Is there anyway to figure out games back for the wildcard when we have both played different amounts of games?

My team is 83-71. Win. % .539
And he's 78-65. Win. % .545

There are 2 ways to look at it. I honestly don't know which is "right" or which gives the right answer, since they're not the same.

-----------
First:

GB = ( |wA-wB| + |lB-lA|) /2

Team A: 82-80
Team B: 80-82
====
2 + 2 /2 = 2

Team A: 83-80
Team B: 80-82
====
3 + 2 /2 = 2.5

Team A: 83-71 (154g)
Team B: 78-65 (143g)
====
5 + 6 /2 = 5.5

If you do it that way, then you're basically giving Team B a chance to make up a 1/2 game for every game they are behind. They are 11 games behind so that is 5.5 games back just for their unplayed games. In other words, they're tied.

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Second:

the other way to look at it is to take out the absolute values.

GB = (wA-wB) + (lB-lA) /2

Team A: 83-71 (154g)
Team B: 78-65 (143g)
====
+5 - 6 = -1

divide by 2 and you get 0.5 GB. I'd probably lean towards the second way.

Ok thanks

I've always looked at it with your second method.

Games Back = (Difference in Wins - Difference in Losses) / 2

So, if Team A is 10-5 and Team B is 8-7, then from the perspective of Team B:
Games Back = (2 - (-2)) / 2 = (2 + 2) / 2 = 2

For your scenario: Team A is 83-71, Team B is 78-65.
Games Back = (5 - 6) / 2 = -1 / 2 = -0.5, meaning Team A is actually 0.5 GB of Team B.

Realistically, GB doesn't really count for anything, it's just a gauge. It is actually possible for a team with a higher winning percentage to be behind another team in terms of Games Back. The team with the higher winning percentage is still technically in 1st place.

Ow my head hurts.

You have five more wins than the other guy, thats 2.5 games ahead.
You have six more losses than the other guy, that's 3.0 games behind.

Put em' together and you are .5 games behind.

If you want to do it the way that MLB and WiS do it (ie calculate it the same way that the games back column for each division is calculated) all you do is take the difference in games over .500 and divide by 2. So:

A: 83-71, 12 games over .500
B: 78-65, 13 games over .500
Team A is 1/2 game behind team A.

This is actually the same method as footballmm11's; his better shows how to do the calculation, I think this is an easier way to look at the theory.