| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 22.4 | 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 23.1 | |
| 2 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | tor al | 16.7 | 2 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 19.1 | |
| 3 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp | ana al | 16.1 | 3 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 17.4 | |
| 4 | Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 14.7 | 4 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 17.4 | |
| 5 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 13.7 | 5 | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi sp | mil nl | 17.1 | |
| 6 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 | 6 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 17.1 | |
| 7 | Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | chi al | 12.4 | 7 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 | |
| 8 | Eovaldi, Nathan 2928 | pi sp | bos al | 12.4 | 8 | Musgrove, Joe 3705 | pi sp | sd nl | 15.1 | |
| 9 | Rodon, Carlos 3494 | pi sp | chi al | 10.7 | 9 | Buehler, Walker 3943 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.7 | |
| 10 | Cease, Dylan 4231 | pi sp | chi al | 10.7 | 10 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 13.1 | |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Martinez, J.D. 2922 | dh | bos al | 10.7 | 1 | Castellanos, Nicholas 3349 | rf | cin nl | 10.5 | |
| 2 | Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 10.5 | 2 | Tatis, Fernando Jr. 4101 | ss | sd nl | 10.2 | |
| 3 | Lowe, Brandon 4108 | 2b | tb al | 9.0 | 3 | Duvall, Adam 3573 | rf lf | atl nl | 8.0 | |
| 4 | Bogaerts, Xander 3383 | ss | bos al | 7.5 | 4 | Reynolds, Bryan 4169 | cf | pit nl | 8.0 | |
| 5 | Abreu, Jose 3308 | 1b | chi al | 7.0 | 5 | Arenado, Nolan 3306 | 3b | stl nl | 8.0 | |
| 6 | Olson, Matt 3836 | 1b | oak al | 7.0 | 6 | Votto, Joey 2366 | 1b | cin nl | 8.0 | |
| 7 | Judge, Aaron 3767 | rf | nyy al | 6.5 | 7 | Riley, Austin 4144 | 3b | atl nl | 7.5 | |
| 8 | Devers, Rafael 4038 | 3b | bos al | 6.5 | 8 | Winker, Jesse 3988 | lf | cin nl | 7.5 | |
| 9 | Walsh, Jared 4332 | 1b | ana al | 6.5 | 9 | Swanson, Dansby 3751 | ss | atl nl | 7.0 | |
| 10 | Haniger, Mitch 3772 | rf | sea al | 6.5 | 10 | Albies, Ozzie 3953 | 2b | atl nl | 7.0 |
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Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer rises to lead Box-Toppers season player rankings this week, passing previous leader, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, who falls to second place.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2021. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Thursday, Sept. 16.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 23.1 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 22.4 |
| 3 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 19.1 |
| 4 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 17.4 |
| 5 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 17.4 |
| 6 | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi sp | mil nl | 17.1 |
| 7 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 17.1 |
| 8 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 9 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | tor al | 16.7 |
| 10 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp | ana al | 16.1 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Meanwhile, Cole continues to lead American League pitchers and both league’s leaders among batters remain the same: J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox leads AL batters and Nick Castellanos of the Reds leads National League batters.
Scherzer has 23.1 Box-Toppers points, passing Cole (22.4) for the overall lead Sunday. Scherzer also maintains his lead among NL pitchers ahead of second-place Zack Wheeler of the Phillies (19.1).
American League pitchers—Though Cole loses the overall lead, falling to second place with 22.4 Box-Toppers points, he maintains his lead among AL pitchers for the 12th straight report, dating back to June 17. Cole leads AL pitchers ahead of second-place Robbie Ray of the Blue Jays (16.7).
American League batters—J.D. Martinez leads for the second week with 10.7 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week. He leads ahead of second-place Jose Ramirez of the Indians (10.5). Martinez ranks 29th among all players.
It should be noted that Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, currently with 16.1 Box-Toppers points, could take the lead among AL batters. Ohtani is currently unranked among AL batters because he’s earned the overwhelming majority of his Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors as a pitcher (nine of 12, the other three coming as a designated hitter). But if Ohtani earns one more Player of the Game honor as a designated hitter, he would again qualify to rank among AL batters and would likely go from completely unranked to taking a dominating lead in the category.
However, Ohtani has not earned Player of the Game honors as a designated hitter since July 28–his last four such honors have been awarded for his pitching performances.
National League batters—Nick Castellanos of the Reds leads for the third week with 10.5 Box-Toppers points, earning no points in the past week. He leads over second-place NL batter Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres (10.2 points) and ranks 33rd among all players.
Analysis—With two weeks left in the season, Cole has a commanding lead among AL pitchers, 5.7 points ahead of Robbie Ray of the Blue Jays. Ray would need to earn overall Player of the Day honors in three more starts to pass Cole’s current total. Ohtani is in third among AL pitchers with 16.1 points and may be out of contention, with indications that the Angels may not use him as a pitcher for the rest of the season. (Addendum—Sunday, September 19, 2021: That was wrong. Ohtani’s scheduled start on Friday did not happen, leading to speculation he was being shut down as a pitcher for the season, but his start was simply delayed two days until Sunday.) While he could gain points as a batter, which would boost him in the AL pitching rankings, he is unlikely to pick up the 6.3 points to catch Cole for the remainder of the season. Ohtani has only earned 4.0 points as a designated hitter this season.
This year is also shaping up to have potential record-low Box-Toppers points among league batting leaders. The lowest Box-Toppers point total to lead NL batters in a regular 162-game schedule is 10.7 by Nolan Arenado of the Rockies in 2016, which is also the lowest point total to lead any category in a regular-length season. Current NL batting leader Nick Castellanos of the Reds has 10.5 points with two weeks to go.
The lowest total to lead AL batters in a regular-length season is 12.1 by Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians in 2017. Current AL batting leader J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox has 10.7 points.
It should be noted that the pandemic-shortened 2020 season produced the lowest point totals to lead all categories.
Top 10 list exits and entrances—Blue Jays pitcher Robbie Ray rose to ninth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings this week with 16.7 points, pushing out Joe Musgrove of the Padres (15.1), who falls to 11th.
The #BT40—The Box-Toppers 40 (#BT40) is made up of the 40 players on Box-Toppers’ four top 10 category lists—AL and NL pitchers and batters. The #BT40 are listed in the chart at the top of this page.
Two players joined the #BT40 this week:
Carlos Rodon of the White Sox rises to ninth place among AL pitchers with 10.7 points.
Aaron Judge of the Yankees rises to seventh place among AL batters with 6.5 points.
Those two displace these two players: White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito and Kyle Tucker of the Astros.
It should be noted that the #BT40 are not the overall top 40 players, but the top 10 in each of four categories. The lowest-ranking player among the #BT40 is Mitch Haniger of the Mariners (6.5 points, 10th among AL batters), who ranks 102nd overall.
Box-Toppers almanac
Players who have earned Box-Toppers points so far in 2021—765 (it was 749 as of last week).
Players with more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points—364 (it was 358 as of last week).
Players who’ve made their Box-Toppers debut so far in 2021 (earning their first career Player of the Game honor)—189 (it was 179 as of last week).
Games completed so far in 2021—2,193, an average of 146.2 per team.
Percentage of scheduled season completed—90.2.
In the 93 games completed from Sept. 10 to 16, pitchers won Player of the Game honors in 54 (58.1 percent) while batters won in 39 (41.9 percent). That decreased the overall share of Player of the Game honors won by pitchers this season to 61.7 percent of all games (1,312 out of 2,193), compared to 38.3 percent won by batters (841 out of 2,193). (Last week, through games of Sept. 9, pitchers had 61.8 percent of all Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors this season.)
About Box-Toppers—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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