Tiebreaker?

Oops, I didn't see the other thread in Ask the Commish. ^_^; But something else caught my eye; I saw an article on Yahoo! Sports that says that the Dragons' magic number is 2, but going by the usual magic number formula (games left + 1 - difference in the loss column, which works now that both Hiroshima and Chunichi have an equal number of ties), the Dragons would have a magic number of 3. Does this mean that they've scrapped the tie-breaking game(s) and just let the team who won the season series take the last playoff spot?

(If that's the case, just wait until Twins fans hear about this. )

Don't they just go back to last year's record? Just kidding! Well, I hope I'm kidding.

I'd been waiting for either the question to become moot (as in the case for the battle for third) or for Nikkan Sports to finally come out with an explanation of the rule. Well, with Hanshin tying the Swallows last night, the issue has finally meant something to the Central League leaders. So today (October 5, 2008) Nikkan Sports has finally clarified the rule for the Central League Pennant.

The Central League agreement states that the Pennant winner shall be:

1. The team with the highest winning percentage
2. If 1st and 2nd have the same winning percentage, the team with the most wins
3. If winning percentage and wins are equal, winning percentage between the teams
4. If all of the above are equal, last year's order

That was a good guess, firearmofmutiny. While Nikkan Sports only really confirms it for the battle for first place, I think it's safe to assume that it's extended for the other standings positions as well.

It's good to finally see the rule in print by a reputable source. Hope this helps.

Well, this puts even more pressure on the Tigers. They are losing the season series 13-10, so they can't win the head-to-head tiebreaker. But it's still good to see that head-to-head record matters more than something ridiculous like last year's order!

Why the great aversion to a one-game playoff?

I don't like it, but the NPB has a great aversion to making up rained out games with doubleheaders or even scheduling them on the days off, thus dragging on the regular season with makeup games for weeks before finally starting the playoffs, losing whatever momentum it had in the regular season leading up to it.