TOURNAMENT FORMAT
OVERVIEW
Forty teams will slug it out for the ultimate in fast pitch Wiffle®Ball glory this October 24th & 25th when T-Mobile presents the 2020 United Wiffle®Ball National Championship!
The format for this inaugural event was designed with several key factors in mind - providing tangible stakes to the early round games, limiting the number of games necessary to the win the championship, and providing a fair and equitable path through the tournament. The goal is for a tournament that places skill and winning above endurance and attrition, while still providing each team with ample opportunity to compete.
There is only one question left to answer - do you have what it takes to go the distance?
AT A GLANCE:
ROUND 1: Go 3-0 and advance DIRECTLY to Round 4 on Sunday as a 1-5 seed. Go 2-1 with a 2-0 start, and have a chance to advance directly to Round 4 on Sunday as 6-8 seed (based on tiebreakers). All other 2-1 teams advance to Round 3 on Sunday (final 24). Go 1-2 and advance to Round 2 Saturday evening. 0-3 teams are eliminated after this round.
ROUND 2: All 15 1-2 teams from Round 1 advance to this bracket. The four teams that win 2 games this round advance to Round 3 on Sunday morning.
ROUND 3: 16 teams (the four 3-2 teams that advanced from Round 2 and the twelve lowest seeded 2-1 teams from Round 1) are seeded and play one game, with the 8 winners advancing to Round 4.
ROUND 4: The 8 3-0/2-1 teams that received a bye to this round are joined by the 8 winners in Round 3. This is a 16-team single elimination (4 game) bracket to crown the tournament champion!
FORMAT DISCUSSION W/ TROUP & SMOOCH
ROUND 1: CONTENDERS BRACKETS
| 40 TEAMS - - 3 GAMES PER TEAM - - FIVE GROUPS OF 8-TEAMS |
Test your skills against other championship hopefuls over the course of three games. Teams are matched with an opponent that has the same record throughout this round, but these are not exhibitions - the stakes are high!
Defeat all three of your opponents in this round to jump straight into the 16-team Championship Bracket as a top five seed. Win your first two games and put yourself in a position to make straight to the Championship Bracket, even if your third game does not go your way. Any team that goes 2-1 or 3-0 in this round is done for the day and heads straight into either the Championship or Knockout bracket on Sunday! Lose all three games this round and your tournament is over.
Each of the five Contenders brackets will end with one 3-0 team, three 2-1 teams, three 1-2 teams, and one 0-3 team.
GAME LENGTH: 4 INNINGS
First game winners move to the left (“west'“), while first game losers move to the right (“east”).
ROUND 2: ROCKY BRACKET
| 15 TEAMS WITH 1-2 RECORDS AFTER CONTENDERS BRACKET - - 1 TO 2 GAMES PER TEAM |
So you went 1-2 against your fellow contenders. Don’t sweat it - you might be down, but you are not out of it yet! All 1-2 teams from the Contenders Brackets will get an opportunity to fight their way back to the top, Rocky Balboa style. In this two-round, 15-team bracket comprised entirely of the 1-2 starters, four teams will successfully play their way back into contention Saturday night. So, pick yourself up off the canvas and get ready to go - there is still plenty of Wiffle®Ball left to be played!
Seeding: The five 1-2 teams that started 0-2 are the 31-35 seeds (exact position determined by the tournament tiebreakers). All other 1-2 teams are seeded 21-30 based entirely on the tournament tiebreakers. The top seeded 1-2 team receives a bye to the second round of the Rocky bracket.
GAME LENGTH: 4 INNINGS
ROUND 3: KNOCKOUT BRACKET
| 16 TEAMS WITH 3-2 OR 2-1 RECORDS - - 1 GAME |
It is do or die time! The four comeback teams from the Rocky Bracket (now 3-2 in the tournament) join the bottom twelve 2-1 teams from the Contender Brackets in a one round, knock down-drag out battle for the final eight spots in the Champions Bracket! Half of the teams in this bracket will make an early exist Sunday morning, the other half will advance onto the Championship Bracket.
Seeding: The four teams from the Rocky bracket will be seeded 21-24 based on thier seed entering this round. The ten 2-1 teams that did not start 2-0 in the Contenders bracket will be seeded 11-20 based on the tournament tiebreakers. The two 2-1 teams that started 2-0 but did not receive a bye to the Championship Bracket will be seeded 9th and 10th based on the tournament tiebreakers.
GAME LENGTH: 5 INNINGS
ROUND 4: CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET
| 16 TEAMS -- 4 GAMES TO THE TITLE |
The grand stage! The top 16 teams go toe-to-toe in a straight 16-team single elimination bracket. Only one team we be left standing and claim the title of 2020 United Wiffle®Ball National Champion!
Seeding: The five 3-0 teams are seeded 1-5 based on the tournament tiebreakers. Three 2-1 teams that started 2-0 also receive a bye to this round based on the tournament tiebreakers and are seeded 6-8 accordingly. The seeds of the teams that advance from the Knockout bracket carryover to this bracket (example: the 20th seed defeats the 13th seed in the Knockout bracket. The 20th seed advances to face the 4th seed in the Championship bracket). There is NO re-seeding before this round.
GAME LENGTH: 5 INNINGS
TIEBREAKERS
At the 2020 United Wiffle®Ball National Championship, tiebreakers are used ONLY for seeding purposes. Teams advance or are eliminated based on record only. The following tiebreakers will be used to seed teams after the Contenders Brackets are finished.
Runs Allowed
Run Differential
Head-to-Head (not applicable if more than two teams are tied)
Coin Flip/Random Draw
All five 2-1 teams from the Contenders Bracket that began the tournament 2-0 will be seeded in the 6-10 slots in the Championship Bracket. For tiebreaker purposes, these teams will compared to each other and not the rest of the 2-1 teams. The other ten 2-1 teams will be compared as a group to determine the 11-20 seeds.
Likewise, the five 1-2 teams that start the tournament 0-2 will be compared to each other using the tiebreakers to determine the 31-35 seeding. The other ten 1-2 teams will be looked at as a group to determine the exact positioning of the 21-30 seeds.
For purposes of tracking runs for tiebreakers, a team that wins in extra innings with automatic runners on base (bases loaded, 1st and 2nd, etc.) will have one extra run scored added to their run total entering the first inning in which auto runners were added. The losing team will have one run added to their runs allowed total. For example, Team A and Team B are tied at 2-2. In the 6th inning, runners are placed at 1st and 2nd base. Team B hits a three-run home run in the bottom of the 6th to win the game. For tiebreaker purposes, Team B will be credited with 3 runs scored and 2 runs allowed. Team A will be credited with 2 runs score and 3 runs allowed.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
** All times are approximate.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24TH
8 AM ET TO 7:00 PM ET - ROUND 1 (CONTENDERS BRACKETS)
6:00 PM ET TO 9:30 PM ET - ROUND 2 (ROCKY BRACKET)
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25TH
9:00 AM ET - ROUND 3 (KNOCKOUT BRACKET)
10:30 AM ET - 5:00 PM ET - ROUND 4 (CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET)