In a baseball league table what do the columns mean and how is it worked out who plays who?

Question

When looking at Baseball standings there are various columns - won and lost are fairly obvious but what is PCT and GB and why is GB used for all teams except the one top in the division?

Also, how is it decided what teams play each other - I understand that Boston will play Tampa, NY Yankees, Toronto etc ... as they are in the same table but how come they play Seattle and NY Yankees play Chicago White Sox when they are not in the same division.

Answer 1

PCT stands for winning percentage, and is derived by dividing the number of wins you have by the number of games played.

GB is games behind, or games behind leader, and is figured by a simple formula (difference in wins + differences in losses, then divided by two). For example, the Red Sox have 3 more wins, and 2 fewer losses, than the Yankees. If you add those together and divide by two, then you get the 2.5 games by which the Sox are in front. Since it shows how far other teams are behind the leader, then the first place team doesn't have such a number.

All teams play every other team in their league, although the schedule is weighted towards more divisional play. For example, the Yankees will play Boston, Toronto, Baltimore and Tampa Bay a lot more than they play the West Coast teams. There is also a limited amount of interleague play, where American League teams will play their National League counterparts.

Answer 2

Baseball League Table

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
In a baseball league table what do the columns mean and how is it worked out who plays who?
When looking at Baseball standings there are various columns - won and lost are fairly obvious but what is PCT and GB and why is GB used for all teams except the one top in the division?

Also, how is it decided what teams play each other - I understand that Boston will play Tampa, NY Yankees,...

Answer 4

PCT is winning percentage. It is a nice stat, but has no official bearing on the standings.

GB stands for Games Behind. The first place team is in first place, they aren't any games behind.

Major League Games are scheduled by a company in Pittsburg. They have teams in the same division playing against each other more, but will play against all teams in the division both home and away. They will also have an interleague schedule, when they play teams in the opposite league.

Answer 5

GB stands for Games Back, therefore whoever is at the top of the leaderboard is at 0 and the rest have this many games to win to match them, so say it went -, 2, 2, 2, those teams have won 2 less games than the leader.

The benefit of knowing the stats like PCT, ERA, HR and RBI for each team and player is just like in any sport, where it is helpful to predict who is most likely to win in any given game.

In terms of playing each other, all teams play all teams, but you play the ones in your division the most. This is crucial when it comes to deciding wildcards, the all-star break has provided some surprises, like the performance of Detroit.

Go Atlanta! (not likely this season :) )

Answer 6

The previous answers pretty much summed it up... If you're interested in understanding more about the game, a wonderful resource is an organization named The Society for American Baseball Research -- which devotes their time and energy to the study of baseball in all of its forms (history, statistics, etc.), and you can obtain all kinds of information about the game through their website (www.sabr.org)...

Answer 7

SV stands for save. In the example you've provided, Rivera was the winning pitcher. The parentheses contain his won-lost record (3-2) and ERA (2.44) on the season. The same goes for losing pitcher, Veras.