Tiebreaking scenarios

[Cryomaniac]

It's quite common knowledge how a 2 or 3 team tie is handled, both in real life and in OOTP, but the other day I was simming a league, and near the end of the season it was possible for there to be a 5 team tie for the wildcard, as it happened there wasn't a tie at all, but it got me thinking what would happen in the case of a 5 team tie? I'm guessing it would be the same as a three way tie?

As a fan of the bizarre I also started thinking how I would handle a six team tie. For that I'd draw lots and have each team play one other, then the three remaining teams play as a 3-way tie.

I would also like to see customizable tiebreaking scenarios, so that you don't have to fiddle with the schedules, and then edit them again at the start of the next season.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Cryomaniac

...what would happen in the case of a 5 team tie?

A five-way tie nearly happened in the NL East in 1973, and there was the distant chance of a five-way tie in the wild card race in 2001. The Major League Rules do not specify the procedure for a five-way tie, so tiebreaking scenarios were created from scratch.

In 1973, the process would have been as follows:

The five teams are split into two groups. One group consists of three teams and plays the normal three-way tiebreaker, the other group consists of two teams and plays the normal two-way tiebreaker. The teams winning each of these two tiebreaking groups would then play one final game against each other to determine the final winner.

In terms of the actual games scheduled, it looked like this:

Tues. Oct. 2: PIT at NYN, MON at SLN
Wed. Oct. 3: CHN at MON/SLN
Thur. Oct. 4: PIT/NYN at CHN/MON/SLN

You can see that the winner of the two-team group (PIT or NYN) got Wednesday off, but in compensation had to play the final game of tiebreaker on the road.

In 2001, the process that probably would have been used was slightly different (MLB would have first had to consult with the MLBPA as to the actual process):

The team with the best combined head-to-head record amongst the tied teams would get a bye. The remaining four teams would be divided into two groups of two, and each play the standard two-way tiebreaker. The winners of those games would then join the bye team and play the normal three-way tiebreaker to determine the final winner.

[Cryomaniac]

Thank you. Complex, but fairly reasonable. Any idea how OOTP would handle a 5 way tie?

[theasfl]

Originally Posted by Cryomaniac

Any idea how OOTP would handle a 5 way tie?

It likely depends on the type of league, but from what Ive seen it ususally just picks two teams from the 5 and the winner of that gets the spot without the other three teams getting any say in things. My experiences usually involve there being 4 or 8 wild cards and 5 teams finishing tied for the last wild card, though I believe I've seen at least

I'm hopeful the customizeable playoffs feature includes fixing tiebreakers and split-season problems.

[Cryomaniac]

Originally Posted by theasfl

I'm hopeful the customizeable playoffs feature includes fixing tiebreakers and split-season problems.

Same here.

[The Wolf]

I wonder what the odds are against a five-way tie? Probably astronomical.

[bluejays85]

Or what if every team finished .500?

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

I wonder what the odds are against a five-way tie? Probably astronomical.

A three-way tie has never happened in 132 major league seasons. Even two-way ties are uncommon.

[J.HenryWaugh]

My Universal Baseball Association's 1925 regular season will need a couple more days. Going into the final game of the season (game 154), both the Atlantic and Pacific Leagues had two teams tied for first. As luck would have it, both the Washington Federals and Atlanta Black Stockings lost in the AL; the Hollywood Stars and Houston Drillers also both lost in the PL, leaving me with my first-ever tie for first in BOTH leagues at season's end.

The Black Sox are the most intriguing team in this mix, having never finished closer than 12 games behind the pennant winner in any of their first 21 seasons. Washington finished just six games out in 1920, but the last four years they have wound up back by 15, 15, 15 and 21 games. Either team wins will mark pennant number one for the lucky franchise, in a league that has been dominated by the Pittsburgh Stogies, Philadelphia Keystones and Boston Bridegrooms.

[kcroyalgm]

Thinking about playoffs is too painful to contemplate:
1978.
Mike Torres starts.
Don "Gerbil" Zimmer.
Bucky "F-ing" Dent
Bob Bailey (????? - .191) pinch hits for Jack Brohamer (who was on a roll).
Bailey takes three called strikes.
Shoot me.

[Cryomaniac]

Just bumping to say how I would resolve a 5 way tie (it takes 5 days!).

Number the teams 1 - 5 by drawing lots.

Day 1:
3 v 2
4 v 5

Day 2:
5 v 1
3 v 4

Day 3:
1 v 2
5 v 3

Day 4:
1 v 3
2 v 4

Day 5:
5 v 2
1 v 4

Winner is the team with the best record.

Any ties here broken as normal. If it's still a 5 way tie, rinse and repeat

[Sdpm100]

Originally Posted by Cryomaniac

Just bumping to say how I would resolve a 5 way tie (it takes 6 days!).

Number the teams 1 - 5 by drawing lots.

Day 1:
3 v 2
4 v 5

Day 2:
5 v 1
2 v 4

Day 3:
1 v 2
5 v 3

Day 4:
1 v 3

Day 5:
5 v 2

Day 6:
3 v 4

Winner is the team with the best record.

Any ties here broken as normal. If it's still a 5 way tie, rinse and repeat

That looks like a round-robin to me. So why doesn't 1 play 4?

[Cryomaniac]

Originally Posted by Sdpm100

That looks like a round-robin to me. So why doesn't 1 play 4?

Because I was trying to schedule it by hand on paper

Edited the above post to include it.

[Sdpm100]

Originally Posted by Cryomaniac

Because I was trying to schedule it by hand on paper

Edited the above post to include it.

Well if you change 4 v 2 with 4 v 3 you could play that in five days. I might be interfering too much though.

As you say you're a fan of the bizarre, going back to the original question, and with the College World Series coming up, I might do a double elimination tournament.

[Cryomaniac]

No, that's cool, thanks for the help with that. My scheduling skills are minimal, especially with an odd number of teams lol.

Above post edited again...

Cool idea for a double elimination tournament, I'll do something similar in OOTP9 for my playoffs if it's possible