| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Dylan Cease | pi sp | Blue Jays | 20.4 | 1 | Jacob Misiorowski | pi sp | Brewers | 23.1 | |
| 2 | Cam Schlittler | pi sp | Yankees | 19.7 | 2 | Jesus Luzardo | pi sp | Phillies | 23.0 | |
| 3 | Bryan Woo | pi sp | Mariners | 16.4 | 3 | Cristopher Sanchez | pi sp | Phillies | 17.7 | |
| 4 | Gavin Williams | pi sp | Guardians | 15.7 | 4 | Braxton Ashcraft | pi sp | Pirates | 16.4 | |
| 5 | Jacob deGrom | pi sp | Rangers | 15.4 | 5 | Zack Wheeler | pi sp | Phillies | 15.7 | |
| 6 | Logan Gilbert | pi sp | Mariners | 14.7 | 6 | Shohei Ohtani | pi sp dh | Dodgers | 15.7 | |
| 7 | Taj Bradley | pi sp | Twins | 14.4 | 7 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | pi sp | Dodgers | 15.4 | |
| 8 | Drew Rasmussen | pi sp | Rays | 14 | 8 | Mason Miller | pi cp | Padres | 14.0 | |
| 9 | Sonny Gray | pi sp | Red Sox | 13 | 9 | Paul Skenes | pi sp | Pirates | 13.7 | |
| 10 | Sean Burke | pi sp | White Sox | 12.1 | 10 | Kyle Harrison | pi sp | Brewers | 13.7 | |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Pete Alonso | 1b | Orioles | 8.2 | 1 | Shohei Ohtani | pi sp dh | Dodgers | 15.7 | |
| 2 | Riley Greene | lf | Tigers | 7.5 | 2 | Sal Stewart | 1b | Reds | 13.0 | |
| 3 | Yordan Alvarez | dh | Astros | 7.5 | 3 | Dansby Swanson | ss | Cubs | 9.2 | |
| 4 | Yandy Diaz | dh | Rays | 7.5 | 4 | Jake McCarthy | cf lf rf | Rockies | 8.7 | |
| 5 | Willson Contreras | 1b | Red Sox | 7.0 | 5 | Pete Crow‑Armstrong | cf | Cubs | 8.5 | |
| 6 | Nick Kurtz | 1b | Athletics | 7.0 | 6 | Michael Harris | cf | Braves | 8.5 | |
| 7 | Kody Clemens | 1b rf | Twins | 7.0 | 7 | Ty France | 1b | Padres | 8.5 | |
| 8 | Munetaka Murakami | 1b | White Sox | 7.0 | 8 | Alec Burleson | 1b | Cardinals | 8.5 | |
| 9 | Jac Caglianone | 1b | Royals | 6.9 | 9 | Daylen Lile | lf | Nationals | 8.2 | |
| 10 | Jazz Chisholm Jr. | 2b | Yankees | 6.5 | 10 | CJ Abrams | ss | Nationals | 8.0 |
Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski leads Box-Toppers overall player rankings for a ninth consecutive week with his lead narrowed to just 0.1 point.
Misiorowski also briefly lost the top overall spot for one day this week before regaining it.
All Box-Toppers category leaders remain unchanged since last week:
AL Pitchers: Dylan Cease, Blue Jays
NL Batters: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
AL Batters: Pete Alonso, Orioles
Misiorowski leads all players and National League pitchers with 23.1 Box-Toppers points, picking up 1.7 points in the past week. Phillies pitcher Jesús Luzardo passed him for the lead Monday before Misiorowski won 1.7 points as NL Player of the Day Tuesday to retake the lead. Luzardo now sits in second overall and among NL pitchers with 23.0 Box-Toppers points, just 0.1 behind Misiorowski.
American League pitchers
Dylan Cease of the Blue Jays leads AL pitchers for the ninth consecutive week with 20.4 Box-Toppers points, gaining no points in the past week. He stays ahead of Cam Schlittler of the Yankees (19.7 points). Cease ranks third overall.
National League batters
Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers leads for the 16th straight report with 15.7 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week. He leads second-place NL batter Sal Stewart of the Reds (13.0 points).
Ohtani ranks 10th overall.
Ohtani has earned Player of the Game honors 13 times this season—six as a batter (7.0 points) and seven as a starting pitcher (8.7 points). Because at least 25% of his honors came from each role (46.2% batting, 53.8% pitching), he qualifies to rank at both positions with his full 15.7-point total.
Looked at individually, his 8.7 points as a pitcher would rank 20th among NL pitchers and his 7.0 points as a designated hitter would rank 11th among NL batters.
American League batters
Pete Alonso of the Orioles leads for the third week with 8.2 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week. He ranks ahead of second-place Riley Greene of the Tigers (7.5 points). Alonso ranks 53rd overall.
AL batters continue to lag significantly behind NL batters in total points earned this season (486.1 vs. 560.4)—in fact, eight of the top 10 NL batters have higher point totals than Alonso.
With two weeks remaining, the top AL batter is on pace to potentially set a record for the lowest point total to lead a category in a full season since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. The record low was set last season when George Springer of the Blue Jays led AL batters with 9.7 points; Alonso needs 1.5 more points to reach that mark. Every other AL batter would need to win Player of the Game honors at least two more times this season to reach 9.7 points.
Box-Toppers almanac
Pitchers had a dominant week, winning more than two-thirds of all Player of the Game honors. Pitchers won in 63 of 92 games played (68.5%), while batters won in only 29 games (31.5%).
Batters’ overall share of points this season decreased from 40.1% last week to 39.8% 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.
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