Season formats: same-year vs cross-year

Leagues don’t just play differently — they are scheduled differently, and FinalSkore stores that as a season string you’ll see across the app.

Two season-string shapes

• Same-year “YYYY” — the whole season sits inside one calendar year (for example a league running March to November is labelled by that single year).
• Cross-year “YYYY–YYYY” — the season spans two calendar years (a typical October-to-June league is labelled like 2024–2025).

Knowing the shape avoids confusion: the same league always uses the same convention, so a same-year league will never show a hyphenated season.

Regular season, playoffs and cups

Most leagues run a regular season (the long round-robin), then playoffs (knockout rounds that crown a champion). Many also run separate cups or tournaments alongside the league — the NBB Cup in Brazil, EuroCup in Europe, or the NBA Cup / In-Season Tournament.

Why the stage matters

The same two teams can play very differently in November and in May.

• Early regular season — rotations are still settling; rest and travel matter more.
• Late regular season — teams out of contention may rest stars or even tank; teams chasing seeding go hard.
• Playoffs — shorter rotations, tighter defense, higher intensity, and scouting that erodes a regular-season edge.

A prediction always sits inside a season and a stage. The same matchup carries different context depending on where in the calendar it falls.