Why the Yankees are one-game behind the Red Sox and still in first place atop the AL East
Usually, winning percentage and games back are aligned. But in this case, because of the disparity in games played, the two ways of calculating the standings lead to opposite conclusions.
It seems like a misprint. Why are the Yankees in first place, despite the fact that New York is still listed as trailing the Red Sox by one game in the standings?
Put simply, winning percentage and games behind calculate different things. Winning percentage identifies the rate at which a team wins its own games. Games behind identifies the difference between the sheer volume of two teams’ wins and losses. So, for instance: A team that is 4-0 couldn’t play any better. Its winning percentage would be 1.000. But if another team had played 10 games with an 8-2 (.800) record, it would be one game ahead of the team that hadn’t lost a game. If defining the standings by winning percentage, the 4-0 team would be in first place; if defining it by games back, the 8-2 team — which had four more wins and two more losses — would sit in the driver’s seat.
That’s essentially the situation in which the Yankees and Red Sox find themselves. New York’s schedule has been awash in rainouts, resulting in the Yankees having played six fewer games (54) than the Sox (60) entering Monday’s makeup doubleheader against the Tigers.
Both teams are playing at mind-blowing levels. The Yankees are 37-17, the same record and .685 winning percentage that the Red Sox had through 54 games.
Since that 54-game mark, the Red Sox are 4-2 — pushing them further over .500 than the Yankees (22 games, compared to 20 for New York) and thus giving them an advantage in the “games behind’’ column, but dragging down their winning percentage slightly to .683, just behind the Yankees.
Usually, winning percentage and games back are aligned. But in this case, because of the disparity in games played, the two ways of calculating the standings lead to opposite conclusions.
The development underscores why sports leagues have all teams play an equal number of games. At the end of the year, the determination of a first-place winner shouldn’t represent an arbitrary decision regarding the value placed on winning percentage as compared with two teams’ relative numbers of wins and losses.
