Wait, wait, wait--if there is a 4-way tie...?

Question

between PHL, NYM, SD, and COL, I think everyone agrees the Mets play PHL for the division and SD plays COL.

Now some have been saying that the winner of SD/COL would play the loser of PHL/NYM for the wildcard, but I think if PHL lost versus the Mets they would be eliminated, here's why:

Any game 163 is an offical regular season game, not a playoff in terms of stats, so whoever loses PHL/NYM would have a qorse winning percentage than either COL or SD. So there wouldn't be any game 164 between the NL east loser and SD/COL.

If I am wrong, show me some proof.

NYC Fan is exactly right, and I am wrong. 10 points coming shortly. Thanks.

Answer 1

This is good thinking, but there's something in the Rules that has already considered your line of thinking. I'll get to that in a minute.

1) ALWAYS settle the division first. That's done with a one-game playoff, NYM @ PHI. The loser is NOT eliminated, and pay good attention...here's why:

"Any playoff games played to determine a Division champion shall not count in determining which Clubs are deemed tied for a Wild Card designation. Clubs that were originally tied with a Club or Clubs for a Wild Card designation shall still be considered tied."

2) Therefore, SD-COL-NLEASTLOSER are still tied. This is solved by the three-team tournament described in "Scenario #4" at the link below, the excerpts from Rules 33 and 34. No matter who the NL East loser is, the Rockies will get the option of whether they have to win one away game or two home games. This is decided by each team's head-to-head record against the other two teams combined. ESPN had an article describing the scenarions. Link is below.

Answer 2

You are correct...if all 4 teams did tie NY & Philly would have to play a 1 game playoff to determine the East winner.
and yes, it would count as a regular season game. But here is where it gets tricky.........San Diego & Colorado would also have to play that 163rd game to make it even. That is where all this tie breakers come into play.
I've been doing some research, and I have been unable to locate any exact "what ifs" but I did hear on the radio (Dan Dickerson, Tiger announcer) the way he understood it was the way I explained in my answer to your last question:

NY/Philly would do a 1 game playoff to determine East winner.
The loser of that game would play San Diego.
The Winner of that game would play Colorado
The winner of that game would be the wild card.