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67-590: Over 46 years of competition, the Twins played in 3,113 regular season games and compiled a 1,779–1,333–1 win–loss–tie record. They qualified for the postseason on 19 occasions, winning 16 division titles and 12  Appalachian League championships . Elizabethton won more league championships than any other team in Appalachian League history. They had a postseason record of 33–24. Combining all 3,170 regular season and postseason games,

134-665: A bracket tournament between the top four teams in the country as determined by a selection committee, which was established as a successor to the Bowl Championship Series and its similar BCS National Championship Game . Unlike the BCS championship, the participating teams in the College Football Playoff National Championship are determined by two semi-final bowls—hosted by two of the consortium's six member bowls yearly—and

201-564: A capacity of at least 65,000 spectators, and cities cannot host both a semi-final game and the title game in the same year. The winner of the game is awarded a new championship trophy instead of the "Crystal Football" , which has been given by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) since 1986; officials wanted a new trophy that was unconnected with the previous BCS championship system. The new College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy

268-535: A champion at the NCAA Division II level. It was first held in 1973. Prior to 1973, four regional bowl games were played in order to provide postseason action for what was then called the "NCAA College Division" and a poll determined the final champion. The National Championship final was held at Sacramento, California from 1973 to 1975. It was in Wichita Falls, Texas in 1976 and 1977. The game

335-661: A champion in the way they are used in North America. In the EFL Championship (the second tier of English football), teams finishing 3rd to 6th after the regular season compete to decide the third promotion spot to the Premier League . Evidence of playoffs in professional football dates to at least 1919, when the " New York Pro Championship " was held in Western New York (it is possible one

402-643: A coach and instructor in the Twins' minor-league system, including managerial assignments with the Rookie-level Elizabethton Twins (2001) and Gulf Coast League Twins (2002–03). He previously worked as a Venezuela-based scout for the Twins. At the time of his appointment, Hernández was also serving as bench coach with the Aragua Tigers of the Venezuelan Winter League . On October 2, 2024, Hernández and

469-569: A feature of the qualification tournaments for the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Football Championship . In the qualification playoffs for the 2006 World Cup , for example: Later World Cup qualifying inter-confederation play-offs were held for 2010 , 2014 , 2018 and 2022 . CONCACAF Nations League and UEFA Nations League hold their respective finals to determine the overall winner at

536-580: A finals series/playoff is standard in Australian sport. The Belgian First Division A (previously known as the "First Division" and "Pro League") has a fairly complex playoff system, currently consisting of two levels and at one time three. Since the 2009–10 season, playoffs have been held to determine the champion and tickets for the Champions League and Europa League. The six highest ranked teams play home-and-away matches against each other;

603-796: A first-place 41–28 record. Manager Fred Waters , who had been leading the team since 1975, was selected for the Appalachian League Manager of the Year Award. Waters led Elizabethton to its second championship in 1984. They won the Southern Division title with a 40–29 record, then defeated the Pulaski Braves in a one-game playoff for the Appalachian League title. Waters won Manager of the Year honors, as he also had in 1981. In 1987, Ray Smith replaced Waters as

670-554: A one-off match against the fourth- or fifth-place team from the championship playoff (depending on available European slots) for the final Europa League place. In Brazil, the Copa do Brasil , the second most prestigious country-wide competition, is contested in pure "knockout" format since its inception in 1989. While the top two tiers in the Brazilian League – Série A and Série B – are contested in double round robin format,

737-521: A playoff system to determine the champion of the season. When the Football League was first expanded to two divisions in 1892, test matches were employed to decide relegation and promotion between them, but the practice was scrapped in favour of automatic relegation and promotion in 1898. The use of play-offs to decide promotion issues returned to the League in 1986 with the desire to reduce

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804-465: A position affecting promotion, relegation, or European qualification. Rudy Hern%C3%A1ndez (baseball, born 1968) Rodolfo Jesús Hernández (born April 9, 1968) is a Venezuelan professional baseball coach and a former minor league infielder , coach and manager . He has previously served as the assistant hitting coach for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He

871-636: A rule, international association football has only had championship playoffs when a league is divided into several equal divisions, conferences or groups ( Premier League ) or when the season is split into two periods (as in many leagues in Latin America). In leagues with a single table done only once a year, as in most of Europe, playoff systems are not used to determine champions, although in some countries such systems are used to determine teams to be promoted to higher leagues (e.g., England) or qualifiers for European club competitions (such as Greece and

938-625: A series of relegation playoffs. The series starts with a knockout playoff that also consists entirely of two-legged matches. The winner of the playoff remains in the First League for the following season. The losing teams then enter the following series of two-legged promotion/relegation matches: With the creation of the Liga Dominicana de Fútbol in 2014 to replace the Primera División de Republica Dominicana , it introduced

1005-520: A total of 10 matches each. The 6 participating teams start with the points accumulated during the regular competition divided by two. The first 3 teams after the play-offs get a European ticket. The fourth ranked team (or fifth, when the cup holder is already qualified for European football) plays a knock-out match against the winner of play-off 2. From 2009 to 2010 through 2015–16, teams ranked 7–14 played in two groups; from 2016 to 2017 forward, this playoff will continue to be contested in two groups, but with

1072-432: A total of 12 teams (details below). All points gained from the regular competition are lost. The two group winners play a final match to determine the winner of play-off 2. The winning team plays a final match against the fourth-ranked team (or fifth) for the last European ticket. The play-off system has been criticized because more points per match can be earned in the play-off stage than in the regular competition. This way

1139-462: Is sponsored by Dr Pepper , which paid an estimated $ 35 million for the sponsorship rights through 2020. The 26.5-inch high, 35-pound trophy was unveiled on July 14, 2014. The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an American college football tournament played each year to determine the champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Prior to 2006, the game

1206-404: Is the winner of that season's Bulgarian Cup, in which case it will not enter the playoff and the team that it would have played receives a bye into the playoff final). The winner of this playoff then contests a one-off match against the third-place (or fourth-place) team from the championship playoff, with the winner claiming the final Europa League place. The bottom two teams from each group begin

1273-756: The Stagg Bowl , has been played annually in Salem , Virginia at Salem Football Stadium since 1993. It was previously played in Phenix City , Alabama at Garrett-Harrison Stadium (1973–1982, 1985–1989), at the College Football Hall of Fame , when the Hall was located in Kings Island , Ohio at Galbreath Field (1983–1984), and Bradenton , Florida at Hawkins Stadium (1990–1992). As

1340-478: The 2008–09 season , the top four teams advanced to the finals series, employed using a modified Page playoff system . The top two teams at the end of league play were matched in one semifinal, with the winner advancing directly to the grand final and the loser going into the Preliminary Final. The next two teams played a semifinal for a place in the Preliminary Final, whose winner took the other place in

1407-560: The Appalachian League Hall of Fame . Among the Twins to make significant contributions to Major League Baseball teams after their time in Elizabethton are: Playoffs#Minor League Baseball 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

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1474-558: The Bristol Tigers , was rained out. They played their first home game the next evening, losing to Bristol, 15–2. Elizabethton finished its inaugural season in second place with a 41–27–1 record. Twins pitcher Rubio Malone tossed two no-hitters in 1978. He pitched the first on June 23 in the second game of a doubleheader against the Johnson City Cardinals in a seven-inning 8–1 win. The lone Johnson City run

1541-622: The COVID-19 pandemic before ultimately being cancelled on June 30. In conjunction with a contraction of Minor League Baseball beginning with the 2021 season, the Appalachian League was reorganized as a collegiate summer baseball league , and the Twins were replaced by the Elizabethton River Riders , a new franchise in the revamped league designed for rising college freshmen and sophomores. Eighteen players won Appalachian League awards in recognition for their performance with

1608-691: The Elizabethton Phils in 1951. Thirty-three years later, the Minnesota Twins placed the Elizabethton Twins in the Appalachian League as a Rookie-level affiliate. Elizabethton played its inaugural game on June 21, 1974, against the Kingsport Braves on the road at the ballpark on the campus of Dobyns-Bennett High School , losing 8–3. The Twins got their first win the next night, defeating Kingsport, also 8–3. Their Riverside Park home opener, scheduled for June 23 against

1675-565: The NFL added its 32nd team, the Houston Texans , and significantly reshuffled its divisional alignment. The league went from 6 division winners and 6 wild-card spots to 8 division winners and only 4 wild-card qualifiers; by 2020 , the number of wild-card qualifiers returned to six. The winners of each division automatically earn a playoff spot and a home game in their first rounds, the three top non-division winners from each conference also make

1742-552: The NFL expanded and created four divisions under the two conferences, which led to the institution of a larger playoff tournament. After the 1970 AFL–NFL merger brought the American Football League into the NFL, the NFL began to use three divisions and a single wild-card team in each conference for its playoffs, in order to produce eight contenders out of six divisions; this was later expanded in 1978 and 1990 so that more wild-card teams could participate. In 2002

1809-471: The Netherlands), usually between teams that didn't perform well enough to earn an automatic spot. A test match is a match played at the end of a season between a team that has done badly in a higher league and one that has done well in a lower league of the same football league system . The format of a test match series varies; for instance it can be a head-to-head between one of the worse finishers of

1876-496: The New York league's playoff format, opting for a championship based on regular-season record for its first twelve seasons; as a result, four of the first six "championships" were disputed. Technically, a vote of league owners was all that was required to win a title, but the owners had a gentlemen's agreement to pledge votes based on a score (wins divided by the sum of wins and losses, with a few tiebreakers). When two teams tied at

1943-513: The Royal Belgian Football Association (KBVB) also introduced Christmas football in order to complete the extra matches in time. This posed some problems because a few matches had to be cancelled due to snowy pitches. The delays will probably cause the tight schedule to fail and postpone the end of the season. Some structural changes were instituted in 2015–16 : From 1974 through 2015, the 15th team out of 16 in

2010-699: The Second Division, to determine which team was promoted to the highest level together with the division champions. From the 2005–06 season on, only one team was relegated directly from the First Division, with the 17th team taking part in the playoff. As a result, this playoff was still called the Belgian Second Division final round , although one team from the Pro League took part each year. Starting in 2015–16, this playoff

2077-497: The Southern Division and defeated Pulaski, 2–0, in the finals. The 1990 Twins set a franchise record with their 51–16 (.761) season and earned the league crown with a first-place finish. On August 26, 1991, Eddie Guardado pitched a no-hitter versus the Pulaski Braves, 5–0, at Joe O'Brien Field . They missed the playoffs that season but returned in 1992 and 1993 by virtue of winning the Southern Division title, only to lose in

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2144-767: The Twins had an all-time record of 1,812–1,357–1. Professional baseball was first played in Elizabethton, Tennessee , by the Elizabethton Betsy Red Sox in the Appalachian League in 1937. They remained in the league through 1942. The city's Appalachian League entry from 1945 to 1948 was called the Elizabethton Betsy Cubs . They were followed by the Elizabethton Betsy Local from 1949 to 1950 and

2211-523: The Twins have won 37 Appalachian League awards. One former member of the Twins has been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame . Outfielder Kirby Puckett , who was inducted in 2001, played 65 games with Elizabethton in 1982, his first professional season. He registered a .382  batting average with 105  hits and 35  RBI in addition to stealing 43 bases. The Twins have also had five members inducted in

2278-464: The Twins' manager after 12 years guiding the team. Smith would go on to become the winningest manager in Appalachian League history with 1,048 wins from 1987 to 1994 and 2002 to 2019. He would win a record seven Manager of the Year Awards and lead Elizabethton to nine league championships. The first two championship seasons under Smith came back-to-back in 1989 and 1990. The 1989 team won

2345-690: The Twins. Eleven won Player of the Year Awards, while seven won the Pitcher of the Year Award. Four managers won the Manager of the Year Award, including Fred Waters , who was selected for the honor three times, and Ray Smith , who won the award a league-leading seven times. The team also won four Executive of the Year Awards, the Promotional Award of Excellence (2003 and 2014), and the Community Service Award (2017). Altogether,

2412-592: The champion of the National League (formerly known as Conference Premier) are also automatically promoted. In EFL playoffs, the four clubs finishing below the automatic promotion places compete in two-legged semi-finals with the higher-placed club enjoying home advantage in the second leg. In the National League however, the six clubs finishing below the champions compete in playoffs - the lower four competing in an elimination match to decide who plays in

2479-465: The championship finals. Smith was selected for four consecutive Manager of the Year Awards from 1989 to 1992. Another playoff drought occurred from 1994 to 1999, the longest in franchise history. Over 20 years from 2000 to 2019, the Twins qualified for the postseason 15 times. Jeff Carter, the 2000 season's Manager of the Year, led Elizabethton to the Southern Division title and the franchise's fifth Appalachian League championship. After losing in

2546-589: The end of the league, CONCACAF Nations League Finals and UEFA Nations League Finals . In Argentine football, playoffs in the style of the English leagues occur in the Primera B Metropolitana , part of the third tier, and leagues below it ( Primera C Metropolitana and Primera D Metropolitana ). All Primera Metropolitana tourneys cover the area in and around Buenos Aires , the capital city. The Torneo Reducidos (reduced tournaments), however, involve 8 teams below

2613-474: The end of the season (which, effective in 2016–17, changed from a February–December format to an August–June format). The Australian A-League , which also features a team in New Zealand , has determined its champions via a playoff system, officially known as the "Finals Series" (reflecting standard Australian English usage), since its inception in the 2005–06 season . From the league's inception through

2680-481: The final standings was involved in a playoff pool with three teams from the Belgian Second Division after each season, to determine which of these teams played in the First Division/Pro League the oncoming season. The lowest ranked team of the First Division/Pro League was relegated and replaced by the Second Division champion. Originally, these playoffs were introduced in 1974 and were part of

2747-545: The finals of 2001 under Manager of the Year Rudy Hernández , Ray Smith returned to lead the team in 2002. He guided the Twins to league titles in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2017, and 2018. On July 16, 2011, pitchers Tim Shibuya (7 IP ), Garrett Jewel (1 IP), and Steven Gruver (1 IP) combined to no-hit the Greeneville Astros , 6–0, on the road. The start of the 2020 season was postponed due to

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2814-959: The games have been broadcast on ESPN . The NCAA Division III Football Championship began in 1973 . Before 1973, most of the schools now in Division III competed either in the NCAA College Division or the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). NCAA Divisions II and III were created by splitting the College Division in two, with schools that wished to continue awarding athletic scholarships placed in Division II and those that did not want to award them placed in Division III. The Division III playoffs begin with 32 teams selected to participate in them. The Division III final, known as

2881-437: The grand final. Both semifinals were two-legged, while the Preliminary Final and Grand Final were one-off matches. When the league expanded to 10 teams beginning in 2009–10 , the finals expanded to six teams. The format of the six-team playoff established at that time was: Starting with the 2012–13 season , the finals format has been changed to a pure knockout tournament consisting entirely of one-off matches: The concept of

2948-434: The higher league and one of the better finishers of the lower league, or it can be a mini league where all participants play each other or teams only play those from the other league. The winner of the test match series play in the higher league the following season, and the loser in the lower league. In international football , playoffs were a feature of the 1954 and 1958 FIFA World Cup final tournaments. They are still

3015-456: The home-and-away season. Each team in the championship playoff plays the others home and away one additional time. At the end of this stage: Each group within the qualifying playoff also plays home and away within its group; after this stage, teams enter another level of playoffs depending on their positions in the group. The top two teams in each group enter a knockout playoff consisting entirely of two-legged matches (unless one of these teams

3082-474: 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. In team sports in the U.S. and Canada, the vast distances and consequent burdens on cross-country travel have led to regional divisions of teams. Generally, during

3149-547: The lower tiers Série C and Série D include knockout rounds in their final stages. Bulgaria instituted an elaborate playoff system in its top flight, the First League , in the 2016–17 season. After the league's 14 teams play a full home-and-away season, the league splits into two playoffs—a 6-team "championship playoff" and an 8-team "qualifying playoff", with the latter split into two 4-team groups. Each playoff begins with teams carrying over all goals and statistics from

3216-637: The number of mid-table clubs with nothing to play for at the end of the season. The Football Conference, now known as the National League , introduced play-offs in 2002 after the Football League agreed to a two-club exchange with the Conference. The top two teams in the EFL Championship and in EFL League One are automatically promoted to the division above and thus do not compete in the play-offs. The top three teams in EFL League Two and

3283-411: The play-off semi-finals are two leg ties with the final being a single match played at the home ground of the highest placed of the two teams. At levels seven and eight, all of the ties are single matches played at the home ground of the team with the highest league position. In 2003, Gillingham proposed replacing the current play-off system with one involving six clubs from each division and replacing

3350-428: The playoffs as wild-card teams. The division winner with the best record in the regular season gets a first-round bye, and each of the other division winners plays one of the three wild-card teams. In the divisional round, the lowest-seeded winner of a wild-card game then plays the lone bye team; the two wild-card winners also advance to play each other. The winners of these two games go to the conference championships, and

3417-510: The proposal, it was blocked by The FA and soon abandoned. The championship of every division in English football is determined solely by the standings in the league. However, a championship play-off would be held if the top two teams were tied for points, goal difference, goals scored in both their overall league record, and identical head-to-head record (including head-to-head away goals scored); to date, this has never happened. A play-off would also be scheduled if two teams are tied as above for

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3484-563: The regular season, teams play more games in their division than outside it, but the league's best teams might not play against each other in the regular season. Therefore, in the postseason a playoff series is organized. Any group-winning team is eligible to participate, and as playoffs became more popular they were expanded to include second- or even lower-placed teams – the term " wild card " refers to these teams. In England and Scotland, playoffs are used in association football to decide promotion for lower-finishing teams, rather than to decide

3551-421: The regular-season table. The First Division B qualifiers will be the top three teams from that league's regular-season table, excluding the division champion, which instead earns promotion to First Division A. As in the previous format, the teams will be divided into two groups, each playing home-and-away within the group, and the two group winners will play a one-off final, with the winner of that match advancing to

3618-488: The semifinals (the top two receive a bye into the semifinals). The away goals rule does not apply for the semi-finals. The Football League play-off finals were originally played in two legs, at both teams' home grounds, but were later changed to one-off affairs, which are played at Wembley Stadium in London. Teams are also promoted using a play-off tournament from levels six to eight of the football pyramid . At level six,

3685-401: The team who wins the most matches isn't automatically the national champion. The biggest upside in favor of the play-off system is the higher number of matches (40 instead of 34 compared to the previous season) and more top matches. The extra matches also generate higher revenues for the teams. Nonetheless, the higher number of matches takes an extra toll on teams and players. Besides play-offs,

3752-404: The top of the standings in 1932, an impromptu playoff game was scheduled to settle the tie. The NFL divided its teams into divisions in 1933 and began holding a single playoff final between division winners. In 1950 the NFL absorbed three teams from the rival All-America Football Conference , and the former "divisions" were now called "conferences", echoing the college use of that term. In 1967,

3819-471: The top two teams as determined by the selection committee do not automatically advance to the game in lieu of other bowls. The game is played at a neutral site, determined through bids by prospective host cities (similarly to the Super Bowl and NCAA final four ). When announcing it was soliciting bids for the 2016 and 2017 title games, playoff organizers said that the bids must propose host stadiums with

3886-622: The top two, as opposed to 4. Before the top-flight Argentine Primera División abandoned its traditional Apertura and Clausura format in 2015 in favor of an expanded single season, there was no playoff between the Apertura and Clausura winners. As a result, the league crowned two champions each year. After each Clausura, the two teams with the lowest points-per-game total for the previous six tournaments (three years, counting only Primera División games) were relegated to Primera B Nacional to be replaced by that league's champion and runner-up teams;

3953-537: The two teams immediately above contested promotion/relegation series with the third and fourth places in Primera B Nacional, counted by its aggregate table. In Primera B Nacional, the same procedure continues in use for relegation to either Primera B Metropolitana or Torneo Argentino A for non-Buenos Aires clubs. From 2015 onward, relegation from the Primera División will be based solely on league position at

4020-513: The two-legged ties with one-off matches. If adopted, the two higher-placed clubs in the play-offs would have enjoyed first-round byes and home advantage in the semi-finals. It was a controversial proposal — some people did not believe a club finishing only in eighth position in the League could (or should) compete in the Premiership while others found the system too American for their liking. Although League chairmen initially voted in favour of

4087-479: The winners of those conference finals then face each other in the Super Bowl . The College Football Playoff National Championship is a post-season college football bowl game , used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), which began play in the 2014 college football season . The game serves as the final of the College Football Playoff ,

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4154-649: Was born in Maracay , Aragua , Venezuela . A former second baseman and third baseman , Hernández played for five seasons (1987–91) in the New York Mets ' farm system , peaking at the Double-A level. He batted .250 in 493 games played . He threw and batted right-handed and was listed at 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall and 160 pounds (73 kg) Hernández was named to manager Paul Molitor 's 2015 coaching staff after serving for 14 seasons as

4221-564: Was held in 1917, but that is not known for sure). The Buffalo and Rochester metropolitan areas each played a final, the winners of which would advance to the "New York Pro Championship" on Thanksgiving weekend. The top New York teams were eventually absorbed into the National Football League upon its founding in 1920, but the league (mostly driven by an Ohio League that did not have true finals, though they frequently scheduled de facto championship matchups) did not adopt

4288-405: Was known as the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship . The FCS is the highest division in college football to hold a playoff tournament sanctioned by the NCAA to determine its champion. The four-team playoff system used by the Bowl Subdivision is not sanctioned by the NCAA. The NCAA Division II Football Championship is an American college football tournament played annually to determine

4355-418: Was played in Longview, Texas in 1978. For 1979 and 1980, Albuquerque, New Mexico hosted the game. McAllen, Texas hosted the finals from 1981 to 1985. From 1986 to 2013, the Division II final was played at Braly Municipal Stadium near the campus of the University of North Alabama in Florence, Alabama . Between 2014 and 2017, it was played at Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas . Since 1994,

4422-457: Was scored in the first inning when Gotay Mills drew a walk , stole second, advanced to third on an outfield fly ball , and came home on a sacrifice fly . Malone's second no-hit game occurred nearly a month later on July 19, this time in front of a home audience. He held the Bluefield Orioles hitless for nine innings in the 6–0 win. The season was also successful for the Twins as they won their first Appalachian League championship in 1978 with

4489-413: Was scrapped and replaced with direct relegation for the bottom Pro League/First Division A team only. Further changes will be introduced to the Europa League playoffs from 2016 to 2017 forward. The playoff will involve a total of 12 teams—nine from First Division A, and three from First Division B (the renamed Second Division). The First Division A qualifiers will be those finishing between 7th and 15th on

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