The Boston Red Sox maintain their lead in Box-Toppers team rankings for the eighth straight week.
Team rankings
Here are Box-Toppers 2018 season team rankings, through the games of Thursday, Sept. 20. 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 Sept 14 to Sept. 20. The column Wk ago shows the team's rank as of Sept. 13.| Teams | BTP | BTP/wk | Wk ago | |
| 1 | Red Sox | 138.6 | 4.0 | 1 |
| 2 | Yankees | 126.5 | 4.2 | 2 |
| 3 | Astros | 121.5 | 4.0 | 4 |
| 4 | Brewers | 121.4 | 3.0 | 3 |
| 5 | Indians | 120.6 | 3.7 | 5 |
| 6 | Dodgers | 118.3 | 7.5 | 7 |
| 7 | Cubs | 115.5 | 5.7 | 8 |
| 8 | Athletics | 115.3 | 3.0 | 6 |
| 9 | Braves | 110.3 | 3.5 | 9 |
| 10 | Cardinals | 106.2 | 3.7 | 11 |
| 11 | Diamondbacks | 106.1 | 2.0 | 10 |
| 12 | Phillies | 103.6 | 5.0 | 12 |
| 13 | Mariners | 102.3 | 4.5 | 13 |
| 14 | Rockies | 97.0 | 1.0 | 14 |
| 15 | Nationals | 88.8 | 3.5 | 15 |
| 16 | Pirates | 84.8 | 6.0 | 17 |
| 17 | Angels | 84.3 | 2.5 | 16 |
| 18 | Twins | 79.7 | 4.5 | 18 |
| 19 | Rays | 79.5 | 6.2 | 21 |
| 20 | Giants | 79.2 | 4.0 | 19 |
| 21 | Mets | 76.2 | 3.5 | 21 |
| 22 | Reds | 70.4 | 3.7 | 22 |
| 23 | Marlins | 68.5 | 2.0 | 23 |
| 24 | Rangers | 63.9 | 2.5 | 24 |
| 25 | Tigers | 62.7 | 3.0 | 25 |
| 26 | White Sox | 62.0 | 3.0 | 26 |
| 27 | Blue Jays | 57.3 | 6.7 | 28 |
| 28 | Padres | 55.2 | 2.5 | 27 |
| 29 | Royals | 48.2 | 2.0 | 29 |
| 30 | Orioles | 41.4 | 2.0 | 30 |
Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Brewers maintain their lead among National League teams and the Los Angeles Dodgers are the hottest team of the past week.
Red Sox players have accumulated 138.6 Box-Toppers points through the games of Sept. 20, picking up 4.0 points in the past week. They also have baseball’s best winning percentage (.680).
The Red Sox are led by pitcher Chris Sale with 21.1 Box-Toppers points, who ranks third in Box-Toppers season player rankings. Top batter is J.D. Martinez (11.5 points), who ranks first among American League batters. Twenty-three different Red Sox players have earned Player of the Game honors so far this season.
The Red Sox lead the second-place team, the New York Yankees, by 12.1 points. The Yankees have 126.5 points, picking up 4.2 points in the past week.
The Milwaukee Brewers lead NL teams in Box-Toppers team rankings for the third week, falling from third to fourth place overall with 121.4 Box-Toppers points, picking up 3.0 points in the past week. The Brewers have the second-best winning percentage among NL teams (.569) behind the Chicago Cubs (.586). The Cubs have 115.5 Box-Toppers points on the season, picking up 5.7 points in the past week, rising from eighth to seventh overall and third among NL teams, behind the Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers (in sixth overall with 118.3 points).
Top player for the Brewers is pitcher Jhoulys Chacin (12.7 Box-Toppers points), who ranks ninth among NL pitchers. Curtis Granderson leads Brewers batters with 8.2 Box-Toppers points, fifth among NL batters. Twenty-nine different Brewers players have earned Box-Toppers points so far in 2018.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are the hottest team of the week, picking up 7.5 points from Sept. 14 to 20, most of any team. The Dodgers rise from seventh to sixth place in team rankings with 118.3 points.
The Tampa Bay Rays rise two spots in team rankings, the biggest climb of any team in the past week. The Rays rise from 21st to 19th place with 79.5 Box-Toppers points, picking up 6.2 in the past week.
The Oakland Athletics fall two spots in team rankings, the biggest decline of any team in the past week. The Athletics fall from sixth to eighth place with 115.3 Box-Toppers points, picking up 3.0 points in the past week.
The St. Louis Cardinals rise into the top 10 in team rankings this week, rising from 11th to 10th with 106.2 Box-Toppers points, picking up 3.7 points in the past week. The Arizona Diamondbacks fall from the top 10, falling from 10th to 11th place with 106.1 Box-Toppers points, picking up 2.0 points in the past week.
The Baltimore Orioles rank last in 30th place for the third straight week with 41.4 Box-Toppers points, picking up 2.0 points in the past week.
Next week—Box-Toppers weekly team and player rankings reports are normally posted on Fridays. Next week there will be no weekly reports posted on Friday, Sept. 28, since it is so close to the end of the season, Monday, Oct. 1. Instead the weekly team and player reports will be posted after the regular season final games.
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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