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SequSpur
09-30-2004, 11:41 PM
This is for you fags that don't understand baseball but like to tag along and run your damn mouths like you know what the f is up.


With only days remaining in Octoberquest, tiebreaker scenarios are on the minds of many fans who are either hoping their teams make the playoffs or wondering when and where their playoff-bound clubs will be playing.
Here are some answers to fans' questions from Scenario Central:

What happens if Minnesota finishes the regular season with the same winning percentage as the American League West champion?
This question is on the minds of Red Sox fans -- if the Red Sox are the AL Wild Card, they will open on the road against the AL Central champion Twins, or the team that wins the AL West. (The Yankees have the league's best record, but a Wild Card cannot open the playoffs against a team from its own division.)

If Minnesota and the AL West champion have the same record when regular-season play finishes up on Sunday, a tiebreaker system will be used to determine which division winner with the best record plays the Wild Card. The first tiebreaker will be head-to-head competition between the two clubs during the regular season. Oakland won the season series with Minnesota, 5-2. Anaheim won the season series with Minnesota, 5-4.

Follow that same approach in the National League if you want to determine possible tiebreakers should Atlanta finish with the same winning percentage as the NL West winner. If head-to-head doesn't break the tie, then here is what follows:

The home-field advantage would go to the club with the higher winning percentage in intradivision games during the regular season. If the clubs remain tied, then the winner is the tied club with the higher winning percentage in Intraleague Play. If the clubs remain tied, then the winner is the tied club with the higher winning percentage in the last half of Intraleague Play. If the clubs remain tied, then the winner is the tied club with the higher winning percentage in the last half, plus the first Intraleague game during the regular season. This process would be followed, game by game, until the tie is broken.

The Dodgers, Giants and Cubs finish with the same winning percentage, leaving the NL West and the NL Wild Card winners undecided. What happens?
The Dodgers and Giants would have a one-game playoff to determine the West champion on Monday. The loser would play the Cubs (or Astros or Padres) in a one-game playoff to determine the Wild Card winner on Tuesday. If that scenario plays out, then both National League Division Series would begin on Wednesday. Under normal circumstances (no Tuesday tiebreaker), three Division Series will begin on Tuesday and the only exception is the one involving the NL Wild Card.


If three clubs are tied for first place in a division (or Wild Card) with an identical winning percentage at the conclusion of the regular season and the tied clubs do not have identical records against one another in the regular season, how is the tie for the division championship (or Wild Card) broken?
If the three tied clubs have identical records against one another in the regular season, the Office of the Commissioner shall supervise a draw that results in the clubs being designated Club A, Club B and Club C.

If the tied clubs do not have identical records against one another in the champoinship season, they will be designated Club A, Club B and Club C based on their records in head-to-head competition during the championship season as follows:

If Club 1 has a better record against each of Clubs 2 and 3, and Club 2 has a better record against Club 3, then Club 1 shall choose a designation as Club A, Club B or Club C. Club 2 shall choose a designation from the remaining two designations, and Club 3 shall be assigned the remaining designation.

If Club 1 has a better record against each of Clubs 2 and 3, and Club 2 and Club 3 have the same record against each other, then Club 1 shall choose a designation as Club A, Club B or Club C. The Office of the Commissioner shall supervise a draw between Clubs 2 and 3, the winner of which shall choose one of the remaining two designations. The remaining club shall be assigned the remaining designation.

If Club 1 and Club 2 have the same record against each other but each has a better record against Club 3, then the Office of the Commissioner shall supervise a draw between Clubs 1 and 2, the winner of which shall choose a designation as Club A, Club B or Club C. The club losing the draw shall choose a designation from the remaining two designations. Club 3 shall be assigned the remaining designation.

If Club 1 has a better record against Club 2, Club 2 has a better record against Club 3, and Club 3 has a better record against Club 1, then the three clubs shall be ranked on the basis of overall winning percentage within that three-club group, and the club with the highest winning percentage from among that three-club group shall have first choice among designations as Club A, Club B or Club C. The club with the next-highest winning percentage among the group shall have the next choice between the two remaining designations, and the club with the lowest winning percentage shall be assigned the remaining designation. If two or more of the clubs within this three-club group have the same winning percentage among the group, the Office of the Commissioner shall supervise a draw between the clubs so tied to determine priority of selection among the designations.

Club A shall play Club B at the ballpark of Club A on Monday. The following day, the winner of the first game shall be the home club in a second game against Club C. The winner of the game between Club C and the club that won the Club A-Club B game shall be declared the division champion.

What if four contenders in a league finish with the same winning percentage? Let's say the Dodgers, Giants, Cubs and Astros all finish with the same record.
In that scenario, Los Angeles and San Francisco would first play a one-game playoff to determine the NL West champion. Then the losing team would join Chicago and Houston in the three-team playoff tiebreaker. This would all take place between Monday and Wednesday, pushing back the start of the NLDS.

Where would the tiebreaker games be played?
Major League Baseball has conducted a series of coin tosses to determine the sites for potential two-team tiebreakers that would clinch division and Wild Card playoff berths.

WHAT'S THE SCENARIO?
NL West
• Los Angeles at San Francisco

NL Wild Card
• Chicago at San Francisco
• Houston at San Francisco
• San Diego at San Francisco
• Chicago at Houston
• Chicago at San Diego
• Houston at San Diego



The first tiebreaker criteria in each instance, again, will be head-to-head regular-season records. The rule of thumb, though, is that a tiebreaker game will be played if one of the two teams involved in the tie would be eliminated from postseason contention.

Let's say there are two teams tied after the last game of the season and one team has a 10-9 lead in the season series. If the losing team in that tiebreaker scenario is assured of being the Wild Card -- as is the case in the AL East, where both the Yankees and Red Sox have clinched playoff berths -- a one-game playoff would not be needed. But if the losing team was otherwise eliminated, a game would be played.

For those having trouble making heads or tails out of what is going on, here is how the potential two-team tiebreaker scenarios will work in terms of home-field advantage:

NL West

Los Angeles at San Francisco
NL Wild Card
Bottom line: If a California team needs a tiebreaker game, it is going to happen in that team's home state. Also, it is worth noting that MLB did not toss coins for the Dodgers other than the NL West tiebreaker. They would need to conduct another one or more this week should LA fall into Wild Card ground.

Chicago at San Francisco
Houston at San Francisco
San Diego at San Francisco
Chicago at Houston
Chicago at San Diego
Houston at San Diego
Mark Newman is enterprise editor for MLB.com. Giants correspondent Rich Draper contributed to this story. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.