The Peninsula Athletic League’s Ocean Division only receives one automatic bid to the upcoming Central Coast Section baseball playoffs. And Half Moon Bay High has the inside track at garnering that berth, as the Cougars can do so by clinching the Ocean title with a win at Carlmont on Wednesday.

But if Half Moon Bay (17-9, 10-4 PAL Ocean) loses, the Cougars would share the crown with Carlmont … and maybe Terra Nova (17-11, 9-5) as well. While each program would then be credited with a share of the Ocean championship, only one could be awarded the division’s automatic CCS bid.

Who has the tiebreaker? In the case of a co-championship, it’s straightforward. But a tri-championship? Umm, got a minute?

If Carlmont (18-11, 9-5) beats Half Moon Bay AND Woodside beats Terra Nova, Carlmont and Half Moon Bay would be co-champions at 10-5. For CCS purposes, the PAL’s first tiebreaker is head-to-head competition. Half Moon Bay would have won the season series over Carlmont, two games to one, so Half Moon Bay would take the CCS bid.

But if Carlmont beats Half Moon Bay AND Terra Nova beats Woodside, three teams would all finish with 10-5 Ocean records. Carlmont, Half Moon Bay and Terra Nova would be tri-champions. As for the tiebreakers, here’s where it gets complicated.

The first tiebreaker, again, is head-to-head competition. In this case: what was each tri-champion’s record against the other two?

Carlmont: 1-2 vs. HMB; 2-1 vs. Terra Nova. That’s 3-3.

Half Moon Bay: 1-2 vs. Terra Nova; 2-1 vs. Carlmont (with a win on Wednesday). That’s also 3-3.

Terra Nova: 2-1 vs. HMB; 1-2 vs. Carlmont. Again, 3-3.

That didn’t resolve anything.

The next tiebreaker is each champion’s record against the next-highest finisher (in this case, fourth-place El Camino). Well, Carlmont went 2-1 against El Camino. So did Half Moon Bay. And Terra Nova.

The tiebreaker moves on to the teams’ records against the fifth-place finisher, Woodside. If Terra Nova beats Woodside on Wednesday, somewhat unbelievably, the tri-champions would all be 2-1 against the Wildcats.

Completing what would be a perfect deadlock within the division, all three teams went 3-0 against last-place Sequoia.

The entire set of tiebreakers within the division would be exhausted, without any ties being broken!

The PAL’s bylaws state the next tiebreaker is the teams’ records against common opponents, outside the Ocean. Carlmont, Half Moon Bay and Terra Nova shared just one non-Ocean opponent … Burlingame.

Carlmont beat Burlingame, 3-2. Terra Nova topped Burlingame twice, 10-1 and 5-3. And Half Moon Bay lost to Burlingame, 6-2.

Thus, Half Moon Bay’s defeat to Burlingame would serve as the tiebreaker to eliminate the Cougars.

In that case, Carlmont and Terra Nova would still be knotted, and their two-way tie would need to be broken.

Instead of continuing by comparing Carlmont and Terra Nova’s results against any other shared non-Ocean opponents, the tiebreaker reverts back to the top. The teams would be compared as if they were co-champions, PAL Comissioner Terry Stogner and 21st-year Menlo School coach Craig Schoof confirmed.

As always, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head competition. And Carlmont beat Terra Nova two out of three times, the last a 1-0 victory at Terra Nova on April 30.

So in the event of a tri-championship, Carlmont would hold the tiebreaker. The Scots would garner the Ocean’s automatic CCS bid.