More photos » by Frank Franklin II - AP

New York Yankees' Jorge Posada follows through on an RBI single to win the game during the twelfth inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays Saturday, July 4, 2009, in New York. The Yankees won the game 6-5.

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In a semi-recurring theme on the consistency of offense, we'll take a look at how many runs are needed to win a ballgame.

• This season, the magic number has been five. Teams that score (exactly) five runs win 61% of their games. Scoring four runs engenders a 49.5% winning percentage, which is basically a toss-up.

• The biggest difference, as far improving win percentage, is between three and four runs. Scoring that fourth run increases the chances of winning 16%.

• Once you get beyond seven runs, it's almost a guaranteed win, and anything under three runs is almost a guaranteed loss.

• Scoring 15 runs doesn't help the chances of winning that much more than eight runs. So in essence, scoring 5-7 runs consistently is better than scoring two in one game and 10 the next. The consistent offense probably wins both games while the inconsistent one probably gets a split.

Not earth-shattering, but good to see the facts behind the belief.