The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be either a single game, a series of games, or a tournament, and may use a single-elimination system or one of several other different playoff formats. Playoff, in regard to international fixtures, is to qualify or progress to the next round of a competition or tournament.
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
- One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentrated into a relatively short time interval.
- A competition involving a number of matches, each involving a subset of the competitors, with the overall tournament winner determined based on the combined results of these individual matches. These are common in those sports and games where each match must involve a small number of competitors: often precisely two, as in most team sports, racket sports and combat sports, many card games and board games, and many forms of competitive debating. Such tournaments allow large numbers to compete against each other in spite of the restriction on numbers in a single match.
Dodgeball is a team sport in which players on two teams try to throw balls and hit opponents while avoiding being hit themselves. The objective of each team is to eliminate all members of the opposing team by hitting them with thrown balls, catching a ball thrown by an opponent, or inducing an opponent to commit a violation, such as stepping outside the court.
The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Baseball Championship tournament—featuring 64 teams in the first round—which determines the NCAA Division I college baseball champion. The eight participating teams are split into two, four-team, double-elimination brackets, with the winners of each bracket playing in a best-of-three championship series.
The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other words, a team is eliminated when it has lost two games. After six teams have been eliminated, the remaining two teams compete in a best-of-three series to determine the Division I WCWS National Champion.
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, whose winner becomes the tournament champion. Each match-up may be a single match or several, for example two-legged ties in European sports or best-of series in American pro sports. Defeated competitors may play no further part after losing, or may participate in "consolation" or "classification" matches against other losers to determine the lower final rankings; for example, a third place playoff between losing semi-finalists. In a shootout poker tournament, there are more than two players competing at each table, and sometimes more than one progressing to the next round. Some competitions are held with a pure single-elimination tournament system. Others have many phases, with the last being a single-elimination final stage, often called playoffs.
A double-elimination tournament is a type of elimination tournament competition in which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournament's championship upon having lost two games or matches. It stands in contrast to a single-elimination tournament, in which only one defeat results in elimination.
Extreme Dodgeball is an American game show based on the game of dodgeball that aired between 2004 and 2005 on the Game Show Network. The series ran for three seasons, each of which featured six to eight teams of five to seven players. The first series followed gimmick teams, such as sumo wrestlers and jockeys, which changed over time into the third series with franchise-like teams representing cities. All three series are presented by Bil Dwyer and Zach Selwyn.
There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the single elimination, the best-of- series, the total points series more commonly known as on aggregate, and the round-robin tournament.
A wild card is a tournament or playoff berth awarded to an individual or team that fails to qualify in the normal way; for example, by having a high ranking or winning a qualifying stage. In some events, wildcards are chosen freely by the organizers. Other events have fixed rules. Some North American professional sports leagues compare the records of teams which did not qualify directly by winning a division or conference.
The season structure of the National Hockey League (NHL) is divided into the pre-season, regular season, and the Stanley Cup playoffs. In the pre-season, which is generally held during the last two weeks of September, each team plays several not-for-the-record exhibition games. In the regular season, which generally runs from early October through early April, teams play 82 games which determine their standings. The three highest-placed teams in each division and two wild card teams per conference enter the playoff elimination tournament to determine the Stanley Cup champion.
In sport, a bye is the preferential status of a player or team that is automatically advanced to the next round of a tournament, without having to play an opponent in an early round.
The Southeastern Conference baseball tournament is the conference tournament in baseball for the Southeastern Conference (SEC). It is a partially double-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season conference records. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I baseball tournament. The SEC Tournament champion is separate from the conference champion. The conference championship is determined solely by regular season record.
The Stanley Cup playoffs is an elimination tournament in the National Hockey League (NHL) consisting of four rounds of best-of-seven series to determine the league champion and the winner of the Stanley Cup. Eight teams from each of the two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season points totals. The final round is commonly known as the Stanley Cup Finals, which matches the two conference champions.
The Big 12 Conference baseball tournament is the conference championship tournament in baseball for the Big 12 Conference. Going back to the original format abandoned in 2005, the tournament consists of two separate four-team double-elimination tournaments. The winners of each of those tournament face each other in a one-game match for the championship. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I baseball tournament.
The National Dodgeball League (NDL) rules were created to standardize professional dodgeball matches to make them fair and consistent. All NDL sanctioned amateur, college, and youth events abide exclusively by NDL rules. The rules are subject to modification at the sole discretion of the NDL to accommodate and respond to the ever evolving game of dodgeball.
The Inline Hockey World Championship is an annual inline hockey tournament organized by World Skate. Prior to the creation of World Skate in September 2017, the championship was administrated by the Comité International Roller In-Line Hockey (CIRILH), an organization and discipline of Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports (FIRS). It is the sport's highest-profile annual international tournament.
The Australian Dodgeball League (ADL) is a professional dodgeball league in Australia, founded in 2015. The league is composed of 82 professional teams, which are divided between Australian states, the foremost of these being the Victoria League and the NSW League. These State Conferences come together at the end of each season, with the top two teams from the regions playing in the Australian Dodgeball Championships, the top level of Australian Dodgeball.
The Newcastle Dodgeball League (NDL) is a professional dodgeball league in Australia, founded in 2013. The league is composed of 26 professional teams, which are divided between Hunter Valley conferences, the foremost of these being the Newcastle League and the Maitland League.
2016–17 NDL season 
United States 