| AL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL PITCHERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 18.4 | 1 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 17.1 | |
| 2 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 15.1 | 2 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 | |
| 3 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 13.7 | 3 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 16.4 | |
| 4 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 | 4 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 14.4 | |
| 5 | Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 12.7 | 5 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.4 | |
| 6 | Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | chi al | 10.7 | 6 | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi sp | mil nl | 13.1 | |
| 7 | Civale, Aaron 4173 | pi sp | cle al | 9.7 | 7 | Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi sp | mil nl | 12.7 | |
| 8 | Rodon, Carlos 3494 | pi sp | chi al | 9.7 | 8 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 12.4 | |
| 9 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | tor al | 9.0 | 9 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 12.1 | |
| 10 | Flexen, Chris 4368 | pi sp | sea al | 9.0 | 10 | Buehler, Walker 3943 | pi sp | lad nl | 11.7 | |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 15.1 | 1 | Tatis, Fernando Jr. 4101 | ss | sd nl | 9.2 | |
| 2 | Martinez, J.D. 2922 | dh | bos al | 9.7 | 2 | Duvall, Adam 3573 | rf lf | atl nl | 8.0 | |
| 3 | Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 7.5 | 3 | Castellanos, Nicholas 3349 | rf | cin nl | 8.0 | |
| 4 | Bogaerts, Xander 3383 | ss | bos al | 7.5 | 4 | Votto, Joey 2366 | 1b | cin nl | 8.0 | |
| 5 | Lowe, Brandon 4108 | 2b | tb al | 7.5 | 5 | Winker, Jesse 3988 | lf | cin nl | 7.5 | |
| 6 | Abreu, Jose 3308 | 1b | chi al | 7.0 | 6 | Reynolds, Bryan 4169 | cf | pit nl | 7.0 | |
| 7 | Olson, Matt 3836 | 1b | oak al | 7.0 | 7 | Swanson, Dansby 3751 | ss | atl nl | 7.0 | |
| 8 | Devers, Rafael 4038 | 3b | bos al | 6.5 | 8 | Arenado, Nolan 3306 | 3b | stl nl | 7.0 | |
| 9 | Alvarez, Yordan 4209 | dh lf | hou al | 6.0 | 9 | Riley, Austin 4144 | 3b | atl nl | 6.5 | |
| 10 | Grichuk, Randal 3474 | dh cf rf | tor al | 5.5 | 10 | Crawford, Brandon 2878 | ss | sf nl | 6.5 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole regains the lead in Box-Toppers season player rankings this week, passing last week’s leader, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler.
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, Aug. 19.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 18.4 |
| 2 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 17.1 |
| 3 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 4 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 16.4 |
| 5 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 15.1 |
| 6 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 14.4 |
| 7 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.4 |
| 8 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 13.7 |
| 9 | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi sp | mil nl | 13.1 |
| 10 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Meanwhile, Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres rises to lead National League batters in Box-Toppers rankings. Wheeler maintains his lead among NL pitchers and Shohei Ohtani of the Angels maintains his lead among American League batters.
Cole has 18.4 Box-Toppers points, passing Wheeler (17.1), who falls to second place. Cole maintains his lead among AL pitchers for the eighth straight report, dating back to June 17. Cole leads AL pitchers ahead of second-place Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (15.1), who also leads AL batters.
This is the third time Cole has led players this season. He took the lead May 12 with 9.0 Box-Toppers points, losing it to Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow on May 26. He took the lead again June 16 with 13.4 points, losing it to Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom on June 21. Wheeler took the lead from deGrom on Aug. 8 with 17.1 points before losing it Monday to Cole.
National League batters—Tatis rises to the lead with 9.2 Box-Toppers points, passing Adam Duvall of the Braves (8.0), who falls to second place. Tatis ranks 32nd among all players in 2021 Box-Toppers points.
National League pitchers—Wheeler leads the category for the second straight week with 17.1 points, picking up no points in the past week. He ranks ahead of second-place Jacob degrom of the Mets (16.7). Wheeler falls from first to second place overall.
American League batters—Shohei Ohtani of the Angels leads for the fourth straight week with 15.1 Box-Toppers points, picking up 1.7 points in the past week. He ranks ahead of second-place J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (9.7).
Ohtani ranks fifth among all players, the only batter among the overall top 10.
While Ohtani picked up points in the past week, he did it as a starting pitcher. In fact, his last three Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors and his most-recent 3.7 Box-Toppers points have all been earned as a starting pitcher.
Ohtani has earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors 11 times in 2021, three as a designated hitter and the other eight as a starting pitcher. Uniquely, Ohtani qualifies in Box-Toppers rankings among both batters and pitchers (ranking second among AL pitchers).
However, Ohtani now barely qualifies to be listed and ranked among batters. In order for players to be listed at a certain position, they need to have more than 25 percent of their Player of the Game honors at that position. Currently, Ohtani has won Player of the Game as a designated hitter in 27 percent of his 11 such honors. If his next Player of the Game honor comes as a pitcher, that will fall to 25 percent and he will no longer be listed as a designated hitter, only a starting pitcher and will be entirely removed from the list of AL batting leaders.
Top 10 list exits and entrances—Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes rises to ninth place this week with 13.1 Box-Toppers points, displacing his teammate, pitcher Freddy Peralta, from the top 10. Peralta ranked 10th last week and falls to 11th this week with 12.7 Box-Toppers points.
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.
Five players joined the #BT40 this week:
Chris Flexen of the Mariners rises to 10th place among AL pitchers with 9.0 points.
Julio Urias of the Dodgers rises to eighth place among NL pitchers with 12.4 points.
Walker Buehler of the Dodgers rises to 10th place among NL pitchers with 11.7 points.
Dansby Swanson of the Braves rises to seventh place among NL batters with 7.0 points.
Nolan Arenado of the Cardinals rises to eighth place among NL batters with 7.0 points.
Those five displace these five players: White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove, Manny Machado of the Padres and Trevor Story of the Rockies.
It should be noted that the #BT40 are not the overall top 40 players, but the top 10 in each of four categories (in fact, with Ohtani’s inclusion on two top 10 lists, it actually includes 39 total players). The lowest-ranking player among the #BT40 is Randal Grichuk of the Blue Jays (5.5 points, 10th among AL batters), who ranks 101st overall.
Box-Toppers almanac
Players who have earned Box-Toppers points so far in 2021—700 (it was 678 as of last week).
Players with more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points—318 (it was 302 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)—156 (it was 142 as of last week).
Games completed so far in 2021—1,822, an average of 121.5 per team.
Percentage of scheduled season completed—75.0.
Pitchers have won 62.0 percent of all Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors compared to 38.0 percent won by batters. (Through games of Aug. 12, pitchers had won Player of the Game honors in 62.1 percent of all games played.)
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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