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Jim Koepke
06-04-2018, 1:50 AM
My baseball fandom has waned a bit over the years, but sometimes taking a peek at the standings brings me back to the sport.

Recently there was an oddity that made me think someone made a typo. Then for the first time in a while my curiosity got me to look again today.

Here is a screen shot of the two days:

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http://stats.sfgate.com/mlb/standings.asp

So is Boston leading the Eastern Division of the AL from second place?

jtk

Dan Bundy
06-04-2018, 6:02 AM
The guy in charge of updating the page is probably a Yankee fan and didn't want to put the Red Sox above NY. :)

Jason Roehl
06-04-2018, 6:22 AM
Interesting. Just goes to show how the "games back" ranking falls short when the teams have played different numbers of games. By win percentage, the Yankees are in the lead.

roger wiegand
06-04-2018, 8:01 AM
It's an artifact of having played different numbers of games. It will sort out and the Red Sox will beat the Yankees in the end.

Bryan Lisowski
06-04-2018, 10:07 AM
The Yankees have had a lot of rainouts recently which probably is the reason. The win percentage and number of losses is usually what determines the standings, but the rather large discrepancy in games played has to be the reason.

Bill McNiel
06-04-2018, 11:24 AM
The real anomaly is the Mariners in 1st Place in the West in June.

Marshall Harrison
06-04-2018, 1:05 PM
I watchEd part f the Cubs and Mets game yesterday and they were talking about that. I has to do with the number of games played and has happened in the past. Kind of uncommon but it does happen.

Jim Koepke
06-04-2018, 1:24 PM
The real anomaly is the Mariners in 1st Place in the West in June.

Said like a long time Washington resident. :D

jtk

Jim Koepke
06-04-2018, 1:29 PM
I has to do with the number of games played and has happened in the past. Kind of uncommon but it does happen.

ESPN's site has it with Boston on top:

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Looks like the big controversy in baseball is actually in the Little League and a new rule on bats.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/04/sports/baseball/bats-youth-sports-equipment.html?action=click&module=Ribbon&pgtype=Article

It has a lot of parents upset over the costs of new bats and a shortage of bats complying with the rule.

jtk

Charlie Velasquez
06-04-2018, 5:51 PM
The game back computation assumes you will split future games evenly. The Yankees have played 6 fewer games, so the formula assumes they will go 3-3. So the formula assumes they will be will be 40-20 when they have also played 60 games... 1 game back.

Rick Moyer
06-05-2018, 4:52 PM
The game back computation assumes you will split future games evenly. The Yankees have played 6 fewer games, so the formula assumes they will go 3-3. So the formula assumes they will be will be 40-20 when they have also played 60 games... 1 game back.

I don't believe this is accurate. GB is difference in wins/losses. The Sox had 3 more wins and 2 more losses resulting in Yanks 0.5 GB (difference of one, divided by two). In the next example they have 4 more wins and 2 more losses resulting in 1 GB (difference of two, divided by two).

What seems interesting to me is IF both teams don't play all 162, will the percentage be the guiding factor or will the GB count more for the final standings. Anyone know that answer?

Dave Zellers
06-06-2018, 12:58 AM
What seems interesting to me is IF both teams don't play all 162, will the percentage be the guiding factor or will the GB count more for the final standings. Anyone know that answer?
If it matters to the final standings, then the team with unplayed games due to postponements, will absolutely be required to complete them before the playoffs can even be determined since home field advantage is determined by the seasons final standings. Sometimes the playoffs have to wait for this to be reconciled. But that is rare. Rainouts are made up at the earliest possible time on an off day and if no off day is convenient, a double header is scheduled when those two teams meet again preferably in the same park where the original game was cancelled to maintain the balance of home field advantage. The Yankees just played a double header with Detroit for this reason. MLB avoids delaying the start of the playoffs like the plague which means many of the 'off days' built into the second half of the season get swallowed up by make-up games of early season rainouts.

July, August, September, is a serious grind for a ball player, with few days off. The rest of us get out our tiny violins while we feel their pain . . . (proper ellipsis?) :cool:

Charlie Velasquez
06-06-2018, 2:29 AM
I don't believe this is accurate. GB is difference in wins/losses. The Sox had 3 more wins and 2 more losses resulting in Yanks 0.5 GB (difference of one, divided by two). In the next example they have 4 more wins and 2 more losses resulting in 1 GB (difference of two, divided by two).

Rick, yes that is true. But so is my method. It can be derived as:
The formula:
{(Team A wins - Team B wins) + (Team B losses - Team A losses )}/2

Given: {(Aw-Bw) + (Bl-Al)}/2, All operation in the numerator are add or subtract so we can eliminate the parentheses =>
{Aw - Bw + Bl - Al} / 2, regroup =>
{(Aw - Al) + (Bl - Bw)} / 2, Now we will assume the case where they have played a different number of games. I will use the case where team A has played x fewer games, but it makes no difference. =>
Aw + Al + some number x = Bw + Bl,

Now we want to distribute that x to the wins and losses such that it does not affect the general formula, that is, we want the value to be the same =>
(Aw - Al) = (Aw+%x - Al+1-%x), one could solve for %x, but intuitively one sees right away we need to split the x evenly to the wins and losses so they cancel each other out.

Sorry for the type, I have no idea why my iPad does this when I paste from my text editor.
(edit- ignore this sentence, I think I fixed the font size)

original formula from wiki.

Jim Koepke
06-07-2018, 5:09 PM
. . . (proper ellipsis?)

A different subject altogether… My computer has a keyboard combination that makes a single character ellipsis…

Not sure if it comes through on different platforms. There are also keyboard combinations for degrees, 45° or a slightly bigger mark 90º. It can also do symbols and letter accents for foreign languages ç ¢ é ø ö and so on.

jtk

Dave Zellers
06-07-2018, 6:56 PM
A different subject altogether…

Not just a different subject, a different thread altogether! :D

Back on topic . . .

Go RED SOX!