| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Dylan Cease | pi sp | Blue Jays | 16.4 | 1 | Jacob Misiorowski | pi sp | Brewers | 17.7 | |
| 2 | Cam Schlittler | pi sp | Yankees | 15.7 | 2 | Cristopher Sanchez | pi sp | Phillies | 14.7 | |
| 3 | Taj Bradley | pi sp | Twins | 12.4 | 3 | Jesus Luzardo | pi sp | Phillies | 14.0 | |
| 4 | Logan Gilbert | pi sp | Mariners | 12.0 | 4 | Shohei Ohtani | pi sp dh | Dodgers | 13.7 | |
| 5 | Jose Soriano | pi sp | Angels | 11.7 | 5 | Braxton Ashcraft | pi sp | Pirates | 13.4 | |
| 6 | Bryan Woo | pi sp | Mariners | 11.4 | 6 | Zack Wheeler | pi sp | Phillies | 13.0 | |
| 7 | Sean Burke | pi sp | White Sox | 11.1 | 7 | Chris Sale | pi sp | Braves | 11.4 | |
| 8 | Gavin Williams | pi sp | Guardians | 10.7 | 8 | Paul Skenes | pi sp | Pirates | 11.0 | |
| 9 | Sonny Gray | pi sp | Red Sox | 10.0 | 9 | Mason Miller | pi cp | Padres | 11.0 | |
| 10 | Jacob deGrom | pi sp | Rangers | 9.7 | 10 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | pi sp | Dodgers | 10.4 | |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Yordan Alvarez | dh | Astros | 7.5 | 1 | Shohei Ohtani | pi sp dh | Dodgers | 13.7 | |
| 2 | Nick Kurtz | 1b | Athletics | 7.0 | 2 | Dansby Swanson | ss | Cubs | 8.2 | |
| 3 | Kody Clemens | 1b rf | Twins | 7.0 | 3 | Sal Stewart | 1b | Reds | 8.0 | |
| 4 | Munetaka Murakami | 1b | White Sox | 7.0 | 4 | Jake McCarthy | cf rf lf | Rockies | 7.2 | |
| 5 | Dillon Dingler | ca | Tigers | 6.5 | 5 | Elly De La Cruz | ss | Reds | 7.0 | |
| 6 | Willson Contreras | 1b | Red Sox | 6.0 | 6 | CJ Abrams | ss | Nationals | 7.0 | |
| 7 | Jazz Chisholm Jr. | 2b | Yankees | 5.5 | 7 | Kyle Schwarber | dh | Phillies | 6.7 | |
| 8 | Jeremiah Jackson | 2b | Orioles | 5.2 | 8 | James Wood | rf | Nationals | 6.5 | |
| 9 | Riley Greene | lf | Tigers | 5.0 | 9 | Ketel Marte | 2b | Diamondbacks | 6.5 | |
| 10 | Joc Pederson | dh | Rangers | 5.0 | 10 | Michael Harris | cf ph | Braves | 6.5 |
Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski leads Box-Toppers overall player rankings for a third consecutive week, despite briefly surrendering the top spot for a single day.
Other Box-Toppers category leaders remain unchanged since last week:
AL Pitchers: Dylan Cease, Blue Jays (16.4 points)
NL Batters: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers (13.7 points)
AL Batters: Yordan Alvarez, Astros (7.5 points)
Misiorowski leads
Misiorowski has 17.7 Box-Toppers points (picking up 1.7 in the past week) to lead all players and National League pitchers. In overall rankings, he sits ahead of second-place Dylan Cease of the Blue Jays (16.4 points) and in National League rankings, he is ahead of second-place Cristopher Sánchez of the Phillies (14.7 points).
Misiorowski briefly lost the overall lead when Dylan Cease passed him on Saturday, before regaining the top spot on Sunday.
American League pitchers
Dylan Cease of the Blue Jays leads AL pitchers for the third consecutive report with 16.4 Box-Toppers points, gaining 2.0 points in the past week. He stays ahead of Cam Schlittler of the Yankees (15.7 points). Cease ranks second overall.
National League batters
Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers leads for the 10th straight report with 13.7 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week. He leads second-place NL batter Dansby Swanson of the Cubs (8.2 points).
Ohtani ranks sixth overall.
Ohtani has earned Player of the Game honors 12 times this season—five as a batter (5.0 points) and seven as a starting pitcher (8.7 points). Because at least 25% of his honors came from each role (41.7% batting, 58.3% pitching), he qualifies to rank at both positions with his full 13.7-point total.
Looked at individually, his 8.7 points as a pitcher would rank 14th among NL pitchers and his 5.0 points as a designated hitter would rank 18th among NL batters.
American League batters
Yordan Alvarez of the Astros leads for the second week with 7.5 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week. He is just ahead of second-place Nick Kurtz of the Athletics (7.0 points). Alvarez ranks 37th overall.
Box-Toppers almanac
Batters’ share of Box-Toppers points remains below 40 percent for the season. In the past week, batters won Player of the Game honors in 36 of the 97 games played (37.1%), while pitchers won 61 (62.9%).
Batters’ overall share of points this season decreased from 39.9% last week to 39.7% this week.
Batters have won fewer than 40% of all Box-Toppers points awarded in four of the past five seasons (surpassing that mark only in 2023 at 40.7%) and set a record-low share of 37.2% in 2024.
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 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.
Help us stay accurate! Spot a mistake? Contact Box-Toppers here so we can fix it.
Follow us: Bluesky | X | Facebook | Substack (newsletter)
