# MLB Tie Breakers

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-tie-breakers/512846>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [October 6, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-tie-breakers/512846 "2009-10-06T20:04:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-tie-breakers/512846/1 "2009-10-06T20:04:21Z")

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Tonight the Twins host the Tigers in a one-game tiebreaker to see who wins the AL Central. [baseball-reference.com](http://baseball-reference.com) has links to all the previous tie breaker games in history here:

[http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/all-time-tiebreaker-playoff-games](http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/all-time-tiebreaker-playoff-games)

At first, I was blown away by the number of times the Dodgers appear on that list - then I read that before 1963, the NL tiebreaker was a best-of-3 series…whoops! Either way, of the 12 occurences, they have appeared in 5 of them.

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**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2009, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-tie-breakers/512846/2 "2009-10-10T07:50:37Z")

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The only pitcher to lose more than one tie-breaker game was Ralph Branca. The last loss came when he gave up the “Shot Heard 'Round the World” to Bobby Thomson. Poor Ralph just couldn’t catch a break.

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**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-tie-breakers/512846/3 "2009-10-10T13:20:49Z")

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I thought the Tigers played a tie breaker in 1987 or so, winning it. What am I remembering?

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**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-tie-breakers/512846/4 "2009-10-10T17:32:17Z")

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Possibly their last game of the season was against the Jays? I see they finished 2 games ahead of the Jays in the East that season, resulting in being in the divisional playoffs against the Twins.

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**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-tie-breakers/512846/5 "2009-10-10T17:37:43Z")

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> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> I thought the Tigers played a tie breaker in 1987 or so, winning it. What am I remembering?

Detroit did not play a tiebreaker in 1987; they clinched the division on the last day of the season, having swept Toronto. They then lost to Minnesota in the ALCS.

Tiebreakers appear to be more common now, which you’d expect, since there are more opportunities for them to happen.