What happens if the Red Sox, Yankees, and Indians are all tied three days from now?

September 30, 2005 5:00 PM

What happens if the Red Sox, Yankees, and Indians are all tied three days from now?

Most. Confusing. Baseball season. Ever.

1) Apparently, the White Sox have the Division title clinched because even if the Indians win all three games against them, they will still only be tied. They will NOT go to a one-game playoff because both teams would be the leader for the Wild Card Spot, which the team with the lesser head-to-head record would take -- which is the Indians, since they are something like 11-8 against the Sox. Right?

2) If the Red Sox and Yankees tie, they will play a one game playoff IF the Indians have the best Wild Card record. If the Indians LOSE the Wild Card spot to either team, there will NOT be a one-game playoff because both teams would qualify for the Wild Card spot, for the same reason listed above.

But what happens if they are ALL tied? The scenerio that seems most likely to me is that whichever team among the Yanks and Red Sox that have the worse record against the other will play a one-game playoff against the Indians, but I have no idea.

posted by tweebiscuit to sports, hobbies, & recreation (13 answers total)

The White Sox have the division clinched.

If all three teams tie, the Sox and the Yanks will play a one-game playoff for the division title. The loser of this game goes on to play the Indians in a one-game playoff for the wild card.
posted by Saydur at 5:12 PM on September 30, 2005

1) Correct
2) Correct
3) So if Boston and Cleveland both win 2 out of 3, it's a three way tie. Boston goes to NY for the AL East tie-breaker and the loser plays Cleveland (NY would go to Cleveland, Boston would be at home).

Go Sox!
posted by allen.spaulding at 5:13 PM on September 30, 2005

Are you positive? My assumption was that they would use the same reasoning with the Red Sox v. Yankees tie as they would for Cleveland v. Chicago, as the situation seems relatively similar.

If you're right though -- well, god, I hope that happens.

And yes -- go Sox, go Sox indeed.
posted by tweebiscuit at 5:14 PM on September 30, 2005

postitive.
posted by allen.spaulding at 5:15 PM on September 30, 2005

Thanks!
posted by tweebiscuit at 5:26 PM on September 30, 2005

Watching Red Sox/Yankees right now. "Idiots" keep it up!
posted by ericb at 5:38 PM on September 30, 2005

Oh yeah, if this happens it will be exciting baseball (and I am a Mets fan). Since the teams in the NL are so awful, the real fun will be watching who wins the AL pennant (again, I can not believe I am saying this - the AL pennant race? I shouldn't care, but that is the sorry state of baseball today.
posted by caddis at 6:21 PM on September 30, 2005

Followup: Are these rules laid down anywhere? I checked the official rulebook but that doesn't cover playoff qualification. The situation between these teams is so unusual that I'd just like to see how it's accounted for.
posted by tweebiscuit at 6:28 PM on September 30, 2005

Watching Red Sox/Yankees right now. "Idiots" keep it up!

Yes, now that this thread has been answered to asker's satisfaction, all I can say is "Go Sox" and "Pump your fist elsewhere, Jeter, you little prag."
posted by Kwantsar at 6:50 PM on September 30, 2005

The situation between these teams is so unusual that I'd just like to see how it's accounted for.

Officially, the tiebreaker between NYY and BOS should count as a regular season game, giving CLE a half game edge over the loser of the AL East tiebreaker, but apparently, the league felt it was unfair for a team that was tied for a division lead to lose out to a WC contender in those circumstances, so an automatic WC tiebreaker is triggered based on the 162 game schedule. I don't know where to find this on the net though.
posted by loquax at 7:02 PM on September 30, 2005

Sox win!!!!!

Feel free to flag that as noise. Beautiful, beautiful noise.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 7:41 PM on September 30, 2005

posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:46 PM on September 30, 2005

Are you positive? My assumption was that they would use the same reasoning with the Red Sox v. Yankees tie as they would for Cleveland v. Chicago, as the situation seems relatively similar.

Cleveland can only tie Chicago in the standings. If they do (win 3 straight), then they'll end up with 96 wins. However, NY and Boston both can't end up with 96 wins (since they play each other). Therefore, Cleveland would automatically make the playoffs as the wild card. The rule is that if there is a tie for first place in a division and BOTH teams are guaranteed to make the playoffs, then the deciding factor is head-to-head record this season. Chicago was 11-5 against Cleveland before tonight's game, and therefore would end up winning the seasonal series.

Therefore, Cleveland would be slotted in the wild-card spot.

However, since it's possible for NY and Boston to end up tied AND equal with Cleveland, NY and Boston would have to have a playoff game to decide the division title. The loser would have to play Cleveland for the wild card.

HOWEVER, if NY and Boston end up with 95 wins each (splitting the last two games) and Cleveland ends up with 93 or 94 wins (losing at least one of the last two), then NY would automatically win the division and Boston would get the wild-card (since NY would have beaten Boston 10 times out of 18 games).
posted by grum@work at 9:10 PM on September 30, 2005