The standings say that the New York Yankees are 8.5 games out of first place while the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals are 8.0 games back. At first glance, the Yankees are technically farther out, but in reality it's the Cardinals who are further back. New York is in second place while St. Louis is in fifth. The Cards would have to leapfrog past four teams, not just one, to get to first place.
Here's a little system for determining what I think would be a better games back number. It's not just games behind the first place leader, it's games behind, period. Here's today's National League Central standings:
| Team | Record | GB |
| Milwaukee | 25-13 | -- |
| Houston | 18-19 | 6.5 |
| Chicago | 17-19 | 7.0 |
| Pittsburgh | 17-20 | 7.5 |
| St. Louis | 16-20 | 8.0 |
| Cincinnati | 15-24 | 10.5 |
Simply add up the number of games behind each team. The Cardinals are 8.0 behind Milwaukee, 1.5 behind Houston, 1.0 behind Chicago and 0.5 behind Pittsburgh. That's 8.0+1.5+1.0+0.5 or 11.0 games back.
A new standings chart could look like this:
| Team | Record | G1 | GB |
| Milwaukee | 25-13 | -- | -- |
| Houston | 18-19 | 6.5 | 6.5 |
| Chicago | 17-19 | 7.0 | 7.5 |
| Pittsburgh | 17-20 | 7.5 | 9.0 |
| St. Louis | 16-20 | 8.0 | 11.0 |
| Cincinnati | 15-24 | 10.5 | 23.5 |
G1 is games behind the 1st place team and GB is a more accurate representation of how far the team really is out of first place.
---
For any of you IT people out there, or if you know any IT people, I want to call your attention to the coolest IT job in the world. Baseball Info Solutions is looking for a staff addition in their IT area. Send me an email at jdewan@aol.com if you have some IT background using SQL Server and Visual Basic and/or .NET.