Note: Box-Toppers is playing catch-up after time away. These are Box-Toppers weekly team standings as of Thursday, Aug. 1:
The Boston Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers, with the help of deadline trades, have knocked the St. Louis Cardinals off the top of Box-Toppers team rankings for the first time since May 10.
Boston is now atop the rankings, followed by Detroit, while St. Louis, last week's leader, falls to third place.
Red Sox players have accumulated the most Box-Toppers points this season with 84.0, rising from fourth place last week. The Tigers are close behind with 83.9 points. The Cardinals remain the top team in the National League with 82.2 points.
The Red Sox and the Tigers both tied for the hottest team of the week, each picking up 11.5 points. The Red Sox, by acquiring starting pitcher Jake Peavy from the Chicago White Sox, picked up the 6.0 Box-Toppers points he's earned so far this year. And the Tigers, by acquiring closer pitcher Jose Veras from the Houston Astros, also picked up the 6.0 points he's earned so far this year.
(Both teams who traded away the star players, the White Sox and the Astros, are at the bottom of the Box-Toppers team rankings. The White Sox are in 29th place with 40.6 points and the Astros are in 30th place with 31.7 points.)
The Cardinals, who had a seemingly insurmountable lead of 7.5 points last week, only picked up 1.5 points over the week. Among the top 10 teams, only the Cincinnati Reds, which picked up 1.0 point over the week, did worse, falling from third place to 10th.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, which languished most of the season and only last week debuted in the top 10, now has the second-highest Box-Toppers point total among NL teams.
Top 10 teams
| 801 | Top 10 Teams | BTP | BTP/wk | Last week rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red Sox | 84.0 | 11.5 | 4 |
| 2 | Tigers | 83.9 | 11.5 | 5 |
| 3 | Cardinals | 82.2 | 1.5 | 1 |
| 4 | Rays | 81.2 | 8.0 | 2 |
| 5 | Indians | 77.8 | 8.2 | 7 |
| 6 | Orioles | 77.6 | 8.0 | 6 |
| 7 | Dodgers | 76.0 | 6.7 | 8 |
| 8 | Athletics | 74.2 | 5.5 | 9 |
| 9 | Rangers | 73.8 | 5.5 | 10 |
| 10 | Reds | 73.8 | 1.0 | 3 |
BTP: Box-Toppers points total. Accumulated points of all players on team in 2013 season.
BTP/wk: Box-Toppers points for the team for the past week, through games on Thursday.