Today in the CBO
News and Notes - Reports from around the Commonwealth
by Nat Wright-Kawolski
2 January 2300
CBO Adds Two More Playoff Teams
CBO Commissioner Nate Howard announced today that the CBO was officially adding a 5th playoff team to each association, meaning that a total of 10 teams will be playoff bound starting in 2300.
Each association will feature the same format of each league producing two playoff teams with a 5th "wildcard," the best 3rd place team in each association. Of the three league runners-up, the teams with the two worst records will play in a three-game play-in series to determine which team then faces the #1 overall association seed.
For example, in the North Charles Association in 2299, Abernathy and The Slog would have played in the Play-in Series for the rights to play Nordhagen Beach. Starlight and Fort Hagen would have still met in the Association Semifinals.
The South Charles Association would have been more complicated since three teams tied for the 5th-best record: Jamaica Plain, Oberland, and University Point. In that case, those teams would have played a short round-robin elimination tournament to determine the 5th-place team.
The addition of a 5th team is meant to avoid a situation where the 2nd place of a league has a worse record than the 3rd place team of the other league. Howard said that he wants the four best teams in an association to always be in the playoffs. This move mostly guarantees that will happen unless there is a situation where one league has four teams better than the 2nd place team of the other association league. That would be a rare occurrence that Howard does not anticipate.