Ties in the World Series PLEASE VOTE
Aug 4, 2014 16:49:15 GMT -5
Post by Ben (Rays GM) on Aug 4, 2014 16:49:15 GMT -5
Last year I remember feeling serious panic that the World Series would end in a tie. We initially voted on and implemented the rule that a tied World Series would result in joint champions (so that a team who tied but lost on an arbitrary tie breaker wouldn't feel harshly done by). Once I was actually in that position where I was one of those teams, though, I found myself strongly feeling like I'd rather risk losing than have a situation with joint champions. Just not nearly as satisfying for anyone. Everyone I spoke to agreed; it sounds like we've had a lot of change of heart since our initial poll back in 2011.
It also helps that last year I was able to come up with some pretty good ideas for tiebreakers that don't feel arbitrary and would be most likely to result in the best team being crowned champion. We discussed those options here: pro-gm.proboards.com/thread/3253/ties-world-series
The two best options seem to be:
1) Use head-to-head record. Teams in the NL and AL don't play each other, but last year we started playing around with "would-be" head-to-head record, i.e. what the record would have been if the teams had played each other every week of the season up to that point. If we were to use this as a tiebreaker, we would simply match the teams' stats up from every week, starting with week 1 and going all the way through the League Championship Series. Some have expressed concern that this would be too complicated, but I can assure you it's not, I did it just for fun for my playoff write-ups of every match up last year so it would certainly be easy to do one for the World Series.
2) Use head-to-head stats. Yahoo keeps track of our cumulative stats for the entire season. To break a tie, we could simply look at the totals for each stat. For example, if the NL champ had more HRs than the AL champ, the NL champ gets a point. If the AL champ had a lower team ERA, the AL champ gets a point. Most points wins the tiebreaker.
So I'll now officially declare that there will not be a tie in the 2014 Pro-GM World Series. Should the teams end up ties, both will receive the 5% World Series discount (as a consolation to the team who isn't declared champion), but only one will have their flag fly forever at the top of a flagpole on our banner and be recorded as champion in our Hall of Fame and record books. That will be determined by whichever of the above options wins this vote. The "loser" of this poll will likely then be the second tiebreaker, followed by the third and fourth options from last year's discussion.
Discuss below, and please, everybody vote - I've put "don't care" as an option, so if you really have no preference choose that to show that you at least consent to the idea of going with whatever the league chooses.
It also helps that last year I was able to come up with some pretty good ideas for tiebreakers that don't feel arbitrary and would be most likely to result in the best team being crowned champion. We discussed those options here: pro-gm.proboards.com/thread/3253/ties-world-series
The two best options seem to be:
1) Use head-to-head record. Teams in the NL and AL don't play each other, but last year we started playing around with "would-be" head-to-head record, i.e. what the record would have been if the teams had played each other every week of the season up to that point. If we were to use this as a tiebreaker, we would simply match the teams' stats up from every week, starting with week 1 and going all the way through the League Championship Series. Some have expressed concern that this would be too complicated, but I can assure you it's not, I did it just for fun for my playoff write-ups of every match up last year so it would certainly be easy to do one for the World Series.
2) Use head-to-head stats. Yahoo keeps track of our cumulative stats for the entire season. To break a tie, we could simply look at the totals for each stat. For example, if the NL champ had more HRs than the AL champ, the NL champ gets a point. If the AL champ had a lower team ERA, the AL champ gets a point. Most points wins the tiebreaker.
So I'll now officially declare that there will not be a tie in the 2014 Pro-GM World Series. Should the teams end up ties, both will receive the 5% World Series discount (as a consolation to the team who isn't declared champion), but only one will have their flag fly forever at the top of a flagpole on our banner and be recorded as champion in our Hall of Fame and record books. That will be determined by whichever of the above options wins this vote. The "loser" of this poll will likely then be the second tiebreaker, followed by the third and fourth options from last year's discussion.
Discuss below, and please, everybody vote - I've put "don't care" as an option, so if you really have no preference choose that to show that you at least consent to the idea of going with whatever the league chooses.