MasterstrokeFormats and competitions
Playoffs
The knockout stage of a franchise league: why finishing top two gives a second chance, and how the eliminator and qualifiers lead to the final.
Playoffs are the knockout stage of a league season, where the top teams on the points table play off for the title.
The most common format, used by the IPL and copied widely, takes four teams. Qualifier 1 is played between first and second, and its winner goes straight to the final. The Eliminator is played between third and fourth, and its loser goes home. Qualifier 2 pits the loser of Qualifier 1 against the winner of the Eliminator for the last place in the final. The structure rewards a strong league season: the top two teams can lose a match and still reach the final, while third and fourth must win twice.
That asymmetry is why the last week of a league is so tense. A side that has already qualified will still chase second place, and net run rate often decides who gets the second life.
In Masterstroke: the club season ends with a top-four playoff and a final, then a board review that decides whether you keep the job.