Division/Wildcard Tie Breaker games

[strzepeksc]

How did OOTP determine this matchup in my league? The standings at end of regular season in the AL West was a three way tie between LA/Sea/Tex at 92-70. These three teams also are tied for the wildcard.
Head to head results were LA (against Sea 10-9 & Texas 9-10). Texas was (10-9 vs LA and 7-12 vs Sea), Seattle was (12-7 vs Tex & 9-10 vs LA) The game scheduled a playoff of Texas at Seattle.

Does LA get a bye for some reason ? By a coin flip ? Or will LA have to play the winner of Tex/Sea game ? I have not simmed ahead yet to see, but don't understand how this matchup was scheduled!! Is Seattle at home due to better head to head record vs Texas ?

How does real ML baseball determine matchups like this?

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by strzepeksc

How does real ML baseball determine matchups like this?

It depends on whether you are using the older MLB playoff format with only a single wild card qualifier or you are using the current MLB scenario with two wild card qualifiers. If the latter, then it depends on whether the tie is for both wild card spots or just the second spot.

The first step in all cases is to designate the teams A, B, or C. The club which won its season series against both other opponents gets first choice, the club which won one and lost one season series against the other clubs gets the second choice, and the club which lost both season series against the other two gets whatever option is left. In your situation, all three clubs won and lost one season series against the other two opponents. When that happens the cumulative head-to-head record is used. In that case Seattle gets first choice due to its 21-17 cumulative head-to-head record, LA picks second due to its 19-19 record, and Texas picks last as it was 17-21.

Let's assume Seattle elects to be Team C, LA is Team A, and Texas is Team B, and


One Wild Card Qualifier Only

The first step is to resolve the division tie. This process involves the following games:

Day 1: B at A
Day 2: C at A/B

The winner on Day 2 is the division winner. Note that the tie-breaking game results to determine the division title do not affect the other clubs' standing in regards to the wild card. They are still considered tied for the wild card since their records were the same after the 162 regular season games. The two remaining teams would be re-designated A and B, with the club having the better head-to-head record selecting its designation. The game played would be:

Day 3: B at A

The winner of this game is the wild card and the loser is eliminated.


Two wild card qualifiers, with the clubs tied for the second wild card spot

The first step is to resolve the division tie. The games played are:

Day 1: B at A
Day 2: C at A/B

The losing team on Day 1 is eliminated. The winner on Day 2 is the division winner while the losing club is declared the second wild card qualifier.


Two wild card qualifiers, with the clubs tied for both wild card spots

The first step here is to resolve the division tie. The process is the same as outlined in the one wild card qualifier scenario.

Day 1: B at A
Day 2: C at A/B

The winner on Day 2 is the division winner. The other two teams are the two wild card qualifiers, and no further tie-breaking games would be played. The club which would host the Wild Card Game would be whichever of the two wild card qualifiers had the better head-to-head record over the 162 games of the regular season (i.e. tie-breaking playoff games are not included when determining which club is the higher seed for home advantage purposes).