Playoff format
Although these semifinalists are still in effect "eliminated" from contending for the championship, they may be competing for a bronze medal, like some tournaments in the Olympic Games.Major League Soccer (MLS) uses a single-elimination format for their playoffs; since 2023, all rounds are conducted as single games, except the conference quarterfinals, which is best-of-three series.This format is a departure from norms in football codes in Australia; previously, the A-League used a hybrid elimination system that allowed top teams in the regular season to lose one finals match but still win the tournament.The 2007 AFC Asian Cup knockout stage: The "stepladder", named because the bracket resembles a step ladder, is a variation of the single-elimination tournament; instead of the No.The LCS scrapped the Gauntlet in 2020, while the LMS became the Pacific Championship Series (PCS) that year following a merger with Southeast Asia's scene.Super Smash Bros. tournaments, as well as other fighting game competitions, typically use an open double-elimination bracket with no preceding group stage or qualifiers.This system, also bearing the name of its promoter Percy Page, is a four-team playoff first developed for Australian rules football.The 2006 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship: McIntyre's first modification was an expansion to five teams.As used in the 2006 Bartercard Cup, the championship of New Zealand rugby league: McIntyre next developed two slightly different systems for six-team playoffs.A slightly modified version of this system was used in the A-League of Australian soccer starting in 2010 before a pure knockout format was adopted beginning in 2013.The original McIntyre final eight system is notable in that it uses the regular-season league table to eliminate two teams in the first week of the playoffs.The current AFL finals system breaks up the eight participants into four groups of two teams, ranked by their league position after regular-season play.Club Call, a unique feature of the Super League system, took place on the second weekend of the playoffs, shortly after the winners of the two PSFs were known.A similar situation also existed in later versions of the Argus finals system used commonly in Australian rules football competitions in the early part of the 20th century: later versions of the system had a right of challenge for the minor premier (the team on top of the ladder) if they lost the Semi-Final or the Final, meaning that the minor premier had to be beaten twice for another team to win the premiership.4 team in the Wild Card game, or the first round of its postseason, has 1–0 lead in the best-of-three series, and can advance with a single win or tie, while the No.Because of this perceived inequity, in 2010, the league switched to a more traditional odd-even format, where the higher seed will play the first and (if needed) third games at home.If no national seed makes a particular super regional, the NCAA puts hosting rights up for bidding between the competing schools.The Eastern Conference (which by that time had abolished the best-of-three format in favor of two-game total points series) adopted one-game playoffs for the 1973 season.The Euroleague, the primary Europe-wide club competition in basketball, introduced a quarterfinal round for the 2004–05 season which originally employed a best-of-three format.This is the only point in the Euroleague where a playoff series is used; all earlier rounds are conducted in a league format, and the quarterfinal winners advance to the final Four, where all games are one-off knockout matches.The Philippine Premier Volleyball League, uniquely, uses a best-of-three series to determine the third-place team at the end of its conferences' playoffs rather than one game, as did its predecessor Shakey's V-League.(This change would have immediate ramifications: In the American League, in each of the first two years where the LCS used the best-of-seven format, the Kansas City Royals in 1985 and the Boston Red Sox in 1986 fell behind 3–1, which previously would have eliminated them, before coming back to win the series.)When the wild card was first used in 1995 (it was created for the 1994 season, but that year's entire postseason was cancelled due to a players' strike), the best-of-five format was authorized for the new Division Series, in which eight teams participated.[11] During the time that the League Championship Series was best-of-five, a "2–3" format was used, with one team hosting the first two games, hence "2", the other the last three, hence "3" (the respective roles alternating between the Eastern and Western Division champions, regardless of which one finished with the better regular-season record).It was changed to a "2–3–2" format between 1985–2013 to reduce travel expenses, as the league's "East-West" divisional alignment means the two teams are usually separated by great distances.These best-of-nine series went the full nine games on two occasions, with the Portland Winterhawks defeating the New Westminster Bruins in 1984 and the Spokane Chiefs in 1986, respectively.The Chase format has changed several times since its creation including expanding the number of drivers from 10 to 12 and currently 16, and awarding bonus points for regular season wins when reseeding for the playoffs.In a round-robin tournament, all playoff contenders play each other an equal number of times, usually once or twice (the latter is often called a "double round robin").While one team has the home-field advantage by playing the clinching match at home, the away goals tiebreaker arguably favors the away side.In most instances, this privilege is determined either by a drawing of lots (UEFA Champions League) or by rotation among the groupings of the different teams (NFL).