The Boston Red Sox maintain their lead in Box-Toppers team rankings for the sixth straight week.
Team rankings
Here are Box-Toppers 2018 season team rankings, through the games of Thursday, Sept. 6. 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. 31 to Sept. 6. The column Wk ago shows the team's rank as of Aug. 30.| Teams | BTP | BTP/wk | Wk ago | |
| 1 | Red Sox | 129.6 | 4.4 | 1 |
| 2 | Yankees | 118.3 | 3.0 | 2 |
| 3 | Indians | 113.9 | 7.4 | 4 |
| 4 | Brewers | 112.9 | 17.4 | 12 |
| 5 | Astros | 111.8 | 5.0 | 3 |
| 6 | Cubs | 107.8 | 3.5 | 5 |
| 7 | Athletics | 106.8 | 6.2 | 6 |
| 8 | Dodgers | 106.1 | 8.5 | 8 |
| 9 | Diamondbacks | 102.1 | 2.0 | 7 |
| 10 | Braves | 100.1 | 3.0 | 9 |
| 11 | Cardinals | 99.5 | 4.0 | 11 |
| 12 | Phillies | 97.6 | 2.0 | 10 |
| 13 | Mariners | 95.8 | 3.0 | 13 |
| 14 | Rockies | 92.0 | 5.5 | 14 |
| 15 | Nationals | 79.1 | -4.2 | 15 |
| 16 | Giants | 75.2 | 1.7 | 17 |
| 17 | Pirates | 75.1 | 1.0 | 16 |
| 18 | Angels | 74.8 | 6.5 | 19 |
| 19 | Twins | 70.7 | 1.0 | 18 |
| 20 | Rays | 67.6 | 4.0 | 20 |
| 21 | Mets | 66.2 | 5.0 | 21 |
| 22 | Marlins | 65.5 | 4.4 | 22 |
| 23 | Reds | 61.5 | 3.0 | 23 |
| 24 | Rangers | 59.9 | 1.8 | 24 |
| 25 | White Sox | 58.0 | 3.0 | 25 |
| 26 | Tigers | 56.7 | 3.5 | 26 |
| 27 | Padres | 49.7 | 4.0 | 28 |
| 28 | Blue Jays | 48.1 | -3.5 | 27 |
| 29 | Royals | 42.2 | 4.0 | 30 |
| 30 | Orioles | 38.4 | -0.5 | 29 |
Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Brewers leap eight spots up Box-Toppers team rankings to fourth place, jumping to the lead among National League teams after making Aug. 31 deadline trades.
Red Sox players have accumulated 129.6 Box-Toppers points through the games of Sept. 6, picking up 4.4 points in the past week. They also have baseball’s best winning percentage (.688).
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-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 11.3 points. The Yankees have 118.3 points, picking up 3.0 points in the past week.
The Milwaukee Brewers passed last week’s top NL team, the Chicago Cubs. The Brewers have 112.9 Box-Toppers points, picking up 17.4 in the past week, by far the most of any team in the past week. They rise eight spots—also the most of any team this week—from 12th to fourth place overall.
The Brewers gained 12.4 of their 17.4 points this week making two Aug. 31 deadline trades, picking up outfielder Curtis Granderson and his 6.7 Box-Toppers points he earned this season with the Blue Jays and starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez and his 5.7 points he earned this season with the Nationals. The Brewers earned the other 5.0 points winning four of the six games they played this past week.
While the Brewers rise to first place in Box-Toppers points among all NL teams, they have the second-best winning percentage of NL teams (.560), 4.5 games behind their NL Central division counterparts, the Cubs (.593). The Cubs this week fall from fifth to sixth place overall with 107.8 Box-Toppers points, picking up 3.5 points in the past week.
Top player for the Brewers is pitcher Jhoulys Chacin (12.7 Box-Toppers points), who ranks seventh among NL pitchers. New acquisition Curtis Granderson leads Brewers batters with 6.7 Box-Toppers points, eighth among NL batters. Twenty-eight different Brewers players have earned Box-Toppers points so far in 2018.
With the Brewers’ rise into the top 10 in Box-Toppers team rankings, the Philadelphia Phillies fall out of the top 10, moving from 10th to 12th with 97.6 Box-Toppers points, picking up 2.0 points in the past week.
The Phillies are among three teams that fell furthest this past week—two spots. The others are:
The Houston Astros falling from third to fifth place with 111.8 Box-Toppers points, picking up 5.0 points in the past week.
The Arizona Diamondbacks falling from seventh to ninth place with 102.1 Box-Toppers points, picking up 2.0 points in the past week.
The Washington Nationals had the biggest net loss in points during the past week, falling 4.2 points, after trading Gio Gonzalez to the Brewers. The Nationals maintained their 15th place spot with 79.1 points.
Two other teams had net losses in points:
The Toronto Blue Jays had a net loss of 3.5 points after trading Granderson to the Brewers. The Blue Jays fell from 27th to 28th place with 48.1 points.
The Baltimore Orioles had a net loss of 0.5 points, due in part to the release this week of outfielder Craig Gentry (1.5 Box-Toppers points in 2018). The Orioles fall from 29th to 30th and last place with 38.4 Box-Toppers points. They replace last week’s lowest-ranked team, the Kansas City Royals, who rise to 29th with 42.2 points, picking up 4.0 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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