American League Wild-Card: Eight Teams Tied For Two Spots

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Sep 13, 2017

Finally, a straightforward scenario. As mentioned before, MLB has a plan for a four-teams-for-two-wild-card-spots tiebreaker that does not call for re-designating the teams. Because of that we can break this down more easily than all of the other possible outcomes.

Team A: Yankees
Team B: Twins
Team C: Angels
Team D: Royals
Team E: Rangers
Team F: Mariners
Team G: Rays
Team H: Orioles

First Round:

Game 1, Oct. 2: Team B (Twins) at Team A (Yankees); loser is eliminated
Game 2, Oct. 2: Team D (Royals) at Team C (Angels); loser is eliminated
Game 3: Oct. 2: Team F (Mariners) at Team E (Rangers); loser is eliminated
Game 4: Oct. 2: Team H (Orioles) at Team G (Rays); loser is eliminated

Second Round (no re-seeding):

Game 5, Oct. 3: Game 2 winner (C or D) at Game 1 winner (A or B); winner gets first wild-card berth
Game 6, Oct. 3: Game 4 winner (G or H) at Game 3 winner (E or F); winner gets second wild-card berth

To Reach The Wild-Card Game:

Team A has to win two games, both at home.

Team B has to win two games, the first on the road and the second at home.

Team C has to win two games, the first at home and the second on the road.

Team D has to win two games, both on the road.

Team E has to win two games, both at home.

Team F has to win two games, the first on the road and the second at home.

Team G has to win two games, the first at home and the second on the road.

Team H has to win two games, both on the road.

If the teams are re-designated, it will look like this:

Game 5, Oct. 3: New Team D at New Team C
Game 6, Oct. 3: New Team B at New Team A