Position is not distance
Why Do Rankings Change When Nothing Does?
A ranking throws away how far apart things are, and keeps only the order.
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Step 1 of 5
Ranking is sorting, then numbering.
You put things in order and hand out positions. All the information about how much better is thrown away at that moment.
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Step 2 of 5
Equal gaps are a lie the podium tells.
Four even steps on the podium. Two of the real gaps are nothing like equal. First and second look one step apart, and so do second and third. On the actual scores the first gap can be a hundred times the second.
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Step 3 of 5
Tiny changes flip positions.
When two things are nearly equal, a hair's difference decides the order — and next week the other one wins by a hair and the table looks transformed.
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Step 4 of 5
Averaging ranks makes it worse.
Adding up positions across several tables treats a narrow win and a landslide as identical, so the combined table can rank nobody's actual favourite first.
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Step 5 of 5
Keep the numbers if you can.
A ranking is a summary, and like every summary it is smaller than what it describes. When the gaps matter, show the scores.
This is why league tables shown with the actual points make a season look completely different from the positions alone.
The short version
A ranking keeps only the order and throws away the gaps, so tiny differences can flip positions and big gaps disappear.
Try it yourself
Rank five friends by height, then measure them. See whether the gaps match the positions at all.