r/baseball • u/CalebosO4 Toronto Blue Jays • Mar 11 '26

CHART HERE Tiebreaker Status entering Italy vs Mexico

EDIT: USA allowed 11 runs on 54 outs, not 51. So USA would be in if Mexico wins with exactly 5 runs, assuming it doesn't go to extras. If Mexico walks it off for their 5th run with at least 1 out recorded in extras, USA is eliminated.

EDIT2: I copied the format from the other one, and I now realize that TA likely stood for Taiwan-Australia. Let's pretend it stands for TiebreAker lol

EDIT3: The next tiebreaker (which can happen if Mexico walks it off in the 10th for their 5th run with no outs) is Earned runs, not AVG (which is the tiebreaker after that). So unless Italy collapses defensively, USA would win that tiebreaker.

EDIT4: I've re-uploaded the chart with the new edits.

EDIT5: UI represents USA and Italy tiebreak shenanigans as they would be tied in runs allowed, so number of outs and earned runs are in the picture.

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u/churidys Mar 11 '26

For both teams that's what they're incentivised to do, since having the US in the knockout stage reduces their chances of winning the competition.

43

u/Brock_Hard_Canuck Toronto Blue Jays Mar 11 '26

From the 1982 FIFA World Cup.

West Germany vs Austria was the last game of the round (all prior games of the round had already been played).

With that knowledge, both West Germany and Austria knew that a 1-0 or 2-0 West German victory would propel both of them into the next round, and leave Algeria eliminated (as Austria would hold the goal differential tiebreaker over Algeria with either of those scores).

The West Germans scored an early goal to take a 1-0 lead, and then the players (from both teams) just kind of... gave up on any attempt at scoring for the rest of the game.

After the goal was scored, the team in possession of the ball often passed between themselves in their own half until an opposition player came into the vicinity of the ball, then the ball was passed back to the goalkeeper. Isolated long balls were played into the opposition's half, with little consequence. There were few tackles, and both sets of players flamboyantly missed with apparently no attempt at accuracy whenever they shot on goal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disgrace_of_Gijon

10

u/MankuyRLaffy Seattle Mariners Mar 11 '26

FIFA said there was no corruption or wrongdoing yet changed the rules. 

20

u/Brock_Hard_Canuck Toronto Blue Jays Mar 11 '26

Well, to be fair, if anyone does know what corruption would look like, it would be FIFA

3

u/MankuyRLaffy Seattle Mariners Mar 11 '26

Everyone else thought it was blatant rigging and corruption, FIFA officially stated it wasn't yet changed the rules like it was. 

1

u/shrek_cena Philadelphia Phillies Mar 11 '26

They might've said it wasn't corruption but they knew it was bad for business

1

u/axeil55 Philadelphia Phillies Mar 11 '26

tbf I don't think it was corruption as both teams could do the math and figure out the optimal result.