The Los Angeles Dodgers top Box-Toppers team rankings for the fifth straight week.
Meanwhile, the Houston Astros maintain their lead in Box-Toppers rankings among American League teams for the 10th straight week and the Kansas City Royals are the week’s hottest team, thanks in part to recent player trades.
Team rankings
Here are Box-Toppers' top 10 team rankings, through the games of Thursday, July 27. 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 July 21 to 27. The column Wk ago shows the team's rank as of July 20.| 7/27 | Teams | BTP | BTP/wk | Wk ago |
| 1 | Dodgers | 89.5 | 5.0 | 1 |
| 2 | Nationals | 83.6 | 4.0 | 2 |
| 3 | Astros | 78.5 | 6.0 | 3 |
| 4 | Dbacks | 74.3 | 5.0 | 4 |
| 5 | Red Sox | 72.6 | 6.0 | 5 |
| 6 | Indians | 70.0 | 10.0 | 9 |
| 7 | Rockies | 69.4 | 3.5 | 6 |
| 8 | Royals | 69.3 | 14.9 | 16 |
| 9 | Cubs | 69.1 | 6.2 | 7 |
| 10 | Yankees | 68.2 | 5.7 | 8 |
| 11 | Brewers | 65.9 | 7.2 | 11 |
| 12 | Mariners | 63.4 | 6.0 | 13 |
| 13 | Rays | 62.3 | 3.0 | 10 |
| 14 | Twins | 60.8 | 3.0 | 12 |
| 15 | Cardinals | 59.1 | 4.7 | 17 |
| 16 | Rangers | 58.9 | 4.0 | 14 |
| 17 | Pirates | 57.5 | 3.0 | 15 |
| 18 | Mets | 54.8 | 4.5 | 21 |
| 19 | Marlins | 54.6 | 5.5 | 22 |
| 20 | Angels | 53.5 | 2.0 | 19 |
| 21 | Blue Jays | 53.2 | 4.5 | 24 |
| 22 | Orioles | 53.1 | 2.0 | 20 |
| 23 | Braves | 51.7 | 0.0 | 18 |
| 24 | Athletics | 49.9 | 1.0 | 23 |
| 25 | Tigers | 49.1 | 2.5 | 27 |
| 26 | Reds | 48.4 | 1.7 | 26 |
| 27 | Giants | 45.2 | 1.0 | 28 |
| 28 | Padres | 43.9 | -4.4 | 25 |
| 29 | Phillies | 41.0 | 3.4 | 29 |
| 30 | White Sox | 28.1 | -4.0 | 30 |
Dodgers players have accumulated 89.5 Box-Toppers points so far this season, including 5.0 since last week. The Dodgers also have baseball’s best winning percentage (.696).
The Dodgers are led by pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22.1 Box-Toppers points), who also leads all players in season player rankings. Kershaw, however, is on the disabled list and is not expected to return until at least late August. Dodgers’ top batter is Cody Bellinger (7.7), who ranks second among NL batters in Box-Toppers points. Nineteen different Dodgers players have earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors so far this season.
The Dodgers lead the second-ranked Washington Nationals. The Nationals have 83.6 Box-Toppers points, 5.9 points behind the Dodgers, and earned 4.0 points this past week.
The Astros lead AL teams for the 10th straight week. With 78.5 Box-Toppers points, including 6.0 in the past week, they maintain their overall third-place rank. The have baseball’s second-best winning percentage (.663).
The Astros are led by pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. (9.4 Box-Toppers points), who ranks 16th among all players. Top batter is Carlos Correa (5.5 points), who ranks ninth among AL batters. Correa is on the disabled list with a torn left thumb ligament and is not expected to return until at least mid-September. Twenty-four different Astros players have earned Player of the Game honors so far this season.
The Kansas City Royals are the week’s hottest team, picking up 14.9 Box-Toppers points in the past week, giving them 69.3 accumulated Box-Toppers points for the season and rising from 16th to eighth place. That rise of eight spots is also the biggest of the week.
The Royals picked up 9.4 of those 14.9 Box-Toppers points by acquiring three players in a trade with the San Diego Padres. The Royals acquired starting pitcher Trevor Cahill and his 6.4 Box-Toppers points, closer Brandon Maurer and his 2.0 points and reliever Ryan Buchter and his 1.0 point. The Royals earned 5.5 more points when its players earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in five wins, including earning 1.5 Box-Toppers points when Eric Hosmer earned AL Batter of the Day honors on July 26.
The Cleveland Indians were the second-hottest team of the week, earning 10.0 Box-Toppers points in the past week, all earned in seven wins, including two players who earned overall Player of the Day in Indians wins (worth 2.0 Box-Toppers points each) and two who earned AL Batter of the Day (worth 1.5 points each).
Two teams lost points this week as both traded away players with 2017 Box-Toppers points and picking up mainly minor league prospects who have yet to earn Box-Toppers points:
- The San Diego Padres lost a net of 4.4 Box-Toppers points after trading Cahill, Maurer and Buchter to the Royals. The Padres now have 43.9 Box-Toppers points on the season and fell from 25th to 28th place.
- The Chicago White Sox lose net Box-Toppers points for the second straight week, falling 4.0 points this week after falling 12.0 points last week. The White Sox traded reliever Anthony Swarzak (4.0 Box-Toppers points) to the Milwaukee Brewers and reliever Dan Jennings (1.0 point) to the Rays. The White Sox now have 28.1 Box-Toppers points on the season and rank 30th (last place) for the second straight week, nearly 13 points behind the 29th-ranked Philadelphia Phillies (41.0 points).
With the Royals rise into the top 10 teams, the Tampa Bay Rays fall from the top 10, moving from 10th to 13th place with 62.3 points. They picked up 3.0 points in the past week.
The Atlanta Braves had the biggest placement drop of the week, falling five spots from 18th to 23rd with 51.7 Box-Toppers points. The Braves picked up a net of 0.0 points in the past week. (Though Braves players earned 2.0 points during the week, the team traded starting pitcher Jaime Garcia to the Minnesota Twins, losing the 2.0 points he’s earned 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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