I have seen the same mistake crop up lately in a number of places, including a Bill Madden column, so I just wanted to nip it in the bud. Madden suggested that if the Yankees had just taken 4 of the games against Boston, they would be up 6.5 rather than 2.5 games. While this sounds intuitive (4 more wins + 4 Sox losses= 4 games in standings), it greatly understates the truth. In actuallity, the Yankees would lead Boston by 10.5 games!!
How does this work? Well, the key is identifying the error. The mistake is that Madden is adding the 4 games without first removing them from the current standings, thus double counting them. To properly make this calculation, first you need to remove the actual results from the teams records. You do so by subtracting 4 wins from the Red Sox and 4 losses from the Yankees. Thus, had the games never been played, the Yankees would be up 6.5. Now you can add them back as hypothetical Yankee wins and Boston losses, which results in a 10.5 game lead. If the Yankees had just taken 2 of the games (the Mo game and the 88 game, for instance, they would be up 6.5 games.
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3 Responses to Quick Math Lesson
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TIQ IQ
Thank you, Mo. Oh that Madden character. He’s a riot.
The 88 game is the CC game. Posting from cellphone for the first time did not go too smoothly.
That is just as bad as that moron Ken Rosenthal picking the Red Sox over the Yankees to win the division last week on MLB TV. He picked the Sox because they had a higher run differential. He never even looked to see that the Yankees were -8 and the Sox were +19 in April. The Yankees are +28 ahead of the Sox since May 1st.