Mlb Wild Card Standings 2019 Nfl

From 1999 until 2013, three division champions within each conference were given the #1-3 seeds based on their regular-season records. Among the remaining teams within each conference, five additional teams with the best records are awarded seeds #4 through #8. The division champions (first-third seeds) and the non-division winning team with the best record were given home ice advantage in the opening playoff series, in which they face the eighth-seeded through fifth-seeded teams, respectively. However, the playoff format differed slightly from that of the NBA. In the NHL, the highest-remaining seed of the first round played the lowest-remaining seed of the first round in the next round of the playoffs. For example, if the #1, #4, #6, and #7 seeds win their respective first round series then the second round of the playoffs matched the #1 seed versus the #7 seed and the #4 seed versus the #6 seed .

Home ice advantage in each NHL playoff series prior to the Stanley Cup Finals was granted by the higher seed, even if the "wild card" team had a better regular season record. For the Finals, the team with the better record will receive home ice advantage. In the National Football League , since 2020, each of the two conferences sends three wild-card teams along with four division champions to its postseason.

The first round of the playoffs is called the "Wild Card Round". In this round, each conference's division champion with the best regular-season record is awarded a first-round bye and granted automatic berth in the "Divisional Round". The four division champions are seeded from #1 through #4, while the three wild card teams are seeded #5 to #7; within these separations, seeding is by regular-season record. In the "Wild Card Round", the #7 team plays the #2 team, #6 plays #3, and #5 plays #4. In the "Divisional Round", the lowest-remaining seed plays the #1 seeded team, while the other two wild-card winners face-off against each other, with the higher seed hosting. The higher-seeded teams have home-field advantage in both rounds and the "Conference Championships".

For the 1969 AFL playoffs, a "crossover" format was used such that the division winners played the runners up in the opposite division. The NFL kept this principle in place by stipulating that a wild card team could never face its own division champion in the divisional round. In North American professional sports leagues, "wild card" refers to a team that qualifies for the championship playoffs without winning their specific conference or division outright. In most cases, the rules of the league call for the wild card team to survive an extra round or to play the majority of their postseason games away from home. Despite Kansas City's win, some purists argued for the tradition of having only division champions contest the playoffs to continue. In any event, most owners in both conferences wanted to keep the even four-team playoff field in each conference.

This was established by having the three division champions in each conference joined by the best second-place finisher in the conference. Major League Soccer , the top level of soccer in both countries, used a wild card format starting in its 2011 playoffs. The wild card matches were single games, with the #7 seed hosting the #10 seed and the #8 seed hosting the #9 seed. The lowest surviving seed then played the Supporters' Shield winner (i.e., the team with the highest point total), while the other surviving wild card played the top seed in the other conference. The NFL was the first league ever to use the wild-card format. The decision to implement a Wild Card coincided with the completion of the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.

Prior to the merger, the right to compete in the postseason for the NFL title was restricted to division/conference champions. Until 1967, a tiebreaker game was played to resolve a deadlock for first place in either of the two conferences. When the league expanded to 16 teams, it realigned into four divisions and expanded the playoffs to two rounds. Tiebreaker games were eliminated in favor of the use of performance-based criteria to determine division champions.

The runners-up played the winners of the opposite divisions for the right to contest the AFL Championship Game. Before the 2006–07 NBA season, the NBA seeded its teams in the same manner as the NHL. Until 2015, the NBA seeds the three division winners and the wild-card team with the best record by regular-season record. This means that the wild-card with the best record got a seed as high as #2 ; however, the next four wild-card teams will still be limited to the #5 through #8 seeds. In Major League Baseball , wild-card postseason spots are given to the two teams in each league with the best records among the non-division winners. The initial wild-card format was implemented after MLB expanded to 28 teams and realigned its two leagues to each have three divisions .

Since a three-team playoff would require one team to receive a bye, the wild card was created to allow a fourth team; as the postseason in 1994 was canceled due to the players' strike, the wild card has been in effect since 1995. In 2012, a second wild card was added to each league; the two wild card teams in each league face each other in the Wild Card Game, with the winner facing the number 1 seed in the Division Series. The new format the fourth place team in one division to qualify if it finished with an outright better record than the third place team in the other division. The Eastern owners agreed in exchange for expanding the schedule to 18 games, and also with a stipulation that the qualifying fourth-place team would stay in its own division for the playoffs. It also introduced the possibility of the first place teams losing their traditional byes based on results elsewhere in the league. This occurred in 1986, when the 11-7 Calgary Stampeders qualified in place of the 4-14 Montreal Alouettes.

The Alouettes folded before the start of the following season. Although it is highly questionable whether a 1986 playoff appearance would have saved the floundering Montreal franchise, the CFL quickly re-instated the traditional playoff format for the 1987 season. It also moved the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (the West's easternmost team) to the Eastern Division.

This balanced the divisions both in numbers as well as, to a considerable extent, in playing caliber, and the reduction in teams also caused the schedule to be changed to emphasize more divisional games. As a result, the three top finishers of the two divisions finishers always had the six best league records from 1987 up until the start of the league's U.S. expansion experiment, which started in the 1993. From 2015 to 2018, the top six teams from each conference qualified for the playoffs, with the #1 & #2 seeds in each conference automatically qualifying for the conference semifinals, and seeds #3-6 in each conference being wild cards. The lowest-seeded winner (played between the #4 & #5, and #3 & #6 seeds) in each conference played the #1 seed, and the next-lowest played the #2 seed in the conference semifinals. The notion of "wild cards" was essentially abolished in the 2015–16 NBA season, as changes made prior to the season mean the top eight teams in each conference qualify regardless of divisional rank, with the seeded teams ranked by percentage. The only particular advantage to winning a division now is that a divisional title serves as the first tiebreaker for qualification seeding purposes.

The new format means it is possible for an especially weak division to send no teams to the NBA playoffs, although as of the start of the 2020–21 season this has not yet occurred. Following the addition of the Houston Texans in 2002, the league added a fourth division to each conference. The league decided not to change the number of playoff teams, and thus the number of wild card qualifiers was reduced to two per conference. In 2020, the playoffs returned to three wild cards per conference, or 14 teams total.

The term "Wild Card Round" continues to be used for the opening round of the playoffs, even though this round has involved both division winners and wild card teams since 1990. The number of wild-card qualifiers was expanded to two per conference in 1978 — the divisional winners were granted a bye week while the wild card teams, seeded #4 and #5, played with the #4 seed having home field advantage. During this time, the #1 seed hosted the winner of the #4 vs #5 wild card game, while the #2 seed played the #3 seed. The 49ers' loss Thursday night clinched a playoff spot for the Cowboys.

The Cowboys have won three consecutive games after losing three of four. They have moved ahead of the Rams, Cardinals and Buccaneers thanks to a better conference record, and they continue to be the overwhelming favorites to win the NFC East. In fact, they can clinch the division on Sunday night with a victory over Washington.

And they can secure the division title even if they lose to Washington -- that will happen if the Eagles lose to the Giants or if the Cowboys clinch a strength-of-victory tiebreaker over the Eagles. Almost as amazing as the Bills leading the AFC East is that the second-place team is the Dolphins, not the Patriots. Last year, the Dolphins lost their first seven games and set the record for players used in a single season. This year, Miami would get the second wild-card spot if the season ended today. Unfortunately for the Dolphins, they play the Chiefs next week. Barring a huge upset, their chances at winning the AFC East are slim.

But the Dolphins can still make the playoffs even if Kansas City beats them. Head coach Brian Flores's roster plays disciplined defense and sound special teams, and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and the offense are solid. That makes Miami more well-rounded than several other teams in the wild-card hunt.

While not a wild card team, the 1969 Kansas City Chiefs were the first non-division winner to win the Super Bowl. Because the term "wild card" was not instituted until the following year, the Chiefs are not included in the above list, but are recognized as the first team to win the Super Bowl without winning a division title. The decision to make the conferences equal in size meant they could not feasibly align into anything except three divisions of four or five teams in each conference. This led to a debate as to how the postseason of the merged league should be structured. Both the NFL and AFL playoff formats of 1969 had attracted fierce critics. The Raiders went on to lose the AFL title game to the Western runner-up Kansas City Chiefs.

Although the CFL was officially founded in 1958, its constituent sections did not fully merge until 1981. At the time, it was agreed that three teams from each division would qualify, regardless of overall league standings. This quickly proved controversial, as a wide disparity in playing caliber had emerged between the East and West divisions.

In 1981, even the fifth place Western team's record of 6-10 was good enough for outright possession of sixth place overall. The format was changed for the 2021 curling season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For at least that year, tournaments will expand to eighteen teams each. Three wild card teams will gain direct entry into the main draw, which expanded to pools of nine teams each.

As a result, teams that advance to the championship pool will play twelve round robin games instead of eleven. To accommodate the expanded round robin schedule, the playoffs will revert to the old three team, two game format thus eliminating the page playoff and quarter-final round. Curling Canada introduced Wild Card teams starting with the 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts and 2018 Tim Hortons Brier.

The change was made as part of a wider set of changes which expanded the tournaments to 17 teams and eliminated the unpopular Pre-Qualifying Tournaments. From 2018, the round robin stage of the Tournament of Hearts and Brier will consist of two seeded "pools" of eight teams as opposed to the old format consisting a single group of twelve teams. The remaining two participants in the tournament are the Wild Cards, which compete in an MLB-style play-in game prior to the main tournament to determine the sixteenth team in the main tournament. Just as is the case with MLB division titles, the format is designed to give teams an incentive to win their provincial championships. The Wild Cards are the top two teams in the Canadian Team Ranking System standings that did not win either the previous year's tournament or their respective provincial or territorial championship.

The top ranked of these two teams receives the hammer to start the game. In some events, wild cards are chosen freely by the organizers. Some North American professional sports leagues compare the records of teams which did not qualify directly by winning a division or conference. The Ravens are so decimated by injuries and COVID-19 losses that coach John Harbaugh has felt compelled to go for a game-winning 2-point play twice in the past three weeks rather than take his chances in overtime.

They have lost both games and are now on a playoff-crushing three-game losing streak. The Ravens will have a chance to turn it around at the Bengals, but the FPI is giving them only a 49% chance to make the playoffs, and their division title odds are just 35%. The two wild card teams in each league face each other in a one-game playoff, with the winner facing the number 1 seed in the Division Series. The advantages of the wild card format are that it allows a second- (or third-) place team a chance to win the World Series, even if there is a dominant division winner.

Remember, the NFL added a third wild-card spot for each conference this season, so 14 teams will make the playoffs. In the AFC, the 11-0 Steelers and 11-1 Chiefs have vise grips on their divisions and are fighting for the bye. In the NFC, the 10-2 Saints and 9-3 Packers are the only teams with a realistic shot at clinching the top seed. NCAA tournaments in all of its sports have included wild card berths, typically known as at-large berths or at-large bids. In previous seasons, the top 12 drivers in championship points after the first 26 races of the season automatically qualified for the Chase, with their points reset to a point unreachable by any other driver.

Under the 2011–2013 system, only the top 10 drivers automatically qualified. The other two Chase qualifiers were the two drivers ranked from 11th through 20th after 26 races with the most race wins, with tiebreakers used as necessary to restrict the number of "wild cards" to two. Major changes to the Chase format that took effect in 2014, most notably determining the newly expanded Chase field of 16 mainly by race wins, eliminated this type of "wild card".

In the First Round, the division champions play the Wild Cards, while the second and third placed teams in each division play each other; therefore the bracket is fixed, like the NBA. Home-ice advantage is given to the higher seed in the first two rounds, with the better regular season record being used in the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals. The Cardinals can clinch a playoff spot Sunday despite their three-game losing streak. They could also regain their spot atop the NFC West if the Rams lose in Minnesota.

But at the very least, they have opened a door for the Rams while losing control of the division for the first time all season. ESPN's FPI still considers the Cardinals a lock to get in the playoffs. But with the Cards facing a tough game against the Cowboys next week, the Rams are now the FPI favorites to win the NFC West. The Chiefs were at one point 3-4, but they have won seven consecutive games and are getting better results -- if not better play-to-play efficiency -- than any team in the NFL. They no longer have to worry about losing the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Chargers, and they can clinch the AFC West this weekend with a win over the Steelers and a Chargers loss to the Texans. And they have a 46% chance to get the first-round bye, per ESPN's FPI.The Chiefs can also simply clinch a playoff berth this week with a win.

On March 29, 1978, the NFL adopted a new 16-game schedule preceded by a four-game preseason. An additional wild card team in each conference was added to the playoffs with the two wild cards squaring off during the first weekend of the post-season. The first round of the playoffs is dubbed the wild-card round (or wild-card weekend).

The 1 and 2 seeds from each conference receive a bye in the first round, which entitles these teams to automatic advancement to the second round, the divisional playoffs, where they face the wild-card weekend winners. For all of these teams' differences, though, their schedules down the stretch are similar. The Titans' other two games are against Detroit and Green Bay , while Indy's other two are against Las Vegas and the Steelers . Indy's matchup against the Raiders next week will be crucial, since Las Vegas is also competing for a wild-card spot. A Colts win next week gives them a nearly 90 percent chance of making the playoffs, per FiveThirtyEight.

A loss drops them below 50 percent and seriously hurts their division chances. The competition is now divided into the Australasian Group, including all Australian and New Zealand teams, and the African Group, consisting of the South African teams plus the Argentine and Japanese franchises. In turn, the Australasian Group is divided into Australia and New Zealand Conferences, and the African Group is split into Africa 1 and Africa 2 Conferences. As in the 2011–15 system, the conference winners will receive playoff berths. The number of wild cards will increase to four, with the three top non-winners from the Australasian Group and the top non-winner from the African Group, again based on competition points, earning those spots. Tournaments generally run for 10 consecutive episodes and feature 15 contestants.

The first week's five episodes, called the "quarter-finals", feature three new contestants each day. The winners of these five games, and the four highest scoring non-winners ("wild cards"), advance to the semi-finals, which run for three days. The winners of these three games advance to play in a two-game final match, in which the scores from both games are combined to determine the overall winner. This format has been used since the first Tournament of Champions in 1985 and was devised by the late long time host Alex Trebek himself.