What is Win Percentage?

Win percentage is calculated as: Wins / Games Played. In leagues that track ties, the formula becomes: (Wins + 0.5 * Ties) / Games Played. A team that has won 9 out of 12 games has a .750 win percentage, meaning they win three out of every four games they play. Win percentage is the primary standings metric in many North American sports leagues, including basketball and baseball, where ties are rare or impossible. It is less common in soccer and hockey, which use point-based systems because draws and overtime results need to be accounted for. The main advantage of win percentage is simplicity. Everyone understands what .600 means, and it naturally normalizes for games played, so a team at 6-2 (.750) clearly ranks above a team at 7-3 (.700) even though the latter has more wins. This makes it particularly useful mid-season when teams may have played different numbers of games due to cancellations or byes. The disadvantage is that win percentage treats all wins equally. A team that wins every game by 1 point has the same win percentage as a team that wins by 30. For this reason, win percentage is often supplemented with tiebreakers like point differential and strength of schedule that account for margin of victory and quality of opponents.