After the Boston Red Sox were crowned American League East champions Wednesday night, every division in Major League Baseball had been clinched.
But that doesn’t mean the postseason seeding is even close to being determined yet.
It’s still possible for division winners in both the AL and the National League to wind up tied with each other once the regular season ends Oct. 2. And in case that happens, MLB has some procedures in place to break the tie without any extra games.
If two teams finish with the same record, home-field advantage will go to the team with the better head-to-head winning percentage from their 2016 matchups. If the two teams split their season series, then the team with the better intradivision record gets home-field advantage. And if those two records happen to match, then the squad with the higher intraleague winning percentage will earn the higher seed.
It’s unlikely that all three of those winning percentages will match, but if they do, MLB then looks to the teams’ winning percentage in second-half intraleague games to determine home-field advantage. After that, the league goes back one game at a time — save for contests between the tied teams — until one team finally has a better record.
Here’s how the division winners that could end up in a tie stack up to each other.
AL
Boston Red Sox (92-67): 3-3 vs. Rangers; 4-2 vs. Indians; 42-31 vs. AL East; 78-61 vs. AL (three division games left to play)
Cleveland Indians (91-67): 2-5 vs. Rangers; 2-4 vs. Red Sox; 46-26 vs. AL Central; 78-60 vs. AL (four division games left to play)
Texas Rangers (94-65): 3-3 vs. Red Sox; 5-2 vs. Indians; 47-29 vs. AL West; 81-58 vs. AL (three AL games left to play)
NL
Washington Nationals (93-66): 1-5 vs. Dodgers; 49-24 vs. NL East; 81-58 vs. NL (three division games left to play)
Los Angeles Dodgers (91-68): 5-1 vs. Nationals; 43-30 vs. NL West; 81-58 vs. NL (three division games left to play)
Click for MLB’s full explanation of tiebreaker rules>>
Thumbnail photo via Mark L. Baer/USA TODAY Sports Images