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Crazy NL playoff possbility

Posted by Andy on September 27, 2007

Does anybody out there know (I am not asking for guesses) what happens if the Phillies, Mets, Diamondbacks, Rockies, and Padres all finish with the same record?

This is possible, based on the current standings and the remaining schedule.

17 Responses to “Crazy NL playoff possbility”

  1. vonhayes Says:

    If the Mets and Phils have the same record, the Phillies would get the division title because they won the season series, and the Mets would play for the wild card, somehow. I'm not sure what would happen if all 3 NL West teams tied. But I don't believe that there can be a 5-team playoff due to 2 teams having to be division title winners.

  2. Andy Says:

    When did MLB stop doing one-game playoffs to decide a division (such as between BOS and NYY in 1978)?
    Also, if two teams tie for the WC but are not tied for their division lead, then why do they have a playoff without considering the head-to-head record of those two teams?

  3. vonhayes Says:

    I'm not sure but I did find that odd, too. I could be wrong about the Phils getting the title in the event of a tie, but I've heard that a lot recently.

  4. ae Says:

    Jayson Stark had a good breakdown here this morning of some of the more bizarre situations, found here: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3038686

    he doesn't mention a three-way tie, but in that case, the division title would be determined first by a one-game playoff. then the loser of that game would play the other wild card contender to make the postseason.

    one-game playoffs were only eliminated when both teams would make the postseason. if the Mets and Phillies tie for the NL East but both trail the wild card leader, then they would have a one-game playoff. if they tie but both lead the wild card leader, then the Phils would win the East based on head-to-head record while the Mets would take the WC.

  5. vonhayes Says:

    http://www.baseball-reference.com/about/division_ties.shtml

  6. damthesehigheels Says:

    heres this:

    http://www.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20030908&content_id=517243&vkey=pr_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

    which ironicly i found linked from a baseball-reference page...

    i know division winners would be taken first... then the remaining 3 would have their own tiebreaker for wild card... that link kinda explains it but i couldnt really follow it all that well...

  7. damthesehigheels Says:

    three posts at the exact same time! wow!

  8. vonhayes Says:

    I think you'd just end up with three wild card teams tied (unless there was no team with a win % advantage in the West to claim the division title), and then they'd have a round robin playoff together.

  9. vonhayes Says:

    Right on!

  10. Andy Says:

    I put a strikethrough in vonhayes' first comment because that is wrong.

    In the AL, there definitely is NO playoff if teams tie. I think there might be different rules between the leagues.

  11. vonhayes Says:

    I just read through all the scenarios on baseball-reference and I hope none of it actually happens.

  12. zimcity Says:

    Well fortunately the D-Backs and Rockies can no longer be tied at the end of the season, so a 4-team deadlock is all that would possibly need to be resolved. That would require BOTH the Mets and Phillies to sweep their weekend series, since the minimum wins for an NL West tie would be 90.

    In that case, I imagine each division would have their one game playoff
    and the two losing teams would face each other on Tuesday for the wild card.

    More likely is a tie between the Phils, Mets and one or two NL West 2nd place teams, where head to head record would be used as tiebreaker for the NL East champ and the other team would enter into the wildcard tournament with the west team(s).

  13. zimcity Says:

    This just in: In event of a 4-way tie the NL East would be decided by a playoff in Philly, then the wildcard tournament would start on Tuesday...

    http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070927&content_id=2234241&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

  14. vonhayes Says:

    Mets won't win another game

  15. Andy Says:

    Looks like you're wrong on that one, vonhayes, seeing as they are winning 11-0 at the moment.

  16. AlexJay Says:

    Out of curiosity, I wondered aloud--still aglow from the Phillies' division-clinching, hoping to distract myself from the Eagles' horrible game against the Giants--how cool it would be if all 32 teams somehow finished the season with an 81-81 record.

    My best friend, a math instructor at Drexel University, seized upon this, and grabbed his scientific calculator. He wanted to figure out the odds of such a thing happening.

    Even assuming equal talent, and no weird variables such as injuries, collapses, and the like, his calculator--which is able to record sums up to the 99th power--replied with a "MAX ERROR" message ...

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