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Schedule King -> RE: Division Tie Breaker? (8/7/2006 12:52:30 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: puresimmer
Hopefully for PS 2008 we can get the plaoff in there -- that is a nightmare with Wild Card ties etc. though...
Not necessarily. In MLB's case, the rules are not as complicated as they might appear at first glance. You could also do some selective simplifying to help things out.
Here's a rundown on how tiebreaking playoff games are determined, both for today and in the past. The scenarios presented below closely follow the actual MLB rules, but in some instances have been simplified somewhat.
Single elimination scenarios
(one loss and a team is eliminated)
Two team tie
The teams are randomly designated A and B. The playoff game is then:
Day 1: B at A
Three team tie
The teams are randomly designated A, B, and C. The playoff games are then:
Day 1: B at A
Day 2: C at A/B
Four team tie
The teams are randomly designated A, B, C, and D. The playoff games are then:
Day 1: B at A, D at C
Day 2: C/D at A/B
Five team tie
The teams are randomly designated A, B, C, D, and E. The playoff games are then:
Day 1: B at A, D at C
Day 2: E at A/B
Day 3: C/D at A/B/E
Double elimination scenarios
(two losses and a team is eliminated)
Double elimination playoffs are the way MLB used to resolve ties before divisional play was introduced in 1969. Note that from about 1929 up to 1956 the AL used the single elimination method; in other years it used the double elimination method. The NL used the double elimination method right up until 1969.
Two team tie
The teams are randomly designated A and B. The playoff games are then:
Day 1: A at B
Day 2: B at A
Day 3: B at A*
*if necessary
Three team tie
The teams are randomly designated A, B, and C. The first three playoff games are:
Day 1: B at A
Day 2: C at B
Day 3: A at C
After these three games, there are two possibilities. The first is that one of the teams may have lost twice, in which case it is eliminated and the remaining two teams continue to play the tiebreaker; the other is that all of the teams may have won once and lost once in which case all three clubs continue on in the tiebreaker.
If one of the teams has been eliminated after the first three games, the possible matchups are:
If A was eliminated:
Day 4: B at C
Day 5: C at B*
If B was eliminated:
Day 4: C at A
Day 5: A at C*
If C was eliminated:
Day 4: B at A
Day 5: A at B*
*if necessary
If none of the teams have been eliminated after the first three games, then the remaining games are:
Day 4: B at A
Day 5: C at A/B
Four team tie
The teams are randomly designated A, B, C, and D. The playoff games are then:
Day 1: A at B, C at D
Day 2: B at A, D at C
Day 3: B at A*, D at C*
Day 4: A/B at C/D
Day 5: C/D at A/B
Day 6: C/D at A/B*
*if necessary
The above illustrates the games set up once the tied teams are determined; the step before that involves working out which tiebreakers are played and in what order when there are simultaneous ties for a division title and a wildcard berth. This is further complicated by the fact that MLB used one set of rules from 1994 to about 2003, and then a different set of rules from about 2003 to the present. But I'll leave that for another post.
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