It's supposed to be a league, played under exactly the same conditions over a prolonged period of time.
As you see in England's lower divisions, you have teams who finished several places below and 20-30 points behind the champions, suddenly winning trophies and prizes against higher placed teams over a couple of weeks, some of them after extra time and penalties, and all of them at a neutral venue. The same can also apply to relegation playoffs, where the pressure to succeed intensifies again. An entire season's work can be rendered meaningless by one missed penalty or a refereeing error or an honest mistake, and that's it. Last year, all the teams promoted to our division got trophies for it, even though only one of them won the league.
The table shouldn't lie. If you can't get the results required during the regular season, it's up to you to try again and do better the next time.
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