braves america: #21

In the past the playoff system was very straight forward. The three division winners and the team with the team with the best record that did not win its division made the playoffs, and they play with the best record playing the worst and the other two playing (4 vs 1 and 3 vs 2). The only real catch wass that you can't play a team in your own division in the first round, so if the Nationals had the best record and the Braves won the wild card, the Braves would play the team with the second best record (4 vs 2 and 3 vs 1).

MLB wants to make more money so they added an additional playoff spot. The three division winners still make it, but the top two non division winners make it now. Two days after the regular season ends the top two non division winners will play at the site of the team with the better record. After that the playoffs will proceed as they have in the past, except the requirement of no intradivision matchups. So if the Braves won the wild card (and wild card game) and the Nationals have the NL's best record, the two would meet in the first round.

And of course, tie breakers. First tie breaker is head to head record. Second is record within your own division. On the slim chance these are all even, a coin flip would determine things. Braves hold tiebreaker over the Cardinals, Washington holds the tiebreaker over us, we split the season series with the Dodgers so it would come down to division records (which we are doing much better in, as of now), and we still have games against Pittsburgh so it's too early to tell. The four teams we're closest with provided us with four different scenarios. Fun!

Two quick notes- due to MLB's last minute addition of a wild card playoff game, the first round this year will be conducted in a 2-3 format rather than 2-2-1. They will go back next year.

Also, if there is a tie for any playoff spot there will be a one game playoff on October 4. This includes two teams being tied for division/ wild card spot. For instance- if the Braves and Nationals end with the same record, and either would qualify for a wild card, the two teams would play a one game playoff for the division in Washington on Thursday, and the loser would play in the one game Wild Card Playoff on Friday.

I'm obsessive about planning ahead so I scoured the interwebs looking for potential Braves playoff scenarios. If we make it we'll play one of two schedules either as division champion or wild card winner. I've laid out the schedules for both paths below. Hopefully they'll let you plan ahead.

Now all we need to do is win some ball games so these scenarios come to life.

WildCard:

Friday October 5 Wild Card Game

Sunday October 7 NLDS Game 1 home

Monday October 8 NLDS Game 2 home

Wednesday October 10 NLDS Game 3 road

Thursday October 11 NLDS Game 4 road

Friday October 12 NLDS Game 5 road

Sunday October 14 NLCS Game 1

Monday October 15 NLCS Game 2

Wednesday October 17 NLCS Game 3

Thursday October 18 NLCS Game 4

Friday October 19 NLCS Game 5

Sunday October 20 NLCS Game 6

Monday October 21 NLCS Game 7

Wednesday October 23 World Series Game 1 home

Thursday October 24 World Series Game 2 home

Saturday October 26 World Series Game 3 road

Sunday October 27 World Series Game 4 road

Monday October 28 World Series Game 5 road

Wednesday October 30 World Series Game 6 home

Thursday October 31 World Series Game 7 home

Division title

Saturday October 6 NLDS Game 1

Sunday October 7 NLDS Game 2

Tuesday October 9 NLDS Game 3

Wednesday October 10 NLDS Game 4

Thursday October 11 NLDS Game 5