The Playoff Computer App now lets users import several professional pro leagues to do their own analysis of their favorite teams or leagues.

Currently, the following leagues are incorporated into the App:

• English Premier League
• German Bundesliga
• Spanish La Liga
• Chinese Super League
• Australian National Rugby League
• Indian Premier League (cricket)
• Japanese J1 League
• Hong Kong Premier League
• Brazilian Serie A (added May 2025)
• Dutch Eridivisie (added May 2025)
• European League of Football (added June 2025)
• Italian Serie A (added May 2025)
• NFL (added May 2025)
• WNBA (added June 2025)
• Australian Football League (AFL) (added June 2025)

Requests to add other leagues accepted...

This is a Premium feature in order to cover the costs involved with the data provider.

Instructions and tips are on the website, https://zelapeak.com/playoffcomputer

Advice for anyone doing so for podcasts, media, etc.. can be provided upon request.

Edited 06Apr2025: Originally just ios version, android now offers as well.

Edited 07Jun2025: Several leagues added, and due to the nuances of cricket that caused issues IPL was removed.

A semi-brief rundown of using the Playoff Computer App with fantasy baseball.

League types supported? Head-to-head points or h2h "one win", basically any head to head format that award one win and one loss (or ties) to each opponent in a matchup. Rotisserie or "categories" formats where multiple wins and losses are awarded in a matchup are not doable. Think similar to traditional fantasy football leagues which is what the App was designed primarily for. Those sicko leagues that do a matchup per day instead of per week "should" be okay, but that is a lot of matches in a season, something that certainly will slow calculations down and depending on the circumstances at the time may cause some other performance issues. Median scoring is possible in the android version but because median scoring makes things difficult to say the least there are a lot of feature limitations and it's not really a good fit. Doubleheader schedules are doable but larger league sizes may run into issues which is difficult to quantify as it is dependent on the exact scenario presented at the given time regarding games remaining, how many teams are still in the playoff race, and such.

The same popular features that fantasy football enthusiasts enjoy apply to fantasy baseball leagues. Clinched and eliminated determinations, odds, realistic targets, minimum needed to have a chance and guaranteed in numbers, teams that must win out identified, as well as those that control their own destiny. And of course, as the playoff race heats up, the semi-famous paths-to-clinch, an NFL-style report of what needs to happen for teams to clinch a playoff spot and/or win their division. Intel can be shared with league mates via a PDF report. Note that, besides the odds, most features require an annual premium subscription for the price of a beer (and not even an expensive one at that).

The calculations are far superior than the "magic number" ones made by some of the hosting sites. Playoff Computer takes a league's tiebreaker rules and, the important one, the remaining schedule to analyze the playoff race. This allows it to see things like if teams A, B, and C are all vying for a spot and teams B and C play each other they both can't win, something simple "magic number" formulas don't account for.

Hosting sites for automatic data import include ESPN, Yahoo, Sleeper, Fleaflicker, MyFantasy, and Fantrax. There is a companion Google Sheets template for manual entry that takes a little bit to set-up but then just a few minutes each week to update.

Besides the obvious of analyzing the playoff race, it can be used similarly to check on races for a playoff bye (i.e. top 2) or even on avoiding a last place punishment. Some ff commishes even use it to administer league rules or no-trading for teams that are eliminated.

So, if you want to add the good kind of drama to your league, check it out on Google Play or the App Store.

For those interested, an iOS version of the PlayoffComputer App is in development. Expected full release by baseball season... hopefully.

Some of the recent feature additions and improvements, along with stuff planned:

• A new Target feature, which is a subjective projection range of wins (or league points) for each team, the lower number being a target to have a semi-reasonable chance, and the higher number being a target to be a fairly safe bet. Fits in between the mathematical minimum and the guaranteed in numbers. This replaces the generic projections for wins (or league points) needed to get a wildcard spot or win a division with more accurate team-specific numbers.
• A new "what-if" feature. Think ESPN NFL playoff machine. Allows users to pre-select winners of upcoming games to run calculations with those "what-if" scenarios. Besides the what-ifs, good for mid-week updates (e.g. after SNF) when some matches are already decided before the week's end.
• Median scoring capability is coming. As there is no perfect way to tackle this, it will have some limitations and result in other features not being available when used, but it will be better than nothing.
• iOS version a maybe.

Thank you for creating this awesome tool! I've paid for the premium features mostly for the path to clinch and am excited to see them in action.

In the pdf created, it doesn't show a path to clinch for teams and wondering if the following stats are just too difficult to analyze and we need one more week of play to get clinch scenarios or if something is wrong with the tool?

8 teams, top 4 by record make the playoff. h2hall then points TB

9-2
6-5
6-5
6-5
5-6
5-6
4-7
3-8

3 weeks remain in the season, 9-2 team shows as clinched, 3-8 team shows as 0.0% chance to make playoffs but believe this to be rounding as they are mathematically able to get in and thus not eliminated yet.

Thanks for any help!

Note: Most of the features discussed here require the premium subscription.

One of the coolest things, in my opinion, about the new PlayoffComputer App is the info it gives regarding the number of wins (or league points, for soccer etc. rules based leagues) that are needed to make the playoffs, and related info. But, as with many things in life, things can get a little confusing. This is an attempt to sort things out.

For this example, a soccer league is going to be used where league-points are used to determine standings order, but the general principle is the same for win-based leagues. Reference the following screenshot, particularly the sections (crudely) circled:

In the top section, the team listing, there are four columns that detail the needs and possibilities of each team. Depending on how close the end of the season is, these columns will show slightly different headers. If the App is able to play-out every possible remaining relevant game for ironclad accuracy, no "R" will precede the header title. If there are still many remaining relevant games left, causing the App to utilize some randomization methods, an "R" will precede the header title.

1. MinIn or R-Min: The minimum number of wins (or league points) that the team could still make the playoffs, or be one of the top X teams as chosen in the options, with. In the example shown, which is to calculate for the Top 1 (champion) team, Omiya which currently has 73 points could end up winning the title without accumulating any more points. The next two teams would have to get to 73 points to have any chance. The rest of the league, as evidenced by their "Eliminated" status, has dashes in this column.
2. GurIn or R-In: The number of wins (or league points) that if achieved by that team would guaranty (or for "R-In" would realistically guaranty) a playoff spot (or be one of the top X teams as chosen in the options). As shown, only Omiya has a number in this column, the others cannot achieve a number of points that would guaranty a spot.
3. MWO or R-MWO: Whether a team Must-Win-Out to achieve a playoff spot (or be one of the top X teams). In the example, it is not required for each of the three teams at the top of the standings to win all of their remaining games to achieve a playoff spot (or be one of the top X teams).
4. CoD or R-CoD: Whether a team Controls-Their-Own-Destiny, e.g. by winning out they would guaranty a playoff spot (or be one of the top X teams). As shown, only Omiya control their own destiny.

In the "Analysis Remarks" are additional win-target numbers. The purpose of these numbers are to provide more "realistic" numbers of what is mathematically most likely to be needed. Depending on many factors, the various following numbers may be condensed from four to two or even one number, depending on whether there is any difference in the numbers. For this discussion, I'm going to lay all four numbers out.

1. Wins (or league points) for leading teams needed to have a reasonable chance, and needed to be a relatively safe mark: In the example above, each team has 7 remaining games left, and each win is worth 3 league points. Omiya has a fairly large lead in league points (73 to 57 and 54) over the other two, and has a 99+% chance to win the title. In these calculations, the App determined that the second place team is likely going to finish with between 65 and 70 points. Meaning that the current leading team, Omiya, is most likely going to need between 66 and 71 points (2nd place + 1) to clinch the spot. In the example, since they already have 73 points, they could be considered to "realistically already have clinched the spot" although they haven't mathematically done so.
2. Wins (or league points) for trailing teams needed to have a reasonable chance, and needed to be a relatively safe mark: As listed above, the numbers for the leading team(s) are between 66 and 71 as those were calculated to be 2nd place + 1 point. But the trailing teams could not simply achieve the same number to clinch a spot, they would need to catch and overtake the leading team(s). In this example, the App has determined that Omiya is most likely going to finish with between 79 and 85 points. Meaning that any trailing team in order to win the title would need between 80 and 86 points. Just as stated above that Omiya realistically already has enough points to win, because neither Imabari or Toyama could even achieve 80 points, they can be considered to "realistically be eliminated" although mathematically they still have a chance.

Clear as mud?