| 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 | 19.1 | |
| 2 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 15.1 | 2 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 17.1 | |
| 3 | Bassitt, Chris 3413 | pi sp | oak al | 13.7 | 3 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 17.1 | |
| 4 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 | 4 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 | |
| 5 | Manaea, Sean 3637 | pi sp | oak al | 12.7 | 5 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 16.4 | |
| 6 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | tor al | 12.7 | 6 | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi sp | mil nl | 15.1 | |
| 7 | Lynn, Lance 2992 | pi sp | chi al | 10.7 | 7 | Musgrove, Joe 3705 | pi sp | sd nl | 15.1 | |
| 8 | Cease, Dylan 4231 | pi sp | chi al | 10.7 | 8 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.4 | |
| 9 | Giolito, Lucas 3900 | pi sp | chi al | 10.4 | 9 | Buehler, Walker 3943 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.7 | |
| 10 | Eovaldi, Nathan 2928 | pi sp | bos al | 10.4 | 10 | Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi sp | mil nl | 12.7 | |
| AL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | NL BATTERS | POS | TEAM | BTP | |||
| 1 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 15.1 | 1 | Castellanos, Nicholas 3349 | rf | cin nl | 10.5 | |
| 2 | Martinez, J.D. 2922 | dh | bos al | 10.7 | 2 | Tatis, Fernando Jr. 4101 | ss | sd nl | 9.2 | |
| 3 | Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 9.5 | 3 | Duvall, Adam 3573 | rf lf | atl nl | 8.0 | |
| 4 | Lowe, Brandon 4108 | 2b | tb al | 9.0 | 4 | Votto, Joey 2366 | 1b | cin nl | 8.0 | |
| 5 | Bogaerts, Xander 3383 | ss | bos 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 | Walsh, Jared 4332 | 1b | ana al | 6.5 | 9 | Riley, Austin 4144 | 3b | atl nl | 6.5 | |
| 10 | Renfroe, Hunter 3749 | rf | bos al | 6.0 | 10 | Crawford, Brandon 2878 | ss | sf nl | 6.5 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole leads in Box-Toppers season player rankings for the third straight week.
Meanwhile, Nick Castellanos of the Reds rises to lead National League batters in Box-Toppers rankings. Two other category leaders remain the same: Max Scherzer of the Dodgers continues to lead NL pitchers and Shohei Ohtani of the Angels continues to lead American League batters.
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. 2.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 22.4 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 19.1 |
| 3 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 17.1 |
| 4 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 17.1 |
| 5 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 6 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 16.4 |
| 7 | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi sp | mil nl | 15.1 |
| 8 | Musgrove, Joe 3705 | pi sp | sd nl | 15.1 |
| 9 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp dh | ana al | 15.1 |
| 10 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 14.4 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Cole has 22.4 Box-Toppers points, picking up 3.0 points in the past week, ahead of overall second-place player Scherzer (19.1 points). Cole maintains his lead among AL pitchers for the 10th 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.
National League batters—Nick Castellanos of the Reds regains the category lead with 10.5 Box-Toppers points, passing previous leader Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres, who falls to second place with 9.2 points.
Castellanos, who last led NL batters at the Aug. 5 player rankings report, ranks 27th among all players in 2021 Box-Toppers points.
National League pitchers—Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer leads for the second week with 19.1 Box-Toppers points, picking up 1.7 points in the past week. He is trailed in second place by Brandon Woodruff of the Brewers (17.1 points).
Scherzer ranks second overall in 2021 Box-Toppers points.
American League batters—Shohei Ohtani of the Angels leads for the sixth straight week with 15.1 Box-Toppers points, picking up 0.0 points in the past week. He ranks ahead of second-place J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (10.7).
Ohtani ranks ninth among all players, the only batter among the overall top 10.
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. Ohtani’s 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.
Top 10 list exits and entrances—Two players rise in the Box-Toppers season player rankings top 10 list this week—Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes (15.1 points) rises to seventh place and Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove (15.1 points) rises to eighth.
They displace Athletics pitcher pitcher Chris Bassitt (13.7, who falls to 11th) and Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler (13.7, who falls to 12th).
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:
Dylan Cease of the White Sox rises to eighth place among AL pitchers with 10.7 points.
Jared Walsh of the Angels rises to ninth place among AL batters with 6.5 points.
Those two displace these two players: Mariners pitcher Chris Flexen and Yordan Alvarez 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 (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 Hunter Renfroe of the Red Sox (6.0 points, 10th among AL batters), who ranks 97th overall.
Box-Toppers almanac
Players who have earned Box-Toppers points so far in 2021—733 (it was 720 as of last week).
Players with more than 2.0 Box-Toppers points—345 (it was 333 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)—168 (it was 164 as of last week).
Games completed so far in 2021—2,004, an average of 133.6 per team.
Percentage of scheduled season completed—82.5.
In the 92 games completed from Aug. 27 to Sept. 2, pitchers won Player of the Game honors in 61 of the games (66.3 percent), while batters won Player of the Game honors in 31 (33.7 percent). That increased the overall share of Player of the Game honors won by pitchers this season to 62.4 percent of all games (1,250 out of 2,004), compared to 37.6 percent won by batters (754 out of 2,004). (Last week, through games of Aug. 26, pitchers had 62.2 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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