| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | tb al | 24.2 | 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 23.1 | |
| 2 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 20.1 | 2 | Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 20.1 | |
| 3 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 20.1 | 3 | Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | ari nl | 16.0 | |
| 4 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 19.7 | 4 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 13.8 | |
| 5 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 18.1 | 5 | Buehler, Walker 3943 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.1 | |
| 6 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 18.0 | 6 | Flaherty, Jack 3971 | pi sp | stl nl | 13.1 | |
| 7 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 17.7 | 7 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 13.0 | |
| 8 | Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 16.1 | 8 | Chacin, Jhoulys 2711 | pi sp | mil nl | 12.7 | |
| 9 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 16.0 | 9 | Teheran, Julio 3176 | pi sp | atl nl | 12.7 | |
| 10 | Happ, J.A. 2536 | pi sp | nyy al | 15.7 | 10 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 12.7 | |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Martinez, J.D. 2922 | lf dh rf | bos al | 11.5 | 1 | Acuña, Ronald Jr. 3947 | lf | atl nl | 9.2 | |
| 2 | Betts, Mookie 3404 | rf | bos al | 10.9 | 2 | Rizzo, Anthony 3063 | 1b | chi nl | 8.5 | |
| 3 | Lindor, Francisco 3586 | ss | cle al | 9.6 | 3 | Baez, Javier 3395 | 2b ss 3b | chi nl | 8.5 | |
| 4 | Davidson, Matt 3292 | 3b dh 1b | chi al | 8.7 | 4 | Peralta, David 3370 | lf | ari nl | 8.5 | |
| 5 | Trout, Mike 2949 | cf | ana al | 8.0 | 5 | Granderson, Curtis 2051 | dh rf | mil nl | 8.2 | |
| 6 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 8.0 | 6 | Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 | 1b | ari nl | 7.5 | |
| 7 | Odor, Rougned 3336 | 2b | tex al | 7.5 | 7 | Harper, Bryce 3011 | rf | dc nl | 7.5 | |
| 8 | Rosario, Eddie 3542 | lf | min al | 7.5 | 8 | Yelich, Christian 3334 | rf lf cf | mil nl | 7.5 | |
| 9 | Healy, Ryon 3685 | 1b | sea al | 7.0 | 9 | Reynolds, Mark 2297 | 1b 3b 2b ph | dc nl | 7.5 | |
| 10 | Mazara, Nomar 3614 | rf | tex al | 7.0 | 10 | Suarez, Eugenio 3355 | 3b | cin nl | 7.5 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
(This post was edited Monday, November 19, 2018, to correct an error in the Box-Toppers point total of Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom . During the 2018 season, an extra, unearned point was added to his total. There is more information about this at the bottom of the post.)
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2018 season through the games of Sept. 20:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Snell, Blake 3688 | pi sp | tb al | 24.2 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 23.1 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 20.1 |
| 4 | Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 20.1 |
| 5 | Verlander, Justin 2112 | pi sp | hou al | 20.1 |
| 6 | Kluber, Corey 3200 | pi sp | cle al | 19.7 |
| 7 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 18.1 |
| 8 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | hou al | 18.0 |
| 9 | Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 17.7 |
| 10 | Berrios, Jose 3791 | pi sp | min al | 16.1 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Rays pitcher Blake Snell took the lead this week in Box-Toppers season player rankings, passing previous leader, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer.
Meanwhile, Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves rises to lead National League batters in Box-Toppers points this week.
Snell now has 24.2 Box-Toppers points on the season, passing Scherzer, who still leads NL pitchers, with 23.1.
National League batters—Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves rises to lead NL batters in Box-Toppers points with 9.2 this week, passing last week’s leader, Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs (8.5), who falls to second. Acuna ranks 52nd among all players in 2018 Box-Toppers points.
National League pitchers—Scherzer maintains his lead among NL pitchers for the 20th straight week, 3.0 points ahead of second-place Aaron Nola of the Phillies (20.1), who ranks fourth overall.
American League pitchers—Rays pitcher Blake Snell leads AL pitchers with 24.2 Box-Toppers points, earning 1.7 points in the past week. He leads second-place AL pitcher, Chris Sale of the Red Sox (20.1) by 4.1 points.
American League batters—J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (11.5 points, picking up no points in the past week) leads the category for the 11th week in a row. Martinez has not earned points since Aug. 11. Martinez leads second-place AL batter, teammate Mookie Betts (10.9) by 0.6 points. Martinez ranks 29th among all players.
Lowest points to lead category
Nolan Arenado holds the record for lowest Box-Toppers point total to lead category (10.7 to lead National League batters in 2016). Here are the lowest-point totals to win a league category since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995:| Player | Team | BTP | Category | |
| 1 | Nolan Arenado | col nl | 10.7 | 2016 NL bat |
| 2 | Carlos Gonzalez | col nl | 11.5 | 2015 NL bat |
| 3 | Troy Tulowitzki | col nl | 11.6 | 2014 NL bat |
| 4 | Edwin Encarnacion | cle al | 12.1 | 2017 AL bat |
| 5 | Adrian Beltre | tex al | 12.5 | 2015 AL bat |
| 5 | Aubrey Huff | bal al | 12.5 | 2008 AL bat |
| 5 | Ryan Braun | mil nl | 12.5 | 2012 NL bat |
| 8 | Manny Machado | bal al | 12.7 | 2016 AL bat |
| 9 | Adrian Beltre | tex al | 13.0 | 2012 AL bat |
| 10 | Paul Goldschmidt | ari nl | 13.7 | 2013 NL bat |
| 10 | Bret Boone | sea al | 13.7 | 2001 AL bat |
With the season winding down, batters are poised to have the lowest Box-Toppers point totals to lead their league’s batters in Box-Toppers’ 24-year history. Acuna’s 9.2 points to lead NL batters this season is below the record-low 10.7 points Nolan Arenado of the Rockies had in 2016 to lead NL batters. And Martinez’s 11.5 points to lead AL batters is below the record-low 12.1 points that Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians had in 2017 to lead AL batters.
So far this season, 720 different players have earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors. There are 382 players who have more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points. There are 162 players who have made their Box-Toppers debut so far this season (including 14 in the past week) the first time in their career they earned Player of the Game honors.
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.
Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.
Last week’s player rankings report.
NOTE ABOUT JACOB DEGROM: After this post was published, Box-Toppers discovered an error: Jacob deGrom was credited with 1.0 more Box-Toppers point than he actually earned in 2018. This post has been changed to include deGrom’s actual Box-Toppers point total and player ranking position at the time of this post. Subtracting a point from deGrom’s season total meant he had 16.8 Box-Toppers points, rather than 17.8. Despite the change, he still finished third among National League pitchers. However, the change moves him from ninth place to 12th place in overall season player rankings, moving him out of the top 10 and keeping Yankees pitcher Luis Severino (17.7 points) in the top 10 for the season, in 10th place.
This is made all the more odd and awkward because the error was discovered while compiling the post about deGrom winning the NL Cy Young Award on Wednesday, Nov. 14. deGrom was the near-unanimous choice for the award, but even with his higher, incorrect Box-Toppers point total (17.8), Box-Toppers had him ranked third among NL pitchers, needing nearly 50 percent more points to catch the NL pitching leader, Max Scherzer of the Nationals (25.1).
My post was about how Scherzer was more deserving of the award than the widely acclaimed deGrom because Scherzer actually helped his team win more games. Despite deGrom’s great performances, the Mets lost most of the games he pitched. Since winning is the name of the game and since Box-Toppers points are only awarded in wins, deGrom’s point total was far lower—but it was still remarkable, given all the losses, that he reached as high as third place among NL pitchers. While writing about how deGrom wasn’t as deserving of the award, I found the error (the extra point), and correcting the record (subtracting the point), I found he was even more undeserving.
Box-Toppers
Tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score stats. A method to measure & compare baseball's top players.
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. 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.