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Though he’s now out for the season, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler maintains his lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings for the 15th straight week.
Meanwhile, all Box-Toppers category leaders remain unchanged since last week: Tarik Skubal of the Tigers leads American League pitchers, Christian Yelich of the Brewers leads National League batters and José Ramírez of the Guardians leads AL batters.
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The Detroit Tigers lead in Box-Toppers team rankings for the fifth straight week.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Phillies regain the lead among National League teams and the Texas Rangers are the week’s hottest team.
Read MoreKyle Schwarber of the Phillies is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day with his four-home run game.
Also Thursday, Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet maintains his fifth-place spot in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
Read MoreMets pitcher Nolan McLean is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Other Player of the Game winners Wednesday include Athletics pitcher Luis Morales, Rafael Devers of the Giants, Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani, Astros pitcher Framber Valdez, Adolis Garcia of the Rangers and Yankees pitcher Max Fried.
Read MoreCardinals pitcher Sonny Gray is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, rising to seventh place in season player rankings.
Other Player of the Game winners Monday include Astros pitcher Jason Alexander, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies and Bo Bichette of the Blue Jays.
Read MoreNick Kurtz of the Athletics is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, recording the highest Box-Toppers game score for a batter in 2025 and what seems to be the third-best by a batter since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.
Other Player of the Game winners Friday include Diamondbacks pitcher Ryne Nelson, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies and Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi.
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The Philadelphia Phillies rise to lead Box-Toppers team rankings this week, passing the Detroit Tigers, who fall to second place.
| Teams | BTP | BTP/wk | Wk ago | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phillies | 74.1 | 4.0 | 2 |
| 2 | Tigers | 73.3 | 2.0 | 1 |
| 3 | Cubs | 72.5 | 3.0 | 3 |
| 4 | Mariners | 71.5 | 9.4 | 9 |
| 5 | Yankees | 71.3 | 3.0 | 4 |
| 6 | Brewers | 70.7 | 7.0 | 7 |
| 7 | Blue Jays | 69.6 | 7.7 | 10 |
| 8 | Dodgers | 69.0 | 1.0 | 5 |
| 9 | Red Sox | 68.4 | 2.0 | 6 |
| 10 | Astros | 68.3 | 5.0 | 8 |
| 11 | Rangers | 67.8 | 6.0 | 11 |
| 12 | Mets | 65.4 | 4.0 | 12 |
| 13 | Reds | 65.3 | 4.0 | 14 |
| 14 | Padres | 65.0 | 3.7 | 13 |
| 15 | Giants | 61.0 | 2.5 | 16 |
| 16 | Rays | 60.7 | 3.0 | 18 |
| 17 | Royals | 59.5 | 3.7 | 20 |
| 18 | Diamondbacks | 59.2 | 0.0 | 15 |
| 19 | Angels | 58.4 | 2.0 | 19 |
| 20 | Cardinals | 57.9 | 0.0 | 17 |
| 21 | Marlins | 56.9 | 5.2 | 24 |
| 22 | Guardians | 56.9 | 5.0 | 23 |
| 23 | Twins | 56.7 | 2.5 | 21 |
| 24 | Orioles | 54.6 | 2.0 | 22 |
| 25 | Braves | 52.1 | 2.5 | 25 |
| 26 | Pirates | 50.8 | 3.5 | 26 |
| 27 | Athletics | 47.6 | 1.0 | 27 |
| 28 | Nationals | 46.6 | 3.0 | 28 |
| 29 | White Sox | 44.1 | 6.0 | 29 |
| 30 | Rockies | 31.8 | 4.5 | 30 |
Meanwhile, the Seattle Mariners are the week’s hottest team.
The Phillies rise from second place overall to first place with 74.1 Box-Toppers points, picking up 4.0 in the past week. They move 0.8 points ahead of last week’s leader, the Detroit Tigers, who fall to second with 73.3 points, picking up 2.0 in the past week.
The Phillies lead National League teams for the second straight week, ahead of the second-place Chicago Cubs (72.5 points, picking up 3.0 in the past week, maintaining third place overall).
The Phillies have baseball’s eighth-best winning percentage (.569) and rank second in the NL East, one-half game behind the New York Mets. Here are the teams with higher winning percentages and their Box-Toppers team rankings:
Milwaukee Brewers (.598), sixth with 70.7 Box-Toppers points, picking up 7.0 in the past week.
Toronto Blue Jays (.592), seventh with 69.6 points, picking up 7.7 in the past week.
Chicago Cubs (.588), third with 72.5 points, picking up 3.0 in the past week.
Los Angeles Dodgers (.583), eighth with 69.0 points, picking up 1.0 in the past week.
Houston Astros (.583), 10th with 68.3 points, picking up 5.0 in the past week.
Detroit Tigers (.577), second with 73.3 points, picking up 2.0 in the past week.
New York Mets (.573), 12th with 65.4 points, picking up 4.0 in the past week.
The Phillies are led by pitcher Zack Wheeler (19.1 points, first overall). Phillies’ top batter is Kyle Schwarber (5.0 points, 15th among NL batters). Eighteen different Phillies players have earned Box-Toppers points so far in 2025.
Tigers players have accumulated 73.3 Box-Toppers points this season, including 2.0 in the past week, falling from first to second place overall, behind the Phillies (74.1 points).
They lead AL teams for the fifth straight week, ahead of the second-place Seattle Mariners (71.5 points, picking up 9.4 in the past week, rising from ninth to fourth place overall).
The Tigers have the third-best winning percentage among AL teams (.577), behind the Blue Jays (.592) and the Astros (.583).
The Tigers are led by pitcher Tarik Skubal (16.4 Box-Toppers points, second among all players, first among AL pitchers). Tigers’ best batter is Riley Greene (9.0 points, first among AL batters). Twenty-two different Tigers players have earned Player of the Game honors so far this season.
The Seattle Mariners are the hottest team in the past week, picking up 9.4 Box-Toppers points, most of any team, and rising from ninth to fourth place overall with 71.5 points, second among AL teams. The Mariners’ five-spot rise is the biggest among all teams.
The Mariners picked up 5.9 points by winning four of their seven games this week and the rest by acquiring Josh Naylor Thursday from the Diamondbacks, where he has earned 3.5 points this season. Here is a look at how Mariners earned Box-Toppers points in wins this week:
1.7 points on July 18 by starting pitcher Luis Castillo for winning AL Player of the Day.
1.0 point on July 19 by relief pitcher Casey Legumina for winning Player of the Game.
1.7 points on July 22 by starting pitcher Logan Gilbert for winning AL Player of the Day.
1.5 points on July 24 by left fielder Randy Arozarena for winning AL Batter of the Day.
Four teams fell three spots each this week, tied for the biggest fall among all teams:
The Los Angeles Dodgers fell from fifth to eighth place with 69.0 Box-Toppers points, picking up 1.0 in the past week.
The Boston Red Sox fell from sixth to ninth place with 68.4 points, picking up 2.0 in the past week.
The Arizona Diamondbacks fell from 15th to 18th place with 59.2 points, with no net gain in points this week. (They gained 3.5 points in three wins this week, but also lost 3.5 points by trading Josh Naylor to the Mariners.)
The St. Louis Cardinals fell from 17th to 20th place with 57.9 points, with no net gain in points this week. (They gained 2.7 points in two wins this week, all earned by first baseman Willson Contreras, but also lost 2.7 points by designating for assignment pitcher Erick Fedde, who had 2.7 points this season).
The Colorado Rockies remain in 30th and last place for the 14th straight week with 31.8 Box-Toppers points, picking up 4.5 points in the past week.
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. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point 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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On 27 of the 30 Major League clubs, pitchers are the team’s leader in 2025 Box-Toppers points. Batters lead the other three teams.
Pitchers are dominating much the way they are winning the overwhelming majority of Box-Toppers points this season compared to batters. Pitchers are winning 61 percent of all points this season compared to 39 percent for batters. The all-time record-low share of points earned by batters is 37.2 percent set in 2024. (Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.)
Read MorePete Alonso of the Mets is Box-Toppers 2025 All-Star Game Player of the Game.
Alonso hit a sixth-inning, three-run homer, as the National League prevailed Tuesday over the American League, after a nine-inning, 6-6 tie was broken with a home run derby-style swing-off. Alonso went 1-for-2, scoring once and driving in three runs.
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The Detroit Tigers regain first place in Box-Toppers team rankings at the All-Star break, passing the Los Angeles Dodgers, who led the last team rankings report July 3.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Phillies rise to lead National League teams and the Boston Red Sox are the hottest team of the past 10 days.
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Among players on Box-Toppers’ 2025 and 2024-25 All-Star teams are (from left) Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, Christian Yelich of the Brewers, Riley Greene of the Tigers, Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Willy Adames of the Giants.
With the first phase of voting wrapping up next week for the 2025 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, here’s a look at Box-Toppers points leaders at each position in both leagues, through the games of Sunday, June 15.
The first phase of fan All-Star voting closes June 26 and the second phase, with finalist voting only, runs from June 30 to July 2. Here is more information about how that works. The All-Star Game is Tuesday, July 15, at the Atlanta Braves’ home stadium, Truist Park.
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The New York Yankees rise to lead Box-Toppers team rankings this week, passing last week’s leader, the Detroit Tigers.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Phillies rise to lead National League teams and the Tampa Bay Rays are the hottest team of the week.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are the top-ranked team in Box-Toppers’ 2025 preseason rankings.
Meanwhile, the New York Yankees lead American League teams, the Toronto Blue Jays made the biggest offseason improvement in players’ accumulated Box-Toppers points and the Atlanta Braves had the biggest decline.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team going into 2025 but with player injuries factored in, the New York Mets hold the overall edge.
The current 2025 roster of last year’s World Series champion Dodgers accumulated 118.7 Box-Toppers points in 2024, most of any team. However, with several players injured and expected to miss time in 2025, their injury-adjusted Box-Toppers point total drops to 106.7, fifth among all teams.
Read MoreIn 2024, teams with the most Box-Toppers points earned by pitchers generally ranked higher in overall Box-Toppers team rankings.
For example, the Philadephia Phillies led all teams with 124.9 Box-Toppers points. Pitchers earned 78.0 of those points, fifth-most among all teams. Box-Toppers’ seven top-ranked teams were all among the top 10 in points earned by pitchers.
However, the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers were a notable anomaly. While the team finished eighth overall in Box-Toppers points (113.7), they finished 11th in points earned by pitchers (66.2) and third in points earned by batters (47.5).
Read MoreAaron Judge of the Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers, who both led their league’s batters in Box-Toppers points in 2024, won the season’s Most Valuable Player Awards Thursday.
Judge, who led American League batters with 13.0 Box-Toppers points, won the AL award and Ohtani, who led National League batters with 11.0 Box-Toppers points, won the NL award.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ top two-ranked batters won the 2024 Hank Aaron Awards for top offensive players.
Aaron Judge of the Yankees, who led American League batters with 13.0 Box-Toppers points, won the AL award and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers, who led National League batters with 11.0 Box-Toppers points, won the NL award.
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Source: MLB.com
Both National League Division Series begin Saturday.
The San Diego Padres face the Los Angeles Dodgers in one best-of-five game series and the New York Mets face the Philadelphia Phillies in the other. The top two NL seeds, the Dodgers (first) and the Phillies (second) received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played this week.
Read MoreMariners pitcher Logan Gilbert is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Gilbert struck out seven over 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks, in the 6-4 win over the Athletics.
Read MoreDiamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Thursday, Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers records the second-highest Box-Toppers game score for a batter in the 30 years of Box-Toppers player tracking. He did it on the day he became the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season.
Read MoreBox-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.