What happens if...

[TheMatrix31]

There is a 3way or 4way tie for the NL Wild Card race at the end of the season??

[mjb2124]

Re: What happens if...

Just found this on Baseball Prospectus. I was also interested in the answer and figured a playoff system would be invoked. Funny that MLB DOES NOT have a contingency plan if 5 teams tie for the Wild Card.

"There’s a good chance of tie for the wildcard. A two-team tie results in (you guessed it) a one-game playoff, home field determined by coin flip; A three-team tie results in a two-game tournament, seeding determined by combined head-to-head record or, in case of a tie, lots drawn at random out of Bud Selig’s toupee, turned over and used as a hat.

A four-team tie would give the playoffs a March Madness feel, as the four teams would be seeded randomly and set up in brackets. Team A would play Team B, Team C would play Team D, and the winners would meet to determine who gets the wildcard berth.

That’s as far as we can go with what Major League Baseball has figured out, but as Albert Einstein once said, “imagination will take you everywhere.” I don’t think he had a five-way tie for the NL Wildcard in mind when he said it, but just for fun I threw that scenario at the nice, patient folks in the Major League Baseball office. What would happen if Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, San Diego, and Florida all ended the season with the exact same record? Not surprisingly, MLB doesn’t have a contingency for this one, and could only offer a guess at a possible scenario, pending consultation with and approval by the player’s union.

Per Katy Feeney, what might happen is that the team with the best combined head-to-head record of the five would get a bye. Based on current head-to-head records, that would be San Diego. Then, the other four teams would play bracketed elimination games. The winners of those two games would then join the Padres in a two-game tournament, with San Diego automatically designated Team A (both games as the road team). The winner of that tournament would take home the coveted wildcard trophy (or gold watch, or whatever it is they get). Four games later, we’d finally have a wildcard entrant."

[mjb2124]

Re: What happens if...

Just found this on Baseball Prospectus. I was also interested in the answer and figured a playoff system would be invoked. Funny that MLB DOES NOT have a contingency plan if 5 teams tie for the Wild Card.

"There’s a good chance of tie for the wildcard. A two-team tie results in (you guessed it) a one-game playoff, home field determined by coin flip; A three-team tie results in a two-game tournament, seeding determined by combined head-to-head record or, in case of a tie, lots drawn at random out of Bud Selig’s toupee, turned over and used as a hat.

A four-team tie would give the playoffs a March Madness feel, as the four teams would be seeded randomly and set up in brackets. Team A would play Team B, Team C would play Team D, and the winners would meet to determine who gets the wildcard berth.

That’s as far as we can go with what Major League Baseball has figured out, but as Albert Einstein once said, “imagination will take you everywhere.” I don’t think he had a five-way tie for the NL Wildcard in mind when he said it, but just for fun I threw that scenario at the nice, patient folks in the Major League Baseball office. What would happen if Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, San Diego, and Florida all ended the season with the exact same record? Not surprisingly, MLB doesn’t have a contingency for this one, and could only offer a guess at a possible scenario, pending consultation with and approval by the player’s union.

Per Katy Feeney, what might happen is that the team with the best combined head-to-head record of the five would get a bye. Based on current head-to-head records, that would be San Diego. Then, the other four teams would play bracketed elimination games. The winners of those two games would then join the Padres in a two-game tournament, with San Diego automatically designated Team A (both games as the road team). The winner of that tournament would take home the coveted wildcard trophy (or gold watch, or whatever it is they get). Four games later, we’d finally have a wildcard entrant."

[TheMatrix31]

Re: What happens if...

"There’s a good chance of tie for the wildcard. A two-team tie results in (you guessed it) a one-game playoff, home field determined by coin flip; A three-team tie results in a two-game tournament, seeding determined by combined head-to-head record or, in case of a tie, lots drawn at random out of Bud Selig’s toupee, turned over and used as a hat.

LOL! Is that really what it says??

[TheMatrix31]

Re: What happens if...

"There’s a good chance of tie for the wildcard. A two-team tie results in (you guessed it) a one-game playoff, home field determined by coin flip; A three-team tie results in a two-game tournament, seeding determined by combined head-to-head record or, in case of a tie, lots drawn at random out of Bud Selig’s toupee, turned over and used as a hat.

LOL! Is that really what it says??

[mjb2124]

Re: What happens if...

LOL! Is that really what it says??

Yeah I copied and pasted it from that site. Of course, that site added their little touches to the rules, but I think you get the point. It's actually a very respected baseball site so I assume some of what they say is correct. Here's a few more links:

http://www.all-baseball.com/archives/015459.html

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2293

[mjb2124]

Re: What happens if...

LOL! Is that really what it says??

Yeah I copied and pasted it from that site. Of course, that site added their little touches to the rules, but I think you get the point. It's actually a very respected baseball site so I assume some of what they say is correct. Here's a few more links:

http://www.all-baseball.com/archives/015459.html

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2293

[Blzer]

Re: What happens if...

I was listening to the radio that Thursday that the Giants played the Brewers (LOL took it to school, just had to hear if Bonds hit 700), and Jon Miller was talking about those coin toss things... it appears that the Giants won ALL FIVE coin tosses that they had, so if they tie, they will have home field advantage regardless (that would be that they won coin tosses against the Cubs, Dodgers, Astros, Padres, and Marlins).

Go Giants!

[Blzer]

Re: What happens if...

I was listening to the radio that Thursday that the Giants played the Brewers (LOL took it to school, just had to hear if Bonds hit 700), and Jon Miller was talking about those coin toss things... it appears that the Giants won ALL FIVE coin tosses that they had, so if they tie, they will have home field advantage regardless (that would be that they won coin tosses against the Cubs, Dodgers, Astros, Padres, and Marlins).

Go Giants!

[BatsareBugs]

Re: What happens if...

Having home field advantage against the Padres isn't really a good thing.

[BatsareBugs]

Re: What happens if...

Having home field advantage against the Padres isn't really a good thing.

[Stoud]

Re: What happens if...

This kind of ending to the season wouldn't suprise me in the least. Going into the season I felt that almost all of the teams in the MLB were evenly matched. I tried to tell myself that, well, some guys are going to get injured along the way and make it harder for those teams, or not work out as planned...and it seemed for a while like that was the case...Mariners got older, Moyer couldn't get anybody out, Aurilia didn't work out, DBacks lost Sexson, Brandon Webb didn't work out, Tampa Bay couldn't find a way to win, even the Yankees had some problems, and lets not forget the Expos. But most every other team had suprising outbursts by players...Mark Loretta had an amazing year for the Padres, Rolen for the Cards, several Reds players, Armando Benitez became one of the best closers in the game again, Clemens was still on absolute top of his game, the Cubs managed to win a few through their struggles, ect. Evenly matched. Now there's a chance for a five-way tie? I'm not all that entirely suprised.

[Stoud]

Re: What happens if...

This kind of ending to the season wouldn't suprise me in the least. Going into the season I felt that almost all of the teams in the MLB were evenly matched. I tried to tell myself that, well, some guys are going to get injured along the way and make it harder for those teams, or not work out as planned...and it seemed for a while like that was the case...Mariners got older, Moyer couldn't get anybody out, Aurilia didn't work out, DBacks lost Sexson, Brandon Webb didn't work out, Tampa Bay couldn't find a way to win, even the Yankees had some problems, and lets not forget the Expos. But most every other team had suprising outbursts by players...Mark Loretta had an amazing year for the Padres, Rolen for the Cards, several Reds players, Armando Benitez became one of the best closers in the game again, Clemens was still on absolute top of his game, the Cubs managed to win a few through their struggles, ect. Evenly matched. Now there's a chance for a five-way tie? I'm not all that entirely suprised.