The Red Sox may be well behind the Yankees in the standings, but they’re ahead of them in one regard to this point in the season.
Our first official check of Baseball Tonight's Web Gem Scoreboard indicates that the Red Sox and Yankees enter Monday tied for fifth place in the Web Gem Points standings with 28 points. The Red Sox hold a “tiebreaker advantage” over the Yankees, with nine total gems, to just eight for the Yankees.
Web Gems are tallied via fan voting each day on the Baseball Tonight Clubhouse page. Fans can watch and vote on the previous day's best gems (nominated by Baseball Tonight's analysts) until 5 p.m. Eastern time. The winner for each vote is announced on that night's show.
Players accumulate points during the season based on the voting. Finishing first nets five points, second-best nets four points, all the way down to one point for the fifth-best gem.
This season, fans can track the Web Gem standings for every player in baseball at this link. The spreadsheet features tabs for both team and individual scoring.
Dustin Pedroia ranks second among Major League second basemen, and tied for third place overall with 12 Web Gem points. He trails Brandon Phillips (14 points) of the Reds among second basemen, and overall leader Troy Tulowitzki (16 points) in total points, and tied with Cardinals outfielder Ryan Ludwick for third. Pedroia has recorded gems that ranked No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 in the daily voting.
Adrian Beltre has also recorded three Gems for the Red Sox this season, though his account for only six points, since his finished as the No. 3, No. 4, and No. 5 gems that night.
Winners will be honored on Baseball Tonight’s Web Gem Awards Show later this season.