Playoffs

A total of 10 teams qualify for the playoffs each year, 5 from the National League and 5 from the American League.  3 of the 5 playoff teams in each league are the respective division winners; the other 2 participants are the 2 teams with the most wins out of the other 9 teams (known as the "wild card" teams).  The wild card teams play a single elimination game and then the remaining 8 teams pair up in successive series of best 4 out of 7 games to determine the ABA Champion for that season.

Playoff Schedule

1. In each league, the two wild card teams play a single elimination game (the Wild Card Game) with the winner advancing to the second round of the playoffs. The game should be played (remotely if necessary) as soon as possible after the end of the regular season.
2. In each league, the second round of the playoffs consists of two series:
   • The playoff team with the most wins vs the playoff team with the least wins
   • The playoff team with the second most wins vs the playoff team with third most wins
   Any or all of these series may be played at the ABA Convention.  However, in order to relieve the hectic Convention schedule, it is recommended that managers attempt to play these series prior to the Convention if possible (remotely if necessary).
3. The four survivors from the second round of the playoffs advance to their respective league championships.  The two NL teams meet in the NLCS and the two AL teams meet in the ALCS.  The league championship series typically take place at the Convention, either Friday evening or Saturday morning.
4. The two winners of the league championship series advance to the ABA World Series.  This is also played at the Convention, some time on Saturday.  The winner of the World Series is the ABA Champion; the loser is the runner-up.
5. In each 7-game playoff series, the team which had more regular season wins is the home team for Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 while the team with fewer regular seasons wins is the home team for Game 3, 4 and 5.
6. For all series played at the Convention, if a playoff manager is unable to attend, he may request to play remotely if he is available at a time that fits in with the Convention schedule. If it is not possible for an absent manager to play remotely, a substitute manager will be selected to fill in for the absent playoff manager.

See Playoff Rules for a description of special playing rules which apply to the playoffs.