2019 MLB Tournament of Champions: Consolation Bracket

I really can't help myself.

I think I'd mentioned that I had the idea of pulling off a consolation tournament for the aforementioned MLB Tournament of Champions, but I hadn't officially started to set anything up until I finally worked my way through group play. The field of 128 was cut in half, but the half that missed the cut gets a chance to redeem themselves.

I'm going to run this one like I ran the unofficial consolation tournament in 2017: this will be a double elimination tournament with one-off games for each round. Seeding has been determined based first off of group finish (teams that finished ninth are the top eight seeds, followed by teams that finished tenth, and so on), then by record in group play, and finally by run differential in group play. Higher seeds host until the championship round, when the team out of the winner's bracket will get home field advantage against the team out of the loser's bracket. Any games hosted by an American League team in the DH era will be played with a DH.

You can view the full bracket here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play ball!

MLB Tournament of Champions: Consolation Bracket

I just can't help myself.

The postseason of the MLB Tournament of Champions is in full swing. At this point, we're in the League Championship Series portion of the tournament, and I'll have those results in a week or so. In addition to that, I decided that the 92 (or in the case of the 1998 New York Yankees, 93) games these teams played to narrow the field from 30 to 10 wasn't enough. I wanted to run a consolation tournament similar to what I did for the NBA Tournament of Champions last year.

This is another single game per round, double elimination tournament. It's similar to what the NCAA uses for the College World Series, except with more teams. The fair warning with this (that I discovered after the fact) is that when we hit the championship game, it's a winner-take-all, so even if the team out of the winners bracket loses, that's it. In this sense, it's not a true "double-elimination" tournament, but it's close enough.

I split the teams to keep them in their respective leagues until we hit the end, when I'll hold a three game series between the winners from each league. Home field advantage all throughout this portion of the tournament goes to the teams with the better records from the regular season, and the few ties there were were broken based on records against the team seeded first in the tournament, moving on down until the tie was broken.

Here are the seedings and brackets for each league, beginning with the American League:

1. 1998 New York Yankees
2. 2008 Tampa Bay Rays
3. 1989 Oakland Athletics
4. 1984 Detroit Tigers
5. 1982 Milwaukee Brewers
6. 2015 Kansas City Royals
7. 1991 Minnesota Twins
8. 2002 Anaheim Angels
9. 1993 Toronto Blue Jays
10. 2005 Chicago White Sox

And the National League:

1. 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers
2. 1986 New York Mets
3. 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates
4. 2005 Houston Astros
5. 2011 St. Louis Cardinals
6. 2003 Florida Marlins
7. 2014 Washington Nationals
8. 2010 San Francisco Giants
9. 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks
10. 2008 Philadelphia Phillies

I'm also going to keep stats for this tournament, seeing as there are significantly fewer games to keep track of. You can view those here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play ball!

2016 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Consolation Championship

61 games in the Consolation Bracket are in the books, and we have narrowed the field down from 32 teams to only two.

In one corner, we have a team that went 10-6 in Group Play, but finished in fifth place in a ridiculously tough group. They've gotten revenge by winning five games in a row by an average of over 23 points to make it to this stage and show that maybe, just maybe, they belonged in the other postseason bracket.

On the other side, we have a team that finished Group Play at 8-8 in fifth place in their group. They won their first two matchups before falling at home in the third round. They've followed that up with five straight wins, including the last two on the road to serve as a worthy opponent of our top overall seed.

Our winner's bracket representative, the '95 Rockets, will get home court advantage as a privilege of running the table over the '93 Bulls, who had to play three extra games to reach this point. Today's simulation is provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play!

2016 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Consolation Bracket Day 14

Today, we get a second "semifinal" to determine our championship matchup in the tournament's Consolation Bracket.

Two weeks ago, we had the 32 teams that finished anywhere from fifth through eighth place in their Group Play groups enter this double elimination tournament. We're down to three teams now, as we have to determine who gets a shot at the top overall seed in this bracket.

Home court advantage goes to the team with the better record in Group Play because of the seeding tie. Today's simulation is provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play some basketball and set up a title game.

2016 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Consolation Bracket Day 13

Another day, another single game schedule as the Consolation Bracket of the NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions draws closer to its conclusion.

The Elimination Stage is in full swing as we're down to the Round of 16, but the Consolation Bracket is nearing its end. Just three teams remain, and two of them still have perfect records.

That changes today as we play the Semifinal of the Consolation Bracket. Our top two teams do battle for a berth in the Consolation Championship game. Home court goes to the top seed based on the better record in Group Play. Today's simulation is provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to it!

2016 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Consolation Bracket Day 12

We're back to our normal posting times for the Consolation Bracket now that the Round of 32 over in the Elimination Stage is settled. Those games may technically still be going on per the timeline, but I wanted to get all the series done in a couple bigger batches to be done with it. We'll have the Round of 16 results in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, the Consolation Bracket is nearing completion. Only four teams remain alive: the top two seeds are preparing for a showdown in Houston tomorrow. Meanwhile, we're back in Los Angeles today for what is technically the quarterfinals of the loser's bracket. They get the tiebreaker thanks to record over their guests. Today's simulation is provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's go play some basketball.

2016 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Consolation Bracket Day 11

Today is our last day of noon results getting published due to the Elimination Stage. It's still an important batch of results going foward.

After today, only four teams will remain in the Consolation Bracket, and with that, we will be down to just a single game per day. At home, we have a pair of teams that finished in fifth place in their respective groups, one of whom lost in the Consolation Bracket's second round, and another who lost in the third round. They welcome in a pair of sixth place teams who won their first three games and fell at the hands of the top two seeds in the Bracket. The winners advance to play each other; the losers go home.

Home court is being given to those two fifth place teams based on their fifth place finish in Group Play, which is the primary factor in seeding teams for this tournament. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to the action!

2016 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Consolation Bracket Day 10

Over in the Elimination Stage, we're down to 24 teams competing for the ultimate prize, though the round is still technically going and some of the teams that are eliminated may not be officially eliminated based on the timeline depending on the length of the series. This is the weirdness that arises from running the Tournament of Champions in this way, but it makes simulating games much easier to do a full series at a time.

Anyway, in the meantime the Consolation Bracket has narrowed its field of 32 teams down to six. Only two teams remain that have a loss, though that number will double today because we return to the winner's bracket for the Quarterfinals.

Home court advantage in this round, like all rounds leading up to now, are decided by seeding based on placing in Group Play. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to the action.

2016 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Consolation Bracket Day 9

We're getting down to the nitty gritty of the consolation bracket. An overwhelming majority of the games are complete, and from here on out we're playing a maximum of two games a day until we narrow down the field even more.

Only eight teams remain in this field, with our four teams remaining in the winner's bracket getting one more day of rest before playing the quarterfinals. Later today, I'll have the second batch of Round of 32 results from over in the Elimination Stage.

Today's schedule over in this bracket features the continuation of the loser's bracket with a pair of matchups involving yesterday's winners. Home court advantage is determined by seeding based on group placing, and in the event of a tie in this fashion, record in Group Play breaks that, followed by point differential. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's go play some basketball.

2016 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Consolation Bracket Day 8

We're into our second week of consolation basketball in this summer's Tournament of Champions. I'm also back from a wonderful vacation to South Haven, Michigan for the annual Blueberry Festival with renewed energy for the tournament. The 32 teams we entered this phase of games with have been narrowed down to 12, and today we lose four more.

You'll notice that this post went live a couple hours ahead of when I have been posting these in the past week. Timeline-wise, we're getting towards the end of the Round of 32 over in the Elimination Round, and I will have results from four of those series later today.

As for today's schedule, we're back to the loser's bracket. Yesterday's four losers are back in action today, with wins resulting in a stretch of three straight days playing, but such is what happens when you lose. Home court advantage is going to the teams that are higher seeded based on Group Play finish. Today's winners will end up playing each other tomorrow. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's head courtside.

2016 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Consolation Bracket Day 7

We're now officially a week into the Consolation Bracket of this year's NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions. The 32 teams that weren't quite good enough to make the Elimination Stage have been whittled down to 12, and they continue their fight today.

After a couple days of rest, the eight teams that have won their first two games are back on the court today to continue their quests at playing the minimum number of games to win the consolation title.

So for these four games, the results actually played out such that tiebreakers aren't needed for this round. Home court advantage goes to the higher seeded team, which is based on placing in groups from Group Play. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Here's our results.

2016 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Consolation Bracket Day 6

Happy Saturday! While I am still on vacation, I did get an opportunity to have this weekend's games get simulated and played while I'm out of town.

The bulk of the work is complete at this point; this past week every day saw eight games get played. From here on out, we're down to four at most, but even that total is going down, as the last four or five days will only need one game a day to be played.

Today's schedule is a continuation of the loser's bracket, with the eight teams that won yesterday all playing again. I feel kind of bad, because for a few teams, they are playing back-to-back-to-back, but they would get a rest after today, and this could have been avoided with a win back on Thursday for them.

Home court advantage for today's games is decided primarily by seeding based on Group Play finish, with any ties in seeds being broken first by Group Play record, then by point differential. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to it.

2016 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Consolation Bracket Day 5

Happy Friday! The NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions is rolling on even though my wife and I are taking a much-needed vacation this weekend.

We're halfway through the Consolation Bracket portion of the tournament. While the Elimination Stage is playing on amongst the top 32 teams, I'm not sharing any results until next week due to volume. In the meantime, I'm keeping up with this project.

24 teams still remain, with eight of those teams seeing their final action today since we're back into the loser's bracket. Eight of these teams won on Wednesday to avoid elimination and face another such game today. Their opponents all lost yesterday and have to turn around and get ready to face elimination in today's contests.

Home court advantage once again is going to the higher seeds based on group finishes, though there are some same seeds matching up today. In those cases, Group Play records are the primary tiebreaker, followed by point differential. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get started.

2016 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Consolation Bracket Day 4

Welcome back to the 2016 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions! Yesterday, we eliminated another eight teams from play in our consolation bracket while the top 32 teams continue their fight for the Championship of Champions. I will have more about those results coming up next week.

For now, I'm continuing to focus on the consolation bracket. Today's schedule is between the 16 teams that won on Monday and Tuesday to minimize the number of games they would have to play. The teams that win will advance to the third round of the winner's bracket. The losers, meanwhile, drop into the loser's bracket and will have to turn around and play again tomorrow against yesterday's winners.

As has been the case the past three days, home court advantage goes to the higher seed based on group play placing. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play!

2016 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Consolation Bracket Day 3

Welcome back to the NBA Tournament of Champions! In the simulated world, the top 32 teams are all playing their first round matchups right now, but I will go series by series with those next week. For now, I have a smaller portion of the tournament to run.

The Consolation Bracket is 16 games in and destinies have diverged. The 16 teams that lost are all back in action today down in the loser's bracket. The teams that lose today will all be eliminated. The winners, meanwhile, will stay alive and have a day off to await their next opponents.

As with the first two days, higher seeds get home court advantage for this game. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Time to play.

2016 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Consolation Bracket Day 2

We still have 32 teams standing in the new consolation bracket, but eight teams are already at a disadvantage, with another loss officially ending their summer of additional basketball. That doesn't come until tomorrow though, because we still have to determine the matchups.

I split the first round of games in half just to minimize the amount of work for each day, but also because Boston and Los Angeles each trying to host something like five games on a single day would have been insane. This broke things up a little bit and made it a little easier.

So as a refresher, the consolation bracket is a double elimination tournament, where the losers go into a loser bracket where it becomes win or go home with fewer off days, while teams that stay in the winner's bracket get more rest and have to play fewer times en route to a consolation title.

So here is the second batch of our first round games. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to it.

2016 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Consolation Bracket Day 1

We're well into the month of August, and now I'm working on a spur of the moment subproject as a part of this tournament.

Yesterday, I unveiled the bracket of 32 teams who will be playing to earn the title of Champion of Champions. Those games are beginning today, but I'm not posting anything about those games until next week to cover every series as a whole rather than just do games one at a time.

In the meantime, I am taking the teams that finished anywhere from fifth through eighth in their respective groups over the past month-plus and having them play in a double elimination consolation tournament. I unveiled that field on Saturday, and today the games begin for this round.

I've got these games spread out so that teams in the winner bracket get more benefit from a bye week than the teams that end up in the loser bracket as an incentive to win. Teams are seeded 5-8 based on group finish, and any ties from there go to record, then point differential from group play, and if needed (which it wasn't), average seeding of the other teams from their group. These seedings will determine home court advantage for most of the tournament unless we get a Game 63 winner-take-all game.

So for the first two days, I am just playing the opening round of games, splitting the 16 matchups into two halves. Half of the teams will play today, with no matchups in the next round being decided. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play some basketball!

2016 NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions: Consolation Bracket Reveal

You didn't think I could just do half-measure with this Tournament of Champions, did you?

Yesterday, we concluded Group Play in this year's Tournament. We started the month of July with 72 teams, and we've now narrowed that field down to 32 teams.

With about two weeks left in the tournament, I started to look at the standings, and realized that I was going to, to some degree, end up screwing over some team somewhere with this tournament (cue to Houston Rockets fans nodding sadly). I decided I didn't want the party to end prematurely.

As such, I am really only eliminating eight teams at the moment. The teams that finished in last place in each group are not participating in this stage of the tournament, partially because I didn't have space for them, but also as a cutoff point to keep the numbers pretty.

This part of the tournament will be a double-elimination single game tournament. That means either 62 or 63 games, depending on the result of the championship game, since one loss won't knock a team out. I am seeding this field similarly to how I am seeding the championship bracket, which will be released tomorrow, in that finish in the group standings will be the first factor in ranking teams. All of the fifth place teams will take up the top eight seeds, then all sixth place teams, and so on. From there, ties will be broken by record, then point differential and finally, if necessary, by average seed of the other three teams in the group. Point differential will eliminate most of the problems, but I wanted to make sure I had a fallback if necessary.

So without further ado, here is the field for the Consolation Bracket of the NBA/ABA Tournament of Champions.