Chaotic tiebreaker scenarios avoided on final day of regular season (2024)

FAQs

Who holds the tiebreaker between the Blue Jays and the Astros? ›

The Jays hold the wild-card tiebreaker over the Astros but would lose a tiebreaker to the Mariners or Rangers.

If the teams have identical records, the tiebreaker is who won the season series. This is where it gets crazy. Philadelphia, Houston and Texas all had identical 90-72 records. The Phillies won the season series against the Astros, winning a three-game series in late April at Houston.

Because the Astros won nine of the teams' 13 matchups in 2023, they claimed the tiebreaker and thereby their sixth AL West crown since 2017. That makes the Astros the No. 2 seed in the AL playoffs, giving them a bye into the Division Series. The Rangers, on the other hand, fell to the No.

A Match Tiebreak is played when players split sets and a tiebreak is played in lieu of a 3rd set to determine the winner. The first player to reach 7 points by a margin of 2 wins the set tiebreak. Players switch sides of the court every 6 points throughout the tiebreak.

Three-team tiebreaker

If three teams end up tied and one has a superior record in head-to-head competition against the other two, then that team wins. The only way that could happen now is if Seattle wins six of the seven games against the Rangers. Seattle currently is 9-7 against the other two.

Seattle Mariners

They hold the AL Wild Card tiebreaker over the Blue Jays because they have a better intradivision record. They do not hold the tiebreaker over the Rangers.

In that scenario, the Brewers would finish in a Wild Card spot with 88 wins. Since the Phillies do not hold the tiebreaker against the Brewers, they would need to win 2 more games to finish above the Brewers with 89 wins in that scenario.

But the Phillies, who finished 90-72 alongside Houston and Texas, would have a case to home Games 1 and 2, along with 6 and 7, if necessary, at Citizens Bank Park. That's only if the Astros were to claim the AL title. Thanks to a season-opening sweep, the Rangers own the tiebreaker over the Phillies.

But hopes for another World Series win aren't the only thing following the team into the postseason. Some six years later, the Astros' reputation continues to bear the stain from an illegal 2017 sign-stealing scheme that became one of the most explosive scandals in modern baseball history.

Win the AL West

If the Astros, who are sending Cristian Javier to the mound, win Sunday, and the Rangers lose to the Mariners, the Astros and Rangers will tie for the AL West title, but the tiebreaker will go to the Astros as winners of the head-to-head season series.

Who would have home-field advantage, Phillies vs. Rangers? ›

So with the Astros now out of the equation, it would go to head-to-head records if it's Phillies vs. Rangers. And in this case, the Rangers get home field advantage as they swept the Phillies in the season-opening series in Texas to begin the 2023 regular season.

The second: If the Rangers lose and the Astros win, then Houston would win the AL West title and be the No. 2 seed in the playoffs. In that case, the Rangers would be a wild card team.

"Under this trial, if the score reaches six games all in the final set, the match winner(s) will be the first player(s) to win 10 points with an advantage of two or more points.

If two teams are tied in the division standings, the first tiebreaker is their head-to-head record against each other. From there, if the tied teams have an identical head-to-head record, the next tiebreaker is their divisional record. Following that, he next tiebreaker is their record against common opponents.

Another tie-break system, called the "super tiebreaker", consists of one player reaching a total of 10 points. The player must win by two points so there is no limit to the highest number of points. A typically close score may look like 10–8.

The team with the best regular-season winning percentage earns home field — regardless of playoff seeding, regardless of whether that team won its division, regardless of anything else. If you had the better record, you're playing host to Games 1-2 and 6-7 (if necessary).

Ties are solved by head-to-head record initially. If there is still a tie, other factors are considered such as: Record against other teams in their division. Record against other teams in their league, but outside their division.

In the event of a three-way tie, the won-loss records of the tied teams against each other is first considered (i.e., head to head concept). If the teams are still tied, then each team's record against the highest seeded team not involved in the tie is considered.

The Toronto Blue Jays head to Minnesota to face the Twins in the best-of-three Wild Card round. Watch every game on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ beginning Oct. 3.