What do x, y, z and e mean in the standings?
They are what a club’s season has already settled: x has clinched a playoff place, y its division, z the best record in its conference, e has been eliminated. NBA tables add pb for a play-in berth and xp for a clinched play-in place.
How it is worked out
Not calculated: the league marks a club once the remaining schedule can no longer change the outcome.
Elimination arrives long before the mathematics look final, because it counts the games left against the clubs ahead, not only the games left.
What the column says today
- The NBA table carries e beside 10 clubs, y beside 4 clubs, xp beside 4 clubs, pb beside 4 clubs, x beside 6 clubs, z beside the Detroit Pistons, * beside the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2025-26. NBA standings
- The MLB table carries z beside 3 clubs, e beside 13 clubs, x beside 3 clubs in 2026. MLB standings