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MLB Playoff tiebreaker scenarios

NL East, Wild Card feature several possibilities with one day left in season

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NL playoff tiebreaker scenarios (records through Saturday):

NL East
If New York (88-73) Philadelphia (88-73) finish with the same record, they would play a tiebreaker game Monday in Philadelphia.

Wild Card
In the event two teams tie for the wild card, Colorado (88-73) would host New York, Philadelphia or San Diego (89-72) in a tiebreaker; New York would host San Diego; and San Diego would host Philadelphia.

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Three teams with same record
In the event New York, Philadelphia and either Colorado or San Diego finish with the same record, New York and Philadelphia would play a tiebreaker Monday at Philadelphia for the division title. The loser of that game would then play a wild-card tiebreaker Tuesday against Colorado or San Diego.

Four teams with same record
If Colorado, New York and Philadelphia win Sunday and San Diego loses, all would finish 89-73. New York and Philadelphia would play the NL East tiebreaker Monday; the loser would play a three-team, two-day, wild-card tiebreaker with Colorado and San Diego on Tuesday and Wednesday. In that scenario, Colorado (the team with the best head-to-head record among the three teams in the wild-card tiebreaker) would get the choice of having a bye on Tuesday or playing both games at home.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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