MLB Standings wrong?

sox75

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Jun 4, 2018
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I noticed yesterday and today MLB's standings for the AL East are wrong (yesterday the sox were 0.5 GB, today 1 GB). The Sox are 22 games above .500, while the Yankees are 20 games over. The sox should be listed 1 game ahead. Other sites have the correct standings (baseball-reference, espn), but MLB.com can't?!?

I wonder if their algorithm is wrong because the Yankees, who have played six fewer games, have a higher winning percentage.

 

RG33

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I've seen it shown by winning percentage like that quite frequently.
 

The Needler

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I noticed yesterday and today MLB's standings for the AL East are wrong (yesterday the sox were 0.5 GB, today 1 GB). The Sox are 22 games above .500, while the Yankees are 20 games over. The sox should be listed 1 game ahead. Other sites have the correct standings (baseball-reference, espn), but MLB.com can't?!?

I wonder if their algorithm is wrong because the Yankees, who have played six fewer games, have a higher winning percentage.

It's not wrong. It says the Yankees are 1 game behind. It's just oddly ordered by winning percentage.
 

LogansDad

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They are listed in order of winning percentage. The Yankees have played 6 fewer games due to rainouts, so while their W/L record places them behind, their winning percentage is still higher.
 

Hendu for Kutch

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Isn't that crazy though, that the two teams are playing so well that going 4-2 in an extra 6 games actually drops you behind the other team. In April is one thing, but in June?
 

trekfan55

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Plus, there is always the infamous "ahead in the loss column" stat.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Since the only standings that matter are the ones at the end of the year it really doesn't matter. But if there were a "right" way to do it, I think that winning percentage is probably it since winning percentage is something of a predictor of how the team with games in hand will perform in those games in hand.

The traditional way of assuming that teams with games in hand will play those games at .500 regardless of their actual record is kind of a fiction and a shorthand. It usually doesn't matter. But, as noted, when there's a such a big disparity in the number of games in hand it kind of actually does make the point interesting.

Edit: Actually, there is one sense in which it does matter before the end of the year. Waiver order claim status is based on record and standings. I wonder how that is determined. Unless someone already knows I may try to look after work today because now I am curious. I bet it's by winning percentage, without the assumed .500 for games in hand.

Edit 2: Since I know that many would be unable to sleep if the question were to be left unanswered, here it is -- waiver priority goes to the team with lowest percentage of games won. It is rule 10 in the MLB rules. https://registration.mlbpa.org/pdf/MajorLeagueRules.pdf
 
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joe dokes

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Edit: Actually, there is one sense in which it does matter before the end of the year. Waiver order claim status is based on record and standings. I wonder how that is determined. Unless someone already knows I may try to look after work today because now I am curious. I bet it's by winning percentage, without the assumed .500 for games in hand.
The waiver point is interesting. Too bad the old Ask Nick column is defunct. The shock wave from his head exploding could expel this weather system from the area.
 

judyb

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It just seems to make no sense that a 1st place team can be a positive number of GB. It's also weird that some standings order by win percentage and others don't.
 
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jon abbey

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It just seems to make no sense that a 1st place team can be a positive number of GB.
It happens fairly frequently in basketball where the best teams win a higher percentage of their games, it's very unusual to happen in baseball since it needs two teams playing over .667 ball which is 108 win pace, plus at least a three games played differential.
 

E5 Yaz

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It just seems to make no sense that a 1st place team can be a positive number of GB. It's also weird that some standings order by win percentage and others don't.
Agreed, but it's just an anomaly ... which is why standings at this stage really only matter toward figuring out who's selling at the traded deadline
 

judyb

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If all basketball standings are calculated by win percentage, it makes sense, different sites calculating standings differently makes no sense, there should be a consensus on what's the correct way, no matter what it is.
 

jon abbey

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Agreed, but it's just an anomaly ... which is why standings at this stage really only matter toward figuring out who's selling at the traded deadline
The order of waiver claims question is interesting, though. I asked one of the NY beat writers on Twitter if they could try to find out since the written rule doesn't seem to be so clear, no answer yet.
 

The Needler

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The order of waiver claims question is interesting, though. I asked one of the NY beat writers on Twitter if they could try to find out since the written rule doesn't seem to be so clear, no answer yet.
What's not clear about it? As DDB points out, the rule says it goes by winning percentage.
 

snowmanny

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That's the only stat that matters when discussing contending teams that have played an unequal amount of games
Except in 1981, when multiple teams finished first with more losses than the second place teams.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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I've never understood the loss column thing. I've heard it for years and I think one time tried to understand it and gave up and never did again.

I sense it has something to do with what is in the team's control and what it needs to rely on others for, but I'm not sure.
 

trekfan55

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Well, basically the loss column is important because all teams will play the same amount of games by season's end (barring a game that is not made up which wouldn't matter in the standings).

So, if Team A has 2 fewer losses than Team B and both teams win their remaining games (which is the best each team can do) then Team A will be on top of Team B bu season's end. That's how the reasoning goes and how "you cannot make up losses). The only failure in this method is that Team A and Team B do have games against each other (in the case of Sox-Yankees they finish the season against each other) so it's impossible that both teams win out.