September 27, 2007
What Happens in a Five Way Tie?
One commenter asked in this post, "What happens if there is a five-way tie???" Chris gave the basic explanation there, but to help out, here's the list coin flip results for two way ties. So, if the Mets and Phillies are tied, they play Monday in Philadelphia.
Breaking the three-way tie in the west would be trickier. If a three way tie happens, Colorado will have the best combined record between the three teams, with Arizona second and San Diego third. Colorado gets to select if it wants to play at home on day one, and then at home on day two if they win, or on the road for game two only. My guess is they take the day off. Arizona would then likely take the first home game, and the winner would host Colorado on Tuesday.
The loser of the NL East game, and the losers of the Monday and Tuesday games in the NL West, meet in another two game tournament on Wednesday and Thursday. We'll deal with that possibility when we get there, but right now the Rockies have a winning record against all other opponents.
I thought about this all last night while falling asleep, and even reading this now, I don't understand. What happens if the Rockies, D-Backs & Padres all split their respective season series?
Also, I feel like there's no way a team could justify turning away the revenue that a two home "playoff" games would bring, in order to get one extra day of rest and one less game to play.
The MLB tiebreaker coin flips do not include the Mets in the wildcard matchups? What happens if the Mets lose a Division playoff vs. the Phillies? Who plays where?
Maybe it's just based on the combined heads-up records. Just ignore me.
A team would be insane not to take the day off. Your odds of winning a single game on the road are maybe 45%. Two games at home: 30%.
