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Sports' Playoff System Comparisons  
ODDS & ENDS 

Tags: playoffs, sports, series, championship, win, best of, games, post-season, after

Every sport has some method to the madness.

	NBA - eight clubs from each of the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs, with separate playoff brackets for each conference. In the 2002–03 season, all the series are best-of-7. In all series, home games alternate between the two teams in a 2-2-1-1-1 format, except for the NBA Finals, in which the format is 2-3-2.
	NFL - The winners of each division automatically earn a playoff spot, and the two top non-division winners from each conference will also make the playoffs as wild-card teams. The top two teams with the best records in the regular season get a first round bye, and the bottom two division winners each play one of the wild-card teams. The winners of the wild-card games then play one of the two bye teams. The winners of these two games go to the conference championships, and the winner of that game will face each other conference champion in the Super Bowl.
	NASCAR - implemented a playoff system beginning in 2004, that they coined the "Chase for the NEXTEL Cup." In the current system, drivers in the Chase had their point totals adjusted after 26 races, the top 12 drivers advance to contend for the points championship and points are reset to 5000. Each driver within the top 12 gets an additional 10 points for each win during the "regular season," or first 26 races, thus creating a seeding based on wins. The Chase consists of 10 races and the driver with the most points at the conclusion of the 10 races is the NEXTEL Cup Series Champion. Drivers can earn 5 bonus points for leading the most laps, and 5 bonus points for leading a single lap.
	MLB - 8 teams make the playoffs (4 from each league), with the winner of each division getting an automatic bid and the next best record earning the wild card spot. The first round is a best of 5 games series, and the following, including the World Series, a best of 7.
	PGA - The top 144 players qualify from the regular season at which time the point totals are reset. First place starts the playoffs with 100,000 points, with amounts decreasing all the way down to 84,700 for the 144th qualifier. There are four events that make up the playoffs. After each event, the field is cut down from the original 144. Each playoff event is worth 50,000 points, though due to its smaller field, The Tour Championship is worth more per player.
	NHL - The Stanley Cup playoffs is an elimination tournament consisting of four rounds of best-of-seven series. The first three rounds determine which team from each conference will advance to the final round, dubbed the Stanley Cup Finals. The winner of that series becomes the NHL/Stanley Cup champion. The most recent Stanley Cup playoffs are the 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

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