MLB: Tiebreak scenarios: Complete madness threatens

The playoff image in the American League is largely fixed. All six participants are known and it is only a matter of the exact order on the seed list. The situation in the National League is quite different. Here even a crazy scenario with four teams threatens, which could lie at the end on the same level.

There are four teams within three games of each other on Monday: The Brewers, Cardinals, Dodgers and Rockies.

So what would lead to a crazy four-way tie? Trivially put: The Brewers would finish their last games with a 1-4 balance, the Dodgers with 3-2, the Cardinals with 4-1 and the Rockies with 5-1.

This would mean that we would need three (!) tiebreaker games before the wildcard game currently scheduled for October 2 would even take effect.

In this scenario, the Rockies and Dodgers would first play against each other on Monday to determine the winner of the NL West. The game would take place in L.A. because the Dodgers won the season series 12-7.

And also on Monday there would be a game between the Cardinals and Brewers, who would fight for one of the wildcard spots. The location is still open, because the season series of both teams is still running.

On Tuesday, October 2nd, there would be another tiebreaker with the two losers from Monday to award the second wildcard. Here, too, the venue would depend on the season series between the two teams. If there is a draw here, the intra-division balance sheet would come into play.

However, since no season series ended in draw in the possible series, the home rights were fixed:

Only on Wednesday then it would come to the real Wildcard Game of the NL, which for logical reasons could not rise then Tuesday.

However, this scenario is not very likely. However, these scenarios are far more tangible:

On Monday there would be a “final” around the NL West in L.A.. The loser would then play against the Cardinals for the second wildcard in St. Louis. And the winner of this duel would then join the regular wildcard game in Milwaukee on Wednesday.

This constellation would be interesting, because in this case the three teams would be divided into A, B and C, which would be based on a direct comparison with each other. Team A would then receive Team B on Monday for the first WC spot. The loser would then travel to Team C on Tuesday to play the second wildcard.

In this case we would have a classic 163rd game on Monday in Los Angeles for the decision in the NL West. The winner would then face Atlanta Braves in the National League Division Series.

In this case there would be no need for a tiebreaker game. The season series would decide on home rights in the wildcard game.

This article was published without prior review by Major League Baseball.