The Houston Astros rise to the top of Box-Toppers’ weekly team rankings, passing the Washington Nationals, who were on top the past four weeks.

Team rankings
Here are Box-Toppers' top 10 team rankings, through the games of Thursday, May 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 accumulated from May 12 to 18. The column Wk ago shows the team's rank as of May 11.






  
    
    
    
    
    
  

    5/18
    Teams
    BTP
    BTP/wk
    Wk ago
  

    1
    Astros
    31.6
    5.7
    4
  

    2
    Nationals
    31.4
    3.0
    1
  

    3
    Rockies
    30.8
    4.4
    3
  

    4
    Yankees
    29.9
    3.0
    2
  

    5
    Dodgers
    29.7
    5.7
    6
  

    6
    Dbacks
    28.9
    5.0
    8
  

    7
    Rangers
    27.0
    7.5
    17
  

    8
    Brewers
    27.0
    7.0
    16
  

    9
    Red Sox
    26.6
    3.7
    10
  

    10
    Cardinals
    26.2
    2.0
    5
  
 

The Nationals fall to second place, remaining the top National League team. Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers were the hottest team of the past week.

Astros players have accumulated 31.6 Box-Toppers points so far this season, including picking up 5.7 points during the past week. They ranked fourth among all teams last week. The Astros also have baseball’s best winning percentage (.694).

The Astros are led by pitcher Dallas Keuchel (5.4 Box-Toppers points), who ranks ninth among all players. Top batter is Josh Reddick (2.0 Box-Toppers points). Seventeen different Astros players have earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors so far this season.

The NL-leading Nationals have 31.4 Box-Toppers points, including 3.0 in the past week, falling from first to second place. The Nationals are led by pitcher Max Scherzer (6.0 Box-Toppers points), who ranks fourth among all players. Top batter is Bryce Harper (6.0), who ranks fifth among all players, first among all batters. Fourteen different Nationals players have earned Player of the Game honors so far this season.

The Rangers were the hottest team of the past week, picking up 7.5 Box-Toppers points, giving them 27.0 for the season, rising from 17th to seventh place among all teams, the biggest jump in the rankings among all teams from last week.

Last week’s lowest-ranked team, the Atlanta Braves, rise from 30th to 28th place with 18.7 Box-Toppers points, picking up 6.0 points in the past week. The Philadelphia Phillies are now Box-Toppers lowest-ranked team with 15.7 Box-Toppers points, earning 1.0 point in the past week, falling from 28th to 30th place.

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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Last week’s team rankings report