Box-Toppers’ NL Division Series preview: Braves vs. Dodgers, Padres vs. Brewers

Dodgers are Box-Toppers top-ranked team while NL top-seed Brewers rank second in B‑T points

Both National League Division Series begin Saturday.

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The Atlanta Braves face the Los Angeles Dodgers in one best-of-five game series while the San Diego Padres face the Milwaukee Brewers in the other. The top two NL seeds, the Brewers (first) and the Dodgers (second), received byes from the first round of playoffs and face the winners of the best-of-three Wild Card series played this week.

NL Division Series: Braves at Dodgers

The Dodgers are Box-Toppers’ top-ranked overall team in 2026 with 142.7 points (6.4 ahead of Milwaukee's 136.3), though they enter as the NL’s 2nd playoff seed after finishing three games behind the Brewers for MLB's best record.

The Braves enter as the 3rd seed in the NL, ranking 4th among NL teams in Box-Toppers points (6th overall) with 113.7. Atlanta trails Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and the Philadelphia Phillies (117.4), whom the Braves defeated 2-1 in the Wild Card series. The Dodgers enjoyed a first-round bye.

The pitching matchup Saturday

Braves—Dylan Dodd, 2.0 Box-Toppers points in 2026, 490th overall, 122nd among NL pitchers. Dodd is normally a reliever. Atlanta is expected to employ a bullpen game on Saturday as injuries have depleted their rotation. Reliever Ray Kerr earned Player of the Game honors as an opener in Thursday’s Game 3 win over Philadelphia.Other possible pitchers in Game 1 include Grant Holmes, JR Ritchie, AJ Smith-Shawver, or Brent Suter.

Dodgers—Tarik Skubal, 14.7 Box-Toppers points in 2026, 19th overall, 11th among NL pitchers.

A look at all four of Saturday’s Division Series pitching matchups

Key Braves Players:

• Top Pitcher: Starter Chris Sale leads Atlanta with 15.4 Box-Toppers points (16th overall, 10th among NL pitchers) and is the likely starter for Game 2 on Sunday.

• Other Pitchers: Tyler Mahle (9.1 points), Martín Pérez (8.4 points), and Bryce Elder (6.5 points).

• Top Batters: Outfielder Michael Harris II leads Braves batters with 9.5 Box-Toppers points (4th among NL batters). Other key hitters include Ozzie Albies (6.5 points), Matt Olson (6.0 points), and Mike Yastrzemski (6.0 points).

Key Dodgers Players:

• Top Pitcher: Yoshinobu Yamamoto leads Los Angeles with 17.4 Box-Toppers points (8th overall, 5th among NL pitchers).

• Shohei Ohtani Breakdown: Ohtani ranks second on the team with 15.7 overall Box-Toppers points (15th overall, 9th among NL pitchers, 1st among NL batters). Combined, he has earned 8.7 points as a pitcher (which would rank 28th among NL pitchers) and 7.0 points as a designated hitter (which would rank 16th among NL batters). Ohtani last earned Player of the Game honors on Aug. 17.

• Rotation Depth: The next four highest-ranked Dodgers are all starting pitchers: Tarik Skubal (14.7 points, 11th among NL pitchers; 6.0 points since being traded from the Tigers), Justin Wrobleski (9.1 points, 21st among NL pitchers), Tyler Glasnow (8.4 points, 29th among NL pitchers), and Emmet Sheehan (7.0 points, 36th among NL pitchers).

• Top Batters & Notables: Center fielder Andy Pages (6.7 points, 18th among NL batters), Kyle Tucker (4.5 points, 42nd among NL batters), Freddie Freeman (3.5 points), and Mookie Betts (2.5 points).

The Box-Toppers point totals of all players on the teams’ active rosters at season’s end are here. Players who did not earn Box-Toppers points in 2026 are not listed. Players who earned points in 2026 are listed even if they are not on the roster for the upcoming postseason series due to injury or for other reasons.

Braves vs. Dodgers

Here are players for both teams in the NL Division Series beginning Saturday. Players are listed for both teams ranked by Box-Toppers points earned in 2026. All players listed were on active Major or Minor League rosters at the end of the season—not necessarily all of them will be included on postseason rosters. Players not listed earned no Box-Toppers points in 2026.

Atlanta Braves				Los Angeles Dodgers
Player	Pos	BTP		Player	Pos	BTP
Chris Sale	pi sp	15.4		Yoshinobu Yamamoto	pi sp	17.4
Michael Harris	cf	9.5		Shohei Ohtani	pi sp dh	15.7
Tyler Mahle	pi sp	9.1		Tarik Skubal	pi sp	14.7
Martín Pérez	pi sp	8.4		Justin Wrobleski	pi sp	9.1
Bryce Elder	pi sp	6.7		Tyler Glasnow	pi sp	8.4
Ozzie Albies	2b	6.5		Emmet Sheehan	pi sp	7.0
Matt Olson	1b	6.0		Andy Pagés	cf	6.7
Mike Yastrzemski	rf lf	6.0		Roki Sasaki	pi sp	5.4
Grant Holmes	pi sp	5.7		Kris Bubic	pi sp	4.7
Ronald Acuña Jr.	rf	5.2		Blake Snell	pi sp	4.7
Reynaldo López	pi sp	4.0		Kyle Tucker	rf	4.5
Dominic Smith	dh	3.5		Teoscar Hernández	lf	4.5
Lane Thomas	cf rf	3.0		Tommy Edman	2b	4.5
Raisel Iglesias	pi cp mr	3.0		Eric Lauer	pi sp	4.0
Drake Baldwin	ca	2.5		Tanner Scott	pi cp	4.0
Spencer Strider	pi sp	2.0		Max Muncy	3b	3.7
Mauricio Dubón	ss lf 1b 2b	2.0		Freddie Freeman	1b	3.5
Dylan Dodd	pi cp	2.0		Dalton Rushing	ca	3.2
Didier Fuentes	pi mr	2.0		Alex Freeland	2b	3.0
Víctor Mederos	pi cp	2.0		Mookie Betts	ss	2.5
Michael Grove	pi sp mr	1.7		Edwín Díaz	pi cp	2.0
Sean Murphy	ca dh	1.5		Alex Vesia	pi mr cp	2.0
Robert Suárez	pi mr cp	1.0		Edgardo Henríquez	pi mr cp	2.0
AJ Smith-Shawver	pi mr sp	1.0		Chadwick Tromp	ca	1.5
Austin Riley	3b	1.0		Will Klein	pi mr cp	1.0
Ha-Seong Kim	ss pr	1.0		Brock Stewart	pi cp mr	1.0
Dylan Lee	pi mr cp	1.0		Blake Treinen	pi cp mr	1.0
Brent Suter	pi sp mr cp	1.0		Hunter Feduccia	ca	1.0
Totals		113.7		Totals		142.7

NL Division Series: Padres at Brewers

The NL Central champion Brewers are the NL's top playoff seed and rank 2nd overall in Box-Toppers team standings (136.3 points). The Padres, who finished second in the NL West, enter as the 5th seed and rank 11th overall (104.5 points, 6th among NL teams).

The Brewers received a first-round bye, while the Padres advanced by sweeping the Chicago Cubs 2-0 in the Wild Card round.

The pitching matchup Saturday:

Padres—Robbie Ray, 7.4 Box-Toppers points in 2026, 87th among all players, 33rd among NL pitchers.

Brewers—Jacob Misiorowski, 26.1 Box-Toppers points in 2026, first among all players, first among NL pitchers.

A look at all four of Saturday’s Division Series pitching matchups

Key Padres players

• Top Pitcher & Standout Closer: Closer Mason Miller leads San Diego with 16.0 Box-Toppers points (13th overall, 7th among NL pitchers, 1st among all closers). This marks the 4th-highest single-season point total for a closing pitcher since 1998.

• Top Batter: First baseman Ty France leads Padres hitters with 9.5 points (5th among NL batters).

• Starting Pitching: Randy Vásquez (9.4 points), Robbie Ray (7.4 points), Michael King (7.0 points), and Casey Mize (5.0 points).

• Notables: Jackson Merrill (5.0 points), Fernando Tatis Jr. (4.5 points), and Manny Machado (1.0 point).

Key Brewers players

• Player of the Year: Starter Jacob Misiorowski leads all MLB players with 26.1 Box-Toppers points, tied for the 19th-highest single-season total since tracking began in 1995.

• Starting Rotation: Milwaukee's top four point earners are all starters: Misiorowski, Kyle Harrison (14.7 points, 12th among NL pitchers), Logan Henderson (10.4 points, 18th among NL pitchers), and Dustin May (8.7 points, 28th among NL pitchers).

• Relief & Position Players: Reliever Chad Patrick (6.0 points, 1st among NL middle relievers), catcher William Contreras (5.7 points, 29th among NL batters), first baseman Jake Bauers (5.0 points, 34th among NL batters), Jackson Chourio (2.5 points), and Christian Yelich (2.0 points).

The Box-Toppers point totals of all players on the teams’ active rosters at season’s end are here. Players who did not earn Box-Toppers points in 2026 are not listed. Players who earned points in 2026 are listed even if they are not on the roster for the upcoming postseason series due to injury or for other reasons.

Padres vs. Brewers

Here are players for both teams in the NL Division Series beginning Saturday. Players are listed for both teams ranked by Box-Toppers points earned in 2026. All players listed were on active Major or Minor League rosters at the end of the season—not necessarily all of them will be included on postseason rosters. Players not listed earned no Box-Toppers points in 2026.

San Diego Padres				Milwaukee Brewers
Player	Pos	BTP		Player	Pos	BTP
Mason Miller	pi cp	16.0		Jacob Misiorowski	pi sp	26.1
Ty France	1b	9.5		Kyle Harrison	pi sp	14.7
Randy Vásquez	pi sp	9.4		Logan Henderson	pi sp	10.4
Robbie Ray	pi sp	7.4		Dustin May	pi sp	8.7
Michael King	pi sp	7.0		Chad Patrick	pi mr	7.0
Casey Mize	pi sp	5.0		Robert Gasser	pi sp	6.0
Adrián Morejón	pi mr	5.0		William Contreras	ca	5.7
Jackson Merrill	cf	5.0		Jake Bauers	1b	5.0
Nick Pivetta	pi sp	4.7		Aaron Ashby	pi mr	5.0
Fernando Tatis Jr.	rf	4.5		Antonio Senzatela	pi cp mr	5.0
Griffin Canning	pi sp mr	3.0		Brice Turang	2b	4.7
Bradgley Rodríguez	pi mr	3.0		Trevor Megill	pi cp	4.0
Gavin Sheets	lf dh	2.5		Garrett Mitchell	cf	4.0
Xander Bogaerts	ss	2.5		Brandon Sproat	pi sp	4.0
JP Sears	pi sp mr	2.0		Brandon Woodruff	pi sp	3.0
Dustin Harris	rf cf	2.0		Jackson Chourio	lf	2.5
Samad Taylor	lf	2.0		Christian Yelich	dh ph	2.0
Ramón Laureano	lf	1.5		Gary Sánchez	dh ca	2.0
Jake Cronenworth	3b 2b	1.5		Joey Ortiz	ss 3b	2.0
Luis Campusano	ca	1.5		Sal Frelick	rf lf	2.0
Ethan Salas	ca	1.5		Abner Uribe	pi mr	2.0
Manny Machado	3b	1.0		Shane Drohan	pi sp cp	2.0
Walker Buehler	pi sp	1.0		Andrew Vaughn	1b	1.5
Freddy Fermin	ca dh	1.0		JoJo Romero	pi mr cp	1.0
Austin Hays	dh lf	1.0		DL Hall	pi mr sp	1.0
Miguel Andújar	dh lf	1.0		David Hamilton	3b 2b ss pr	1.0
Luis Rengifo	3b 2b ph	1.0		Bryse Wilson	pi mr	1.0
Yuki Matsui	pi mr	1.0		Grant Anderson	pi mr	1.0
Jase Bowen	rf pr	1.0		Coleman Crow	pi sp	1.0
				Luis Lara	rf	1.0
Totals		88.5		Totals		136.3

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

• Final 2026 Box-Toppers player rankings: Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski is 2026 Box-Toppers Player of the Year

• Final 2026 Box-Toppers team rankings: Los Angeles Dodgers finish 2026 atop Box-Toppers team rankings

• Previews of all four 2026 Wild Card series

• Box-Toppers’ AL Division Series preview: White Sox vs. Guardians, Yankees vs. Rays

A Box-Toppers look at Saturday’s pitching matchups

A Box-Toppers look at the upcoming day's probable pitching matchups. Teams are paired below with visiting teams on top and home teams on the bottom. Each team's starting pitcher is shown with their Box-Toppers point total from 2026 ('26), this year and last year ('25-26), over six years ('21-26), and their career point total.
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Game	Starter	’26	’25‑26	’21‑26	Career
CHW	Smith, Hagen 5466	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
CLE	Messick Parker 5266	11.7	12.7	12.7	12.7
ATL	Dodd, Dylan 5318	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
LAD	Skubal, Tarik 4414	14.7	36.8	88.0	88.0
NYY	Cole, Gerrit 3232	6.0	6.0	70.5	171.0
TB	Rasmussen, Drew 4547	15.0	24.7	46.2	46.2
SD	Ray, Robbie 3502	7.4	16.8	52.6	96.7
MIL	Misiorowski, Jacob 5200	26.1	32.1	32.1	32.1

Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn any career Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default, game-by-game view.

Brewers’ Misiorowski leads player rankings for 8th week; Cease leads AL pitchers

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, Sept. 3:

	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	21.4
2	Cam Schlittler	pi sp	Yankees	18.7		2	Jesus Luzardo	pi sp	Phillies	21.0
3	Gavin Williams	pi sp	Guardians	15.7		3	Cristopher Sanchez	pi sp	Phillies	17.7
4	Jacob deGrom	pi sp	Rangers	15.4		4	Braxton Ashcraft	pi sp	Pirates	16.4
5	Bryan Woo	pi sp	Mariners	14.4		5	Shohei Ohtani	pi sp dh	Dodgers	15.7
6	Taj Bradley	pi sp	Twins	14.4		6	Zack Wheeler	pi sp	Phillies	14.0
7	Logan Gilbert	pi sp	Mariners	13		7	Kyle Harrison	pi sp	Brewers	13.7
8	Drew Rasmussen	pi sp	Rays	13		8	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	pi sp	Dodgers	13.4
9	Sean Burke	pi sp	White Sox	12.1		9	Chris Sale	pi sp	Braves	13.4
10	Sonny Gray	pi sp	Red Sox	12		10	Paul Skenes	pi sp	Pirates	12.7
	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	Yordan Alvarez	dh	Astros	7.5		2	Sal Stewart	1b	Reds	13.0
3	Yandy Diaz	dh	Rays	7.5		3	Dansby Swanson	ss	Cubs	9.2
4	Willson Contreras	1b	Red Sox	7.0		4	Jake McCarthy	cf lf rf	Rockies	8.7
5	Nick Kurtz	1b	Athletics	7.0		5	Pete Crow‑Armstrong	cf	Cubs	8.5
6	Kody Clemens	1b rf	Twins	7.0		6	Michael Harris	cf ph	Braves	8.5
7	Munetaka Murakami	1b	White Sox	7.0		7	Ty France	1b	Padres	8.5
8	Jac Caglianone	1b	Royals	6.9		8	Alec Burleson	1b	Cardinals	8.5
9	Jazz Chisholm Jr.	2b	Yankees	6.5		9	Daylen Lile	lf	Nationals	8.2
10	Dillon Dingler	ca	Tigers	6.5		10	CJ Abrams	ss	Nationals	8.0

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Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski leads Box-Toppers overall player rankings for an eighth consecutive week.

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 21.4 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week. He stays ahead of Jesús Luzardo of the Phillies (21.0 points), who ranks second to Misiorowski overall and among NL pitchers.

American League pitchers

Dylan Cease of the Blue Jays leads AL pitchers for the eighth consecutive week with 20.4 Box-Toppers points, gaining 2.0 points in the past week. He stays ahead of Cam Schlittler of the Yankees (18.7 points). Cease ranks third overall.

National League batters

Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers leads for the 15th 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 eighth 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 18th 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 second week with 8.2 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week. He ranks ahead of second-place Yordan Alvarez of the Astros (7.5 points). Alonso ranks 48th overall.

AL batters continue to lag significantly behind NL batters in total points earned this season (468.1 vs. 537.4)—in fact, eight of the top 10 NL batters have higher point totals than Alonso.

With three 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.

Box-Toppers almanac

After winning a majority of Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors last week for the first time this season, batters fell back to earth this week. Batters won in 38 of the 97 games played (39.2%), while pitchers won in 59 (60.8%).

Batters’ overall share of points this season decreased from 40.2% last week to 40.1% 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.

Follow us: Bluesky | X | Facebook | Substack (newsletter)

Related

Last week’s Box-Toppers player rankings report