2023 RHWS Playoff Format
Larger 4A-3A pool of teams will open each week
The Roy Hobbs World Series 2023 formats continue in the pattern started in 2020 with larger opening AAAA-AAA pool.
The 2023 Formats also will be impacted by the number of teams – a record level of more than 300 teams – however, all the fields at JetBlue and Centurylink will be back online as MLB has returned to its normal annual calendar,
The plan is to be working with AAAA, AAA, AA and A/B divisions as needed this year.
The pool concept, already being adjusted to address competition issues from the past few years, will increase the number of teams starting the tournament in the highest competition bracket to spread competition out, make sure teams are not playing all the same faces each fall, and to help Roy Hobbs sort out who belongs where.
Here is a general idea of how each division will be set up, with, of course, the discretion of Roy Hobbs Baseball the ultimate determining factor:
Veterans: 12-16 teams start in top pool; end of 4 games, 4 or 8 will be selected for AAAA. AAAA off Wednesday, double-elimination playoffs start Thursday. Non-AAAA teams play Wednesday, take Thursday off and start playoffs Friday; with 16 in AAA and balance in AA.
Masters: 24 teams start in top pool; end of 4 games, 8 will be selected for AAAA. AAAA off Wednesday, double-elimination playoffs start Thursday. Non-AAAA teams play Wednesday, take Thursday off and start playoffs Friday with 16 in AAA and balance in AA.
Legends: 16-24 teams start in top pool; end of 4 games, 8 will be selected for AAAA. AAAA off Wednesday, double-elimination playoffs start Thursday. Non-AAAA teams play Wednesday, take Thursday off and start playoffs Friday with 16 in each of AAA-AA-A-B divisions.
Classics: 16 teams start in top pool; end of 4 games, 8 will be selected for AAAA; double-elimination playoffs start Thursday. Non-AAAA teams play Thursday, and start playoffs Friday with 16 in AAA-AA-A.
Vintage: RH is looking to have one elite division of 6 teams, playing round-robin for 5 games, with the top 4 advancing to AAAA double-elimination playoffs. All teams start in one pool; at the end of 5 games, 14 will be selected to join 2 teams coming down in AAA and the remaining teams will be AA. No off-days, All non-AAAA playoffs Friday are single elimination.
Timeless: All teams start in same pool; end of 5 games, 4 to 8 will be selected for AAAA, 16 in AAA and the balance in AA. No off-days, All single-elimination playoffs start Friday.
Forever Young: All teams start in same pool; end of 5 games, playoffs start Friday.
(Defending champions from 2021 will be placed in a higher playoff division in 2022 per Roy Hobbs guidelines.)
Teams (even if their names change) affected are (if not in the field this year, it will apply to their next appearance):
Veterans: Tidewater Drillers, RusStar Baseball (if they return)
Masters: Maryland Monarchs, Miami Sugar Kings, Canton Tigers, PSOF Rangers
Legends: Milwaukee Rangers, St. Louis Patriots, Albany Capitals, Chicago Knights
Classics: St. Louis Patriots, Banana Sharks, Philadelphia Cutters
Vintage: Long Island Yankees, Orlando Freedom
Timeless: Minnesota Saints, Philadelphia Mustangs.
Forever Young: Maine Woods
(NOTE: The defending AAA champions in each age division are subject to being placed in AAAA playoffs at the discretion of Roy Hobbs Baseball. The returning AAA champion is placed in AAAA competition in Veterans, Masters, Legends, Classics and Vintage divisions and will be seeded in the playoffs at the discretion of Roy Hobbs Baseball. One exception to the AAA to AAAA rule is that if a AAA team can prove that its roster for the current year is at least 50% new players from previous year.)
Advisory Committee
The Roy Hobbs Advisory Committee plays an important role in determining what teams are competing in the AAAA and AAA divisions and the seeding of those playoffs.
The Advisory Committee is comprised of managers in the competing division; their inclusion is by invitation, although volunteers are welcomed.
This participation is important inasmuch as the discussions in these meetings go a long way toward defusing erroneous perceptions of what might have happened in division placement and seeding. And, although specific invitations are given managers to participate, the meetings are open to any team official who wants to participate in the proceedings.
The committee meets to review records (all 4-0 and 3-1 teams), scores, strength of schedule, runs allowed and any other factors available before determining the AAAA bracket and the top 4 teams in the general pool. The committee also determines the seeding in both AAAA and AAA (so a 3-1 team could be seeded ahead of a 4-0 team).
It is important to note that RHBB relies on the collective judgment of the players/managers on the committee to level the playing field as much as possible. It is the RHBB position that those individuals on the field, who have seen the competition ‘up close and personal’ bring a special perspective, beyond cold, hard won-loss records, on whom the top teams in the World Series really are.
If anyone has an interest in being a part of those discussions, occurring Wednesdays and perhaps Thursdays most weeks, please contact Marc Landals or Tom Giffen to be included.
Overall Roy Hobbs Format
This is how the Roy Hobbs World Series is set up in a normal year. The scheduling template and the guidelines contained herein continue to guide Roy Hobbs scheduling decisions, although some formats are being adjusted due to CV19:
The AAAA-AAA format
The AAAA-AAA format calls for a separate upper division to start the Veterans, Masters, Legends and Classics divisions, although separate AAAA divisions are established at the discretion of Roy Hobbs Baseball. The division includes …
1) Any teams finishing in AAAA and AAA the previous year,
2) AA champions and potentially other teams from the previous year, filling out the top 20-24
3) Teams that request inclusion, and
4) New teams whose pedigree indicates that’s where they belong.
Only those teams will have the opportunity to compete for the AAAA championship.
The first 4 pool games will be played within the division. At the conclusion of those 4 games, the playoff field for AAAA will be determined. Those teams take Wednesday as their off day, assuming no rain, and begin their double-elimination playoffs on Thursday.
The remaining teams that started in AAAA play a fifth pool game Wednesday with the remaining overall pool teams, with the teams matched by record against someone they have not played.
The remaining AAAA teams are guaranteed places in the AAA or AA playoffs, which start Friday after a 5th pool game is played on Wednesday. The AAA & AA playoffs will be a 16-team pools, if at all possible, as selected by the Roy Hobbs Advisory Committee.
Unclassified
Otherwise, the basic RHBB format starts every team in the Roy Hobbs World Series in one division: The general pool.
In Roy Hobbs’ overall scheme, pool play is meant to classify a team, much like flighting an amateur golf tournament.
The off day for all non-AAAA teams, assuming no rain, is Thursday, with playoffs starting Friday morning in all other divisions. NO off-days are planned for 60s-70s/65s-75s weeks.
The off-day applies to all divisions playing a double-header in first 4 days: Veterans, Masters, Legends, Classics.
Here is the procedure for all Divisions where “flighting” will be the norm.
Games #1 thru #4
Each age division has been seeded based on the previous year’s finish, with new teams placed in the middle of the seeding unless RHBB has information that would dictate either a higher or a lower placement. Once seeded, the field is separated into pools, with 8-to-12 being the optimum size.
Scheduling within the pools is done by a formula based on each team’s seed within its pool. Under 10-team pool conditions, the top-seeded team, for example, will play teams 2-3-4-5, and the 10th-seed will play 9-8-7-6. Teams seeded 3rd through 8th will play 2 teams seeded above and 2 seeded below them.
Although teams are in pools, standings will be overall as the pools exist for uniform scheduling the first 4 games only, and standings are posted each day.
After 4 games …
After 4 games, the field is rescheduled for a fifth pool game on Wednesday; teams will play teams with similar records, i.e., 3-1 vs. 3-1 wherever possible. Teams dropping down from AAAA with 2-2, 1-3 or 0-4 records will be scheduled at Roy Hobbs’ discretion.
Since there may be an odd number of teams with a particular record (11 teams at 3-1, for instance), a 3-1 may play a 4-0 or a 2-2. Overall RHBB reserves the right to match teams, using strength of schedule as a barometer as long as the following issues are addressed.
Teams will not play teams they have faced in the first 4 games or face teams from the same city/league if at all possible. Working to make sure every team has received a stadium game and locker room game-site guarantees may also dictate matchups.
With an odd number of teams in a division, Roy Hobbs reserves the right to either 1) take a 1-win team and bye the team through Thursday’s pool game into Friday’s playoffs, or find a team willing to play 2 7-inning games on Thursday.
Playoffs: Non-AAAA Divisions
The AAA playoff set up is determined after the 5th pool game.
After the 5th game, the remaining field will be ranked 1-through-total number of teams, based on record and the existing tiebreakers (see tie-breakers elsewhere with this story). Generally, team movement is restricted to 15 places, up or down, in setting up playoff divisions; however, RHBB retains discretion in applying this guideline as needed, with preference applied to teams with better records.
The number of teams in each of the playoff divisions will be determined by the number of teams eligible to compete for a championship.
AAA playoffs will be 16-team brackets with no byes. AA playoffs, it at all possible, will also be 16-team brackets with no byes. (Any AAAA teams dropping to AAA or AA will play each other in the first round.)
Teams that are 0-5 will play each other for their 6th game. (RHBB reserves the right to include 0-5 teams in \ playoffs but will play each other in the first round.). If there is one 0-5 team in an age bracket, that team will be placed in the lowest division with last seed.
Playoff divisions for A (and B, if needed) will include 8-to-16 teams each, depending on the size of the overall pool of teams.
Special competitive issues are addressed by these addendums to the playoff pairings:
- Teams losing their 5th pool games potentially forfeit any potential byes in the first round of the playoffs.
- In the lowest playoff division (A or B), playoff pairings will be done by draw on Thursday night at the pairings party. Seed will determine home team. If byes are available, those will be drawn first. Teams must be represented to be eligible to participate in the draw for byes.
- Once seeded for the playoffs, teams will be entered into a 16-team playoff bracket, with byes applied to the top seeds as available. For example, 12 teams leave 4 byes; 10 teams leave 6 byes, etc.; if there are 16 teams, no byes. Once placed in the bracket, that place in the bracket is home for the teams – there will be NO RE-SEEDING after the bracket is set. Brackets will be posted and made available at the Pairings Parties on Thursday evening.
- In a 16-team bracket, the pairings go like this: In the top half, #1 vs. #16 (or a bye), #8 vs. #9, #5 vs. #12 and #4 vs. #13 (or a bye); in the bottom half, #3 vs. #14 (or a bye), #11 vs. #6, #10 vs. #7 and #2 vs. #15 (or a bye). This is the same as the bracketing in the NCAA Basketball Championships we all know so well each March.
- Playoff scheduling guarantees include: Teams that met in the 5th pool game will not be paired in a first-round playoff game. Should the seeding call for such a matchup, the team that lost game #5 will be dropped one seed to meet another opponent (exception would be 12th seed). However, it is possible that teams meeting in game #5 could play again in the quarterfinals; seeds will not be adjusted to avoid that matchup.
RHBB Note: Format guidelines are effective July 2022 and supersede any previous version.
Tiebreakers
Ties in the standings to determine ranking for Game No. 5 will be broken according to the following priority:
- 1. Head-to-head results in games involving the tied teams. In the case of more than 2 teams tied and not all teams faced each other, head-to-head is bypassed.
- 2. Runs allowed in all games.
- 3. Runs allowed in best 3 games.
- 4. Runs allowed in best 2 games.
- 5. Runs allowed in best game.
- 6. Flip a coin.
Note: If multiple teams are tied, and teams are eliminated by one of the tiebreakers, RH will go back to step #1 and start again with the remaining teams.
Rankings after 5 games to set playoff seeds will be done by record, with ties broken as follows:
- 1. Head-to-head results in games involving the tied teams. In the case of more than 2 teams tied and not all teams faced each other, head-to-head is bypassed.
- 2. Runs allowed in best 4 games.
- 3. Runs allowed in all games.
- 4. Runs allowed in best 3 games.
- 5. Runs allowed in best 2 games.
- 6. Runs allowed in best game.
Note I: If multiple teams are tied, and teams are eliminated by one of the tiebreakers, RH will go back to step #1 and start again.
Note II: In AAAA double-elimination playoffs, seeds are set by the competition committee and based on above criteria as well as strength of schedule.
Note III: Roy Hobbs Baseball reserves the right to adjust tiebreaker guidelines to ensure the competitive spirit of the game. Any adjustments, however, will be done in consultation with members of the Roy Hobbs Managers’ Advisory Committee.