La Liga standings get decided on points - 3 for a win, 1 for a draw - with goal difference, goals scored and head to head factors kicking in once all that's done. A pretty steady 25.5% of games ending in a draw over the past few years means La Liga tables tend to get more crowded than you see in a lot of other European leagues.
It's no surprise really, with draws being so common - particularly 1-1 draws at a pretty high rate of 15.6% - the difference between getting in the Champions League and just scraping a mid-table finish often comes down to a few dodgy decisions in goal difference. And with an average of 2.65 goals per match - that's pretty controlled.
The La Liga table usually revolves around a few big clubs - Real Madrid and Barcelona for instance - whose win rate is ridiculously good (over 83% in games they've decided) which keeps them right up near the top.
But with so many draws - which tends to happen pretty regularly - the title race can stay open for a lot longer into the season than you might think. Down at the bottom of the table, the points gap between clubs can be tiny and while you don't get too many high-scoring thumpings - goal difference becomes a major deciding factor towards the end of the season.
La Liga tables end up reflecting the dominance of the top clubs - but also the way the lower half of the table gets bunched up.