THE POSTSEASON            Back to Reference Index

THE END OF THE SEASON

When the season finishes, the division winners advance to the playoffs. If your team is in a Standard League or a Custom League that has the wild card, the best second-place team in the league also makes the playoffs. Each round of the playoffs is a best-of-seven series. 

TIES. If teams finish the regular season with identical records, what happens depends on whether a playoff spot is at stake. 

If every tied team makes the playoffs anyway (for example, two teams tie for the division lead and the loser still takes the wild card), no game is played. The tie-break rules below decide which team wins the division and which is the wild card. 

If a tied team would miss the playoffs, the tie is settled on the field with a one-game playoff. 

TIEBREAKER GAMES. A tiebreaker game is added to the end of the regular season. It is not a playoff game. 

Tiebreaker games are played at 5:00 PM Pacific on the day the regular season ends. If a second round is needed, it is played at 7:00 PM Pacific the same evening. No tie needs more than two rounds. 

The tied teams are seeded with the tie-break rules below, and the better seed is always the home team. 

Two teams tied for one spot: #1 hosts #2. 

Three teams tied for one spot: #2 hosts #3 at 5:00 PM. The winner plays at #1 at 7:00 PM. 

Four teams tied for one spot: #1 hosts #4 and #2 hosts #3 at 5:00 PM. The two winners meet at 7:00 PM, and the better seed hosts. 

Four teams in one division tied for both the division title and the wild card: #1 hosts #4 and #2 hosts #3, and both winners make the playoffs. The better-seeded winner takes the division and the other takes the wild card. There is no second round. 

Five or more teams tied: the tie-break rules keep the top four seeds, and the rest are eliminated without a game. The four remaining teams play as above. 

If ties in different divisions each decide a playoff spot, their games are played at the same time. The postseason starts only after every tiebreaker game in the league has finished. 

When a division tie and a wild-card tie are linked, the division is settled first. If the division loser still has a chance at the wild card, the division title goes by the tie-break rules and the remaining teams play for the wild card. 

Leagues without divisions (2, 4 or 6 teams), where the top two teams meet in the World Series: 

Two teams tied for first: both are in and no game is played. The tie-break rules decide home field. 

One team in first and two or more tied for second: the tied teams play for the second spot, as above. 

Three teams tied for first: the tie-break rules put #1 in, and #2 hosts #3 for the other spot. 

Four or more teams tied for first: the tie-break rules keep the top four. #1 hosts #4 and #2 hosts #3, and both winners are in. 

When a tiebreaker game is scheduled, both owners get an email and site notification about 1.5 hours before it is played. Your lineup and rotation are used automatically, so set your team up ahead of time if you want changes. Regular-season roster and playing-time rules still apply. 

A tiebreaker game counts in the regular-season standings and in team and player statistics. Playoff seeding and home-field advantage use each team's record from before the tiebreaker game. Winning a tiebreaker gets you into the playoffs but does not improve your seed. 

Turbo leagues do not play tiebreaker games. Every tie in a Turbo league is settled by the tie-break rules below. 

TIE-BREAK RULES. These rules decide ties that don't need a game. They also seed the teams in a tiebreaker game and decide who is cut when five or more teams are tied. 

1. Best head-to-head record. 
2. For a division tie, division record. For a wild-card tie, greatest run differential. 
3. For a division tie, greatest run differential. For a wild-card tie, division record. 
4. Coin toss. 

When three or more teams are tied, head-to-head only counts if one team has a winning record against every other tied team. That team is ranked first, and the same check is then made among the teams that are left. Once only two teams remain, they are compared head-to-head as usual. If at any point no team has a winning record against all the others, head-to-head is skipped for those teams and they are ordered from rule 2 on. 

The changes involved in introducing tiebreaker games have been extensive. If you encounter any issues in your leagues as their seasons end, please let us know by emailing support@imaginesports.com.

THE PLAYOFFS!

May you need to know about this section often! 

The number of rounds depends on the number of teams in your league. In Standard Leagues, there will be 2 rounds, the LCS and the World Series. Each is best of seven in a 2-3-2 format, meaning that Team A (the one with home-field advantage) hosts games 1 and 2 and then, if necessary, games 6 and 7, while the team without home-field advantage hosts games 3 and 4 and, if necessary, game 5. Games are played one series per day (except Sunday) (Turbo leagues have the same virtual schedule but an accelerated sim schedule). 

There two virtual days off between the end of the season and the first game of the post-season; two virtual days off between the LCS and World Series; and one virtual day off between games 2 and 3 and games 5 and 6 of each series.  Successive series will always start on the virtual date they would have started had the preceding series gone seven days, regardless of whether the preceding series finish earlier. The team with the best record will have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, except that the wild card never has home-field advantage. The team with the best record will host the wild card, unless the wild card comes from the same division, in which case the team with the best record will host the team with the worst record that is not a wild card. The team with the second-best record will play the other playoff team.

In Custom Leagues, the number of teams and whether there is a wild card determines the number of rounds.

In two-team “leagues” there is no World Series, but if the league ends in a tie, there is a one-game winner-take-all playoff. Four and six-team leagues comprise a single division, with a best-of-seven World Series between the first and second place teams. Eight-team leagues are comprised of two four-team divisions, with the winner of each division squaring off in a best-of-seven World Series. 

Home-field advantage is determined by won-loss record in the regular season. If there is a tie for home-field advantage, the tie will be broken by the same tie-breaking system as for playoff spots described above.

MANAGING DURING THE PLAYOFFS

The deadline for setting your playoff roster is 12 midnight PT on the date Game #1 is played. You cannot make any roster changes during a playoff series. However, you can make roster changes between playoff series. All of the same rules and controls for managing your team during the regular season apply during the playoffs and World Series.  Injuries, pitcher and catcher usage carry over from the regular season to the playoffs. You cannot start a pitcher on fewer than 3 days’ rest, and you should assume fatigue factors will apply to pitchers. So if you start a pitcher who’s not very durable on 3 days’ rest, you might pay a price for it in performance, perhaps a severe one. There may be injuries during the playoffs, so be prepared. 

Good luck!

In a 24-team league, the winners of the championship series in each association are awarded 1000 tokens (500 in Accelerated leagues; 250 in Turbo leagues).  If you win the World Series of any league, you get a free team (tokens to the value of a team for the type of league - custom, standard, accelerated, turbo) to try to do it again!