A playoff in sports (North
American professional sports in particular) is a game or
series of games played after the regular season is over
with the goal of determining a league champion. The
championship of a league may be determined by as few as
a single playoff between two teams, or by an elimination
tournament involving several teams.
Playoffs are normally played
between teams that finished well during the
regular season. Professional leagues that hold
playoffs are usually divided into geographically
based groupings of teams, usually called
divisions, but sometimes called conferences (but
note: sometimes both exist, with teams being
grouped into divisions, and divisions
in turn into conferences). Generally, during the regular
season, teams play more games against opponents that are
within their own division than those outside the
grouping. The teams that finished in first place within
their division at the end of the regular season are
eligible to participate in the playoffs. In addition,
teams that finished second or even lower in the
standings are often added to the tournament; these are
known as wild card teams. Some leagues have also held
playoffs between teams that were tied for first place,
although many leagues, most notably the NFL, instead
uses a complicated tie-breaking formula to resolve this
situation.
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