Thread: Baseball / Basketball standings question

Here we are, dumb question of the week. Looking at the standings in both baseball and basketball there's the games behind column.
Can someone tell me how its worked out, as I often look during the seasons and can never quite work out how its done.
Probably quite simple but at the moment I can't see how

Games back is how far behind first place you are. If two teams have played the same number of games it is a straight up equation like:

Minnesota 45 wins, 30 losses
Chicago 40 wins, 35 losses

Chicago is 5 games behind Minnesota


It gets a little tougher if the games are uneven like:

Minnesota 40 wins, 30 losses
Chicago 39 wins, 30 losses

Chicago is only a half game back because they still have one game in hand.

I hope that clears it up a little bit for you.