One of the more confusing parts of watching the standings during the March to May is dealing with tiebreakers. If two or more teams are tied, how do we break that tie and decide on the position of each team in the standings? During the season, it doesn’t really matter much, but if teams are tied at the end of the season, it matters very much. The tiebreakers can decide everything from who a team plays to where a team plays to if a team plays.

Here’s a summary of the NLL’s tiebreakers and how they are applied.

Here’s how it works. Parts of this will be obvious, while other parts may not be. I have confirmed with the league that the information here is correct.

Two-way ties

Let’s say two teams are tied for 3rd place. We go through each of the tiebreakers, in the order below, until one team “wins” a tiebreaker. That team is assigned 3rd place, the other one gets 4th. Very straightforward.

Rush and Seals ending up tied? Could happen…

More than two-way ties

Here’s where it gets more complicated. Say three teams are tied for 3rd place. If a single tiebreaker results in the three teams having different outcomes, then we have our order and we’re done. If all three are still tied, then nothing is decided and we keep going. But let’s say the winning percentage against common opponents comes out like this:

• Team 1 is .750
• Team 2 is .500
• Team 3 is .500

In that case, we have a winner but we also still have a tie. What happens here is that Team 1 is assigned 3rd place, the other two are tied for 4th, and we start everything over again with a two-way tiebreaker for 4th place. By “start everything over again”, I mean that regardless of which tiebreaker broke the initial tie, we start with tiebreaker #1 to break the new tie.

Now say that team 1 is .250 instead of .750. This is almost the same thing; in this case, team 1 is assigned 5th place, the other two are tied for 3rd and we start everything over again with a two-way tiebreaker.

For ties involving four or more teams, the process is the same – apply the tiebreaker until there are some teams not tied, assign those teams their positions based on the tiebreaker outcome, and then start over for the teams that are still tied.

The tiebreakers

The tiebreakers are applied in the following order. Remember, a tiebreaker is only used if all of the previous tiebreakers still result in a tie.

1. Head-to-head winning percentage between tied teams

How did each of the tied teams do against the other tied teams? This is calculated using winning percentage since some teams may have played each other two or three times while others may have played each other only once.

2. Winning percentage against common opponents played an equal number of times

If Team A played the Wings and Mammoth twice each and was 3–1 and Team B played the Wings and Mammoth twice each and was 2–2, Team A wins.

3. Head-to-head goal differential

Say three teams are all 2–2 against each other but Team 1 won their games 15–9 and 17–10 while the other two won one- and two-goal games. Team 1 would have a higher goal differential.

There’s a note on this one: “in case of three or more teams being tied, all teams must have played each other in order to apply this tiebreaker”. However the note is there from previous years and is no longer necessary. As of 2024, every team plays every other team at least once per season.

4. Strength of victory

This is defined as “Combined winning percentage of all teams defeated; teams defeated multiple times will count the number of times defeated”.

If you and another team are tied but you’ve beaten the Buffalos and Saskatchewans of the league while the other team has not, then you win.

5. Strength of schedule

This is defined as “Combined winning percentage of all teams competed against; teams competed against multiple times will count the number of times competed against”.

Same as the previous one but here we just look at who you played, not who you beat. If you and another team are still tied but you’ve played Buffalo and Saskatchewan twice each and the other team only played them once each, you win. Even if you lost all four of those games, your schedule is considered “more difficult” than the other team’s.

6. League-wide goal differential

The #3 tiebreaker compares goal differential in games against the teams you’re tied with. This one compares your goal differential in all of your games.

7. Goals For

If you and another team are tied in goal differential but you’ve scored more total goals, you win. This one is a bit strange because it also means you’ve allowed more total goals which should be a negative.

8. Goals Against

This one doesn’t make much sense since it’s only used if the teams are tied in goal differential AND number of goals scored. In that case, they must also be tied in goals against. That’s just how math works. This tiebreaker will never solve anything.

9. Coin toss

At this point, there’s nothing else we can do to differentiate the teams so the league flips a coin.