163rd game

plural 163rd games

1. ball gamesA one-game playoff between two teams for a playoff spot.

   After the 162-game season, the Rays and the Rangers were both 91–71 and tied for the second wild-card spot in the AL. That meant a 163rd game was needed to decide who would go to the playoffs.

   2023, Luke Hanlon, Tampa Bay Rays, Minneapolis: Abdo Publishing, →ISBN, page 29

   2 more examples

   Much to the surprise of both the Red Sox and the Yankees, the Yankees lost. The Red Sox, however, did not. ¶ As a result, baseball's two best teams would be facing each other in a 163rd game. The winner would take on the Kansas City Royals in the league championship series, the prelude to the World Series, […]

   2008, Richard Bradley, The Greatest Game, Free Press, →ISBN, page x

   The win-loss percentage is simply the number of games won divided by the total number of games played (the total number of games played is 162 at the end of the regular season). If two teams are tied at the end of the regular season, a 163rd game will be scheduled to break the tie.

   2016, Dan Formosa, Paul Hamburger, Baseball Field Guide, 3rd edition, New York: The Experiment, →ISBN, page 18