Run Differential
RDRuns scored minus runs allowed, used as a pool-play tiebreaker and almost always capped per game so blowouts cannot buy a seed.
Run differential is the simplest tiebreaker available and the one most tournaments reach for after head-to-head. Take a team's runs scored, subtract runs allowed, and the higher number gets the better seed.
Left uncapped it creates an ugly incentive: a team already winning by fifteen has a reason to keep scoring, against eleven-year-olds who are already having a bad morning. So nearly every tournament caps the differential countable per game — a cap of somewhere around six to ten runs is common, though the number is a choice each event makes, not a standard.
The cap has a second effect worth understanding: it makes the tiebreaker much more likely to stay tied, which is why a well-written packet lists what comes after run differential. Runs allowed is the usual next step, because it cannot be run up deliberately.
Some tournaments deliberately skip run differential entirely and go from head-to-head to runs allowed to a coin flip, precisely to remove any reason to keep scoring in a decided game. That is a defensible choice and worth stating as an intentional one.
Bleacher Notes applies the event's differential cap when it computes standings, so the table shows the capped figure the tiebreaker actually uses rather than the raw margin.
What is run differential in a baseball tournament?
Runs scored minus runs allowed across pool play, used to break ties in the standings. Most tournaments cap how much differential a single game can contribute.
Why is run differential capped?
An uncapped differential rewards running up the score against an overmatched team. A per-game cap removes the incentive while keeping the tiebreaker useful.
Let the scorebook keep itself.
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