| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Cam Schlittler | pi sp | Yankees | 21.7 | 1 | Jacob Misiorowski | pi sp | Brewers | 26.1 | |
| 2 | Dylan Cease | pi sp | Blue Jays | 21.4 | 2 | Jesus Luzardo | pi sp | Phillies | 23.0 | |
| 3 | Bryan Woo | pi sp | Mariners | 17.4 | 3 | Zack Wheeler | pi sp | Phillies | 18.7 | |
| 4 | Gavin Williams | pi sp | Guardians | 17.4 | 4 | Cristopher Sanchez | pi sp | Phillies | 18.7 | |
| 5 | Logan Gilbert | pi sp | Mariners | 16.7 | 5 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | pi sp | Dodgers | 17.4 | |
| 6 | Jacob deGrom | pi sp | Rangers | 16.4 | 6 | Braxton Ashcraft | pi sp | Pirates | 16.4 | |
| 7 | Taj Bradley | pi sp | Twins | 15.4 | 7 | Mason Miller | pi cp | Padres | 16.0 | |
| 8 | Drew Rasmussen | pi sp | Rays | 15 | 8 | Paul Skenes | pi sp | Pirates | 15.7 | |
| 9 | Sonny Gray | pi sp | Red Sox | 14 | 9 | Shohei Ohtani | pi sp dh | Dodgers | 15.7 | |
| 10 | Sean Burke | pi sp | White Sox | 13.1 | 10 | Chris Sale | pi sp | Braves | 15.4 | |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Pete Alonso | 1b | Orioles | 10.7 | 1 | Shohei Ohtani | pi sp dh | Dodgers | 15.7 | |
| 2 | Riley Greene | lf | Tigers | 9.0 | 2 | Sal Stewart | 1b | Reds | 13.0 | |
| 3 | Yordan Alvarez | dh | Astros | 7.5 | 3 | CJ Abrams | ss | Nationals | 9.5 | |
| 4 | Miguel Vargas | 3b 1b | White Sox | 7.5 | 4 | Michael Harris | cf | Braves | 9.5 | |
| 5 | Yandy Diaz | dh | Rays | 7.5 | 5 | Ty France | 1b | Padres | 9.5 | |
| 6 | Willson Contreras | 1b | Red Sox | 7.0 | 6 | Dansby Swanson | ss | Cubs | 9.2 | |
| 7 | Nick Kurtz | 1b | Athletics | 7.0 | 7 | Daylen Lile | lf | Nationals | 9.2 | |
| 8 | Kody Clemens | 1b rf | Twins | 7.0 | 8 | Elly De La Cruz | ss | Reds | 9.0 | |
| 9 | Munetaka Murakami | 1b | White Sox | 7.0 | 9 | Jake McCarthy | cf lf rf | Rockies | 8.7 | |
| 10 | Jac Caglianone | 1b | Royals | 6.9 | 10 | Pete Crow-Armstrong | cf | Cubs | 8.5 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski is 2026 Box-Toppers Player of the Year, finishing with 26.1 Box-Toppers points, most of any player this season.
Meanwhile, Cam Schlittler of the Yankees finishes as the top American League pitcher, Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers leads National League batters, and Pete Alonso of the Orioles rises to lead AL batters.
Misiorowski leads overall
Misiorowski finishes with 26.1 Box-Toppers points, picking up 2.0 since the last player rankings report on Sept. 17. He leads over Jesús Luzardo of the Phillies (23.0), who ranks second overall and among NL pitchers.
This is the 11th straight player rankings report Misiorowski has led since July 12. He has led player rankings since Sept. 8 and has led all but two days since July 7.
American League pitchers
Cam Schlittler of the Yankees finishes first with 21.7, gaining no points in the final days of the season, just ahead of second-place Dylan Cease of the Blue Jays (21.4). This is the second straight report Schlittler has led. He ranks third overall.
American League batters
Pete Alonso of the Orioles rises to first place with 10.7 Box-Toppers points, passing previous leader Riley Greene of the Tigers (9.0), who falls to second. Alonso finishes 33rd overall.
By reaching 10.7 points on Sept. 23, Alonso avoided setting the record for the lowest point total ever to lead a category in a full 162-game season—a record that remains 9.7 points, set by George Springer of the Blue Jays in 2025.
National League batters
Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers leads for the 18th straight report with 15.7 Box-Toppers points (15th overall), picking up no points in the final 10 days of the season. Ohtani last earned Player of the Game honors on Aug. 17. Second-place NL batter Sal Stewart of the Reds has 13.0 points.
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 28th among NL pitchers and his 7.0 points as a designated hitter would rank 16th among NL batters.
This is the fourth time in his nine seasons in the MLB that Ohtani has qualified to rank among both pitchers and batters. The other times:
2018 with the Angels: He earned 8.0 total points—4.0 as a batter and 4.0 as a pitcher.
2023 with the Angels: He earned 19.4 total points—9.7 as a batter and 9.7 as a pitcher.
2025 with the Dodgers: He earned 5.5 total points—3.5 as a batter and 2.0 as a pitcher.
Box-Toppers almanac
Players with 10 points
Thirty-eight players reached 10 or more Box-Toppers points in 2026, tying 2017 for the fewest in a full 162-game season since tracking began in 1995. Only two shortened seasons ended with fewer: 1995 (32 players in a 144-game season) and 2020 (two players in a 60-game season).
In 1995, 23 of the 32 10-point players were batters. In 2026, 36 of the 38 are pitchers, with only three batters reaching double digits (Ohtani counting as both). This marks the second-fewest batters to reach 10 points in a full season, trailing only 2025 (two batters).
Share of points: Pitchers vs. Batters
In the final 10 days of the season, batters won Player of the Game honors in 49 of the 135 games played (36.3%), while pitchers won in 86 (63.7%).
Batters’ overall share of points this season fell from 39.9% last week to finish at 39.7%.
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)