Expanded Senior Slo-Pitch Association Playoff Tiebreaker Rules

Version: 16 November 2022

The principle is to apply the qualifying rules in sequence to qualify the highest ranked team in the group of teams that are tied. Once that team is determined and eliminated from the (sub)group of tied teams, go back to the top of the qualifying rules to find the next ranked team in the (sub)group that remains.

In the following, the term 'head-to-head series' is to be interpreted as the head-to-head game if there was only 1 playoff qualification round.

The winner of the head-to-head series when there are 2 playoff qualification rounds is (1) the team that won both games; (2) the team with the better (highest) run differential (+/-), capped at a maximum of 7 runs per game, in the 2 games involving those teams. It is possible there is no winner of the head-to-head series; in that case, continue to the next step of the process when that is the deciding factor.

1. If there is 1 team left in the (sub)group, that team is ranked next.

2. If there are 2 teams in the (sub)group, the winner of the head-to-head series is ranked higher; the other team gets the next available ranking (same as going back to step (1)).

3. [For 1 playoff qualification round, at this point at least 3 teams are tied.]
   [For 2 playoff qualification rounds, if there are 2 teams tied, skip to step 5.]
   If one team of the (sub)group has an advantage (i.e. a better record) in the playoff qualification games between all teams in the (sub)group (e.g. 2-0 for a group of 3, 3-0 for a group of 4), that team is ranked higher. If two teams have better advantage in the playoff qualification games between all teams in the (sub)group (e.g. 2 teams are 2-1 for a group of 4), the winner of the head-to-head series between the teams with the better advantage is ranked higher; then go to step (1) with the remaining teams in the group.

4. [At this point, no team(s) have an advantage over the other teams.]
   [For 2 playoff qualification rounds, if there are 2 teams tied, skip to step 5.]
   The team with the best (highest) run differential (+/-), capped at a maximum of 7 runs per game, in playoff qualification games between all teams in the (sub)group is ranked higher; then go back to step (1) with the remaining team(s) in the (sub)group. If 2 teams are tied, the winner of the head-to-head series between those teams is ranked higher; then go back to step (1) with the remaining team(s) in the (sub)group.

5. [For 1 playoff qualification round, at this point there is a 3 or more way tie in run differential in the playoff qualification games involving the tied (sub)group.]
   [For 2 playoff qualification rounds, at this point there is a 2 or more way tie in run differential in the playoff qualification games involving the tied (sub)group.]
   The team with the best (highest) run differential (+/-), capped at a maximum of 7 runs per game, in all playoff qualification games is ranked higher; then go back to step (1) with the remaining team(s) in the (sub)group. If 2 teams are tied, the winner of the head-to-head series between those teams is ranked higher; then go back to step (1) with the remaining team(s) in the (sub)group.

6. [For 1 playoff qualification round, at this point, there is a 3 or more way tie in run differential in all playoff qualification games.]
   The team with the higher standing in the regular season round robin games is ranked higher. If 2 teams are tied, the winner of the head-to-head series between those teams is ranked higher; then go back to step (1) with the remaining team(s) in the (sub)group.

7. Flip a coin (if 2 teams are left) / draw lots (if 3 teams or more are left) to determine the higher ranked team. Then go back to step (1) with the remaining team(s) in the (sub)group.

The above rules are based on the original Playoff Round Tiebreaker rules from Bob Goddard in 2008:

• Playoff Round Tie-Breaker Format (Word DOC format) (Version: August 8, 2008)
• Playoff Round Tie-Breaker Format (HTML format) (Version: August 8, 2008)