Standings and Scoring
Learn how league standings are calculated and what scoring formats slowpitch.love supports.
slowpitch.love updates standings automatically as games are completed. Players report scores from the schedule or team dashboard, and the standings page uses those results to rank teams.
Every league has a "How standings are calculated" section on its standings page. That section is the best place to check the exact format for a specific league because some standings formats have configurable details.
If you need a different standings format than the one your league is using, contact support. Some scoring changes are not self-serve because they can affect schedules, score entry, playoffs, and already-entered results.
What Counts Toward Standings
In most leagues, standings are based on completed regular-season games. Playoff games are handled by the playoff bracket and are not used to reorder the regular-season standings.
Canceled games do not count unless the cancellation is recorded as a forfeit/no-show result. When a team forfeits, slowpitch.love records the forfeit as a result so standings can update.
If a game is marked as best-of, only the games needed to decide the winner count toward standings. Extra games played after the winner is already decided do not count.
Standard Win/Loss Standings
This is the most common standings format for leagues where teams play multiple games inside each game.
Teams are ranked by game win percentage. A team that wins 8 of 10 games ranks above a team that wins 7 of 10 games.
When teams have the same game win percentage, slowpitch.love can use one of these tie-breaker metrics:
- run differential — all runs scored minus all runs allowed. Higher is better.
- runs allowed — fewer runs allowed is better.
- runs scored — more runs scored is better.
After that metric, slowpitch.love checks head-to-head results between the tied teams when that information is available.
Win/Loss Without Score Totals
Some leagues use a simpler version of this format where only wins and losses matter. In that format, teams are ranked by win percentage and then head-to-head results. Score totals are ignored for standings.
This is useful when managers want to record who won each game, but do not want total runs to affect rankings.
Points Per Place
Points per place is used for formats where each game awards standings points based on finish position.
For example, a four-team game might award standings points for first, second, third, and fourth place. The exact values are shown on the standings page for that league.
In this format, standings are ranked by total points. If teams are tied on total points, slowpitch.love uses these tie-breakers:
- Points earned by the team's own players, excluding sub-only points when the league tracks those separately.
- Finishes by place, starting with most first-place finishes, then second-place finishes, and so on.
Some points-per-place leagues track substitute standings points separately. When that is enabled, the standings page shows both the regular points and sub points so managers can see how the total was built.
Standings Points Per Win
Some leagues use a standings-points system where teams earn credit for each game they win.
In this format:
- Each game win is worth 1 standings point.
- If the game has an even number of games, the team with the better run differential in that game earns 1 bonus standings point.
- If the run differential is tied for that bonus, each team receives 0.5 standings points.
Teams are ranked by standings points first. If teams are tied, slowpitch.love checks:
- Head-to-head results.
- Overall game wins.
- Overall game losses.
- Overall run differential.
Head-to-Head Tie-Breakers
When slowpitch.love uses head-to-head results, it looks at how the tied teams performed against each other.
If the teams have not played each other, or their head-to-head results do not break the tie, slowpitch.love continues to the next tie-breaker for that standings format. If the tie still cannot be broken, the standings may show the teams sharing the same place.
Changing Standings Formats
Managers can edit league basics such as group, team size, games per game, score targets, score caps, and expected game length before a league starts. The standings format itself is not currently a self-serve setting.
Contact support if you want to:
- Use points per place.
- Use standings points for each game win.
- Change whether a win/loss league uses run differential, runs allowed, or runs scored as its tie-breaker.
- Change a league from one standings format to another.
It is best to request these changes before the schedule is created. Changes after scores have been reported may require support to review existing results, score entry settings, and playoff seeding.
Common Questions
Why did standings change after a score was reported?
Standings update as soon as saved scores affect the ranking. If a newly reported result changes win percentage, run differential, standings points, or a head-to-head tie-breaker, team positions can move immediately.
Why are playoff teams not filled in yet?
If playoff seeding depends on league standings, every regular-season game that affects those standings must be scored or canceled before slowpitch.love can assign teams to the bracket.
Can a manager override standings manually?
Not directly. If a standings result looks wrong, check the underlying game scores first. If the scores are correct and the standings still look wrong, contact support with the league name and the teams involved.
Where can players see how standings are calculated?
Players can open the league standings page and read the "How standings are calculated" section. That explanation reflects the exact standings format being used for that league.
