Edit: In the previous thread, Sc00by passed along this little gem of information for all you prospect watchers!
-Zonis
Melissa Lockard @oakclubhouse
Good news: Miles Head was officially activated from the @Rockhounds DL today. He was on the DL w/a concussion after being beaned. #Athletics
...I think most fans would be really surprised. "But I have tickets for Saturday..." However, a not so remote scenario has the season continuing, but has the A's, Tigers, and Orioles all paying even for their final 51 games. You see, after last night Oakland, Detroit, and Baltimore each stood at 60-51, sharing the first wild card spot. What if they all went, say, 27-24 the rest of the way? 51 games is few enough that the notion of 2 or 3 teams playing with the same record is not all that far fetched. Or the Tigers could catch the White Sox and the White Sox could finish with the same number of win as the A's and O's.
You could actually see a 3-way tie for a wild card spot this year -- of course if you want to get goofy-loony you can elevate the Angels, slumpify the White Sox a tad, and conjure up a 5-way tie. But for now, let's just consider that there are three teams, from three different divisions, all failing to win their division and all finishing with the same record.
That means the final game of the season becomes the equivalent of a "one-game playoff" trying to secure a spot, a spot that earns you the chance to fight it out amongst the other two teams for the right to participate in a one game "play-in" -- and it's if you win that game that you have made it to the "Division Series," where a 5-game series will seem like a ton of breathing room. "We can lose one and still play again? Wow!!!"
What I thought folks might want to use this thread to do is to clarify how any 3-way ties will be resolved. Who plays whom at whose park in all the scenarios that are possible -- and even somewhat realistic? Further complicating matters is that a 3-way tie could easily be for the 1st wild card (meaning 2 of the 3 teams make it to the "play-in" to play each other) or for the 2nd wild card (in which case only one of those 3 teams can survive).
It just seems very complex -- and yet "if the season ended today..." that's exactly where we would be. (Until the Tigers-Yankees game ends, anyway...)
