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Tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score stats. A method to measure & compare baseball's top players.
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Brewers’ Misiorowski leads player rankings for 4th week; Cease leads AL pitchers

Shawn Plank August 7, 2026
Here are standings of the top 10 players by category (AL & NL pitching & batting) in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2026 season through games of Thursday, Aug. 6:
AL PITCHERS POS TEAM BTP NL PITCHERS POS TEAM BTP
1 Dylan Cease pi sp Blue Jays 17.4 1 Jacob Misiorowski pi sp Brewers 17.7
2 Cam Schlittler pi sp Yankees 15.7 2 Jesus Luzardo pi sp Phillies 16.0
3 Gavin Williams pi sp Guardians 12.7 3 Cristopher Sanchez pi sp Phillies 15.7
4 Bryan Woo pi sp Mariners 12.4 4 Braxton Ashcraft pi sp Pirates 14.4
5 Taj Bradley pi sp Twins 12.4 5 Shohei Ohtani pi sp dh Dodgers 13.7
6 Logan Gilbert pi sp Mariners 12.0 6 Zack Wheeler pi sp Phillies 13.0
7 Jose Soriano pi sp Blue Jays 11.7 7 Kyle Harrison pi sp Brewers 12.0
8 Sean Burke pi sp White Sox 11.1 8 Chris Sale pi sp Braves 11.4
9 Sonny Gray pi sp Red Sox 11.0 9 Paul Skenes pi sp Pirates 11.0
10 Drew Rasmussen pi sp Rays 11.0 10 Mason Miller pi cp Padres 11.0
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 Sal Stewart 1b Reds 10.5
3 Kody Clemens 1b rf Twins 7.0 3 Dansby Swanson ss Cubs 9.2
4 Munetaka Murakami 1b White Sox 7.0 4 CJ Abrams ss Nationals 8.0
5 Dillon Dingler ca Tigers 6.5 5 Michael Harris cf ph Braves 7.5
6 Willson Contreras 1b Red Sox 6.0 6 Jake McCarthy cf rf lf Rockies 7.2
7 Jazz Chisholm Jr. 2b Yankees 5.5 7 Pete Crow‑Armstrong cf Cubs 7.0
8 Jeremiah Jackson 2b Orioles 5.2 8 Elly De La Cruz ss Reds 7.0
9 Riley Greene lf Tigers 5.0 9 Kyle Schwarber dh Phillies 6.7
10 Pete Alonso 1b Orioles 5.0 10 James Wood rf Nationals 6.5

Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski leads Box-Toppers overall player rankings for a fourth consecutive week with 17.7 Box-Toppers points.

Other Box-Toppers category leaders also remain unchanged since last week:

  • AL Pitchers: Dylan Cease, Blue Jays (17.4 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 no points 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 (17.4 points) and in National League rankings, he is ahead of second-place Jesús Luzardo of the Phillies (16.0 points).

American League pitchers

Dylan Cease of the Blue Jays leads AL pitchers for the fourth consecutive report with 17.4 Box-Toppers points, gaining 1.0 point 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 11th straight report with 13.7 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week. He leads second-place NL batter Sal Stewart of the Reds (10.5 points).

Ohtani ranks seventh 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 16th among NL pitchers and his 5.0 points as a designated hitter would rank 21st among NL batters.

American League batters

Yordan Alvarez of the Astros leads for the third 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 41st overall.

Notable

Only one player on Box-Toppers’ top 10 player rankings leaderboards was moved at the trade deadline: José Soriano, whose 11.7 Box-Toppers points is seventh among AL pitchers, was traded from the Angels to the Blue Jays.

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 33 of the 94 games played (35.1%), while pitchers won 61 (64.9%).

Batters’ overall share of points this season decreased from 39.7% last week to 39.5% 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.

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Related

Last week’s Box-Toppers player rankings report

TagsBox-Toppers Player Rankings, Jacob Misiorowski, Dylan Cease, Shohei Ohtani, Yordan Alvarez, Jesus Luzardo, Cam Schlittler, Sal Stewart, Nick Kurtz, Jose Soriano
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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.

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