It’s because the Rangers acquired three pitchers who earned most of their points elsewhere earlier in the season:
Merrill Kelly earned 12.7 Box-Toppers points, but earned 9.7 with the Diamondbacks before his July 31 trade to the Rangers.
Cal Quantrill earned 6.7 points, but earned all of them with the Marlins before signing with the Rangers as a free agent on Sept. 7.
Phil Maton earned 4.0 points, but earned 2.0 with the Cardinals before his July 31 trade to the Rangers.
Subtracting the 18.4 points earned by the pitchers elsewhere would give Rangers pitchers 68.5 total points, dropping them from second to 10th place among teams.
These “phantom” pitching points boosted the Rangers beyond their team standing. They accumulated 123.6 Box-Toppers points, third overall and highest of any non-playoff team. They finished with 81 wins, tied for 16th among all teams. Subtracting the 18.4 points their pitchers earned for other teams would give them 105.2 points, putting them in a more fitting 13th place among all teams.
Still, despite the “phantom” points, the Rangers boasted two other pitchers with more than 10.0 Box-Toppers points in 2025:
Nathan Eovaldi (14.4 points, 14th overall, 6th among AL pitchers).
Jacob deGrom (11.0 points, 35th overall, 20th among AL pitchers).
The Rangers also had the third-highest share of their team points earned by pitchers (70.3 percent), behind the Pirates (74.9) and the Phillies (71.8).
3. Los Angeles Dodgers—78.8 points
The Dodgers had the third-most points earned by pitchers in 2025, 78.8 of their 117.9 total points. They ranked fifth overall and their 66.8 percent of points earned by pitchers was the eighth-most among all teams.
Five of the Dodgers’ top six players are full-time pitchers, led by Yoshinobu Yamamoto (17.7 points, first among Dodgers players, fourth among NL pitchers, and seventh overall). Other key Dodgers pitchers include:
Andrew Heaney (8.7 points, 2nd among Dodgers, 62nd overall), who earned all of his points with the Pirates before his release and joined the Dodgers late in the season and only pitched in one game. So while his points “officially” belong to the Dodgers since he was a member of the team, his contribution to the team was, in reality, insignificant.
Clayton Kershaw (8.4 points, 3rd among Dodgers, 72nd overall).
Blake Snell (7.0 points, 5th among Dodgers, 98th overall).
Shohei Ohtani earned 5.5 Box-Toppers points in 2025, 171st overall. He earned 2.0 of his points as a pitcher and 3.5 as a batter.
4. San Diego Padres—78.6 points
The Padres had the fourth-most points earned by pitchers, 78.6 of their 118.6 points. They ranked fourth overall and their 66.3 percent of points earned by pitchers was the ninth-most among all teams. Three of the Padres’ top-four players in 2025 were pitchers, led by:
Manny Machado with 9.5 Box-Toppers points, ranked second among Padres players (and third among NL batters). Padres batters earned 40.0 points, 11th-most among all teams.
5. Seattle Mariners—75.9 points
The Mariners had the fifth-most points earned by pitchers, 75.9 of their 117.6 points. They ranked sixth overall and their 64.5 percent of points earned by pitchers was the 10th-highest share among all teams.
Four Mariners pitchers, each with more than 10.0 Box-Toppers points, led the team in points in 2025. Three of them were among the top 10 AL pitchers in points in 2025:
Bryan Woo (18.0 points, 5th overall, 3rd among AL pitchers).
Luis Castillo (16.1 points, 9th overall, 4th among AL pitchers).
Logan Gilbert (13.1 points, 20th overall, 10th among AL pitchers).
George Kirby (11.0 points, 34th overall, 19th among AL pitchers).
Top 5 teams in Box-Toppers points by batters
While elite hitting is often a ticket to October—four of the top five batting teams made the postseason—it doesn't carry the same weight as elite pitching. The “quality gap” is clear when looking at overall team rankings: The top five pitching teams have a combined rank sum of just 19 (an average rank of 3.8). Meanwhile, the top five batting teams more than double that total with a sum of 45 (an average rank of 9.0). In short: the best pitching staffs anchor the very top of the leaderboard, while the best hitting teams sit further back in the pack.
Box-Toppers’ five top batting teams:
Chicago Cubs 55.1 (7th overall).
New York Yankees 53.5 (2nd overall).
Milwaukee Brewers 52.2 (9th overall).
Boston Red Sox 49.7 (8th overall).
San Francisco Giants 48.7 (19th overall).
1. Chicago Cubs, most points among batters—55.1
The Cubs had the most points earned by batters in 2025, 55.1 of their 117.6 total points. They ranked seventh overall and their 46.9 percent of points earned by batters was fourth-most among all teams.
Four of the Cubs’ top eight players are batters, including two top 10 NL batters. They are led by Seiya Suzuki, whose 9.5 points is fourth-most on the team, behind pitchers Matthew Boyd (10.7), Jameson Taillon (10.1) and Cade Horton (9.7). Suzuki ranks fourth among NL batters, 52nd overall. Other key Cubs batters include:
Pete Crow-Armstrong (9.5 points, 5th among Cubs, 5th among NL batters, 54th overall).
Ian Happ (6.0 points, 7th among Cubs, 138th overall).
Carson Kelly (6.0 points, 8th among Cubs, 151st overall).
2. New York Yankees—53.5 points
The Yankees had the second-most points earned by batters in 2025, most among American League teams, 53.5 of their 127.1 total points. They ranked second overall and their 42.1 percent of points earned by batters was the ninth-most among all teams.
Four of the Yankees’ top nine players are batters, led by Jazz Chisholm Jr., whose 7.2 points was fifth among all Yankees behind pitchers Max Fried (14.4), Carlos Rodón (13.7), Will Warren (9.4) and Cam Schlittler (7.4). Chisholm’s 7.2 points ranked 12th among AL batters and 95th overall. The other three batters among the Yankees’ top nine players:
3. Milwaukee Brewers—52.2 points
The Brewers had the third-most points earned by batters in 2025, 52.2 of their 112.6 total points. They ranked ninth overall and their 46.4 percent of points earned by batters was fifth-most among all teams.
Six of the Brewers’ top 10 players are batters, led by Christian Yelich (11.2 points, second among Brewers players, second among NL batters and 33rd overall). Other key Brewers batters include:
Isaac Collins (5.5 points, 6th among Brewers, 179th overall).
Jackson Chourio (5.0 points, 7th among Brewers, 189th overall).
Rhys Hoskins (4.5 points, 8th among Brewers, 225th overall).
William Contreras (4.0 points, 9th among Brewers, 248th overall).
Jake Bauers (4.0 points, 10th among Brewers, 253rd overall).
4. Boston Red Sox—49.7 points
The Red Sox had the fourth-most points earned by batters in 2025, 49.7 of their 112.7 total points. They rank eighth overall and their 44.1 percent of points earned by batters was seventh among all teams. Five of the Red Sox’s top nine players are batters, led by:
Wilyer Abreu (8.5 points, 3rd among Red Sox, 6th among AL batters, 67th overall).
Trevor Story (8.0 points, 4th among Red Sox, 10th among AL batters, 77th overall).
Nathaniel Lowe (7.0 points, 6th among Red Sox, 111th overall).
Ceddanne Rafaela (6.5 points, 7th among Red Sox, 131st overall).
Jarren Duran (6.0 points, 9th among Red Sox, 145th overall).
5. San Francisco Giants—48.7 points
The Giants had the fifth-most points earned by batters in 2025, 48.7 of their 84.8 total points. They rank 19th overall and their 57.4 percent of points earned by batters was first among all teams.
The Giants are one of only three teams in which the majority of the Box-Toppers point total came from batters, usually the sign of a team that wins fewer games. The others:
The Colorado Rockies, whose 53.0 percent ranked 2nd (24.9 of their 47.0 total points came from batters).
The Chicago White Sox, whose 51.2 percent ranked 3rd (33.0 of their 64.4 total points came from batters).
Notably, the Rockies and White Sox won the fewest games among all teams—the Rockies 43 and the White Sox 60. But the Giants won 81 games, finishing with a .500 record, and were tied with the 16th-best win total among all teams.
Five of the Giants’ top seven players are batters. Behind the top two, pitchers Robbie Ray (9.4 points) and Logan Webb (9.0 points), they are:
Willy Adames (8.5 points, 3rd among Giants, 6th among NL batters, 66th overall).
Rafael Devers (7.7 points, 4th among Giants, 7th among NL batters, 84th overall).
Jung Hoo Lee (6.5 points, 5th among Giants, 134th overall).
Matt Chapman (5.0 points, 6th among Giants, 186th overall).
Wilmer Flores (5.0 points, 7th among Giants, 202nd overall).
“One-dimensional” teams did not fare as well
In 2025, teams that were over-reliant on a single facet of their roster often found themselves stuck in the middle of the pack—or worse.
The “imbalance penalty” was particularly harsh for teams dependent on their batters; the five clubs with the highest percentage of points from batters stumbled to a dismal average overall rank of 18.6, weighed down by bottom-tier finishes from the Rockies and White Sox.
Pitching-heavy teams fared better—and some, like the Phillies, still rode their high pitching share to the top of the league. But even for this group, over-reliance carried a risk: the five clubs most dependent on their arms averaged an overall rank of 11.4, dragged down by the 27th-ranked Pirates.
Ultimately, the data suggests that while you can occasionally win with just pitching, it is almost impossible to “slug” your way around a deficient rotation.
Teams Most Reliant on Pitching (Highest % of Team Points)
Pittsburgh Pirates: 74.9% (52.2 of 69.7 pts). Overall rank: 27th. (The Pirates were led by Paul Skenes, whose 21.1 Box-Toppers points led NL pitchers and represented 40.4% of the team’s pitching points and 30.3% of the team’s overall points.)
Philadelphia Phillies: 71.8% (94.4 of 131.4 pts). Overall rank: 1st.
Texas Rangers: 70.3% (86.9 of 123.6 pts). Overall rank: 3rd.
Detroit Tigers: 68.9% (75.3 of 109.3 pts). Overall rank: 11th.
Cincinnati Reds: 67.4% (69.2 of 102.7 pts). Overall rank: 15th.
Teams Most Reliant on Batting (Highest % of Team Points)
San Francisco Giants: 57.4% (48.7 of 84.8 pts). Overall rank: 19th.
Colorado Rockies: 53.0% (24.9 of 47.0 pts). Overall rank: 30th.
Chicago White Sox: 51.2% (33.0 of 64.4 pts). Overall rank: 28th.
Chicago Cubs: 46.9% (55.1 of 117.6 pts). Overall rank: 7th.
Milwaukee Brewers: 46.4% (52.2 of 112.6 pts). Overall rank: 9th.
Biggest variance in batting and pitching ranking
The San Francisco Giants had the biggest variance in ranking between batters (fifth with 48.7 points) and pitchers (28th with 36.1). That 23-spot variance was nine places more than the next-highest:
Philadelphia Phillies—14 spots: 15th among batters (37.0), first among pitchers (94.4).
Texas Rangers—14 spots: 16th among batters (36.7), second among pitchers (86.9).
Chicago Cubs—12 spots: first among batters (55.1), 13th among pitchers (62.5).
Milwaukee Brewers—12 spots: third among batters (52.2), 15th among pitchers (60.4).
Teams among top 10 in pitching points fared better than teams among top 10 in batting points
Teams with strong pitching were more likely to make the postseason in 2025 than teams that relied more heavily on batters.
