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Originally Posted by majesty95
I tried looking for the official rules and could not find anything. However, one could make the argument that if a team was ahead by winning pct but behind in GB, they should not be declared champions because the games that they are missing could have resulted in losses.
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The division champions are determined by the winning percentage of the club in its games played during the regular season. This is expressly stated in the 2008 edition of the Major League Rules, as shown below (emphasis added).
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Originally Posted by 2008 Major League Rules
Rule 33
QUALIFICATION FOR POST-SEASON SERIES
(a) DIVISION CHAMPIONS. The Commissioner's Office shall maintain a tabulated record of championship season games won and lost by each Major League Club as reported by the official scorers. The Commissioner shall award the championship of each Division to the Club in that Division that won the highest percentage of its games during the championship season. If two or more Clubs in a Division are tied in winning percentage at the close of the championship season as scheduled, the championship season may be extended by the playing of a tie-breaking game or games, as provided in Rule 33(c). Tie games shall not count as games played, won or lost for purposes of calculating the percentage of games won and lost during the championship season.
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The 1913 National League Constitution said this (emphasis added):
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Originally Posted by 1913 National League Constitution
Winning the Pennant
Sec. 56. The club which shall have won the greatest percentage of games in the championship series [i.e. the regular season], shall be declared the champion club of this League for the season in which such games were played. In the event that two or more clubs have won the same percentage of games, then the Board shall at once arrange a special series of three games between any two of such clubs, such games to be played at the close of the championship season, and the games so played shall be included in the championship record, and counted in determining the award of the championship.
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