Post by King98er on Sept 27, 2007 15:15:44 GMT -5
NL could be in playoff tiebreakers until Thursday
By Jayson Stark
ESPN.com
(Archive)
Updated: September 27, 2007, 12:42 PM ET
If you think the National League standings are making you blind, it could easily get worse.
Try looking at the tie-breaker scenarios.
ONE-GAME PLAYOFFS
Potential tiebreaker matchups based on coin flips:
NL WILD CARD
Philadelphia at San Diego
San Diego at Colorado
Chicago at San Diego
Philadelphia at Colorado
Chicago at Philadelphia
Colorado at Chicago
Arizona at New York
Arizona at San Diego
Arizona at Colorado
Arizona at Philadelphia
San Diego at New York
New York at Colorado
NL EAST
NY Mets at Philadelphia
NL CENTRAL
Milwaukee at Chicago
NL WEST
San Diego at Arizona
Colorado at Arizona
Colorado at San Diego
If five teams in the East and West finish the season with the same record, we predict business will be booming at all kinds of ophthalmologists' offices near you.
Among the fun possibilities if that happens: The Padres theoretically could play in Milwaukee on Sunday, in Arizona on Monday, in San Diego on Tuesday, in Philadelphia on Wednesday, back in San Diego on Thursday and then in New York on Friday.
But don't write any of that in ink. This is such a mess, MLB has declared Thursday "Emergency Coin Flip Day," because let's just say some of these matchups didn't look quite this likely a couple of weeks ago.
Ready for the most crazed scenarios? All right, here goes:
Five-way tie (Mets, Philllies, Diamondbacks, Padres, Rockies):
• The Mets and Phillies play a one-game playoff Monday in Philadelphia to decide the NL East.
• The Rockies, Diamondbacks and Padres would have a three-team playoff Monday and Tuesday to decide the NL West champ. (The Rockies, the team with the best three-way head-to-head record, would have the option of playing two games at home or one game on the road.)
• That would still leave three teams tied for the wild card. So those three then would kick off another three-team playoff for that spot Wednesday and Thursday. (If Colorado is involved, it's just about guaranteed to have the best head-to-head record and, again, the option to choose two home games or one road game. But if the Rockies win the West and three other teams are involved in the wild-card playoff, don't even ask. Too many different scenarios.)
• The survivor of those four days of madness would be the wild-card team and, if it's an NL West club, would start the playoffs in either New York or Philadelphia. If it's an NL East team, it would start the playoffs in the park of the NL West winner.)
Got all that? Great. Then let's go on.
Four-team craziness: If the two NL East teams and the top two NL West teams all tie:
Just for the sake of discussion, let's say the Mets, Phillies, Padres and Diamondbacks finish with the same record. Here's how that would work:
• The Mets and Phillies play a one-game playoff Monday in Philadelphia to decide the NL East.
• The Padres and Diamondbacks play a one-game playoff Monday in Arizona to decide the NL West.
• The losers then play Tuesday to decide the wild card. A Diamondbacks-Phillies game would be at a site to be decided by a coin flip Thursday. A Padres-Phillies game would be in San Diego. If the Mets are involved, no sites have been determined yet -- because the Mets were such an unlikely wild-card bet, MLB never held any coin flips for those possibilities, either. So they had a big afternoon of flipping scheduled, as well.
More four-team craziness: If the three NL West teams and the Phillies all have the same record:
• First, the Padres, Rockies and Diamondbacks would have to settle the NL West on Monday and Tuesday. Again, the Rockies have the best head-to-head record, so they would have the option of playing two home games or one road game.
• Then BOTH NL West runners-up would get thrown into another three-team wild-card playoff with the Phillies on Wednesday and Thursday. Here is the team that would get the option of one road game or two home games:
• In an Arizona-Colorado-Philadelphia three-way: Diamondbacks.
• In an Arizona-San Diego-Philadelphia three-way: Diamondbacks.
• In a Colorado-San Diego-Philadelphia three-way: Rockies.
• If an NL West team survives all that, it would then play at the Mets on Friday to kick off the NLDS. If it's the Phillies, it would start the NLDS on Friday in the home of the NL West champ.
So that's the lay of this goofy land. Everybody have it all straight now? You'd better. There will be a quiz in the morning.
By Jayson Stark
ESPN.com
(Archive)
Updated: September 27, 2007, 12:42 PM ET
If you think the National League standings are making you blind, it could easily get worse.
Try looking at the tie-breaker scenarios.
ONE-GAME PLAYOFFS
Potential tiebreaker matchups based on coin flips:
NL WILD CARD
Philadelphia at San Diego
San Diego at Colorado
Chicago at San Diego
Philadelphia at Colorado
Chicago at Philadelphia
Colorado at Chicago
Arizona at New York
Arizona at San Diego
Arizona at Colorado
Arizona at Philadelphia
San Diego at New York
New York at Colorado
NL EAST
NY Mets at Philadelphia
NL CENTRAL
Milwaukee at Chicago
NL WEST
San Diego at Arizona
Colorado at Arizona
Colorado at San Diego
If five teams in the East and West finish the season with the same record, we predict business will be booming at all kinds of ophthalmologists' offices near you.
Among the fun possibilities if that happens: The Padres theoretically could play in Milwaukee on Sunday, in Arizona on Monday, in San Diego on Tuesday, in Philadelphia on Wednesday, back in San Diego on Thursday and then in New York on Friday.
But don't write any of that in ink. This is such a mess, MLB has declared Thursday "Emergency Coin Flip Day," because let's just say some of these matchups didn't look quite this likely a couple of weeks ago.
Ready for the most crazed scenarios? All right, here goes:
Five-way tie (Mets, Philllies, Diamondbacks, Padres, Rockies):
• The Mets and Phillies play a one-game playoff Monday in Philadelphia to decide the NL East.
• The Rockies, Diamondbacks and Padres would have a three-team playoff Monday and Tuesday to decide the NL West champ. (The Rockies, the team with the best three-way head-to-head record, would have the option of playing two games at home or one game on the road.)
• That would still leave three teams tied for the wild card. So those three then would kick off another three-team playoff for that spot Wednesday and Thursday. (If Colorado is involved, it's just about guaranteed to have the best head-to-head record and, again, the option to choose two home games or one road game. But if the Rockies win the West and three other teams are involved in the wild-card playoff, don't even ask. Too many different scenarios.)
• The survivor of those four days of madness would be the wild-card team and, if it's an NL West club, would start the playoffs in either New York or Philadelphia. If it's an NL East team, it would start the playoffs in the park of the NL West winner.)
Got all that? Great. Then let's go on.
Four-team craziness: If the two NL East teams and the top two NL West teams all tie:
Just for the sake of discussion, let's say the Mets, Phillies, Padres and Diamondbacks finish with the same record. Here's how that would work:
• The Mets and Phillies play a one-game playoff Monday in Philadelphia to decide the NL East.
• The Padres and Diamondbacks play a one-game playoff Monday in Arizona to decide the NL West.
• The losers then play Tuesday to decide the wild card. A Diamondbacks-Phillies game would be at a site to be decided by a coin flip Thursday. A Padres-Phillies game would be in San Diego. If the Mets are involved, no sites have been determined yet -- because the Mets were such an unlikely wild-card bet, MLB never held any coin flips for those possibilities, either. So they had a big afternoon of flipping scheduled, as well.
More four-team craziness: If the three NL West teams and the Phillies all have the same record:
• First, the Padres, Rockies and Diamondbacks would have to settle the NL West on Monday and Tuesday. Again, the Rockies have the best head-to-head record, so they would have the option of playing two home games or one road game.
• Then BOTH NL West runners-up would get thrown into another three-team wild-card playoff with the Phillies on Wednesday and Thursday. Here is the team that would get the option of one road game or two home games:
• In an Arizona-Colorado-Philadelphia three-way: Diamondbacks.
• In an Arizona-San Diego-Philadelphia three-way: Diamondbacks.
• In a Colorado-San Diego-Philadelphia three-way: Rockies.
• If an NL West team survives all that, it would then play at the Mets on Friday to kick off the NLDS. If it's the Phillies, it would start the NLDS on Friday in the home of the NL West champ.
So that's the lay of this goofy land. Everybody have it all straight now? You'd better. There will be a quiz in the morning.
