The Pittsburgh Pirates finish the season atop Box-Toppers team rankings, with the Kansas City Royals, the top American League team, just behind in second place.
Team rankings
Here are Box-Toppers' final team rankings for the 2015 regular season, through the games of Sunday, Oct. 4. The column BTP shows the number of Box-Toppers points players on the team accumulated. The column BTP/wk shows have many points teams have accumulated since the previous report through the games of Thursday, Sept. 24. The column Wk ago shows the team's rank as of Sept. 24.10/4 |
Teams |
BTP |
BTP /wk |
Wk ago |
| 1 | Pirates | 129.6 | 5.5 | 1 |
| 2 | Royals | 127.5 | 6.0 | 2 |
| 3 | Cubs | 127.4 | 11.0 | 7 |
| 4 | Cardinals | 124.3 | 3.5 | 3 |
| 5 | Blue Jays | 124.1 | 6.5 | 4 |
| 6 | Dodgers | 122.5 | 6.0 | 6 |
| 7 | Mets | 122.0 | 4.7 | 5 |
| 8 | Astros | 118.4 | 7.9 | 8 |
| 9 | Giants | 110.8 | 5.5 | 9 |
| 10 | Rangers | 107.2 | 5.7 | 10 |
| 11 | Nationals | 106.7 | 8.0 | 11 |
| 12 | Angels | 103.9 | 11.2 | 14 |
| 13 | Yankees | 99.8 | 3.0 | 12 |
| 14 | Orioles | 99.6 | 6.7 | 13 |
| 15 | Indians | 96.8 | 8.7 | 16 |
| 16 | Twins | 94.5 | 5.0 | 15 |
| 17 | White Sox | 90.0 | 4.7 | 18 |
| 18 | Rays | 89.2 | 6.2 | 19 |
| 19 | Mariners | 88.9 | 2.0 | 17 |
| 20 | Dbacks | 83.5 | 7.5 | 21 |
| 21 | Padres | 81.3 | 2.0 | 20 |
| 22 | Athletics | 78.3 | 4.0 | 22 |
| 23 | Red Sox | 77.6 | 7.7 | 23 |
| 24 | Rockies | 73.4 | 5.5 | 24 |
| 25 | Marlins | 72.6 | 5.5 | 25 |
| 26 | Tigers | 63.4 | 3.0 | 26 |
| 27 | Braves | 63.1 | 6.5 | 29 |
| 28 | Brewers | 62.3 | 4.0 | 27 |
| 29 | Reds | 58.7 | 1.0 | 28 |
| 30 | Phillies | 56.8 | 7.0 | 30 |
Pirates players accumulated 129.6 Box-Toppers points this season, picking up 5.5 since the last report, through the games of Sept. 24. It is the fourth straight time they have led Box-Toppers team rankings reports. The Pirates are led by pitcher Gerrit Cole (19.0 Box-Toppers points). Top batter is Andrew McCutchen (10.5 points). Twenty-four different Pirates players have earned Player of the Game honors this season.
Pirates have baseball’s second-best winning percentage (.605), behind their division rival St. Louis Cardinals (.617). The Pirates actually finished 2.0 games behind St. Louis in the NL Central. The Cardinals slipped from third to fourth among all teams with 124.3 Box-Toppers points.
The Royals maintain their lead among AL teams for the seventh straight week with 127.5 Box-Toppers points. They are led by pitcher Johnny Cueto (12.8 Box-Toppers points). Top batter is Eric Hosmer (9.0 Box-Toppers points). Twenty-six different Royals players have earned Player of the Game honors this season.
The hottest teams of the past 10 days are the Los Angeles Angels and the Chicago Cubs. The Angels picked up 11.2 Box-Toppers points, giving them 103.9 points for the season, rising from 14th to 12th among all teams. The Cubs made the biggest jump in rankings among all teams, rising four spots from seventh to third. The Cubs picked up 11.0 Box-Toppers points, giving them 127.4 for the season.
The 10 teams bound for the postseason finished among the top 13 teams in Box-Toppers team rankings. There are three teams that finished better than at least one playoff team that will not be in the postseason:
- 9. San Francisco Giants, 110.8 Box-Toppers points.
- 11. Washington Nationals, 106.7 Box-Toppers points.
- 12. Los Angeles Angels, 103.9 Box-Toppers points.
Two teams bound for the playoffs finished lower than at least one team that did not qualify for the postseason:
- 10. Texas Rangers, 107.2 Box-Toppers points, finished behind the Giants.
- 13. New York Yankees, 99.8 Box-Toppers points, the lowest-ranked team to qualify for the playoffs, finished behind the Giants, Nationals and Angels.
It was a pretty lousy year for picking playoff teams for Box-Toppers. From preseason rankings, only four of the 10 predicted teams qualified for the playoffs—Toronto Blue Jays, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Box-Toppers picked the Nationals to be baseball’s best team, winning the World Series, but the Nationals finished 11th in Box-Toppers team rankings and second in the NL East, 7.0 games behind the New York Mets.
If there is any consolation to the preseason predictions, Box-Toppers did correctly pick the Kansas City Royals to be the American League’s best team—which they are, in terms of both Box-Toppers points and overall record (95-67). But will the Royals, as predicted, go on to compete in the World Series?
The Philadelphia Phillies finish the season in 30th and last place for the 16th week in a row. The Phillies have 56.8 Box-Toppers points, but finished strong, picking up 7.0 points during the season’s final 10 days. Twenty-four different Phillies players have earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors this season.
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.