The St. Louis Cardinals remain atop Box-Toppers weekly team rankings for the third straight week.
Also, the Houston Astros rise to take the lead among American League teams and the Pittsburgh Pirates were the hottest team of the past week.
Top 10 teams
Here are Box-Toppers' Top 10 teams, through the games of Thursday, June 18. The column BTP shows the number of Box-Toppers points players on the team have accumulated so far this season. The column BTP/wk shows have many points teams have accumulated in the past week. The column Wk ago shows the team's rank last week.6/18 |
Teams |
BTP |
BTP /wk |
Wk ago |
| 1 | Cardinals | 51.5 | 4.7 | 1 |
| 2 | Dodgers | 48.7 | 4.0 | 2 |
| 3 | Pirates | 46.4 | 8.0 | 6 |
| 4 | Astros | 46.1 | 7.0 | 5 |
| 5 | Giants | 44.9 | 2.0 | 3 |
| 6 | Royals | 44.2 | 4.0 | 4 |
| 7 | Orioles | 43.5 | 6.5 | 12 |
| 8 | Rays | 43.5 | 6.0 | 9 |
| 9 | Blue Jays | 42.2 | 5.5 | 15 |
| 10 | Tigers | 42.1 | 4.7 | 11 |
Cardinals players have accumulated 51.5 Box-Toppers points this season, picking up 4.7 points during the past week. They also have baseball’s best winning percentage (.652).
The Cardinals are led by pitcher Carlos Martinez (9.7 Box-Toppers points). Top batter is Matt Carpenter (3.5 Box-Toppers points). Twenty different Cardinals players have earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors this season.
The Houston Astros are the top AL team with 46.1 Box-Toppers points, fourth-most among all teams. The Astros picked up 7.0 Box-Toppers points during the past week, the most of any AL team, and passed last week’s AL leader, the Kansas City Royals, who fell to sixth place overall with 44.2 Box-Toppers points.
The Astros are led by pitcher Dallas Keuchel (7.7 Box-Toppers points) and outfielder Colby Rasmus (5.0 Box-Toppers points). Eighteen different Astros players have earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors this season.
The Pittsburgh Pirates were the hottest team of the week, picking up 8.0 Box-Toppers points and rising from sixth to third place in overall team rankings with 46.4 Box-Toppers points.
Three teams rose into Box-Toppers top 10 team list:
- The Baltimore Orioles rose from 12th to seventh place with 43.5 Box-Toppers points, picking up 6.5 points during the past week.
- The Toronto Blue Jays rose from 15th to ninth place with 42.2 Box-Toppers points, picking up 5.5 points during the past week.
- The Detroit Tigers rose from 11th to 10th place with 42.1 Box-Toppers points, picking up 4.7 points during the past week.
Three teams fell from Box-Toppers’ top 10 teams:
- The Chicago Cubs fell from 10th to 14th place with 41.2 Box-Toppers points, picking up 3.7 points during the past week.
- The New York Yankees fell from seventh to 15th place with 41.2 Box-Toppers points, picking up 3.0 points during the past week.
- The Minnesota Twins fell from eighth to 18th place with 39.4 Box-Toppers points, picking up 1.5 points during the past week.
The Philadelphia Phillies remain in 30th and last place among all teams for the second straight week. The Phillies have 25.6 Box-Toppers points and picked up only 1.0 point over 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.