Current MLB Ties Totals through 5/2

Below is the updated League wide standings going into the weekend if baseball had ties. A quick recap of how it works:

• We look at all Extra Inning games as Ties.
• We subtract the wins and losses from all Extra Inning games
• The point totals are Regulation Win = 1; Ties = .5
• Add them together and we get the totals for all of the MLB

If the season ended today your playoff teams would be the following:

AL:

• Tampa Bay
• Minnesota
• Houston
  • Cleveland
  • Seattle

NL:

• Los Angeles
• St. Louis
• Philadelphia
  • San Diego
  • Arizona

MLB Teams	Points
Tampa Bay Rays	21.5
Los Angeles Dodgers	20.5
St. Louis Cardinals	19
Philadelphia Phillies	18.5
San Diego Padres	18.5
Minnesota Twins	18.5
Houston Astros	17.5
Arizona Diamondbacks	17.5
Milwaukee Brewers	17
Cleveland Indians	16.5
Seattle Mariners	16.5
New York Yankees	16
Atlanta Braves	15.5
Chicago Cubs	15.5
Los Angeles Angels	15.5
Oakland Athletics	15
Texas Rangers	15
New York Mets	15
Toronto Blue Jays	14.5
Chicago White Sox	14.5
Colorado Rockies	14.5
Boston Red Sox	13.5
Cincinnati Reds	13.5
Detroit Tigers	13
Washington Nationals	13
Pittsburgh Pirates	12.5
San Francisco Giants	12.5
Kansas City Royals	12
Baltimore Orioles	10.5
Miami Marlins	9

The differences between using ties and our chart are small but impactful. Cleveland and Seattle are the Wild Card teams for the AL, with the New York Yankees barely missing out. In the NL, San Diego and Arizona make the Wild Card leaving Chicago out of the playoffs.

This system benefits the MLB by removing Extra Inning Losses from teams and helping boost their records ever so slightly. In theory, this would add a team or 2 into the playoff conversation down the stretch. This would add intrigue without adding playoff spots. Finally, if all games tied in the 9th would end in ties, this would add a level of strategy on behalf of managers with how they utilized the bullpen, potentially saving arms from use and keeping guys available for the next day and so on.

I have always been a fan of “Free Baseball” but the benefits of ties throughout a 162 game season outweighs the extra couple of innings one might get to see for “Free”. If MLB took a page out of international soccer and utilized Extra Innings in playoff situations only, it would be a small change which would help the sport in the long run.

-Jaracz

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