(Post edited Oct. 30, 2023, to reflect Major League Baseball's ruling that the New York Mets won the unfinished, rain-suspended game Sept. 28 against the Miami Marlins, giving the Mets 2.0 more Box-Toppers points for the season.)
The Texas Rangers finish 2023 atop Box-Toppers team rankings even though they only qualified for the postseason as the second-seeded American League Wild Card team.
Team rankings
Here are Box-Toppers 2023 final team rankings through games of Monday, Oct. 2. 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 Sept. 22 to Oct. 2. The column Wk ago shows the team's rank as of Sept. 21.| Teams | BTP | BTP/wk | Wk ago | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rangers | 128.1 | 6.0 | 1 |
| 2 | Braves | 125.4 | 6.0 | 2 |
| 3 | Dodgers | 123.8 | 6.5 | 4 |
| 4 | Rays | 123.6 | 6.0 | 3 |
| 5 | Orioles | 119.5 | 5.0 | 5 |
| 6 | Astros | 118.9 | 6.7 | 6 |
| 7 | Brewers | 115.8 | 4.9 | 7 |
| 8 | Blue Jays | 114.2 | 4.0 | 8 |
| 9 | Phillies | 112.2 | 5.3 | 9 |
| 10 | Padres | 108.1 | 10.6 | 14 |
| 11 | Marlins | 107.9 | 4.0 | 12 |
| 12 | Twins | 106.7 | 8.2 | 13 |
| 13 | Mariners | 103.7 | 5.0 | 12 |
| 14 | Diamondbacks | 102.1 | 2.2 | 11 |
| 15 | Cubs | 100.3 | 4.7 | 15 |
| 16 | Yankees | 92.1 | 7.0 | 18 |
| 17 | Giants | 91.7 | 3.7 | 17 |
| 18 | Red Sox | 88.6 | 4.0 | 19 |
| 19 | Reds | 88.6 | 0.5 | 16 |
| 20 | Angels | 87.8 | 4.0 | 20 |
| 21 | Pirates | 84.7 | 4.5 | 22 |
| 22 | Tigers | 84.5 | 6.0 | 23 |
| 23 | Guardians | 84.5 | 3.0 | 21 |
| 24 | Nationals | 75.4 | 2.0 | 24 |
| 25 | Mets | 66.4 | 6.0 | 26 |
| 26 | Cardinals | 66.4 | 4.0 | 25 |
| 27 | White Sox | 63.6 | 4.5 | 27 |
| 28 | Rockies | 56.4 | 3.5 | 28 |
| 29 | Royals | 55.6 | 5.5 | 29 |
| 30 | Athletics | 51.4 | 4.5 | 30 |
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Braves maintain their lead among National League teams, finishing second overall. Plus, the San Diego Padres, who fell out of playoff contention, finish the season as the hottest team over the final days of the season.
Rangers lead
Rangers players have accumulated 128.1 Box-Toppers points this season, picking up 6.0 points since the previous team rankings report, through the games of Sept. 21. The Rangers lead the second-place Braves (125.4) by 2.7 points. They lead American League teams, ahead of the second-place Tampa Bay Rays (123.6, fourth overall) by 4.5 points.
This is the ninth straight Box-Toppers team rankings report that the Rangers have led since passing the Tampa Bay Rays Aug. 3. The Rangers had faltered after gaining the top spot in Box-Toppers team rankings on the strength of their August trade deadline deals, but still managed to remain in first as other top teams also sputtered down the stretch. But since Sept. 21, the Rangers went 6-3, going from possible non-playoff qualifier to possible AL West Division winner and second overall seed with a first round playoff bye. Losing three of the final four games brought them down to earth but they still secured the postseason Wild Card spot.
There are five teams with better winning percentages than the Rangers (at .556)—the Atlanta Braves (.642), the Baltimore Orioles (.623), the Los Angeles Dodgers (.617), the Tampa Bay Rays (.611) and the Milwaukee Brewers (.568). Two other teams also have .556 winning percentages—the Philadelphia Phillies and the Houston Astros. While the Astros and Rangers tied for the AL West lead, the Astros won the division on a tiebreaker. The Braves rank second in Box-Toppers team rankings (125.4), the Orioles rank fifth (119.5), the Dodgers rank third (123.8), the Rays rank fourth (123.6), the Brewers rank seventh (115.8), the Phillies rank ninth (112.2) and the Astros rank sixth (118.9).
The Rangers rose to the Box-Toppers team rankings lead after making trade deadline acquisitions for Max Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery. And while those players’ points gained with other teams now counted toward the Rangers overall total, the team’s performance since they joined did not live up to the potential. As a consequence, the Rangers overall record is worse than their accumulated point total. And what’s worse, players with significant Box-Toppers point totals are now injured—including Scherzer with 15.4 points and Jacob deGrom with 7.7 points—and won’t likely be available in the postseason.
A Box-Toppers look at postseason teams:
— Box-Toppers (@BoxToppers) October 2, 2023
Teams listed by playoff seed.
Overall B-T ranking in parenthesis.
AL
1—BAL (5)
2—HOU (6)
3—MIN (12)
4—TB (4)
5—TEX (1)
6—TOR (8)
NL
1—ATL (2)
2—LAD (3)
3—MIL (7)
4—PHI (9)
5—MIA (11)
6—ARI (14)
Complete B-T rankings—https://t.co/VWI09JTtC8 pic.twitter.com/TGQuumJXRA
Scherzer leads all Rangers players (15.4 Box-Toppers points, 10th among all players and sixth among American League pitchers). (Scherzer earned 5.0 points since joining the Rangers; the other 10.4 were earned when he was with the Mets earlier this season.) Rangers top batter is Marcus Semien (6.7 Box-Toppers points, 15th among AL batters). There are 27 different Rangers players who earned Box-Toppers points in 2023.
Braves lead NL teams
The Braves lead NL teams for the ninth week with 125.4 Box-Toppers points, picking up 6.0 points since Sept. 21. The Braves maintain second place overall and lead NL teams, ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers (123.8) by 1.6 points.
The Braves have baseball’s best winning percentage (.642) and are led by pitcher Spencer Strider (21.1 points, first among all players). Top batter is Ronald Acuna Jr. (10.7 points, second among NL batters). There are 28 different Braves players who earned Box-Toppers points in 2023.
Hottest team: Padres
The San Diego Padres gained 10.6 Box-Toppers points this week, most of any team, giving them 108.1 for the season, rising from 14th to 10th place in team rankings. Their four-spot rise is the biggest jump in team rankings this week. It is the second straight team rankings report in which the Padres have been the hottest team; they also were one of the two hottest teams in the Sept. 21 rankings report.
The Padres won seven of their final nine games, winning Box-Toppers bonus points in five of those wins, to give them 10.6 total Box-Toppers points in the final days of the season. But it wasn’t enough to get them to the postseason. They finished two games behind the third NL Wild Card team, the Arizona Diamondbacks (even though the Padres accumulated more 2023 Box-Toppers points).
Still, the Padres are Box-Toppers’ highest-ranked team that did not qualify for the postseason, finishing ahead of three teams that did—the Miami Marlins (11th place with 107.9 points), the Minnesota Twins (12th place with 106.7 points) and the Arizona Diamondbacks (14th place with 102.1 points).
Biggest fall: Diamondbacks, Reds
The Arizona Diamondbacks and Cincinnati Reds had the biggest fall in team rankings, dropping three spots each in rankings. The Diamondbacks fell from 11th to 14th with 102.1 points, picking up 2.2 points in the past week. The Reds fell from 16th to 19th with 88.6 points, with a net gain of 0.5 points. (The Reds gained 3.0 Box-Toppers points in three wins since Sept. 21, but also released Kevin Newman, who earned 2.5 points in 2023.)
Last place: Athletics
The Oakland Athletics finish 2023 in 30th and last place in Box-Toppers team rankings with 51.4 points, picking up 4.5 points in the past week. It’s their second straight week in last 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.
Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.
For additional updates, follow Box-Toppers on Twitter.