Okay, so I was looking into this whole “Mariners Twins tiebreaker” thing today, and let me tell you, it got a little complicated. I mean, with the MLB expanding the postseason to 12 teams, it’s like, you really gotta know your stuff now.
Started off just trying to figure out who the Mariners even had a tiebreaker with. Turns out, they had one with the Tigers and Red Sox, but they lost one to the Royals. Kinda bummed me out a bit because I like the Mariners, you know?
Then I got sucked into this rabbit hole about the 2018 season. Apparently, things got super intense with a couple of Game 163s! There was this Brewers vs. Cubs game for the NL Central, and another one between the Dodgers and someone else. I don’t recall who, but I’m sure I’ll look that up later. I just remember thinking, “Wow, that must have been exciting!”
After that, I started checking out how these tiebreakers could affect the 2024 season. There’s a whole bunch of rules about what happens if there’s a tie between three teams for two spots, and how they pick one or eliminate one. It’s all really confusing.
I saw something about there being eight games left to play, which got me thinking about how long the MLB season really is. It’s a total marathon, right? Six whole months!
And then, because I’m a glutton for punishment, I dug into this idea of “tiebreaker chaos” in the American League Wild Card race. It sounded dramatic, and I do love a little bit of drama in my sports. I saw that there have only been 16 tiebreaker games in Major League history. Pretty cool, huh?
So, here is what I learned about the tiebreaker scenarios, based on the number of teams that are tied:
Two Teams Tied for One Playoff Spot
- Head-to-Head Record: First thing I found was that the team with the better head-to-head record against the other team in the regular season gets the spot. Simple enough, right?
- Intradivision Record: If they’re still tied, then they look at the teams’ records within their own division.
- Intraleague Record: If they are still tied after that, then they check the record against teams in their own league.
Three Teams Tied for One Playoff Spot
- Combined Head-to-Head Record: It took me a bit to understand, but basically, they add up the combined head-to-head records of the three teams against each other. The team with the best record gets called “Club A,” the next best is “Club B,” and the last is “Club C.”
- Club A Gets a Bye: I found that the Club A gets a bye, then Club B hosts Club C, and the winner plays Club A.
Anyway, that’s where I ended up today. It was a wild ride, going from a simple question about the Mariners to learning all about tiebreakers and postseason drama. Baseball’s got so many layers, man. It’s way more than just hitting and catching a ball. Who knew?
