than another division leader?
In other words, does the team with the best record always play the team with the worst record or does it always play the wild card team.
I ask this because sometimes the wild card team will have a better record than another division leader.
It's like that right now. If the playoffs started right now, the Diamondbacks would hold the top record, and the wildcard team would be the Padres.
Would they face off or would the Dbacks play the Cubs because they have the worse record of the teams in the NL playoffs?
2007-09-20 18:22:43 · 7 answers · asked by d_vader 2 in Sports ➔ Baseball
The team with the best record in the league always plays the wild card team regardless of the other 2 division winners records.
The only exception to this is if the team with the best record and the wild card team are in the same division, and in that case the team with the second best record will play the wild card.
2007-09-20 18:37:11 · answer #1 · answered by Ryan P 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I A X is right.
They seed the division winners 1-2-3 by record, and the wild card is assigned #4 regardless of record.
If the WC team isn't in the same division as the 1 seed, then it's 1 vs 4, 2 vs 3.
If the WC IS in the same division as the #1, then it's 1 vs 3, 2 vs 4. (This prevents the 2 best teams record wise from ever facing off right away).
(So Arizona & San Diego wouldn't play in the first round, not because Chicago has the worst record, but because Arizona & San Diego are in the same division).
In every instance the wild card team does not get the home field advantage regardless of record until the World Series, where it's already decided that the AL team gets home field.
(If the Cubs & the Padres win their series, then the Cubs would have home field over the Padres, even though the Padres had the better record (and had a tougher schedule to play in order to get that record), because winning a weak division with a weak record has more meaning to MLB).
But both in baseball (except WS) and football*, higher seed gets home field regardless of record, basketball home field goes to the best record regardless of seed.
* - Want a good (or bad) example of how the seeding rules could have messed up a playoff series in the NFL?
The 1985 season Denver went 11-5 and missed the playoffs. Cleveland went 8-8 and won their division (and if they lost their last regular season game, then Cincinatti would have won it going 7-9). Wild card New England beat both the NYJ and the Raiders. Cleveland almost beat Miami (they were up 21-3 at one point). If Cleveland had won that game, then 8-8 Cleveland would have hosted the AFC Championship game (or worse, if Cincy won their division and beat Miami, then a team with a losing record would be hosting the game that decides who goes to the Super Bowl while an 11-5 team doesn't get to play a single playoff game). And Cleveland did beat the Pats earlier in the year so it could have happened again. We could have had a team that went .500 in a weak division (or worse) playing against what some say was the best single team to ever make the big game (the 85 Bears).
2007-09-21 02:00:57 · answer #2 · answered by rael ramone 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
In the Division Series, the wild card team usually plays the team with the best record within their league... However, an MLB rule states that teams from the same division are not allowed to face each other in the Division Series... This rule is in place to prevent the two teams with the best records in the league from meeting in the first round... Therefore, in the event that a wild-card team ends up sharing the same division as the team holding the best record, the former will play the second-best team in the league while the latter will face the third-best team...
This rule was applied in the 2005 NLDS, when the division winners in the NL were as follows (in order from best to worst according to regular season records): the St. Louis Cardinals, the Atlanta Braves, the San Diego Padres, and the Houston Astros (as the wild card)... Typically, the Astros would have opened their Division Series against the Cardinals and the Padres would have faced the Braves; however, as the Astros and Cardinals were both within the NL Central Division, it was arranged so that the Astros played the Braves and the Padres played the Cardinals...
2007-09-21 01:50:39 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Think about what you said. You said does the best team in baseball(meaning the team that has the best record)play the wild card team even if they have a better record. How is that possible? The only way it could happen is if the wild card team is in the same division with the team that has the best record in baseball. Then the 2nd best team that won a division would play the wild card team.
2007-09-21 08:03:15 · answer #4 · answered by red4tribe 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The three division champions, per league, are seeded 1-2-3 based upon season record (tiebreaker methods are available if necessary). The wildcard team is seeded 4th regardless of its record.
Division Series matchups are 1-4 and 2-3 -- unless the wildcard and the #1 seed are from the same division. In that scenario, the matchups are 1-3 and 2-4.
And that's all of it. The wildcard team's record is irrelevant in the seedings.
2007-09-21 01:58:34 · answer #5 · answered by Chipmaker Authentic 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not if they are in the same division.
2007-09-21 01:28:08 · answer #6 · answered by I|A|X 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
no if there in the same division
2007-09-21 01:36:24 · answer #7 · answered by Janet ♥(YFFL) 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋