When Hap Dumont decided to hold a national baseball tournament in Wichita in 1934, he realized that playing a double-elimination tournament in baseball was not like playing one in any other sport. The problem is the use of pitchers. If a team went through a double-elimation tournament and advance all the way through the winner's bracket, they would sit for a few days waiting on the finish of the loser's bracket. Teams coming through the "back door" of the loser's bracket would have to play extra games to reach the championship game. This created an advantage for the undefeated team in a baseball tournament.
Dumont decided that the best way to solve this problem was to "re-seed" the finals bracket once the top six teams are determind by play. He made the undefeated team (winner's bracket) play the highest remaining seed left in the tournament which they had not already played. The loser of the championship bracket would also play the highest remaining seeded team which they had not already played. The remaining two teams, then, would play each other.
In effect, Hap Dumont decided to make it tougher on the undefeated team in the loser's bracket by playing them against the toughest team left in the field that they had not already played. This is known as the Hap Dumont Rule. If the undefeated team wins their first game in the quarter-finals, then they proceed right to the winner's bracket and there is a single semi-final game. However, if the undefeated team loses and all of the teams left in the tournament have one loss, then there is a two-game semi-final and a single championship game.
Dumont was an innovative mind who created a championship bracket for the National Baseball Congress World Series and it has been used for many years. Click HERE to view the 2008 NBC World Series Finals Bracket.
