The Boston Red Sox maintain their lead in Box-Toppers team rankings for the fifth straight week.
Team rankings
Here are Box-Toppers 2018 season team rankings, through the games of Thursday, Aug. 30. 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 Aug. 24 to Aug. 30. The column Wk ago shows the team's rank as of Aug. 23.| Teams | BTP | BTP/wk | Wk ago | |
| 1 | Red Sox | 125.2 | 3.7 | 1 |
| 2 | Yankees | 115.3 | 9.7 | 2 |
| 3 | Astros | 106.8 | 5.7 | 3 |
| 4 | Indians | 106.5 | 5.5 | 4 |
| 5 | Cubs | 104.3 | 9.0 | 7 |
| 6 | Athletics | 100.6 | 4.0 | 5 |
| 7 | Diamondbacks | 100.1 | 4.7 | 6 |
| 8 | Dodgers | 97.6 | 6.0 | 9 |
| 9 | Braves | 97.1 | 6.0 | 10 |
| 10 | Phillies | 95.6 | 4.0 | 8 |
| 11 | Cardinals | 95.5 | 4.7 | 12 |
| 12 | Brewers | 95.5 | 4.5 | 11 |
| 13 | Mariners | 92.8 | 3.0 | 13 |
| 14 | Rockies | 86.5 | 3.0 | 14 |
| 15 | Nationals | 83.3 | 3.5 | 15 |
| 16 | Pirates | 74.1 | 0.0 | 16 |
| 17 | Giants | 73.5 | 1.5 | 17 |
| 18 | Twins | 69.7 | 0.0 | 18 |
| 19 | Angels | 68.3 | 2.0 | 19 |
| 20 | Rays | 63.6 | 4.7 | 22 |
| 21 | Mets | 62.2 | 1.0 | 20 |
| 22 | Marlins | 61.1 | 2.0 | 21 |
| 23 | Reds | 58.5 | 1.5 | 23 |
| 24 | Rangers | 58.1 | 1.7 | 24 |
| 25 | White Sox | 55.0 | 5.0 | 27 |
| 26 | Tigers | 53.2 | 1.5 | 25 |
| 27 | Blue Jays | 51.6 | 0.0 | 26 |
| 28 | Padres | 45.7 | 3.0 | 28 |
| 29 | Orioles | 38.9 | 3.5 | 30 |
| 30 | Royals | 38.2 | 0.5 | 29 |
Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs rise to regain the lead among National League teams and the New York Yankees are the hottest team of the past week.
Red Sox players have accumulated 125.2 Box-Toppers points through the games of Aug. 30, picking up 3.7 points in the past week. They also have baseball’s best winning percentage (.689).
The Red Sox are led by pitcher Chris Sale with 20.1 Box-Toppers points, who ranks second in Box-Toppers season player rankings. Top batter is J.D. Martinez (11.5 points), who ranks first among American League batters. Twenty-two different Red Sox players have earned Player of the Game honors so far this season.
The Chicago Cubs regain the lead among NL teams with 104.3 Box-Toppers points, picking up 9.0 points in the past week, rising from seventh to fifth place overall. They pass last week’s NL leaders, the Arizona Diamondbacks, who fall from sixth to seventh place overall with 100.1 points, picking up 4.7 in the past week.
Top player for the Cubs is pitcher Cole Hamels (11.1 Box-Toppers points), who ranks 10th among NL pitchers. Javier Baez leads Cubs batters with 7.5 Box-Toppers points, third among NL batters. Thirty-one different Cubs players have earned Box-Toppers points so far in 2018.
The New York Yankees are the week’s hottest team, picking up 9.7 Box-Toppers points in the past week, giving them 115.3 points for the season. They maintain their second-place spot in Box-Toppers team rankings, but move 6.0 points closer to the team rankings leader Red Sox, still 9.9 points behind.
The Yankees picked up 6.2 of their 9.7 in the past week in five wins. They picked up the other 3.5 points by acquiring outfielder Andrew McCutchen Friday and the points he’s earned so far this season with the San Francisco Giants. Were it not for the McCutchen trade from the Giants, the Yankees gain of 6.2 points for the week would only be the second-biggest among teams and the Cubs’ 9.0-gain would have been the biggest team gain of the week.
The Cubs’ rise of two spots in Box-Toppers team rankings is tied with two other teams for the biggest climb of the week. The other two teams are:
The Tampa Bay Rays, which climbed from 22nd to 20th place with 63.6 Box-Toppers points, picking up 4.7 in the past week.
The Chicago White Sox, which climbed from 27th to 25th place with 55.0 Box-Toppers points, picking up 5.0 in the past week.
The Philadelphia Phillies fell two spots in Box-Toppers team rankings this week, most among all teams. The Phillies fell from eighth to 10th place with 95.6 Box-Toppers points, picking up 4.0 points in the past week.
The Kansas City Royals fall from 29th to 30th and last place this week with 38.2 Box-Toppers points, picking up a net of 0.5 points in the past week. The Royals this week traded away first baseman Lucas Duda and the 4.0 Box-Toppers points he earned with them this season to the Atlanta Braves.
Last week’s lowest-ranked team, the Baltimore Orioles, rise from 30th to 29th place with 38.9 Box-Toppers points, picking up 3.5 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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