Tie Breakers for half season winner

[Barreto77]

Two teams tied for the division lead at season half in the South Atlantic League.
How does the game picks the division winner for the first half?
The game chose my team as the winner but I didn't play the second team yet, I had a worst intradivision winning percentage than the second team...
I read that minor leagues counts the best winning percentage of the last twenty games, but it also goes against my team.
Can you explain the tie breaker?
Thank you.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Barreto77

Two teams tied for the division lead at season half in the South Atlantic League.
How does the game picks the division winner for the first half?
The game chose my team as the winner but I didn't play the second team yet, I had a worst intradivision winning percentage than the second team...
I read that minor leagues counts the best winning percentage of the last twenty games, but it also goes against my team.
Can you explain the tie breaker?
Thank you.

In real life, various procedures have been used, depending on the year and league.

If there was a gap between the end of the first half and the start of the second half, the two teams would play a tiebreaking playoff game.

If there was no gap, then the first meeting in the second half between the tied clubs also served as a tiebreaking game. The game's result would be counted as a regular game in the second half standings, but the winner of the game was declared the first half division title winner.

Non-game tiebreakers were frequently used. In order of application these were usually: (1) head-to-head record, and (2) divisional record. Further steps were a mix of total runs scored or runs scored in head-to-head games or run differential, etc.

in 2023, the rules are simplified and apply to all leagues: (1) head-to-head record; (2) winning percentage over the last 20 games; (3) if still tied, then winning percentage over the last 21 games, with this procedure extended by one game if the teams are still tied.


As to what OOTP does, I'm not sure. Perhaps it was head-to-head record, or it might have been randomly selected or possibly team ID number.

[Barreto77]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

In real life, various procedures have been used, depending on the year and league.

If there was a gap between the end of the first half and the start of the second half, the two teams would play a tiebreaking playoff game.

If there was no gap, then the first meeting in the second half between the tied clubs also served as a tiebreaking game. The game's result would be counted as a regular game in the second half standings, but the winner of the game was declared the first half division title winner.

Non-game tiebreakers were frequently used. In order of application these were usually: (1) head-to-head record, and (2) divisional record. Further steps were a mix of total runs scored or runs scored in head-to-head games or run differential, etc.

in 2023, the rules are simplified and apply to all leagues: (1) head-to-head record; (2) winning percentage over the last 20 games; (3) if still tied, then winning percentage over the last 21 games, with this procedure extended by one game if the teams are still tied.


As to what OOTP does, I'm not sure. Perhaps it was head-to-head record, or it might have been randomly selected or possibly team ID number.

Thank you for your explanation.
I thought OOTP followed this year tiebreaking procedures for minor leagues.
In that case, we have no clue how the game picks the winner in a tie situation.
It's a detail but can be improved.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Barreto77

I thought OOTP followed this year tiebreaking procedures for minor leagues.

OOTP has never properly recreated the differences between the majors and minors in those sorts of league operating rules. Past versions it didn't really do MLB tiebreaking properly either, although with tiebreaking games being abandoned in real life and non-game methods substituted instead, OOTP might be better at it now. I'm not up on changes made in the last few versions.

[thehef]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

If there was a gap between the end of the first half and the start of the second half, the two teams would play a tiebreaking playoff game.

Just the other day I saw where the 1st half tiebreaker was a single game on the open Monday following the final Sunday of the 1st half. It was some historical minors, like PCL or AA way back in the day. Bugs me that I can't remember what & when it was or where I saw it...

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

If there was no gap, then the first meeting in the second half between the tied clubs also served as a tiebreaking game. The game's result would be counted as a regular game in the second half standings, but the winner of the game was declared the first half division title winner.

This seems like a pretty cool and reasonable way to decide it, in those circumstances. I can see, however, why it would be difficult for OOTP to be able to do this - delaying the determination of the 1st half winner. That's very likely much more programming than it'd be worth.

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

As to what OOTP does, I'm not sure. Perhaps it was head-to-head record, or it might have been randomly selected or possibly team ID number.

I'm thinking this would be a bit difficult to test. First, you'd have to dummy up the scenario a few times. And still, you might not be able to determine what exactly OOTP is doing...

I'll bet Matt can tell us how OOTP does it...

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by thehef

Just the other day I saw where the 1st half tiebreaker was a single game on the open Monday following the final Sunday of the 1st half. It was some historical minors, like PCL or AA way back in the day. Bugs me that I can't remember what & when it was or where I saw it...

I do have a list of tiebreaking playoff games that have been played in the minors, although it is far from complete. I can state first half ties were broken with a playoff game in the 1946 Pioneer League, 1966 California League, 1970 Carolina League, 1970 Western Carolinas League, 1981 Florida State League, and 1987 Carolina League.

First half ties were broken by the first meeting in the second half between the tied clubs in the 1958 Georgia-Florida League, 1977 Southern League, 1979 Western Carolinas League, 1979 Southern League, 1981 Midwest League, 2000 Southern League, and 2007 California League.

Second half ties were broken with a playoff game in the 1961 Three-I League, 1976 Midwest League, 1979 California League, 1980 California League, 1984 Southern League (in both divisions), and 1988 California League.

Originally Posted by thehef

This seems like a pretty cool and reasonable way to decide it, in those circumstances. I can see, however, why it would be difficult for OOTP to be able to do this - delaying the determination of the 1st half winner. That's very likely much more programming than it'd be worth.

Doesn't strike me as being all that complicated, but who knows.

In real life, in regards to delayed first half winners, it got weird when a league used a rule stating that any postponed games from the first half were made up in the second half but counted as first half games. That would naturally result in potentially long delays in knowing the final first half standings.

Most leagues, from what I can tell, used a rule which had postponed games from the first half being made up in the second half and counting as second half games. Either that, or they used the rule used by leagues these days, which is simpler in that postponed first half games must be made up by the closing date of the first half; any postponed games that can't are cancelled.