0 points, adjusted to 12.0), who finished second in BBWAA voting.

Playing in all 162 games, Stewart hit 32 home runs (eighth among NL batters) and drove in 112 runs (second in the NL), winning Player of the Game honors 11 times.

Historical Look at Box-Toppers Leaders For Postseason Awards

Among those six awards, Box-Toppers leaders were three-for-six in coinciding with baseball writers’ choices.   

Box-Toppers points leaders have never won all four major postseason awards—both leagues’ MVP and Cy Young Awards—since tracking began in 1995, an imperfect streak that now extends to 32 straight seasons.   

While Schlittler and Misiorowski swept both leagues’ Cy Young Awards, Box-Toppers’ MVP choices—also Schlittler and Misiorowski—were beaten by Alvarez and Crow-Armstrong.

This was the 12th time in 32 seasons of Box-Toppers tracking that two of the leaders in Box-Toppers points categories won the four major postseason awards.

There have been five seasons in which three of four Box-Toppers leaders won awards: 1997, 2009, 2013, 2022 and 2024.

Eleven times, only one of the Box-Toppers category leaders won one of the four major postseason awards.

And four times, all four Box-Toppers category leaders failed to win any of the major postseason awards: 2003, 2012, 2019, and 2021.

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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Related

• Final 2026 Box-Toppers player rankings: Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski is 2026 Box-Toppers Player of the Year

• Box-Toppers points leaders are finalists in 7 of 8 major 2026 postseason awards

• A look at Box-Toppers 2026 postseason awards ballot: Box-Toppers’ Cy Young Award leaders—Misiorowski, Schlittler—are also MVP leaders

• How is Crow-Armstrong not among Box-Toppers' contenders for 2026 NL MVP?

• Rookie of the Year results: Box-Toppers’ top rookie Stewart wins NL Rookie of the Year; McGonigle wins AL honor

• Manager of the Year results: Manager of the Year winners Murphy, Venable, led teams making biggest improvements

• Cy Young Award results: Cy Young winners Misiorowski, Schlittler also led their leagues in Box-Toppers points

• Reliever of the Year results: Box-Toppers' top closer Miller wins NL Reliever of the Year; Varland wins top honor in AL

• Most Valuable Player Award results: Crow-Armstrong, Alvarez win MVP awards ahead of B-T leaders: Misiorowski, Schlittler

• Box-Toppers awards wrap-ups from previous seasons: 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014