This is a strange and ,  it seems to me,  unfair way to decide postseason roles.  If the Padres,  who trail the Giants by one game heading into this final game of the regular season,  beat the Giants,  while Atlanta also beats the Phillies to avoid being swept,  there will be a three team playoff.  The first game would be to “decide” the Western division champ.  Then the loser would go to Atlanta to play the Braves to decide the Wild Card winner. 

So why ,  if the Padres win and the Braves lose,  is the tie for the Western division lead decided instead by head to head record,  with no game being played?  Seems a bit imbalanced to me. Why aren’t the Padres just declared division winners (as is the case if the Braves are tied with the Padres for the Wild Card?  Or why aren’t the Braves simply declared the wild card winner based on their better head to head numbers against both the Padres and the Giants?)

I am opposed to deciding ties for playoff berths with head to head records.  This is ,  in my opinion,  a classic case of a one game playoff decider.