Quote:
Originally Posted by Lou Gehrig
My point to the OP is he may be too focused on the percentages and not the win-lost records. Is there any case precedence of that happening in MLB?
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Er, the win-loss records are what determine the winning percentages.
You won't find examples as clear as the FSL because the majors typically don't conclude its seasons with that large a discrepancy in games played to a decision between clubs, plus with the larger number of games played overall the more extreme situations tend to get evened out.
The closest example would be the 1915 Federal League season, where Chicago was tied with St. Louis in terms of games behind but won the league pennant due to its .566 winning percentage compared to St. Louis' .565 percentage. (Third place Pittsburgh finished a half-game behind and with a .562 winning percentage.)
A similar situation happened twice in the International League. In 1902 Toronto and Buffalo were tied for first in terms of games behind but Toronto won the pennant due to its 85-42 .669 record compared to Buffalo's 88-45 .662 record. In 1928 Buffalo was zero games behind Rochester but nevertheless finished second due to Rochester having the greater winning percentage: 90-74 .549 compared to Buffalo's 92-76 .548 record.