Dictionary Definition
playoff n : any final competition to determine a
championship
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Alternative spellings
Noun
Extensive Definition
A playoff or final in sports (North American
professional sports in particular) is a game or series of games
played after the regular season is over with the goal of
determining a league champion, or a similar accolade.
Play-offs originated as a way to determine a
champion only when the season could not, like the similarly named
run-off does in elections. They have since become so popular with
fans (and thus lucrative for clubs) that more sports use them every
season, and include more and more teams.
In the U.S., the vast distances and consequent
burdens on cross-country travel have led to regional groupings of
teams, usually called divisions. Generally, during the regular
season, teams play more games against opponents that are within
their own grouping than those outside it. Since every team has not
had a chance to prove itself against every other team, a playoff is
necessary every season. Any team that wins its grouping is eligible
to participate in the playoffs. As playoffs became more popular,
they were expanded to allow teams that finished second or even
lower in the grouping to participate. If a team has to be the best
of all the lower-ranked teams, these teams are known as wild
card teams, such as in the Major
League Baseball system.
Playoffs in the National Basketball Association
The present organization known as the National Basketball Association, then called the BAA (Basketball Association of America), had its inaugural season in 1946–1947.In the current system, eight clubs from each of
the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs, with
separate playoff brackets for each conference. In the 2002–03
season, the first-round series were expanded from best-of-5 to
best-of-7; all other series have always been best-of-7. In all
series, home games alternate between the two teams in a 2-2-1-1-1
format, except for the NBA Finals, in which the format is
2-3-2.
The 2-3-2 finals format was adopted for the 1985
finals, copying the format that was then in effect in the National
Hockey League. Prior to 1985, almost all finals were played in the
2-2-1-1-1 format (although the 1971 finals between Milwaukee and
Baltimore were on an alternate-home basis, some 1950s finals used
the 2-3-2 format, and the 1975 Golden State-Washington and 1978 and
1979 Seattle-Washington finals were on a 1-2-2-1-1 basis). Also,
prior to the 1980s, East and West playoffs were on an
alternate-home basis except for those series when distance made the
2-2-1-1-1 format more practical.
Teams are seeded according to their
regular-season record. The three division champions and best
division runner-up receive the top four seeds, with their ranking
based on regular-season record. The remaining teams are seeded
strictly by regular-season record.
However, the NBA system differs from other sports
playoffs in the fact that division champions are not guaranteed
home-court advantage at any time in the playoffs, as home-court
advantage is decided strictly on regular-season record, without
regard to seeding.
Playoffs in the National Football League
Main article: NFL playoffsThe National
Football League divided its teams into divisions in 1933 and
began holding a single playoff championship game between division
winners. In 1950 the NFL absorbed three teams from the rival
All-America Football Conference, and the former "Divisions"
were now called "Conferences", echoing the college use of that
term. In 1967, the NFL expanded and created four divisions under
the two conferences, which led to the institution of a larger
playoff tournament. After the merger with the American
Football League, the NFL began to use a single wild card team
in each conference in its playoffs, in order to produce eight
contenders out of six divisions; this was later expanded so that
more wild card teams could participate.
Major league baseball, recognizing the great
success of the NFL's post-season system, also created divisions in
each league when it expanded at the end of that decade, leading to
its first use of regular post-season playoffs to determine league
champions. Further expansion by baseball led to its own adoption of
the concept of wild card teams.
In 2002 the NFL added its 32nd team, the Houston
Texans, and significantly reshuffled its divisional alignment.
The league went from 6 division winners and 6 wild card spots to 8
division winners and only 4 wild card qualifiers.
The winners of each division automatically earn a
playoff spot and a home game in their first rounds, and the two top
non-division winners from each conference will also make the
playoffs as wild-card teams. The top two teams with the best
records in the regular season get a first round bye, and the bottom
two division winners each play one of the wild-card teams. The
winners of the wild-card games then play one of the two bye teams.
The winners of these two games go to the conference championships,
and the winner of that game will face each other conference
champion in the Super
Bowl.
Playoffs in NASCAR (stock car racing)
NASCAR implemented a playoff system beginning in 2004, that they coined the "Chase for the NEXTEL Cup." Currently, only NASCAR's top series uses the playoff system. In the original version of the Chase (2004-2006), following the 26th race of the season, all drivers in the top 10 and any others within 400 points of the leader got a spot in the 10-race playoff. Like the current system, drivers in the Chase had their point totals adjusted. However, it was based on the number of points at the conclusion of the 26th race. The first-place driver in the standings led with 5,050 points; the second-place driver started with 5,045. Incremental five-point drops continued through 10th place with 5,005 points). In addition, drivers received 180 points for winning a race, 5 bonus points for leading the most laps, and 5 bonus for leading a single lap.The current version of the Chase was announced by
NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France
on January
22, 2007.
After 26 races, the top 12 drivers advance to contend for the
points championship and points are reset to 5000. Each driver
within the top 12 gets an additional 10 points for each win during
the "regular season," or first 26 races, thus creating a seeding
based on wins. The Chase consists of 10 races and the driver with
the most points at the conclusion of the 10 races is the NEXTEL Cup
Series Champion. Drivers can earn 5 bonus points for leading
the most laps, and 5 bonus points for leading a single lap. Brian
France explained why NASCAR made the changes to the chase: "The
adjustments taken [Monday] put a greater emphasis on winning races.
Winning is what this sport is all about. Nobody likes to see
drivers content to finish in the top 10. We want our sport --
especially during the Chase -- to be more about winning."
Beginning with the 2008
season, the playoff will become known as the "Chase for the
Sprint Cup" due to the NEXTEL/Sprint
merger.
Playoffs in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the oldest of the major professional sports, dating back to the 1870s. As such, it is steeped in tradition. The final series to determine its champion has been called the "World Series" (originally "World's Championship Series" and then "World's Series") as far back as the National League's contests with the American Association during the 1880s.Retaining the sanctity of the World Series as a
special event rather than merely the "final round of playoffs", the
major leagues themselves do not use the term "playoffs" for
post-season action. MLB has stuck with "____ Series" for each level
of its post-season tournament (another term MLB does not use). In
the Majors the singular term "playoff" is reserved for the rare
situation in which two teams find themselves tied at the end of the
regular season and are forced to have a playoff game (or games) to
determine which team will advance to the post-season. Thus, in the
Majors, a "playoff" is actually part of the regular season and thus
can be called a "Pennant
playoff". However, the plural term "playoffs" is conventionally
used by fans and media to refer to baseball's post-season
tournament (and has always been used by Minor
league baseball for its own post-season play), so this article
will defer to that usage.
Baseball has always been the least generous sport
in allowing teams to enter its playoff tournament, and
paradoxically so, given that it also has by far the lengthiest
season in terms of games (currently 162, and it has been over 150
games every season since 1920, with the exception of 1972, 1981,
1994, and 1995). In 1903, the two modern Major League Baseball
leagues began annual post-season play with a one-round system in
which the American League team with the best record faced the
National League team with the best record in a
best-of-seven series (in 1903, 1919, 1920, and 1921 it was
best-of-9) called the World
Series; however, there was no 1904 Series because the National
League Champion, the New York Giants, refused to play. This
single-tiered approach persisted through 1968, even with the
expansions of 1961-1962 that made it necessary for two teams each
year to finish their seasons in ignominious double-digits, as it
were, in tenth place.
Adoption of two-round playoff system
In 1969, both leagues expanded to twelve teams and this made it harder to make the World Series because there were more teams competing for the AL and NL pennants. To remedy this, and imitating the other major sports' long-standing playoff traditions, Major League Baseball split each league into Eastern and Western divisions (still fewer than the current 3), creating four divisions overall and no worse than a sixth place finish for any team in any division. This created a new round of playoffs, which was dubbed the League Championship Series (LCS), a best-of-five series. In 1985 the LCS was expanded to a best-of-seven series.Current playoff system
By 1994, further expansion was making it very hard to make the playoffs again. Major League baseball went through re-alignment again, expanding to three divisions (East, Central, West) in each league. Because only allowing divisional winners in the playoffs would make an odd number of playoff teams in each league, three, the league also added wild-cards to each league, again imitating the original post-merger NFL approach. This system was in place for 1994, but the players' strike canceled the post-season. The system was realized on the field in 1995. The wild card team would be the team with the best record in each league of all the teams that did not win their division. This doubled the playoff contenders in each league from two to four, and from four to eight teams overall. The extra playoff teams meant another elimination round was needed. This new round would become the new first round of the playoffs, the best-of-five, Division Series. This term had first been used for the extra round required in 1981 due to the "split-season" scheduling anomaly following the mid-season players' strike. The three-tiered playoff tournament is the system currently in use. In the event the wild card team is from the same division as the best divisional champion; the 2nd best divisional champ plays the wildcard team and the top divisional champ plays the bottom divisional champ.Some baseball purists (such as Bob Costas) do
not like the idea that teams that were not consistently good enough
to win their division can still win the World Series. Purists also
used a similar argument when LCS teams with lesser records advanced
to the Series. However, the wild card approach has proven to be a
great success with the "mass market", providing the potential for a
good deal of extra drama during the final month of the season,
although admittedly it has sometimes taken away from the normal
"pennant race" drama when the two best teams in the league happen
to be in the same division. The wild card qualifier (#4 seed) has
actually won more World Series than any other seed since wildcards
became eligible in 1995. They have won a total of four World
Series, and won three years in a row from 2002-2004, with the
2002
World Series being between both wildcards.
There has been talk that an extra wild card team
should be added to each league, and if a one-game playoff should be
added before the Division Series, though as of the mid-2000s this
does not have much traction. This would be the logical next step,
if and when baseball expands its playoffs again. A downside to this
idea is that, even with the three-tiered system, the World Series
is stretching to Halloween or even into early November (in 2001).
Adding yet another tier — even for a single game — would likely
push the warm-weather sport's season into November every year with
the potential for snow delays in northern stadiums like Coors Field
in Denver,
Colorado, but this could possibly be remedied by starting the
season the last week of March instead of the first week of April.
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig in an
interview on FSN,
said that although he is not opposed to an extra wildcard team in
each league, he doesn't want to change the playoffs yet because
"the current system is working so well."
Oakland
Athletics general manager Billy Beane,
for his part, has called for each league's postseason tournament to
be seeded strictly by regular-season record without regard to
whether a team has won its division. No major North American sports
league currently uses this system in its purest form, though the
NBA comes very close to doing so by treating the highest
non-division team as a division winner (allowing it a higher
seeding than some division winners) and awarding homecourt
advantage based on record. Had Beane's proposal been in place
in
2006, both leagues would have seen Division
Series matchups between a division champion and a wild-card
team from its division — impossible under present rules, which
forbid intradivisional matchups in the first round. If it had been
in place in
2004, the wild-card Boston Red
Sox, with the second-best record in the American
League, would have had home-field advantage in the
Division Series over a division champion, which is also
impossible under present rules.
Home-field advantage
The World Series used several different formats in its early years. Initially it generally followed an alternating home-and-home pattern, except that if a seventh game was possible, its site was determined by coin toss prior the sixth game. In 1924 the Series began using a 2-3-2 format, presumably to save on travel costs, a pattern which has continued to this day with the exception of a couple of the World War II years when wartime travel restrictions compelled a 3-4 format. From the start of the 2-3-2 format through the 2002 season, home field advantage generally alternated between leagues each year. Prior to the 1994 strike, the National League champion received home field advantage on even numbered years and the American League champion on odd numbered years; these were reversed for 1995-2002 (because 1994 would've been the NL's turn to have home field). That changed starting in 2003.The 2002
All Star Game had ended in a tie, much to the displeasure of
both fans and sportswriters who complained about a lack of
intensity and competitiveness on the part of the players. This hit
especially close to home for Commissioner Bud Selig, as
the game had been played in his home city of Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. In response, to give some real meaning to the game,
in 2003 MLB began assigning home field advantage in the World
Series to the winner of that year's All-Star Game, which is
typically held in mid-July.
Coupled with the American
League's scheduled home field advantage in the 2002 Series,
this has given the American League the extra home game in each
World Series since. It did not help the Yankees in 2003 or Tigers
in 2006, but arguably it gave a jump start to the Red Sox in 2004
and 2007 and the White Sox in 2005, all three of which ended up
sweeping their opponents in the World Series.
League Championship Series
Until 1998, the LCS alternated home-field advantage with a 2-3 format in the best-of-5 era (1969-84) and a 2-3-2 format when it went to best-of-7 (1985-present). Now home-field advantage goes to the team with the best record unless it is a wild card qualifier.In two instances, however, the switching from the
best-of-5 to the best-of-7 format shaped the outcomes of the 1985
and 1986
American League Championship Series. In 1985, the Toronto
Blue Jays had a 3 games to 1 lead on the Kansas
City Royals, but lost that series in seven games. The same
occurred to the
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (then as the California Angels)
in 1986; they led the Boston Red
Sox 3 games to 1, but lost Games 5, 6, and 7. Had the best-of-5
format been in place, both Toronto and California would have each
won their first American League pennant (Toronto would win its
first pennant in 1992, while the Angels franchise would win its
first in 2002). Then again, had the 2-3 format remained, Kansas
City would not have won the 1985
World Series and Bill Buckner
would have been spared his costly error in the 1986
World Series.
Division Series
Until 1998 the Division Series rotated which of the three division champions would not have home field advantage, with the wild card never having it. Now the two division winners with the best records in each league have home field, with the least-winning divisional winner and the wild card not having home field. The DS used a 2-3 format until 1998 and now uses a 2-2-1 format. This is seen as a much fairer distribution of home field advantage because previously under the 2-3 format, the team hosting the first two games had absoultely no chance of winning the series at home. With the current 2-2-1 format however, both teams have the home field advantage in a way. While one team gets to host three games (including the critical first and last game), the other team does get two chances out of three (games 3 and 4) of winning the series on its home field.Playoffs in the National Hockey League
The National Hockey League has always used a playoff tournament to determine its champion, generally opening up its playoff games to a much larger number of teams, including those with a losing regular season record in some years. Because of the grueling nature of the sport, the Stanley Cup playoffs is considered to be one of the hardest championships in all of professional sports to win.From the NHL's inception to 1920, when ownership
of the Stanley Cup was shared between the NHL and the
Pacific Coast Hockey Association the regular season was divided
into two halves, with the top team from each half moving on to the
league finals, which was a two-game total goals series in 1918 and a
best-of-seven series in 1919. In 1920, the Ottawa
Senators were automatically declared the league champion when
the team had won both halves of the regular season. The two halves
format was abandoned the next year, and the top two teams faced off
for the NHL championship in a two-game total goals series.
At the time, the NHL champion would later face
the winners of the PCHA and, from 1921, the
Western Canada Hockey League in further rounds in order to
determine the Stanley Cup champion. During this time, as the rules
of the NHL and those of the western leagues differ (the main
difference being that NHL rules allowed five skaters while the
western leagues allowed six), the rules for each game in the
Stanley Cup Final alternated between those of the NHL and the
western leagues. Before the WCHL competed for the Stanley Cup, the
Stanley Cup Finals was a best-of-five series. Following the
involvement of the WCHL, one league champion was given a bye
straight to the finals (a best-of-three affair starting in 1922), while the other
two competed in a best-of-three semifinal. As travel expenses were
high during these times, it was often the case that the NHL
champions were sent west to compete. In a dispute between the
leagues in 1923 about whether to send one or both western league
champions east, the winner of the PCHA/WCHL series would proceed to
the Stanley Cup Finals while the loser of the series would face the
NHL champions, both series being best-of-three.
In 1924 the NHL playoffs expanded from two to
three teams (with the top team getting a bye to the two-game total
goal NHL finals), but because the first-place Hamilton
Tigers refused to play under this format, the second and third
place teams played for the NHL championship in a two-game total
goals affair. The Stanley Cup Finals was returned to the
best-of-five format the same year.
With the merger of the PCHA and WCHL in 1925 and
its collapse in 1926, the NHL took sole control of the Stanley Cup,
and from this point the NHL playoffs and the Stanley Cup playoffs
are considered synonymous. The NHL was subsequently divided into
the Canadian and American divisions until the 1937-38 season. For
1927, six teams qualified for the playoffs, three from each
division, with the division semifinals and finals being a two-game
total goals affair and the Stanley Cup Final a best-of-five affair.
In 1928, the
playoff format was changed so that the two teams with identical
division ranking would face each other (ie. the first place teams
played each other, the second place teams play each other, and
likewise for the third place teams). The first place series was a
best-of-five affair, with the winner proceeding to the
best-of-three Stanley Cup Finals, while the others was a two-game
total goals series. The winner of the second and third place series
played each other in a best-of-three series, with the winner
earning the other berth to the Stanley Cup Finals. This format had
a slight modification the following year, where the semifinal
series became a two-game total goals affair and the Stanley Cup
Finals became a best-of-five series. The two-game total goals
format was abolished in 1937, with those series being changed to
best-of-three affairs.
The 1938-39 season saw the reduction of teams
from 10 to 7, and with it an end to the Canadian and American
divisions. The Stanley Cup playoffs saw the first and second place
teams play against each other in a best-of-seven series for one
berth in the Stanley Cup Finals, while the third to sixth place
teams battled in a series of best-of-three matches for the other
berth (with the third place team battling the fourth place team,
and the fifth place team against the sixth place team). The playoff
format introduced in the 1938-39 season had a best-of-seven Stanley
Cup Final, which still stands today.
The 1942-43 season saw the removal of the
New
York Americans, and thus the six remaining teams formed the
Original
Six. During this era, the playoff format went unchanged, with
the first and third place teams battling in one best-of-seven
semifinal, while the second and fourth place teams battled in the
other best-of-seven semifinal. During this time, Detroit
Red Wings fans often threw an octopus onto the ice as a good
luck charm, as eight wins were required to win the Stanley
Cup.
The Modern Era expansion saw the number of teams
double from six to twelve in the 1967-68 season, and with it the
creation of the Western and Eastern Conferences. The playoff format
remained largely the same, with all series remaining best-of-seven,
and the Western and Eastern Conference champions battling for the
Stanley Cup. The 1970-71 season, because of fan demand, brought
forth the first interconference playoff matchup outside of the
Stanley Cup Final since the pre-war expansion, which had the winner
of the 2 vs 4 matchup in one conference take on the winner of the 1
vs 3 matchup in the other conference for a berth in the Stanley Cup
Finals. The following year had one minor change to its playoff
format: a stronger team would face a weaker opponent. Thus, instead
of a 1 vs 3 and 2 vs 4 matchup in the first round, the first round
had a 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 matchup. This practice of having stronger
teams facing weaker opposition would continue to the present
day.
The 1974-75 seasons saw another change to its
playoff system to accommodate the league of now 18 teams, 12 of
which qualified for postseason berth. The top team from each
conference would earn byes to the Stanley Cup quarterfinals, while
the second and third place teams from each division started their
playoff run from a preliminary round. In each round of the
playoffs, the teams remaining were seeded regardless of divisional
or conference alignment, with the preliminary-round series being a
best-of-three affair while the remainder of the series remained
best-of-seven. The 1977-78 season had one minor change in its
playoff format: although the second place finishers from each
division would qualify for the preliminary round, the four playoff
spots reserved for the third-place teams were replaced by four
wild-card spots - spots for the four teams with the highest
regular-season point total but which did not finish first or second
in their divisions.
With the absorption of four teams from the
World
Hockey Association in the 1979-1980 season, a new playoff
system was introduced where 16 of the league's 21 teams would
qualify for postseason play. The four division winners would
qualify for the playoffs while twelve wildcard positions rounded
out the sixteen teams. At the beginning of each round the teams
were seeded based on their regular season point totals, with the
preliminary round being a best-of-five series while all other
playoff series were best-of-seven.
The 1981-1982 season brought forth the return of
divisional matchups, with the top four teams from each division
qualifying for the postseason play. Division champions would be
determined, followed by the Conference champions, who would meet in
the Stanley Cup finals. The division semifinals was a best-of-five
affair until the 1986-87 season, when it became a best-of-seven
series, while all other series remained best-of seven.
The 1993-94 season brought forth the change in
the playoff format that would result in the format being used
today. The division winners would occupy top three seeds while five
wildcard berths completed the conference playoff draws, with all
series being best-of-seven. One quirk that was abolished with
division realignment in the 1998-99 season was that the
higher-ranked teams in Western Conference interdivisional matchups
had the option of having home ice rotate on a 2-2-1-1-1 basis or a
2-3-2 basis, and if the latter was chosen having the bulk of their
games at home or on the road. The 1998-99 season also brought forth
a re-seeding of conference playoff matchups after the first round,
as well as a third division in each conference.
Playoffs in Association football
As a rule, international Association football has only had championship playoffs when a league is divided into several equal divisions/conferences/groups (MLS, Primera División de México) and/or when the season is split into two periods (as in many leagues in Latin America). In leagues with a single table done only once a year, as in most of Europe, playoff systems are used as outlined in the examples below.English League promotion play-offs
The championship of every division in English football is determined solely by the standings in the league. A championship play-off would only be held if two teams were tied for points, goal difference and goals scored; however, this has never happened.In the earliest years of the Second Division,
"test
matches" decided promotion
and relegation between the top teams of the Second Division and
the bottom teams in the First Division. This system was abandoned
by the beginning of the 20th century.
The use of play-offs to decide promotion issues
returned to the League in 1986 with the desire to reduce the number
of mid-table clubs with nothing to play for at the end of the
season. The Nationwide
Conference introduced play-offs in 2002 after the Football
League agreed to a two-club exchange with the Conference.
The top two teams in the
Football League Championship and in Football
League One are automatically promoted to the division above and
thus do not compete in the play-offs. The top three teams in
Football
League Two and the champion of Conference
National are also automatically promoted. In each of these
divisions the four clubs finishing below the automatic promotion
places compete in two-legged semi-finals with the higher-placed
club enjoying home advantage in the second leg. The away goals
rule does not apply for the semi-finals, which has led to some
games swinging the way of a team that otherwise would have been
beaten by the rule. The Football League play-off finals were
originally played in two legs, at both teams' home grounds, but
were later changed to one-off affairs, which are played at the
Wembley
Stadium in London. The Conference
play-off final is also played at Wembley.
In 2003 Gillingham
F.C. proposed replacing the current play-off system with one
involving six clubs from each division and replacing the two-legged
ties with one-off matches. If adopted, the two higher-placed clubs
in the play-offs would have enjoyed first-round byes and home
advantage in the semi-finals. It was a controversial proposal
— some people did not believe a club finishing eighth in
the League could compete in the Premiership
while others found the system too American
for their liking. Although League chairmen initially voted in
favour of the proposal, it was blocked by The
FA and soon abandoned.
Italian Serie B
In 2004-05, Italy's professional league introduced a promotion playoff to its second tier of football, Serie B. It operates almost identically to the system currently used in England. The top two clubs in Serie B earn automatic promotion to Serie A with the next four clubs entering a playoff to determine who wins the third promotion place, as long as fewer than 10 points separate the third and fourth-placed teams (which often occurs).Comparison between Italian and English systems
- Like the English playoffs, the Italian playoffs employ two-legged semi-finals, with the higher finisher in the league table earning home advantage in the second leg. If the teams are level on aggregate after full time of the second leg, away goals are not used, but extra time is used. If the tie is still level after extra time, the team that finished higher in the league qualifies.
- Unlike England, the Italian playoff final is two-legged, again with the higher finisher earning home advantage in the second leg. In case the tie is level after extra time of the second leg, the higher classified team qualifies.
Dutch league
In The Netherlands, a playoff was introduced in season 2005-2006. It is used to determine which teams from the Eredivisie qualify for European football. The playoff system has been criticized by clubs, players and fans as the number of matches will increase. Under the original playoff format, it was possible, though thoroughly unlikely, that the runner-up would not qualify for Europe. The current format assures the second-place team of no worse than a place in the UEFA Cup, the second-level European club competition behind the Champions League.Playoffs are also used for relegation to the
Eerste
Divisie, the Dutch second football league.
Belgian league
In the Belgian Jupiler League, the 17th team (out of 18) in the final standings has to join a playoff pool with three teams from the Belgian Second Division after each season, to determine which of these teams gets to play in the Jupiler League the oncoming season. Originally, these playoffs were introduced in 1974 and were part of the Belgian Second Division, to determine which team was promoted to the highest level together with the division champions. From the 2005-06 season on, only one team was relegated directly from the Jupiler League, with the 17th team taking part in the playoff. As a result, this playoff is still called the Belgian Second Division Final Round, although one team from the Jupiler League now takes part each year.Scottish league
The Scottish Premier League experimented briefly with playoffs in the mid-1990s, with only one team - Dundee United - achieving promotion through it (Partick Thistle were relegated at their expense). Currently, the bottom team is relegated to the First Division of the Scottish Football League, and the top team from there is promoted. In the First/Second and Second/Third Division, while the champions are automatically promoted and the bottom team relegated, there are playoffs of the second-bottom teams against the second, third and fourth placed teams from the league below. Home and away ties decide semi-finals and a final, and the overall winner plays in the higher league the following season, with the loser in the lower league.Major League Soccer
In Major League Soccer in the U.S., at the end of the regular season, the top four teams in each Conference advance to the Conference Semifinals, the first round of the postseason knockout tournament. The winner of each conference will play for the MLS Cup, the league championship.Conference Semifinal series are conducted under a
home-and-away, aggregate-goal format, with single-game Conference
Championships determining the MLS Cup Finalists. For each
Conference, the 1st seed plays the 4th seed, and the 2nd seed faces
the 3rd seed in the Conference Semifinal series, with the lower
seeded team hosting the first game.
The team that scores the most goals in the
home-and-away series advances to the single elimination Conference
Championship. If the teams are tied after 180 minutes in the
Conference Semifinal series, a 30-minute extra time period (divided
into two 15-minute periods) would be played followed by a
penalty-kick shootout, if necessary. The team with the higher seed
between the two Conference finalists will host the Conference
Championship game.
In the case of ties after regulation in the
Eastern and Western Conference Championship games and MLS Cup, 30
minutes of extra time (divided into two 15-minute periods) would be
played followed by a penalty-kick shootout, if necessary, to
determine the winners.
International playoffs
In international football, playoffs were a feature of the 1954 and 1958 FIFA World Cup final tournaments. They are still a feature of the qualification tournaments for the FIFA World Cup and the European Football Championship.In the
qualification playoffs for the 2006
FIFA World Cup, for example:
- In Europe, after the first-place finishers in each of eight groups received automatic finals places, along with the two second-place teams that had earned the most points against teams in the top six of their individual groups, the remaining six second-placed teams entered playoffs to select three teams for the finals.
- The winners of the Oceania qualifying tournament, Australia played the fifth placed team from the South American qualifying tournament, Uruguay.
- The fifth-placed team of the Asia qualifying tournament, Bahrain played the fourth-placed team in the CONCACAF qualifying tournament, Trinidad and Tobago.
Knockout competitions
In addition to their league competitions, most European footballing nations also have knockout cup competitions - English football, for example, has the FA Cup and the League Cup. These competitions are open to many teams—92 clubs compete for the League Cup, and hundreds compete for the FA Cup. These competitions run concurrently with the "regular season" league competitions and are not regarded as playoffs.Playoffs in Australian rules football and Australian rugby league
Playoffs are used in both the Australian Football League (AFL) and the National Rugby League (NRL), where they are known as finals (in rugby league, also as semi finals or semis) - although unlike North American leagues, participating teams only come from within a single division, and also consist of single matches rather than series. The term playoff was used in the NSWRL competition to describe sudden death matches used as tie breakers for finals qualification.In both leagues, the top eight teams at the end
of the regular season qualify for the finals. Although the systems
used in both leagues are slightly different, both involve two teams
being eliminated in each round until only two teams remain (the
participants in the Grand Final),
and both are structured so that higher-ranked teams are given a
more advantageous draw.
The system used by the AFL
works as follows:
Week One
- First-ranked team vs fourth-ranked team (1st Qualifying Final)
- Second-ranked team vs third-ranked team (2nd Qualifying Final)
- Fifth-ranked team vs eighth-ranked team (1st Elimination Final)
- Sixth-ranked team vs seventh-ranked team (2nd Elimination Final)
Week Two
- Loser of 2nd qualifying final vs winner of 2nd elimination final (1st Semi-Final)
- Loser of 1st qualifying final vs winner of 1st elimination final (2nd Semi-Final)
Week Three
- Winner of 1st qualifying final vs winner of 1st semi-final (1st Preliminary Final)
- Winner of 2nd qualifying final vs winner of 2nd semi-final (2nd Preliminary Final)
The
McIntyre Final Eight System, used by the NRL but previously
used by the AFL, works as follows:
Week One
- First-ranked team vs eighth-ranked team (4th Qualifying Final)
- Second-ranked team vs seventh-ranked team (3rd Qualifying Final)
- Third-ranked team vs sixth-ranked team (2nd Qualifying Final)
- Fourth-ranked team vs fifth-ranked team (1st Qualifying Final)
Week Two
- Third highest-ranked winner vs highest-ranked loser (1st Semi Final)
- Fourth highest-ranked winner vs second highest-ranked loser (2nd Semi Final)
Week Three
- Highest-ranked winner from Week One vs winner of 1st semi-final (1st Preliminary Final)
- Second highest-ranked winner from Week One vs winner of 2nd semi-final (2nd Preliminary Final)
Playoffs in English rugby
In the Guinness Premiership the top four qualify for the playoffs, where they are not referred to by that name. Here, the team who finished first after the league stage plays the team who finished fourth, while the team who finished second plays the team who finished third in the Semi-Finals with the higher-ranked team having homefield advantage. The winners of these semi-finals qualify for the Premiership Final at Twickenham, where the winner will be champions of the league.The system used in the rugby league
Super
League is more complex. Introduced in 1998 it originally
featured the top five
highest-ranked teams after the 28 regular league rounds but
since 2000 the
play-offs added an extra spot to allow the top
six to qualify. The current format works like this:
Week One
- Elimination Semi-final A: 3rd vs 6th
- Elimination Semi-final B: 4th vs 5th
Week Two
- Elimination Final: Winners of Elimination Semi-final A vs Winners of Elimination Semi-final B
- Qualification Match: 1st vs 2nd
Week Three
- Final Qualifier: Winners of Elimination Final vs Losers of Qualification Match
Week Four
- Grand Final: Winners of Qualification Match vs Winners of Final Qualifier at Old Trafford
This format is also used by the
Rugby League National Leagues to determine which teams gets
promoted.
Playoffs in French rugby
The highest level of French rugby union, the Top 14, uses a playoff system identical to that used in the Guinness Premiership, with the top four teams after the double round-robin season qualifying. While the teams are seeded in the same manner as in the English playoffs, the semifinals in France are held at neutral sites. The winners of these semifinals qualify for the final at Stade de France, where the winner will be champions of the league and receive the Bouclier de Brennus.The second level, Rugby Pro
D2, uses a four-team playoff similar to that used in English
football, but consisting of one-off knockout matches instead of
two-legged ties, to determine the second of two teams promoted to
the next season's Top 14 (the champions earn automatic promotion).
The promotion semifinals are held at the home fields of the second-
and third-place teams, and the promotion final is held at a neutral
site.
Playoffs in New Zealand rugby
Both domestic competitions in New Zealand rugby — the fully professional Air New Zealand Cup and the nominally amateur Heartland Championship — use a playoff system to determine their champions, although the term "playoff" is also not used in New Zealand.Air New Zealand Cup
In the 2006 Air New Zealand Cup, the first season of the revamped domestic structure in that country, the top six teams after Round One of the competition automatically qualified for the playoffs, officially known as Round Three. Their relative seeding was determined by their standings at the end of the Top Six phase of Round Two. The teams that finished below the top six entered repechage pools in Round Two, with the winner of each pool taking up one of the final two playoff slots. The seventh seed was the repechage winner with the better record, and the eighth seed was the other repechage winner.From
2007 onward, the former Rounds One and Two were collapsed into
a single pool phase of play in which all teams participate, with
the top eight teams advancing to the playoffs.
The playoffs in each season format have consisted
of a single-elimination tournament. The teams are bracketed in the
normal fashion (1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, 4 vs 5), with the higher
seed receiving home-field advantage. After the quarterfinals, the
playoff is rebracketed, with the highest surviving seed hosting the
lowest surviving seed and the second-highest surviving seed hosting
the third surviving seed. The winners of these semifinals qualify
for the Air New Zealand Cup Final, held at the home ground of the
higher surviving seed.
Heartland Championship
In this competition, teams play for two distinct trophies — the more prestigious Meads Cup and the Lochore Cup. The 12 Heartland Championship teams are divided into two pools for round-robin play in Round One, with the top three in each pool advancing to the Meads Cup and the bottom three dropping to the Lochore Cup.Round Two in both the Meads and Lochore Cups is
an abbreviated round-robin tournament, with each team playing only
the teams it did not play in Round One. The top four teams in the
Meads Cup pool at the end of Round Two advance to the Meads Cup
semifinals; the same applies for the Lochore Cup contestants.
The semifinals of both cups are seeded 1 vs 4 and
2 vs 3, with the higher seeds earning home field advantage. The
semifinal winners advance to their respective cup final, hosted by
the higher surviving seed.
Playoffs in the Canadian Football League
The playoffs begin in November. After the regular season, the top team from each division has an automatic home game berth in the Division Final, and a bye week during the Division Semifinal. The second-place team from each division hosts the third-place team in the Division Semifinal, unless the fourth-place team from the opposite division finishes with a better record. This "crossover rule" does not come into play if the teams have identical records—there are no tiebreakers. While the format means that it is possible for two teams in the same division to play for the Grey Cup, no crossover team has ever won even the divisional semifinal game. The winners of each Division's Semifinal game then travel to play the first place teams in the Division Finals. Since 2005, the Division Semifinals and Division Finals have been sponsored by Scotiabank and are branded as the "Scotiabank East Championship" and "Scotiabank West Championship". The two division champions then face each other in the Grey Cup game, which is held on the third or fourth Sunday of November.The Edmonton
Eskimos are notable for qualifying for the CFL playoffs every
year from 1972 to
2005, a
record in North American pro sports.
Playoffs in Japan's Baseball Leagues
Before the playoff system is placed in both
professional leagues, the Pacific
League in
Nippon Professional Baseball(NPB) had applied a playoff system
for twice. The first is between 1973-1982, which they applied a
split-season and have an 5-game playoff between the winning teams
of both halves of season (unless a team won both of the half so
that they need not to play such games). And the second time was
between 2004-2006, which the top three team will play a two-staged
stepladder knockout (3 games in first stage and 5 games in second
stage) the decide the League Champion (and the team playing in
Japan
Series. After applied with such system, the Seibu
Lions(Now Saitama Seibu Lions), Chiba
Lotte Marines and
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, which claimed the Pacific League
Champion under such system, were all able to clinch the following
Japan Series in that season. The success of such playoff system
made Central
League, which never used playoff system to decide League
Champion shows interset to playoff system. In 2007, a new playoff
system, named "Climax Series", is introduced to both professional
leagues in NPB to decide the team playing in Japan Series. The
Climax Series basically applied the rule of the playoff system in
Pacific League. But unlike the previous playoff system, Climax
Series does not affact teams' standing nor indivial records in
regular season which the previous playoff system in Pacific League
did, this means the winner of Japan Series may not be the winner of
the League. The Chunichi
Dragons takes the advantage of such system in the first Climax
Series-implemented season, finishing second in regular season, but
swept Hanshin
Tigers and League Champion Yomiuri
Giants in Central League Climax Series, and beat the Champion
of Pacific League Climax Series Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters to
claim their first Japan Series in 52 years.
In 2008, the format of Climax Series will have a
slight change, which the second stage will be played for 6-games,
which the League Champion will have an extra 1-game
advantage.
Trivia
- The relegation playoffs are called playouts in Italy. For example, here is an extract from the official rules for television coverage of the Italian volley league, from the official site.
d) al reciproco scambio di radiocronache e
telecronache (cassette incluse) per l'intera durata del Campionato,
della Coppa Italia e dei relativi Play-Out e Play-Off (anche dove
non sia prevista gara di ritorno) e più precisamente:
which translates as follows:
(the broadcaster provides) reciprocal exchange of
sportcastings (including cassettes) for the entire championship,
for the Italian cup and their Play-Out and Play-Offs (even if a
return match is not scheduled) and more precisely:...
Notes and references
playoff in Belarusian (Tarashkevitsa):
Плэй-оф
playoff in Czech: Playoff
playoff in German: Play-off
playoff in Spanish: Play off
playoff in French: Série éliminatoire
playoff in Korean: 플레이오프
playoff in Italian: Play-off
playoff in Hungarian: Rájátszás
playoff in Dutch: Play-off
playoff in Japanese: プレーオフ
playoff in Norwegian: Playoff (golf)
playoff in Polish: Play-off
playoff in Russian: Плей-офф
playoff in Finnish: Playoff
playoff in Swedish: Slutspel
playoff in Thai: เพลย์ออฟ