That's a great analysis. I would just add three things:
First, sometimes teams don't play all 162 games in a season, because the powers-that-be (i.e., the Commissioner's office) can decide that a rainout doesn't need to be made up if it can't affect playoff standings.
Second, I think the half-game thing is easier to figure out if you think of every game a team wins as gaining a half-game in the standings, and every game it loses as losing a half-game in the standings. That's why, yesterday, when the Yankees won two games (in a double-header vs. the Devil Rays) and the Red Sox, alas, lost one to the Mariners, the Yankees gained 1.5 games on the Sox.
Third, the wildcard thing can get a lot more complicated if two or more teams have the same record. This article has a much better analysis than I could write, though keep in mind the records quoted are from last season.
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Date: 2004-09-10 07:16 am (UTC)First, sometimes teams don't play all 162 games in a season, because the powers-that-be (i.e., the Commissioner's office) can decide that a rainout doesn't need to be made up if it can't affect playoff standings.
Second, I think the half-game thing is easier to figure out if you think of every game a team wins as gaining a half-game in the standings, and every game it loses as losing a half-game in the standings. That's why, yesterday, when the Yankees won two games (in a double-header vs. the Devil Rays) and the Red Sox, alas, lost one to the Mariners, the Yankees gained 1.5 games on the Sox.
Third, the wildcard thing can get a lot more complicated if two or more teams have the same record. This article has a much better analysis than I could write, though keep in mind the records quoted are from last season.