Tawnos said:
Because the pace is more pertinent than the actual number. Simply put, at the end of the year in terms of standings, does the team with the .515 win% beat the team with the .500 win%?
Who cares ? At the end of the season the team with most wins finish ahead.
The only 2 arguments you pro-win% have been able to bring up is that :
1. NBA, MLB and NFL uses it
So what ? People thought the earth was flat for a thousand years. That doesn't make it right, or better.
2. It's more accurate during the season.
In the middle of the season I'm willing to bet the team with the .500 win% finish ahead of the .515 win% team close to 1 out of 2 times. It's not more accurate or relevant. It's just yet another way to rank teams. There are plenty of situations where I'd rank a team with a worse win% ahead of a team with a better win% and vice versa (see useless exemple below).
ColoradoHockeyFan said:
I guess it comes down to which you prefer. Going on the assumption that they will have only wins and losses, all counting the same, no ties, consider this example:
Team A has a record of 30-29.
Team B has a record of 31-36.
Which team should be ahead in the standings? By the points system, Team B would be ahead. By the winning percentage/games-back system, Team A would be ahead.
My personal preference would be for Team A to be ahead in the standings. This also has the advantage of being more familiar to the casual fan (and general sports fan), since sports like MLB, etc. use winning % and games back.
This is ridiculous. It never happens. No single team will have 8 games in hand over another one during the regular season.
Besides, if team A truly is that good, as soon as they win their next game and team B doesn't win they jump ahead. It's that simple. If they never win that game, they stay behind, as they should.
I can use ridiculous comparisons that don't mean anything too :
Team A : 10-2
Team B : 2-0
Who's the better team. Who's likely to still be up when team B catches up in games played with team A ?
The win% is all about POTENTIAL to be better. Why not rank teams on ACTUAL accomplishments ?
Anyway, this is really meaningless. I could care less, as long as I can find a website that ranks teams based on actual X in the W column, or a website where I can switch to one or the other.
As far as points are concerned, I really don't give a damn, it's the same as ranking teams by number of wins. Points or win, as long as I have one or the other.
EDIT : Changed round for flat