The Pittsburgh Pirates held on to the top spot in Box-Toppers team rankings for the second week in a row.
Meanwhile, the leading American League team, the Kansas City Royals came within 0.1 of tying the Pirates for the Box-Toppers team rankings lead. Plus, the Texas Rangers had the hottest week among all teams, picking up 8.5 Box-Toppers points and rising to 10th place.
Team rankings
Here are Box-Toppers' team rankings, through the games of Thursday, Sept. 17. 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 since the previous report through the games of Thursday, Sept. 10. The column Wk ago shows the team's rank as of Sept. 10.9/17 |
Teams |
BTP |
BTP /wk |
Wk ago |
| 1 | Pirates | 117.6 | 3.0 | 1 |
| 2 | Royals | 117.5 | 4.4 | 2 |
| 3 | Cardinals | 115.1 | 6.0 | 6 |
| 4 | Mets | 114.3 | 4.0 | 4 |
| 5 | Blue Jays | 113.9 | 4.0 | 5 |
| 6 | Dodgers | 113.5 | 2.2 | 3 |
| 7 | Cubs | 109.7 | 5.5 | 8 |
| 8 | Astros | 107.5 | 1.0 | 7 |
| 9 | Giants | 103.3 | 6.0 | 9 |
| 10 | Rangers | 95.5 | 8.5 | 12 |
| 11 | Nationals | 95.2 | 5.5 | 11 |
| 12 | Yankees | 92.8 | 3.0 | 10 |
| 13 | Orioles | 88.9 | 5.5 | 14 |
| 14 | Angels | 88.7 | 4.0 | 13 |
| 15 | Twins | 85.5 | 3.0 | 15 |
| 16 | Indians | 85.1 | 3.0 | 16 |
| 17 | Mariners | 83.2 | 4.7 | 17 |
| 18 | White Sox | 81.3 | 3.0 | 18 |
| 19 | Rays | 77.5 | 2.0 | 19 |
| 20 | Padres | 76.3 | 2.7 | 20 |
| 21 | Athletics | 72.8 | 3.7 | 21 |
| 22 | Dbacks | 71.3 | 2.5 | 22 |
| 23 | Red Sox | 66.4 | 4.0 | 23 |
| 24 | Rockies | 65.4 | 3.7 | 24 |
| 25 | Marlins | 64.1 | 5.5 | 25 |
| 26 | Brewers | 56.3 | 0.0 | 26 |
| 27 | Reds | 55.7 | 3.0 | 27 |
| 28 | Tigers | 55.2 | 3.0 | 28 |
| 29 | Braves | 50.9 | 1.0 | 29 |
| 30 | Phillies | 48.3 | 2.0 | 30 |
Pirates players have accumulated 117.6 Box-Toppers points this season, picking up 3.0 points over the past week. They are led by pitcher Gerrit Cole (17.0 Box-Toppers points). Top batter is Andrew McCutchen (9.5 points). Twenty-four different Pirates players have earned Player of the Game honors this season.
Pirates have baseball’s second-best winning percentage (.596), behind their division rival St. Louis Cardinals (.630). The Pirates are actually 5.0 games behind St. Louis in the NL Central. The Cardinals picked up 6.0 Box-Toppers points over the past week, tied for the most among NL teams, and rise from sixth to third in team rankings, with 115.1 Box-Toppers points.
The Royals maintain their lead among AL teams for the fifth straight week with 117.5 accumulated Box-Toppers points. The Royals 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 Texas Rangers were the hottest team of the past week, picking up 8.5 Box-Toppers points and rising from 12th to 10th in team rankings, with 95.5 points. The Rangers lead the Houston Astros in the AL West by 2.5 games, but trail the Astros by 12.0 Box-Toppers points—the Astros are in eighth in team rankings with 107.5 Box-Toppers points
The Philadelphia Phillies remain in 30th and last place among all teams for the 14th straight week. The Phillies have 48.3 Box-Toppers points and had the worst week among all teams, picking up 2.0 Box-Toppers points. Twenty-two different Phillies players have earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors this season.
There will be two more Box-Toppers team rankings reports this season—next Friday, Sept. 25 and the final report at the end of the regular season on Monday, Oct. 5.
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.