Contributing factors to this
format are that most people like:
1) Lots of games but not so many that
people are up well past mid-night.
2) 4-game series (you see the whole
rotation).
3) To play everyone in their division.
Note: it can be hard
to get both 2&3. If you can only have one, the nod goes to #2 (4-game
series).
4) A good tie-break process.
If teams are tied, the tie-break process should (as fairly as practical
given the time-constraints), determine the most worthy advancing team(s).
Most people hate shootouts (the STAR survey comments certainly confirm
this). A shootout (even with a 3-inning minimum) is little better than a
coin flip.
5) To be able to drop out without
penalty after any series. (We need this if only for family and medical
emergencies. Someone dropping shouldn't kill the tournament.)
6) To play people that they haven't
already played.
If
no one drops out and you have 7 or 8 people per division, you can have all of
these (although you may need to have a Friday-night draft). Most of the time, you have to make a choice
between 2 and 3.
Format specifics for
Portland:
1)
Friday night draft (starts at 7:30 p.m.) with 20 games on Saturday and 8 games
on Sunday. The top two teams play a
7-game series for the championship (*).
2) 4-game
series where the first opponent is randomly determined with power match-ups thereafter. Byes are necessary when an odd number of
teams remain in the division (*). The
bye goes to the lowest ranked team that hasn’t already had a bye. Then, the highest ranked team is matched
against the next highest ranked team they haven’t already played and so on
until all the match-ups for that round are determined. No one will have more than one bye for the
tournament (except as noted in 6 below).
You always play someone you haven’t played until this is no longer
possible. If it gets toward the end and
you can’t get a match-up that doesn’t involve teams that have already played, preference
for repeat match-ups is given to lower ranked teams (i.e. the top teams should
not have to play someone they’ve already played).
3)
Byes count for nothing. Team rank is
based upon games above or below .500 (i.e. a 12–8 team would be considered tied
with a 10-6 team). Run differential is
used only to break ties for the power match-up rankings.
4)
After 28 games, ties are broken based upon the sequential application of a)
head-to-head, b) 1-game play-off if
there are only two teams tied, c)strength of schedule and d)shootout. See the STAR Tie-break Process document for
the details on how this works.
5)
You may drop out after any series.
Exception: you may not drop out before the last series if you are matched
up against a contending team or if your dropping would create a bye condition
for a contending team. If, due to a
family or medical emergency, someone has to drop before completing their
series, the games will be suspended and made up only if their opponent has a
chance to advance. If this happens, the
tournament director will appoint someone to complete the games for the person
who had to leave.
6)
No team will have more than one bye except an out-of-contention team may have a
second bye for the last series. If a
team is still in contention, they will not have a bye in the last series unless
there are an odd number of teams and all are in contention (lowest ranked team
takes the bye in this instance). During
the last series, you may drop out after any game if both teams are out of contention.
7)
The TD will establish the start time for play on Saturday and Sunday
morning. If someone is late, the TD will
try and call them and they should try to call the TD to possibly arrange for a
late start. Absent any contact, if the
person is more than 10 minutes late, they will be considered withdrawn from the
tournament and matchups will be recomputed.
(*) This assumes there is only one division which
is what we’ve always had in Portland.
Adjustments will be made if we ever have more than one division (for
example, four teams in the play-offs and cross-overs instead of byes when
possible).