Off the top of my head, here's a list of reasons that may tip the scale of an outcome in favor of the worse overall team in a baseball contest, whether luck or

Off the top of my head, here's a list of reasons that may tip the scale of an outcome in favor of the worse overall team in a baseball contest, whether luck or other factors. (the first two are by far the most important, and are in general order of how much variability each factors to a game): - sequencing (3 walks, 3 strikeouts, and a home run in an inning can end with 1 or 4 runs depending on sequencing) - ball-in-play luck (batters have little-to-no control over whether their line drive finds a glove for an out or a gap for a double) - pitcher/hitter matchups favoring one team or another - other luck over a single game (2+ errors in a game, 3+ home runs in a game, etc) that are well above the average for any team, but any team will have many of these games over the course of a season - umpire strike zone favoring one team's pitchers - umpire calls consistency - park/weather favoring one team's players If you need any explanation on any of these I'd be happy to provide it. I'll add more if I think of them, but this should give you a pretty good idea of why the best teams in baseball usually end up with a less than 60% win record.