Games behind

This is because the games behind calculation simply computes the difference between wins and losses for each team, and then averages those two numbers.

In reality, teams in an actual sports league can have an unequal number of games played due to various scheduling anomalies, postponements, or cancellations.

[a] Standings for these sports appearing in print or online during a season usually will have teams ordered by winning percentages, with a "GB" column provided as a convenience to the reader.

Games behind is rarely used in ice hockey and soccer, where ties are or were traditionally common and standings points are typically used.

National Football League (NFL) standings sometimes report games behind, although the statistic is not emphasized; winning percentage is used, computed from each team's win–loss–tie record.

This is especially true since the introduction of the bye week in 1990, exacerbating differences in the number of games that teams have played at various points in time, in addition to the possibility of tied games, which while highly uncommon since the introduction of overtime in the regular season starting in 1974 do still occur on occasion.

Leagues in these sports typically rank teams by awarding a certain number of points for each win or tie.

These changes would make calculating a "games behind" statistic even more complicated compared to if it were to be used under the traditional system in which a tie was effectively worth a "half-win."