With a little more than a week to go in the season, the Chicago Cubs maintain their near season-long dominance, again leading Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report.
Team rankings
Here are Box-Toppers' team rankings, through the games of Thursday, Sept. 22. The column BTP shows the number of Box-Toppers points players on the team have accumulated so far this season. The column BTP/wk shows have many points teams accumulated from Sept. 16 to 22. The column Wk ago shows the team's rank as of Sept 15.| 9/22 | Teams | BTP | BTP/wk | Wk ago |
| 1 | Cubs | 132.0 | 4.0 | 1 |
| 2 | Red Sox | 123.3 | 7.0 | 3 |
| 3 | Dodgers | 119.8 | 0.5 | 2 |
| 4 | Indians | 117.7 | 6.0 | 4 |
| 5 | Rangers | 115.0 | 4.0 | 5 |
| 6 | Mets | 112.4 | 4.7 | 6 |
| 7 | Nationals | 110.1 | 2.5 | 7 |
| 8 | Orioles | 108.1 | 2.0 | 8 |
| 9 | Blue Jays | 108.0 | 4.0 | 9 |
| 10 | Tigers | 104.4 | 5.4 | 11 |
| 11 | Giants | 104.0 | 4.0 | 10 |
| 12 | Marlins | 95.7 | 4.0 | 12 |
| 13 | Astros | 93.1 | 6.0 | 14 |
| 14 | Cardinals | 92.8 | 4.7 | 13 |
| 15 | Royals | 85.5 | 2.0 | 15 |
| 16 | Rockies | 85.1 | 5.7 | 17 |
| 17 | Mariners | 84.5 | 3.0 | 16 |
| 18 | Phillies | 83.8 | 4.5 | 18 |
| 19 | Pirates | 82.2 | 5.0 | 20 |
| 20 | Yankees | 79.5 | 3.0 | 21 |
| 21 | White Sox | 78.4 | 1.0 | 19 |
| 22 | Angels | 71.8 | 4.7 | 23 |
| 23 | Rays | 70.5 | 3.0 | 22 |
| 24 | Dbacks | 69.5 | 2.5 | 24 |
| 25 | Brewers | 69.2 | 3.5 | 25 |
| 26 | Twins | 65.6 | 0.0 | 26 |
| 27 | Braves | 64.2 | 6.5 | 28 |
| 28 | Reds | 63.0 | 1.0 | 27 |
| 29 | Athletics | 57.9 | 2.5 | 29 |
| 30 | Padres | 55.3 | 2.0 | 30 |
Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox—the hottest team of the week—maintain their lead among American League teams and rise from third to second place among all teams.
Cubs players have accumulated 132.0 Box-Toppers points this season, picking up 4.0 points in the past week. The Cubs also have baseball’s best winning percentage (.638). The Cubs are led by pitcher Jon Lester (21.1 Box-Toppers points). Top batter is Kris Bryant (10.5 points). Twenty-four different Cubs players have earned Player of the Game honors so far this season.
The Red Sox maintain their spot atop AL teams with 123.3 Box-Toppers points, picking up 7.0 points in the past week, more than any other team. The Red Sox pass the Los Angeles Dodgers (119.8 Box-Toppers points) to move into second place among all teams. The Dodgers picked up a net of only 0.5 Box-Toppers points this week, largely due to designating for assignment pitcher Bud Norris. With that designation, Norris’ 5.7 Box-Toppers points he earned in 2016 are removed the Dodgers’ team total.
The Red Sox are led by pitcher David Price (12.4 Box-Toppers points). Top batters are David Ortiz, Travis Shaw and Hanley Ramirez (all with 7.0 points). Twenty-eight different Red Sox players have earned Player of the Game honors so far this season.
While the Red Sox have more Box-Toppers points than any AL team, the team is third among AL teams in winning percentage (.582), only one game behind the AL-leading Texas Rangers (.588). The Rangers rank fifth among all teams in Box-Toppers points with 115.0.
The San Diego Padres remain in 30th and last place among all teams with 55.3 Box-Toppers points, picking up 2.0 points in the past week.
This is the penultimate (and also next-to-last) Box-Toppers team rankings report for the 2016 season. There will be no regular report next Friday, Sept. 30—the final report will come after the season’s final games, scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 2.
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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