How do I fix this AppScript Array Value Comparison error with values of different lengths

I have a google sheet appscript macro that is comparing weekly scores across a set of teams in a league. It's checking which team would have beat each other each week by comparing scores across a set of categories. There is some logic to set whether some categories score for being higher or lower. The macro is correctly comparing scores in nearly all cases, but I eventually found a bug that I can't sort out.

  // Get all relevant data from the stat sheet in one go
  const statsRange = statSheet.getRange('C8:C234').offset(0, weeks);
  const statsData = statsRange.getValues();

  // Iterate through teams (assuming 12 teams)
  for (let i = 0; i <= 11; i++) {
    for (let j = 0; j <= 11; j++) {
      if (i===11&&j===11) {break}
      if (j===i) {j=j+1;}
      let score = 0;

      // Iterate through stats for each team pair, comparing and calculating score. 
     Scores are across 19 rows per team in the data set. There are 15 relevant rows. 

      for (let k = 0; k <= 15; k++) { 
        var homeStat = statsData[(19 * i) + k]; 
        var awayStat = statsData[(19 * j) + k];

        // Skip some stats and handle some differently
        if (k === 0 || k === 1 || k === 3 || k === 4) {continue}
        else if (k === 13||k === 14) {
          score += (homeStat < awayStat) ? 1 : (homeStat > awayStat) ? -1 : 0;
        } else {
          score += (homeStat > awayStat) ? 1 : (homeStat < awayStat) ? -1 : 0;
        }
        console.log(i, j, k, homeStat, awayStat, score)
      }

An example input data set

For some reason, if HomeStat and AwayState of different orders of magnitude this comparison produces inverse results. An example log/output: i and j are teams in the sheet. k is the stat category. Home and away stats are the inputs from each team for the category. The score should increment up or down based on the logic. k = 10 is the error. It increments up when home score is less than away score.

|time|log|i|j|k|home stat|away stat|score|
6:59:04 PM  Info    11 10 2 [ 0.476 ] [ 0.44 ] 1
6:59:04 PM  Info    11 10 5 [ 0.793 ] [ 0.77 ] 2
6:59:04 PM  Info    11 10 6 [ 35 ] [ 68 ] 1
6:59:04 PM  Info    11 10 7 [ 360 ] [ 542 ] 0
6:59:04 PM  Info    11 10 8 [ 42 ] [ 43 ] -1
6:59:04 PM  Info    11 10 9 [ 142 ] [ 174 ] -2
6:59:04 PM  Info    **11 10 10 [ 87 ] [ 107 ] -1**
6:59:04 PM  Info    11 10 11 [ 31 ] [ 28 ] 0
6:59:04 PM  Info    11 10 12 [ 25 ] [ 14 ] 1
6:59:04 PM  Info    11 10 13 [ 52 ] [ 55 ] 2
6:59:04 PM  Info    11 10 14 [ 0 ] [ 0 ] 2
6:59:04 PM  Info    11 10 15 [ 1 ] [ 0 ] 3

The logic always applies +1 to the score that's a shorter length (2 vs. 3 numbers), regardless if it's home or away. If both scores are 2 or 3 numbers long it scores correctly.

The logic always applies +1 to the score that's a shorter length (2 vs. 3 numbers), regardless if it's home or away.

Chances are that those values aren't numbers but text strings that just look like numbers. Text strings compare lexicographically so "10" < "2".

To make it work, format the column as Format > Number > Automatic instead of Format > Number > Plain text, or use Number(), like this:

      for (let k = 0; k <= 15; k++) { 
        const homeStat = Number(statsData[(19 * i) + k]); 
        const awayStat = Number(statsData[(19 * j) + k]);

See Number().