Table Sorting Method

Updated 11/25/2014

A common complaint / confusion / problem of the site has been

"How are the teams sorted for display on the web page?"
"Why does your list differ from that on site X?"
"Why is Team A listed above Team B when Team B has a higher probability of making the playoffs"

Hopefully the following comments will explain how and why we sort the tables as we do.

• First of all there is more than one logical way to sort the tables using games from a partially played season. Most of these will result is the same or very similar ordered table. But all methods sometimes for some leagues results in a list that does not "look" right.
  
• We sort the table based upon the number of teams wins (pts for soccer and hockey), games played, and current status of various tiebreakers to produce a "if the playoffs were to start tommorrow" order.
  
• More precisely, the teams are sorted by
  
• Current Number of Wins - then
  
• Fewest Games Played (These two factors almost always is the same as current win percentage) - then
  
• Current Status of the First Tiebreaker - then
  
• Fewest Number of Games Played associated with the First Tiebreaker - then
  
• Repeat with the remaining tiebreakers as neccessary
  
• In general, teams with greater probabilities are listed higher in the table. Exceptions can occur when poor performing divisional winners receive automatic spots or certain teams having an easier remaining schedule.
• The main point is that the probability numbers for a team are more important and is the main content of the site rather than its position in the table.