Tiebreakers for Head-to-Head leagues in Fantasy Football

This article explains

• how ties for the lead in a division are broken
• how all other ties are broken
• that playoff criteria apply to both the regular season and playoff standings
• that it is not possible to change how ties are broken

Yahoo! Sports uses slightly different criteria to break ties that involve a division leader vs. for wild-card playoff spots.

Division Leader Tiebreakers

If two or more teams tie for the lead in a division, the following tiebreakers will be used to determine the division winner.

1. Division winning percentage.
2. Total fantasy points (season total).
3. Fantasy points scored in last week's matchup.
4. Fantasy points scored in the matchup two weeks prior.
5. The comparison continues until the tie is broken or no more weeks remain to compare. At that time, a coin flip will settle the tie.

 Please note:

• Teams must have identical winning percentages to be considered tied in the standings.
  
  • A team with an 8-4-1 (.654) record will be seeded ahead of a team with an 8-5 (.615) record.
  • A team with an 8-6 (.571) record will be tied with a team with a 6-4-4 (.571) record.

• If three or more teams tie for a division lead, once the division winner is determined, all other teams involved in the tie are then seeded using the wild-card tiebreaking criteria.
• In leagues that use divisions and use the playoff seeding option "All teams seeded according to overall standings," the wild-card tiebreaking criteria will be used to break all ties, including those that involve a division winner.
• Division winners that finish with the same winning percentage will be seeded using the wild-card tiebreaking criteria.
• Division winning percentage is determined in the same way as overall winning percentage, except it only includes games against division opponents.
• Depending on your league's settings it is possible to have a better record than a team leading another division but still have a lower seed.

Wild Card Tiebreakers

If two or more teams tie for a wild-card (non-division leading) position, the following tiebreakers will be used to determine the standings

1. Total fantasy points (season total).
2. Fantasy points scored in last week's matchup.
3. Fantasy points scored in the matchup two weeks prior.
4. The comparison continues until the tie is broken or no more weeks remain to compare. At that time, a coin flip will settle the tie.

Please note:

• In public leagues, if a game it tied, it will be scored as a tie.  In private leagues, if a game it tied, it will be up to the commissioner to decide to allow ties, or create a tiebreaker rule.
• In leagues where division winners are guaranteed a playoff spot, wild card teams are selected without consideration for divisions. Non-division winners will be ranked in the playoffs according to winning percentage or the tiebreakers listed above.
• It is not possible for a commissioner to configure a league to require a balanced number of teams from each division in the playoffs.
• Head-to-Head results are not considered when breaking a tie at the end of the regular season.
• Yahoo! uses these tiebreakers to determine the order of the standings during the regular season, as well as for determining the final playoff seeds.
• It is not possible for commissioners to change the season tiebreaking criteria for their league.

Head-to-Head - Including Divisions with division seeding options: Playoff Seeding Options can be set by the commissioner from the "Edit League Settings" page. When using divisions, the commissioner can choose:

• To award division winners the top seeds
• Advance division winners but seed all teams according to overall standings
• Seed all teams regardless of divisions based on overall standings.