The Houston Astros lead Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report for the third straight week.
Team rankings
Here are Box-Toppers 2018 season team rankings, through the games of Thursday, May 31. The column BTP shows the number of Box-Toppers points players on the team accumulated this season. The column BTP/wk shows have many points teams accumulated from May 25 to May 31. The column Wk ago shows the team's rank as of May 24.| Teams | BTP | BTP/wk | Wk ago | |
| 1 | Astros | 48.2 | 3.0 | 1 |
| 2 | Yankees | 43.9 | 4.0 | 3 |
| 3 | Mariners | 43.2 | 10.0 | 7 |
| 4 | Nationals | 43.0 | 7.0 | 4 |
| 5 | Red Sox | 41.6 | 1.5 | 2 |
| 6 | Brewers | 39.9 | 6.5 | 6 |
| 7 | Cubs | 38.3 | 6.0 | 9 |
| 8 | Braves | 37.8 | 4.0 | 5 |
| 9 | Indians | 37.6 | 7.9 | 15 |
| 10 | Phillies | 37.0 | 5.4 | 10 |
| 11 | Angels | 35.7 | 3.0 | 8 |
| 12 | Dodgers | 35.0 | 5.4 | 16 |
| 13 | Rockies | 34.9 | 4.5 | 11 |
| 14 | Cardinals | 34.0 | 4.0 | 13 |
| 15 | Diamondbacks | 33.5 | 3.5 | 14 |
| 16 | Athletics | 33.2 | 4.0 | 17 |
| 17 | Pirates | 32.2 | 2.0 | 12 |
| 18 | Mets | 30.7 | 2.0 | 19 |
| 19 | Twins | 30.1 | 1.0 | 18 |
| 20 | Padres | 29.9 | 4.5 | 22 |
| 21 | Blue Jays | 29.9 | 2.0 | 21 |
| 22 | Giants | 29.9 | 2.0 | 20 |
| 23 | Tigers | 29.0 | 5.0 | 23 |
| 24 | Rangers | 27.4 | 4.5 | 25 |
| 25 | Rays | 25.2 | 1.7 | 24 |
| 26 | Reds | 24.5 | 2.5 | 27 |
| 27 | Marlins | 23.4 | 1.0 | 26 |
| 28 | Royals | 23.0 | 5.5 | 30 |
| 29 | Orioles | 21.9 | 1.0 | 28 |
| 30 | White Sox | 19.4 | 1.0 | 29 |
Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals maintain their lead among National League teams and the Seattle Mariners are the week’s hottest team for the second week in a row.
Astros players have accumulated 48.2 Box-Toppers points through the games of May 31, picking up 3.0 points in the past week. The Astros have baseball’s fourth-best winning percentage (.621), behind these three teams:
- The Boston Red Sox (.680), which rank fifth in Box-Toppers team rankings with 41.6 points.
- The New York Yankees (.673), which rank second in Box-Toppers team rankings with 43.9 points.
- The Milwaukee Brewers (.632), which rank sixth in Box-Toppers team rankings with 39.9 points.
The Astros are led by pitcher Charlie Morton with 10.1 Box-Toppers points, who ranks third among all players. There are three Astros pitchers among the overall top 10 in Box-Toppers points—Morton, Gerrit Cole (ranked fourth with 10.0 points) and Justin Verlander (ranked eighth with 7.7 points). Astros’ top batter is Josh Reddick (2.5 points). Twelve different Astros players have earned Player of the Game honors so far this season.
The Nationals top NL teams for the third straight week with 43.0 Box-Toppers points, picking up 2.5 points over the past week, holding steady at fourth place overall.
Top player for the Nationals is pitcher Max Scherzer, who leads all players with 13.4 Box-Toppers points. Outfielder Bryce Harper leads Nationals batters with 3.0 points, ninth among NL batters. Twelve different Nationals players have earned Box-Toppers points so far in 2018.
The Seattle Mariners are the past week’s hottest team, picking up 10.0 Box-Toppers points in the past week, rising from seventh place to third place overall with 43.2 points. It is the second straight week the Mariners have been Box-Toppers’ hottest team. Last week, they had a gain of 7.2 points, most of any team for the period May 18 to 24.
The Cleveland Indians had the biggest rise of any team in the past week, rising six spots in rankings from 15th to ninth place with 37.6 Box-Toppers points, picking up 7.9 points in the past week.
The Pittsburgh Pirates had the biggest decline of any team in the past week, dropping five spots from 12th to 17th place with 32.2 Box-Toppers points, picking up 2.0 points in the past week.
The Boston Red Sox fell from second to fifth place in Box-Toppers team rankings despite winning five of seven games played this past week. This week, the Red Sox released first baseman/designated hitter Hanley Ramirez, who had already earned 3.5 Box-Toppers points this season. With his release, the Red Sox lose those points he earned. And while the Red Sox picked up 5.0 Box-Toppers points this week in five wins, they had a net gain of only 1.5 points from last week, because of the Ramirez release.
The Chicago White Sox fall from 29th to 30th and last place in Box-Toppers team rankings this week with 19.4 Box-Toppers points, picking up 1.0 point in the past week. Last week’s lowest-ranked team, the Kansas City Royals, rise to 28th place with 23.0 Box-Toppers points, picking up 5.5 points in the past week.
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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