The first step toward winning your Fantasy League Championship is to be seeded in the Playoff Brackets. This process can be confusing so the information below will help clarify potential scenarios.
(Note: This process applies to H2H Most categories leagues with playoff settings. For H2H points leagues, please visit here; For H2H Each categories leagues, please visit here)
The easiest way to think of how Seeding Tiebreakers work is that it is a sequenced process repeated for each bracket seed. Once a seed is determined, the process starts all over again until the next seed is determined. Then it begins again until all ties are resolved and the playoff brackets are complete.
When a league converts into Playoff Mode the system automatically generates a seed for each team in the league based on the regular season results. The seeds determine where the system places each team in the playoffs. The primary factors used to determine seeds are:
- Division Winner(s)
- Winning Percentage
REMINDER: Division Winner ALWAYS occupies first seeds of the league/playoffs. League Managers have the ultimate say on each league's specific rules.
In the event that two or more teams have the same winning percentage at the conclusion of the Regular Season, the Tiebreaker processes illustrated below are used.
H2H Most Categories League:
- Head-to-Head record* (default setting for all leagues, can be changed by League Manager)
- Division record (only used for multiple Divisions)
- Coin Flip
Below is an example of how SEEDING tiebreakers work
The main things to remember are:
- If H2H record is used as tiebreaker, Teams must have played the same number of head to head games amongst each other
- Tiebreaker process starts over from the beginning after each tie is broken for each bracket seed
All three teams in this example have a season record of 8-8-3
- Team A: 2nd in division 1
- H2H against B: 1-0 ; H2H against C: 0-0-1 ; Overall: 1-0-1
- Intradivision Record: 4-3-2
- Team B: 2nd in division 2
- H2H against A: 0-1 ; H2H against C: 1-1-1 ; Overall: 1-2-1
- Intradivision Record: 6-2-1
- Team C: 3rd in division 2
- H2H against A: 0-0-1 ; H2H against B: 1-1-1 ; Overall: 1-1-2
- Intradivision Record: 3-5-1
FIRST, we look at the H2H records these games have against each other:
Team A: played 2 games (1-0-1)
Team B: played 4 games (1-2-1)
Team C: played 4 games (1-1-2)
Since the three teams did not play the same amount of Head-to-Head games, we have to go the next tiebreaker – “Intra Divisional Record”
Now we look at IntraDivisional Record:
Team A: 4-3-2
Team B: 6-2-1
Team C: 3-5-1
Since Team B has the best winning percentage in terms of IntraDivisional Record, Team B is the winner of this bunch.
REMINDER: Tiebreaker process starts over from the beginning after each tie is broken for each bracket seed
Exactly as before, we start with Overall Record and work our way through the sequence of tiebreakers. Since teams A and C have identical 8-8-3 records, we look at their Head-to-Head matchup/s.
Team A vs Team C
0-0-1
As they tied each other in their only matchup, we now move forward to the next tiebreaker.
Now we look at IntraDivisional Record:
Team A: 4-3-2
Team C: 3-5-1
Team A has the better IntraDivisional Record and thus is seeded higher for playoff purposes.
WAIT! You might ask, what if both Team A and Team C were 4-4-1 ?
In that case, next tiebreaker would be used, and that is “Coin Flip”
LEAGUE MANAGER (LM) LEAGUES
In LM Leagues, the League Manager has the ultimate say on which teams advance to the Playoffs. In LM Leagues only, the default tiebreaker process is used unless your League Manager elected to modify the tiebreaker system using the "Edit Playoffs" page in LM Tools.
If your league uses its own playoff tiebreakers, we highly recommend pre-defining them and posting them prominently on the League Office page.