Playoff Tiebreaker Coin Tosses

by Al on Sep 12, 2008 4:22 PM CDT

The Cubs lost the coin toss with the Brewers for any possible division tiebreaker -- it'd be played at Miller Park, where the Cubs would be anyway at the end of the season. Here are the rest of the tiebreaker scenarios for both leagues:

Playoff for AL East
Tampa Bay at Boston

Playoff for AL Central
Minnesota at Chicago

Playoff for AL Wild Card
Minnesota at Boston

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Playoff for NL East
New York at Philadelphia

Playoff for NL Central
Chicago Cubs at Milwaukee

Playoff for NL West
Arizona at Los Angeles

Playoff for NL Wild Card
Milwaukee at Philadelphia
Milwaukee at Houston
Milwaukee at St. Louis
Houston at Philadelphia
St. Louis at Philadelphia
Houston at St. Louis

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of SB Nation or Al Yellon, editor-in-chief (unless it's a FanPost posted by Al). FanPost opinions are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable baseball fans.

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doesn't matter

there won’t be one for the NL Central Division.

We got this one. :D

Our 2008 Chicago Cubs -- FINDING WAYS TO WIN!

by drewishdrewid on Sep 12, 2008 4:30 PM CDT 0 recs

that could be HUGE for the AL East

2008 Cubs: Who needs nine innings, when you only need a 7th?

by Chanman25 on Sep 12, 2008 4:39 PM CDT 0 recs

MIL did not do well in the coin flips

all their potential wildcard matchups would be on the road. Not lucky.

Now, where'd I put that button....

by halfblindcubbiegirl on Sep 12, 2008 5:01 PM CDT 0 recs

They don't play

a tie-breaker if the losing team would get the wild card. So for us to play in Milwaukee, Philadelphia would have to catch us (or Houston or St. Louis win the Central) and Milwaukee and us would have to finish in a tie.

It’s not going to happen. After yesterday, BP predicts our odds of making the playoffs at 99.2% There’s a 95.2% chance of us winning the division and a 4.5% chance of us being the wild card.

Borowy . . .Sutcliffe . . .Harden?

by Josh77 on Sep 12, 2008 5:07 PM CDT 0 recs

You're right, it won't happen.

But they have prepared for any contingency. Too bad they didn’t do the same for hurricane preps.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al on Sep 12, 2008 6:29 PM CDT up 0 recs

Well at least MLB

Does not think the Cubs will implode because it is theoretically possible they could
be an a wild card tie with Houston, Phillie etc but no coin toss for that.

"I am not ashamed to say I love Greg Maddux" - Jim Hendry

by Doggie Stalker on Sep 12, 2008 5:16 PM CDT 0 recs

Holy Smokes. Philly sure did well, didn't they?

EVERY tiebreaking scenario at their ballpark. Who did they sleep with before the coin tosses? Geez.

Any mathematicians want to weigh in on the ODDS of getting all four coin flips right?

Go Green! Go White! GO STATE! (#13031 on the Cubs season ticket waiting list...)

by Zeke on Sep 12, 2008 5:17 PM CDT 0 recs

6.25%

Only two possible outcomes for any given toss, with four tosses total. 2×2×2×2 = 16. 1/16 = .0625

make/art

by neverAcquiesce on Sep 12, 2008 5:26 PM CDT up 0 recs

Uh, I was told there would be no math...

See, this is why I roomed with a math major in college. I just asked and got the answer!

Thanks folks!

Go Green! Go White! GO STATE! (#13031 on the Cubs season ticket waiting list...)

by Zeke on Sep 12, 2008 5:31 PM CDT up 0 recs

To be fair,

while I did come up with the answer myself, I googled it to verify.

Excelsior!

make/art

by neverAcquiesce on Sep 12, 2008 5:36 PM CDT up 0 recs

They borrowed a coin from the Bulla

by leothelip on Sep 12, 2008 7:28 PM CDT up 0 recs

I’d say there is a 6.25% chance of winning 4 coin tosses

"Destiny is a matter of choice, not chance"

by MerlinDog on Sep 12, 2008 5:19 PM CDT 0 recs

Word is...

that Houston is protesting the coin toss. McLane feels they should host any playoff game because of the lost revenue.

by thisisitflyfishing on Sep 12, 2008 5:27 PM CDT 0 recs

As long as they don't...

….threaten to use the “oil weapon.” :-)

"Eighty-five percent of the world is working. The other fifteen percent come out here." - Lee Elia, 1983

"The only thing that bothers me is that I would never want to destroy the love and what the fans of Chicago are to the Chicago Cubs. I mean, God knows. If there's one pure thing in baseball, it is the fans of Chicago." - Lee Elia, 2008

by CaughtInTheVines on Sep 12, 2008 5:27 PM CDT up 0 recs

Ned Yost is asking the official coin flipper to reconsider all the tosses

since they only won 1 of the 4 involving Milwaukee. He want’s CCS to be awarded an extra coin flip attempt

Go Green! Go White! GO STATE! (#13031 on the Cubs season ticket waiting list...)

by Zeke on Sep 12, 2008 5:29 PM CDT 0 recs

He wants the toss to be ruled an error

and not a legitimate toss.

make/art

by neverAcquiesce on Sep 12, 2008 5:37 PM CDT up 0 recs

And he wants the video tape reviewed.

"Destiny is a matter of choice, not chance"

by MerlinDog on Sep 12, 2008 5:42 PM CDT up 0 recs

Technical balk on the coin flipper

A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings. ~Earl Wilson

by tucsoncubsfan on Sep 12, 2008 5:53 PM CDT 0 recs

CubFan81

beat you to it in this Fanpost

the pink hat guy is my father

by joeschmitt on Sep 12, 2008 6:23 PM CDT 0 recs

argh

i mean this Fanshot

the pink hat guy is my father

by joeschmitt on Sep 12, 2008 6:24 PM CDT up 0 recs

Thought this was worth a FanPost.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al on Sep 12, 2008 6:30 PM CDT up 0 recs

wurd

the pink hat guy is my father

by joeschmitt on Sep 12, 2008 6:34 PM CDT up 0 recs

why weren't the Cubs in the wild card coin tosses?

what if milwaukee catches us and we tie with another team for the wild card?

the pink hat guy is my father

by joeschmitt on Sep 12, 2008 6:26 PM CDT 0 recs

Good question.

Goes along with “why wasn’t MLB prepared to move a series due to a hurricane?”

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al on Sep 12, 2008 6:30 PM CDT up 0 recs

were i superstitious

i wouldn’t like the implied assumption of MLB that the worst the Cubs can do is tie milw for the division.

the pink hat guy is my father

by joeschmitt on Sep 12, 2008 6:35 PM CDT up 0 recs

nevermind

from TFA:

To qualify for the flips, a team had to be within 5 1/2 games either in its division race, or in its league’s Wild Card chase.

the pink hat guy is my father

by joeschmitt on Sep 12, 2008 6:36 PM CDT up 0 recs

and

However, not all contingencies were addressed in Friday’s initial round of coin flips. . . . Other coin flips will thus be arranged as need arises — say, between the Red Sox and the White Sox, or between Tampa Bay and Minnesota, for the AL Wild Card nugget.

i LOVE responding to myself

the pink hat guy is my father

by joeschmitt on Sep 12, 2008 6:38 PM CDT up 0 recs

Here, I'll respond to you.

This makes sense; why have coin flips for unlikely combinations now? There would have to be four times as many flips.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al on Sep 12, 2008 6:40 PM CDT up 0 recs

Well, yeah, but...

….it’s not like the Official Coin Flipper is coming back from thumb surgery and is on a flip count, right? :-)

"[Lou Piniella] might be over 100, but he still has a lot of fire in him." - Ted Lilly, Sept. 10, 2008

by CaughtInTheVines on Sep 12, 2008 8:18 PM CDT up 0 recs

Angels look in awfully good shape to make it to the World Series...

This isn't 1969...is this 1969?...this isn't 1969, is it?

by MDBNIU on Sep 12, 2008 6:42 PM CDT 0 recs

Should the Angels worry about lack of "pressure" games?

The only concern I would have (if I were an Angels fan) is that they won their division far, far too soon. So much so that now they might “take their foot off the gas” (so to speak) and they won’t be sharp enough to compete in the high pressure situations that make up the playoffs.

The other sports are just sports. Baseball is a love. ~Bryant Gumbel

by Blue W on Sep 13, 2008 1:17 AM CDT up 0 recs