There's an interesting tiebreak that's possible in one of my leagues (playoffs don't start until next week), and I'm interested in what you guys think about it.
There's 3 divisions, and each division team plays each other twice. There's a potential 4-way tie for 2 Wild Card spots among teams with the same record, so the next tiebreaker is H2H. However, based on how you eliminate teams, it could create a whole mess of a situation.
H2H among them looks like this:
Team A 2-0 Team B
Team A 0-1 Team C
Team A 1-0 Team D
Team B 1-0 Team C
Team B 1-0 Team D
Team C 1-0 Team D
Total:
Team A: 3-1
Team B: 2-2
Team C: 2-1
Team D: 0-3
There's three ways tiebreakers could work, sending either Team B or Team C to the playoffs!
Method 1: Best Winning % (No Elimination)
Simply choosing the teams with the best H2H record among the 4. Team A obviously makes it at 3-1, and the next best is Team C at 2-1.
Method 2: Eliminate 1st WC team after securing playoff spot
Since Team A has the best record, they win the first WC spot "first" and then the standings are recalculated specifically for the second WC spot. This makes the standings now:
Team B: 2-0
Team C: 1-1
Team D: 0-2
Team B is 2-0, and obviously the second WC spot.
Method 3: Eliminate lowest teams first
Since Team D has the worst record, they're eliminated, leaving the standings as:
Team A: 2-1
Team B: 1-2
Team C: 1-2
Team B beat Team C H2H, so Team C is eliminated and Teams A/B make the playoffs.
Method 4: Eliminate lowest team in each division (this is what the NFL does, apparently)
Team A 2-0'd Team B, so Team B is eliminated. The remaining 3 teams are in 3 different divisions, and the standings look like:
Team A: 1-1
Team C: 1-1
Team D: 0-2
Teams A/C make the playoffs.
All our playoff seeding is done by hand, so there's no automated or technically correct answer on which method would be best. Luckily, I'm Team A and don't have to worry about it, but I feel like either Team B or Team C could make a case that they should be the ones to secure that last playoff spot.
Any thoughts?