We in the York Daily Record newsroom were just engaged in a discussion about what would happen if the Phillies, Mets, Padres and others all ended up tied by Sunday afternoon.
Who would get the wild-card berth? And how in-depth would the tiebreaker game schedule become?
And then this little gem moved on the Associated Press wire:
NEW YORK — Here’s a scenario that could mess up baseball’s postseason schedule: Imagine if Arizona, Colorado, the New York Mets, Philadelphia and San Diego finish with the same record.
That would create ties in the NL East, NL West and wild-card race, necessitating four days of tiebreaker games to determine postseason berths.
The NL East is the easiest: The Mets would play Monday at Philadelphia.
In the West, the team with the best head-to-head record against the others (because Arizona plays Colorado this weekend, that’s yet to be determined), gets to choose whether it prefers one tiebreaker road game Tuesday or two home games. Presumably, the team with the choice would take one road game. Monday’s winner would then host the club with the bye on Tuesday for the NL West title.
Starting Wednesday, the three teams that failed to win division titles would be involved in two-day, two-game tiebreakers to determine the wild-card winner.
That means the NL playoff field might not be set until Thursday evening.
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