Explaining baseball's Wild Card points - Colorado High School Activities Association

CHSAA’s Wild Card points are, in effect, a formula to measure the relative strength of a team’s schedule.

Baseball is among the sports that use this type of formula. However, in baseball, Wild Card points only factor into the postseason for classes 5A, 4A and 3A. Each of those classifications have a set number of qualifiers based upon league finish, and then fill in other spots based upon Wild Card point finish.

In 3A, 30 of the 32 postseason spots are filled by league finish. The other two spots can be claimed by Fort Lupton (which plays in the 4A Colorado 7 league) and Ridge View Academy (an independent) if either school wins 10 or more games against opponents in class 3A or higher. Thus, Wild Card points are only used in the event Fort Lupton and/or Ridge View Academy don’t meet that automatic qualifying standard. In that event, the remaining spot(s) will be filled by the teams with the highest wild card points who haven’t already qualified.
In 4A, 26 of the 32 spots are filled by league finish, and two more can come from individual qualifying criteria (Ponderosa and Valor Christian). Thus, between four and six spots in the 4A field come from Wild Card points.
In 5A, 25 of the 32 spots are filled by league finish. Seven spots come from Wild Card points.

However, CHSAA determines Wild Card points for all classes because of cross-classification games which affect 3A, 4A and 5A.

Out-of-state competition is assigned a Colorado-equivalent classification based upon enrollment.

Wild Card points also determine seeding in 4A and 5A.

Seeds Nos. 1-8 will be set by the standings.
Seeds Nos. 9-16 will also be set by the standings, but can be moved up or down a seed to avoid “significant geographical conflicts” as well as league matchups.
Seeds Nos. 17-32 will be paired geographically (avoiding league matchups in the first round). Teams can move 2-3 spots from the final Wild Card standings to meet these requirements.

The Wild Card point formula boils down to adding Victory Points & Defeat Points, then dividing the total by games played. The resulting total becomes a team’s Wild Card points.

Victory Points & Defeat Points are determined by the number of wins an opponent has, as well as their classification. For example, a win over a 5A team with 12 wins is worth 129 points. A defeat to that same team is worth 95 points. A win over a one-win 5A team is worth 96 points; a loss to a 19-win team is worth 130 points.

Find a full breakdown of this process in theÂ in the baseball bulletin. A chart for Victory & Defeat Points is below.

Class 5A
Victory		Defeat
Wins	Points	Wins	Points
0	93	1	40
1	96	2	45
2	99	3	50
3	102	4	55
4	105	5	60
5	108	6	65
6	111	7	70
7	114	8	75
8	117	9	80
9	120	10	85
10	123	11	90
11	126	12	95
12	129	13	100
13	132	14	105
14	135	15	110
15	138	16	115
16	141	17	120
17	144	18	125
18	147	19	130
19	150

Class 4A
Victory		Defeat
Wins	Points	Wins	Points
0	84	1	30
1	87	2	35
2	90	3	40
3	93	4	45
4	96	5	50
5	99	6	55
6	102	7	60
7	105	8	65
8	108	9	70
9	111	10	75
10	114	11	80
11	117	12	85
12	120	13	90
13	123	14	95
14	126	15	100
15	129	16	105
16	132	17	110
17	135	18	115
18	138	19	120
19	141

Class 3A
Victory		Defeat
Wins	Points	Wins	Points
0	73	1	20
1	76	2	25
2	79	3	30
3	82	4	35
4	85	5	40
5	88	6	45
6	91	7	50
7	94	8	55
8	97	9	60
9	100	10	65
10	103	11	70
11	106	12	75
12	109	13	80
13	112	14	85
14	115	15	90
15	118	16	95
16	121	17	100
17	124	18	105
18	127	19	110
19	130

Class 2A
Victory		Defeat
Wins	Points	Wins	Points
0	63	1	10
1	66	2	15
2	69	3	20
3	72	4	25
4	75	5	30
5	78	6	35
6	81	7	40
7	84	8	45
8	87	9	50
9	90	10	55
10	93	11	60
11	96	12	65
12	99	13	70
13	102	14	75
14	105	15	80
15	108	16	85
16	111	17	90
17	114	18	95
18	117	19	100
19	120

Class 1A
Victory		Defeat
Wins	Points	Wins	Points
0	53	1	0
1	56	2	5
2	59	3	10
3	62	4	15
4	65	5	20
5	68	6	25
6	71	7	30
7	74	8	35
8	77	9	40
9	80	10	45
10	83	11	50
11	86	12	55
12	89	13	60
13	92	14	65
14	95	15	70
15	98	16	75
16	101	17	80
17	104	18	85
18	107	19	90
19	110