I have a question on this one-game playoff, aka, the 163rd game of the season. FYI, I'm a Yankees fan, not too disappointed that the Yanks were eliminated, I think the Red Sox may have had an upper hand if we were to face them. So GO ROCKIES!

I remember the old skool format, pre-Wildcard, when there were just 2 divisions per League, and it's pretty much the "final four" from there, cut and dry.

Now, with the Wildcard since 1995, will there ever be a situation where a one-game playoff would decide a Division champion? In other words, can a Wildcard Winner be decided BEFORE a Division Champion, and the result would be a one-game playoff for that division? (like '78 NYY vs BOS for the East).

I don't think it can happen but I can't get my head around it, since Wildcard means "the best of the rest", meaning, each Division has already been claimed by a Champion. But then again, sometimes the Wildcard leader can have a better record than a Division leader. I dunno!

Actually, the 1995 AL playoff between the Angels and Mariners WAS just for the division (the Yankees had the wild card that year); and had Philadelphia lost their 162nd game this year, they would have had a one game playoff with the Mets for division only. If both teams from the same division are tied, such that the loser of a playoff would still be the wild card, then the playoff game defers to "head to head" season record instead - almost like last year's Yankees and Red Sox.

only if it means one team will be out of the playoffs. They won't play a tie-breaker to determine div winner and wild-card. See AL east 2005.

I think a one game playoff would be necessary if two teams tied for the division lead at the end of the regular season, but yet their percentage of victories was less than a second place team in another division.

If the Mets showed up for their final game and won there would've been a one game playoff for the NL East title with the Phillies. The loser would then be involved with the Wild Card possibilities.

It's already happened -- 1995 AL West, a showdown between the Mariners and Angels. The Yankees finished one game ahead of both and took the wildcard. The Mariners won the postseason berth.

yeah, it sure is.

say the sox have 100 wins, and the yanks have 99

the twins win the central with 85 wins, but out west the mariners and the angels are tied with 82 wins each.

East champ=sox
central champ=twins
wildcard=yanks
west champ=winner of angels/mariners one game playoff.

There you go, it is possible!

If you were really old school, you would like when there were no divisions, and the team with the best record in the American League played the team with the best record in the National League in the World Series with no playoffs.