The Houston Astros maintain the lead in Box-Toppers team rankings, leading for the sixth straight week.
Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals maintain their lead among National League teams and the St. Louis Cardinals are the week’s hottest team.
Team rankings
Here are Box-Toppers 2019 season team rankings, through the games of Thursday, Aug. 29. The column BTP shows the number of Box-Toppers points players on the team accumulated this season. The column BTP/wk shows have many points teams accumulated from Aug. 23 to Aug. 29. The column Wk ago shows the team's rank as of Aug. 22.| Teams | BTP | BTP/wk | Wk ago | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Astros | 128.5 | +5.7 | 1 |
| 2 | Nationals | 111.9 | +4.0 | 2 |
| 3 | Dodgers | 109.4 | +4.0 | 3 |
| 4 | Yankees | 103.0 | +6.4 | 6 |
| 5 | Athletics | 102.5 | +4.5 | 5 |
| 6 | Rays | 101.3 | +2.0 | 4 |
| 7 | Indians | 95.6 | +6.0 | 8 |
| 8 | Twins | 95.0 | +5.0 | 7 |
| 9 | Braves | 92.0 | +3.2 | 10 |
| 10 | Cubs | 91.9 | +3.0 | 9 |
| 11 | Phillies | 91.7 | +4.2 | 11 |
| 12 | Red Sox | 90.1 | +5.5 | 12 |
| 13 | Cardinals | 83.3 | +6.7 | 16 |
| 14 | Brewers | 82.9 | +3.0 | 14 |
| 15 | Reds | 82.1 | +5.0 | 15 |
| 16 | Mets | 81.8 | 0.0 | 13 |
| 17 | Diamondbacks | 72.3 | +4.0 | 18 |
| 18 | Rangers | 70.9 | +3.0 | 19 |
| 19 | Rockies | 70.7 | +1.0 | 17 |
| 20 | White Sox | 70.4 | +3.0 | 20 |
| 21 | Padres | 69.7 | +3.7 | 22 |
| 22 | Angels | 68.4 | +1.0 | 21 |
| 23 | Giants | 63.7 | +2.0 | 23 |
| 24 | Mariners | 57.4 | +3.0 | 24 |
| 25 | Pirates | 56.4 | +6.0 | 25 |
| 26 | Marlins | 50.6 | +3.5 | 27 |
| 27 | Blue Jays | 48.0 | +0.5 | 26 |
| 28 | Royals | 47.7 | +2.0 | 28 |
| 29 | Orioles | 45.9 | +3.5 | 29 |
| 30 | Tigers | 38.4 | +1.0 | 30 |
Astros players have accumulated 128.5 Box-Toppers points, picking up 5.7 in the past week. They lead the second-place Nationals by 16.6 points (their lead increased from 14.9 points last week). The Astros have baseball’s third-best winning percentage (.644) behind the New York Yankees (.652) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (.647). The Yankees are fourth in Box-Toppers team rankings (103.0) and the Dodgers are third (109.4).
The Astros are led by pitcher Gerrit Cole, who has 22.5 Box-Toppers points, first among all players and all American League pitchers. Astros pitcher Justin Verlander is second in Box-Toppers player rankings (21.8 points). Top batter is Alex Bregman (10.0 points, third among AL batters). Twenty-five different Astros players have earned Box-Toppers points so far this season.
This is the eighth straight week the Astros have led AL teams. They’ve led AL teams 14 of the past 15 weeks, including leading all teams for five straight weeks from May 16 to June 13.
The Nationals lead NL teams for the fourth straight week with 111.9 Box-Toppers points, picking up 4.0 points over the past week. The Nationals maintain their second-place overall rank.
Though the Nationals lead NL teams in Box-Toppers points, they are third among NL teams in winning percentage (.561), behind the Dodgers (.647) and the Atlanta Braves (.600). The Nationals are second in the NL East, 5 1/2 games behind the Braves, but currently hold the top NL Wild Card position. The Dodgers rank third among all teams in Box-Toppers points (107.9), while the Braves rank ninth (92.0).
The Nationals are led by pitcher Stephen Strasburg with 16.7 Box-Toppers points, third among all players and first among NL pitchers. Two other Nationals pitchers rank among Box-Toppers top 10 season player rankings—Max Scherzer is eighth with 14.4 Box-Toppers points and Patrick Corbin is ninth with 14.4. Nationals’ top batter is Asdrubal Cabrera (7.5 Box-Toppers points), who ranks ninth among NL batters. Twenty-six different Nationals players have earned Box-Toppers points so far this season.
The St. Louis Cardinals are the week’s hottest team, picking up 6.7 Box-Toppers points in the past week, most of any team. The Cardinals rise three spots in Box-Toppers team rankings, also the most of any team this week, from 16th to 13th place with 83.3 Box-Toppers points.
The New York Mets had the biggest ranking decline this week, falling three spots from 13th to 16th place with 81.8 Box-Toppers points, picking up no points in the past week.
The Detroit Tigers maintain 30th and last place in Box-Toppers team rankings for the sixth straight week with 38.4 points, picking up 1.0 point in 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.
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