PlayoffRace

MLB Tiebreaking Procedure

This is MLB's published tie-breaking procedure, in effect since Game 163 tiebreaker games were eliminated in 2022 — see the notes at the end for the one part (the step 5 game-by-game expansion mechanics) that's a best-effort interpretation rather than a byte-exact quote.

start decision process step outcome unresolved endAconnector — jumps to the matching lettered entry elsewhere in this same chart
TWO-CLUB PROCEDURETHREE-CLUB PROCEDUREFOUR(+)-CLUB PROCEDURE*234+no moreyesyesno, try nextyesno moreyesnarrows to 2fully separatesno, try nextnoyesnoseparates cleanlytwo clubs tiedall three tied → restart aboveyesnofully separatesnarrows to 3narrows to 2still fully tiedno moreyesnarrows to 3narrows to 2fully separatesno, try nextN clubs tied for one spotHow many clubsare tied?ACriteria tried in order:1. Head-to-head record2. Intradivision record3. Intraleague record4. Last half of intraleague games (since All-Star break)5. Last half of intraleague games, plus one (expand backward one game at a time)Take the next criterionfrom the listAny criterialeft to try?Commissioner's discretion(site note; not a numbered step)Does it separatethe two clubs?Leader on that criterionwins the tiebreakerBAll three clubs have identicalrecords against one another?(every pairwise series even)Criteria tried in order:a. Intradivision win %b. Intraleague win %c. Last half of intraleague gamesd. Last half + 1 intraleague game (excluding tied-club games), expanding backwardTake the next criterionfrom the listAny criterialeft to try?Commissioner's discretion(site note)Does it narrowthe tie at all?ARanking determinedDoes one club have a betterrecord against BOTH others?That club qualifiesRemaining two clubsARank the three clubs by win %against each other, combinedResult of thatcombined ranking?Ranking determinedA*MLB's text covers up to four clubs; 5+ is this site's own extrapolation.Does one club have a better recordagainst every other tied club?That club qualifiesRemaining clubs (3 or more)BRank the tied clubs by win %against each other, combinedResult of thatcombined ranking?Ranking determinedBARemaining criteria, in order:3. Intradivision win %4. Intraleague win %5. Last half of intraleague games6. Last half + 1 intraleague game (excluding tied-club games), expanding backwardTake the next criterionfrom the listAny criterialeft to try?Commissioner's discretion(site note)Does it narrowthe tie at all?BARanking determined

The same steps that pick a single qualifier also produce a full ranking when more than one spot or seed among the tied clubs is at stake (e.g. two clubs tied for two spots) — per the spec, the tied group is fully ordered top to bottom, not just resolved down to one winner. If a division title and a Wild Card spot are tied together, the division winner is determined first and the remaining clubs then revert to the smaller-pool procedure for what’s left.

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MLB TIEBREAKER PROCEDURES

Byte-for-byte as supplied by the user (2026-09-02), MLB's official published tiebreaker
explainer. This is THE procedure — the engine in lib/domain/tiebreak/mlb/ implements it directly,
not a paraphrase or best-effort interpretation.

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With the 2022 expansion of the postseason field from 10 teams to 12 teams, tiebreaker games will
no longer be used to resolve ties in the standings at the conclusion of the regular season. That
means no more "Game 163."

Instead, ties will be broken by math, with specific outcomes from the regular season determining
final standing or seeding. This change was made so that the postseason can begin promptly after
the conclusion of the regular season and that division winners with a bye during the Wild Card
Series round will not be forced to sit idle longer than is fair or necessary.

As a reminder, the new playoff format is as follows.

Six teams per league qualify: Three division winners and three Wild Cards
The top two division winners in each league get a bye to the Division Series.
The third division winner and third Wild Card (seeds 3 and 6) face off in the Wild Card round
(best-of-three). Higher seed hosts all three games. Winner advances to face the No. 2 seed in
Division Series.
The first and second Wild Cards (seeds 4 and 5) also play in Wild Card round (best-of-three).
Higher seed hosts all three games. Winner advances to face the No. 1 seed in Division Series.
Division Series is best-of-five as it has always been; League Championship and World Series
remain best-of-seven, with the team with the higher seed having home-field advantage in the LCS
and the team with the superior regular-season record having home-field advantage in the World
Series.

Be it a tie atop the division, a tie for the final Wild Card spot, a tie between two division
winners (with postseason seeding at stake) or any other tie that would affect the postseason
field, tiebreakers will be determined in this order.

TIES BETWEEN TWO TEAMS

1. Head-to-head record
The first and simplest tiebreaker is the result of the season series between the tied teams. If
Team X and Team Y tie for the top spot in the division and Team X went 10-8 against Team Y, then
Team X is the division champion.

2. Intradivision Record
If the head-to-head record is also a tie, then the involved clubs' records within their division
will break the tie. This applies even if the tie is for a Wild Card spot between two teams that do
not reside in the same division. The team with the superior intradivision record would win the
tiebreaker.

3. Intraleague Record
In the event of a head-to-head and intradivision record tie for the involved teams, then the tie
would be settled based on how they fared against teams within their league, meaning AL clubs vs.
AL clubs and NL clubs vs. NL clubs.

4. Last Half of Intraleague Games
Should the intraleague record also be a tie, the next tiebreaker will be determined by the
involved clubs' last-half records against teams within their league (AL for AL teams, NL for NL
teams). Note that these are the records from intraleague games after the All-Star break (so, not
the exact mathematical midpoint).

5. Last Half of Intraleague Games Plus One
Should the records of the involved clubs in the second half of intraleague games also be a tie,
then the outcome of the last game of the first half of intraleague games is used. Should that also
be a tie, then the previous intraleague game on the schedule is used. This process is repeated
until the tie is resolved.

TIES BETWEEN THREE TEAMS

It's more complex for three-team ties. There are two ways those can be determined, which are as
follows:

If all three clubs have identical records against one another, then tiebreakers will be settled in
this order:

a. Highest winning percentage among three tied Clubs in intradivision games.
b. Highest winning percentage among three tied Clubs in intraleague games.
c. Highest winning percentage in the last half of intraleague games.
d. Highest winning percentage in the last half plus one intraleague game (provided that such
additional game was not between any of the tied Clubs). Continue to go back one intraleague game
at a time until any ties have been broken

If the three clubs do NOT have identical records against one another, then there are two
possibilities:

a. If Club 1 has a better record against Clubs 2 and 3, then Club 1 qualifies.

b. If no Club has a better record against the other two Clubs, then:

The Clubs will be ranked by their overall winning percentage amongst the other Clubs combined. The
Club with the highest overall winning percentage in that group qualifies.
If two of the Clubs have identical winning percentages, then they would follow the two-Club
tiebreak rules to break their tie to determine the qualifier.
If all three teams have identical winning percentages, then the tiebreak rules above (No. 1) for
three clubs having identical records against one another should be followed.

Note: If the three teams are tied for a division championship plus one Wild Card spot, then, once
the above is used to determine the division champ, the remaining two teams revert to the two-team
tiebreaker procedure to determine the Wild Card.

Also note that the above tiebreaker rules also apply to situations in which two teams tie for two
spots and three teams tie for three spots and the exact seeding for those teams must be resolved.

TIES BETWEEN FOUR TEAMS

If four teams are all tied for one spot, the winner would be determined via the following steps:

1. Tied Club with better record against each of the three other Clubs.
2. Highest winning percentage in games among the tied Clubs.*
3. Highest winning percentage in intradivision games.*
4. Highest winning percentage in intraleague games.*
5. Highest winning percentage in the last half of intraleague games.*
6. Highest winning percentage in the last half plus one intraleague game (provided that such
additional game was not between any of the tied Clubs). Continue to go back one intraleague game
at a time until any ties have been broken.

*If two Clubs have identical winning percentages, then the two-Club tiebreak rules shall apply to
determine which team qualifies. If three Clubs have identical winning percentages, then the
three-Club tiebreak rules shall apply to determine which team(s) qualify.

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NOTES ON THIS SITE'S IMPLEMENTATION

- The text above says nothing about five-or-more-team ties (MLB's own document stops at four --
  presumably because a division has at most 5 teams and a genuine 5-way tie surviving every one of
  these criteria is considered outside the realm of realistic possibility). lib/domain/tiebreak/mlb/
  extrapolates the visible pattern for that case (a club that beats every other tied club
  individually qualifies outright; otherwise rank by winning percentage among the tied clubs
  combined, narrowing via the same intradivision/intraleague/half/half+1 criteria) rather than
  leaving it unhandled — clearly marked in code as an extrapolation beyond the sourced text, not
  something MLB has itself published.
- No coin toss or equivalent formula closes out a tie unresolved even after the full expanding-window
  step -- MLB's own materials describe this as "commissioner's discretion." Given how granular that
  step is, this is expected to be essentially theoretical.
- "Head-to-head record" and "winning percentage in games among the tied Clubs" are the same
  underlying computation (a club's combined record against the other tied clubs) at different pool
  sizes -- implemented once and reused, per the text's own two-team and four-team wording lining up
  exactly this way.