Tie Breaker Rules

For reference from Little League Rules:

SECTION II – SEGMENTS OF A POOL PLAY TOURNAMENT

A. Under this format, there are two distinct segments to a pool play format tournament.

1. In Segment 1 – The Pool Play Round, the teams are divided into a number of pools (usually two to four pools). Each team in each of the pools should play the other teams in that pool once. By decision of the tournament director, one or more teams with the best records(s) in the pool will advance to the next segment. Note: In a one-pool format, one or more teams team may advance to become the tournament champion. If only one team advances, there is no second segment.

2. In Segment 2 – The Elimination Round, the teams advancing out of Segment 1 are matched up in either a standard single-elimination format, or a standard double-elimination format.

B. Once a segment is completed, games played previously have no bearing on the next segment, with the exception of:

1. rules and regulations regarding the required rest periods for pitchers;

2. rules and regulations regarding players, managers and/or coaches that were ejected, and the prescribed penalties resulting from theejection.

SECTION III – TIEBREAKER PROCEDURES

A. In all cases, the team(s) advancing past Segment 1 must be the team(s) with the best won-lost record(s) during pool play. The tournament director will decide the number of teams that will advance beyond pool play, T-29 and such decision must be made available to the leagues/teams involved before the tournament begins.

B. When records are tied, however, the following procedures must be applied in order, so that the tie can be broken. These procedures also apply to determining the seeding for Segment 2 (the playoff round), if seeding for Segment 2 is based on results of pool play.

1. The first tiebreaker is the result of the head-to-head match-up(s) during pool play (Segment 1) of the teams that are involved in the tie.

a) If one of the teams involved in the tie has accomplished EVERY ONE of the following, then that team will advance:

i. Defeated all of the other teams involved in the tie at least once, AND;

ii. Defeated all of the other teams involved in the tie in every one of the pool play games it played against those teams; AND;

iii. Played each of the teams involved in the tie an equal number of times.
example: Three teams are tied with identical records for first place at the end of pool play, and one team is to advance to Segment 2. Teams A, B and C played against each other once in pool play. Team A won all of its games against Team B and Team C during pool play. Result – Team A advances, while Team B and Team C are eliminated.

b) Each time a tie is broken to advance one team, leaving a tie between two or more teams, the situation reverts to “B. 1.” (head-to-head results) in this section.

i. Example: Three teams are tied with identical records for first place at the end of pool play, and two teams are to advance to Segment 2. Teams A, B and C played against each other once in pool play. Team A won all of its games against Team B and Team C during pool play. Result – Team A advances, which then creates a two-way tie between Team B and Team C. That tie then is broke by reverting to “B. 1. a)” in this section.

ii. If the results of the head-to-head match-up(s) during pool play of the teams that are involved in the tie cannot break the tie (because no team defeated each of the other teams in the tie each time they played, or because no team has defeated all of the other teams involved in the tie in everyone of the pool play games played between those teams, or because the teams involved in the tie did not play one another an equal number of times during pool play), then the tie is broken using the Runs-Allowed Ratio (see Section IV).

C. In all cases, if the tie-breaking principles herein are correctly applied and fail to break the tie, or if these guidelines are not applied correctly (in the judgment of the Tournament Committee in Williamsport), then the matter will be referred to the Tournament Committee, which will be the final arbiter in deciding the issue. If a tie cannot be broken through the T-30 proper application of these guidelines (in the opinion of the Tournament Committee), then a playoff, blind draw or coin flip will determine which team(s) will advance. This is a decision of the Tournament Committee.

SECTION IV – RUNS-ALLOWED RATIO

A. For each team involved in a tie in which head-to-head results cannot be used (because no team defeated each of the other teams in the tie each time they played, or because no team has defeated all of the other teams involved in the tie in everyone of the pool play games played between those teams, or because the teams involved in the tie did not play one another an equal number of times during pool play), the tournament director will calculate: The total number of runs given up in all pool play games played by that team, divided by the number of half-innings played on defense in pool play games by that team. This provides the number of runs give up per half-inning by that team: the Runs-Allowed Ratio.

1. Example: The Hometown Little League team has given up eight (8) runs in all four (4) of its pool play games, and has played 23 innings on defense in those four games. 8 divided by 23 equals .3478

2. The Runs-Allowed Ratio for Hometown Little League (.3478 in the example above) is compared to the same calculation for each of the teams involved in the tie.

B. The Runs-Allowed Ratio is used to advance ONLY ONE team.

C. If, after computing the Runs-Allowed Ratio using results of all pool play games played by the teams involved in the tie:

1. one team has the lowest Runs-Allowed Ratio, that team advances. After one team has advanced using the Runs-Allowed Ratio, the breaking of any other ties must revert to the methods detailed in Section III – Tiebreaker Procedures, before the Runs-Allowed Ratio is used to break the tie.

2. two or more teams remain tied, and the methods detailed in Section III – Tiebreaker Procedures cannot be used (because no team defeated each of the other teams in the tie each time they played, or because no team has defeated all of the other teams involved in the tie in everyone of the pool play games played between those teams, or because the teams involved in the tie did not play one another an equal number of times during pool play), then the Runs-Allowed Ratio must be recomputed using statistics only from the pool play games played between the teams involved in the tie. The results are used to advance ONE team, and any other ties must revert to the methods detailed in Section III – Tiebreaker Procedures, before the Runs-Allowed Ratio is used to break the tie.

D. Any part of a half-inning played on defense will count as a complete half-inning on defense for the purposes of computing the Runs-Allowed Ratio.

E. If a game is forfeited, in most cases the score of the game will be recorded as 6-0 (for Little League Divisions and below) or 7-0 (for Junior League Divisions and above). However, only the Tournament Committee in Williamsport can decree a forfeit, and the Tournament Committee reserves Appendix A the right to disregard the results of the game, to assign the score as noted above, or to allow the score to stand (if any part of the game was played).

F. If a game is forfeited, in most cases each team involved in the forfeit will be deemed to have played six defensive half-innings (for Little League Divisions and below) or seven defensive innings (for Junior League Divisions and above). However, forfeits and the final score and number of innings charged or credited in forfeits, can only be decreed by the Tournament  Committee in Williamsport.

G. In the event a team (defined for this purpose as a minimum of nine players) fails to attend a scheduled game, and it is determined by the Tournament Committee in Williamsport that the failure to attend was designed to cause a forfeit or delay the tournament for any reason, the Tournament Committee reserves the right to remove the team from further play in the International Tournament and/or remove those adults it deems responsible from the team and/or local league.