Team rankings
Here are Box-Toppers 2021 team rankings through games of Thursday, Sept. 16. 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. 10 to Sept. 16. The column Wk ago shows the team's rank on Sept. 9.| Teams | BTP | BTP/wk | Wk ago | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dodgers | 131.5 | +8.0 | 1 |
| 2 | Brewers | 115.8 | +4.0 | 2 |
| 3 | White Sox | 111.5 | +3.7 | 3 |
| 4 | Giants | 110.1 | +6.0 | 6 |
| 5 | Yankees | 107.6 | +3.0 | 5 |
| 6 | Padres | 107.1 | +8.7 | 11 |
| 7 | Braves | 107.0 | +2.0 | 4 |
| 8 | Blue Jays | 106.3 | +8.0 | 12 |
| 9 | Red Sox | 105.7 | +3.0 | 7 |
| 10 | Rays | 105.5 | +3.7 | 8 |
| 11 | Astros | 104.5 | +5.5 | 10 |
| 12 | Mets | 98.0 | +2.5 | 13 |
| 13 | Phillies | 97.4 | -1.7 | 9 |
| 14 | Athletics | 94.7 | +4.0 | 14 |
| 15 | Mariners | 91.0 | +2.0 | 15 |
| 16 | Reds | 89.3 | +2.0 | 16 |
| 17 | Cardinals | 88.4 | +5.5 | 18 |
| 18 | Indians | 86.5 | +2.0 | 17 |
| 19 | Rockies | 83.5 | +4.0 | 19 |
| 20 | Angels | 81.6 | +3.7 | 20 |
| 21 | Tigers | 73.6 | +4.0 | 21 |
| 22 | Marlins | 69.4 | +5.4 | 23 |
| 23 | Twins | 67.7 | +2.5 | 22 |
| 24 | Royals | 66.5 | +3.7 | 24 |
| 25 | Rangers | 50.2 | +3.0 | 25 |
| 26 | Nationals | 49.6 | +2.7 | 28 |
| 27 | Orioles | 49.2 | +3.0 | 27 |
| 28 | Pirates | 48.6 | +4.0 | 29 |
| 29 | Diamondbacks | 48.0 | +2.0 | 28 |
| 30 | Cubs | 45.5 | +1.0 | 30 |
The Los Angeles Dodgers maintain their lead in Box-Toppers weekly team rankings report for the eighth straight week.
Meanwhile, the Chicago White Sox maintain the lead among American League teams and the San Diego Padres are the week’s hottest team.
Dodgers players have accumulated 131.5 Box-Toppers points in 2021, picking up 8.0 points in the past week. They lead the second-place overall team, the Milwaukee Brewers (115.8).
The Dodgers have baseball’s second-best winning percentage (.639) behind the San Francisco Giants (.646), who rise from sixth to fourth place in Box-Toppers team rankings this week (110.1 points). The Dodgers are one game behind the Giants in the National League West.
The Dodgers are led by pitcher Max Scherzer with 23.1 Box-Toppers points, who leads all players in Box-Toppers season player rankings. The Dodgers top batter is Max Muncy with 6.0 Box-Toppers points, 17th among NL batters. So far this season, 28 different players on the Dodgers roster have earned Player of the Game honors.
The Dodgers’ point total includes the 9.4 Box-Toppers points earned this season by pitcher Trevor Bauer. It was announced this week that Bauer will not return this season as his administrative leave for investigation into sexual assault allegations, which began in early July, will extend for the remainder of 2021.
The Chicago White Sox lead among AL teams with 111.5 Box-Toppers points, picking up 3.7 points in the past week, maintaining their overall third-place ranking. This is the third straight week the White Sox have led AL teams. They have led AL teams for 18 of the past 20 weeks. The White Sox lead AL teams ahead of the second-place New York Yankees (107.6). The Yankees maintained their overall fifth-place ranking this week, picking up 3.0 points in the past week.
The White Sox have the third-best winning percentage among AL teams (.568), behind the Tampa Bay Rays (.619) and the Houston Astros (.589). The Rays are 10th in Box-Toppers team rankings (105.5 Box-Toppers points) and the Astros are 11th (104.5).
The White Sox are led by pitcher Lance Lynn with 12.4 Box-Toppers points, seventh among AL pitchers. Top batter among the White Sox is Jose Abreu with 7.0 Box-Toppers points, fifth among AL batters. So far this season, 26 different players on the White Sox roster have earned Player of the Game honors.
The San Diego Padres are the week’s hottest team, gaining 8.7 Box-Toppers points in the past week, most of any team, rising from 11th to sixth in team rankings with 107.1 points. Their five-spot rise is also the biggest jump of any team this week in team rankings.
The Padres only won two of the seven games they played this week, picking up just 2.0 Box-Toppers points in team wins. But they also acquired two pitchers this week who earned a combined 6.7 points in 2021, giving them the remaining 8.7-point gain. The Padres signed Vince Velasquez, who earned 5.7 points this season with the Phillies before being released. They also signed reliever Ross Detwiler, who earned 1.0 point with the Marlins before they released him.
Two teams had 8.0 Box-Toppers point gains this week:
The Dodgers, who won all six games they played this week, including picking up overall Player of the Day honors twice—Julio Urias on Friday and Max Scherzer on Sunday.
The Toronto Blue Jays, who won five of the seven games they played this week, including picking up an extra 0.5 points twice winning AL Batter of the Day honors Saturday (Jake Lamb) and Sunday (Lourdes Gurriel Jr.) and picking an extra 1.0 point twice winning overall Player of the Day honors on Monday (Alek Manoah) and Wednesday (Robbie Ray). This is the third straight week the Blue Jays have had the biggest Box-Toppers-point gain among AL teams. The previous two weeks, the Blue Jays had the biggest gain among all teams, picking up 7.9 points the week ending Sept. 2 and picking up 8.0 points the week ending Sept. 9. This week, the Blue Jays rise from 12th to eighth place in overall team rankings with 106.3 Box-Toppers points.
The Philadelphia Phillies had the biggest drop in Box-Toppers team rankings this week and were the only team with a net loss of points this week. The Phillies fell four spots from ninth to 13th place with 97.4 Box-Toppers points, losing 1.7 in the past week. While the Phillies picked up 4.0 Box-Toppers points in three wins this week, they lost the 5.7 earned this season by pitcher Vince Velasquez when they released him Tuesday. (The Phillies’ loss was the Padres’ gain as Velasquez signed with San Diego, propelling them to be the week’s hottest team, despite winning only two games.)
The Chicago Cubs maintained 30th and last place this week with 45.5 Box-Toppers points, picking up 1.0 point 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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