Major League Baseball
One-game playoffs are currently used in Major League Baseball (MLB). When two or more MLB teams are tied for a division championship or the wild card playoff berth (1995-2011, or starting in 2012, the second only) at the end of the regular season, a one-game playoff is used to determine the winner.
If a tie were, from 1995-2011, a two-way tie for a division championship and both tied teams' have records higher than those records of the second-place teams in the other divisions, or if the tie be (as of 2012) between the two teams who are guaranteed to clinch a wild card, there is no one-game playoff. In this scenario, the winner of the season series between the two teams is deemed division champion for purposes of playoff seeding (currently the #1 wild card that will host the game), and the loser of the season series is given the wild card (or in the current form, the #2 wild card). Through the 2008 season, home-field advantage for one-game playoffs was determined by a coin flip, but effective in 2009, home advantage is based on a set of performance criteria, with the first tiebreaker being head-to-head record.
For statistical purposes, one-game playoffs are considered part of the regular season. The result of the playoff is included in the regular season standings and individual player statistics are included along with the statistics for the rest of the season. One significant playoff-like deviation from normal regular season games in force as of 2007 is that six-man umpire crews are used (as opposed to the four-man crews of the regular season).
The tie-breaking procedures become more complicated if three or more teams tie. This would require a series of one-game playoffs, taking more than one day. There have been several occasions where this scenario was possible as late as the last game of the season, but it has not yet happened.
Starting in 2012, with the new one-game play-in game for the two wild card teams in determining the #4 seed in playoffs, if two teams tie for a division title and would both be in the playoffs, a one-game playoff would be held because it would determine which team receives the bye in the playoff, and if the winning percentage of the losing team be still enough to be a #1 or #2 wild card, the loser would be the said wild card.
Avoiding any confusion with the term "Playoffs" as the oft-used but unofficial name of MLB's post-season tournament, the term "Tiebreaker" is now MLB's preferred term for a one-game playoff.
Read more about this topic: One-game Playoff
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