The Sixers are in. The Flyers still might be. Don’t worry. We sorted out their confusing playoff pictures.

So the 76ers are in the playoffs, kind of, and the Flyers still might be, and if only everything were that simple. If you’re a casual fan of the NBA or the NHL, if you’re not spending your waking hours poring over potential postseason scenarios, if you just want to know when the local teams are playing and who their opponents will be, you can be forgiven for wondering whether these leagues rely on supercomputers and Silicon Valley-designed algorithms to determine seeding and scheduling.

Long gone are the days when each league had two conferences and each conference had two divisions and the top four teams in each division made the playoffs. Too easy. Not enough ginned-up interest. Now the NBA has play-in games to determine the last two seeds in each conference, which means that a No. 7 seed might never get to play a full first-round series if it happens to have a couple of bad nights. Because, you know, the regular season matters.

Meanwhile, the NHL has its byzantine postseason tournament, where in the first round the two division winners play two wild-card teams and the second- and third-place teams in each division play each other but no one knows who plays whom in the second round. And that’s after everyone tries to figure out the NHL’s byzantine system to rank teams during the regular season, where certain victories are more valuable than others and some losses are dressed up not to look like losses because those teams didn’t lose during regulation and hey, what about point percentage and excuse me, but a blood vessel in my nose just burst because this is all so ridiculous.

» READ MORE: The Flyers’ collapse probably made their long rebuild longer

Fortunately, The Inquirer is an institution committed to serving the public, clarifying complex issues, and stopping the flow of misinformation. Here’s a handy and totally accurate guide on how to navigate the next couple of days and understand all the requirements and implications for the Flyers and Sixers. You’re welcome.

* In their final regular-season game, the Flyers play the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center. That game could determine whether the Flyers will qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2020, but only if John Tortorella decides not to bench all his players.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins are one point ahead of the Flyers, 88-87, and play the New York Islanders on Wednesday. For the Flyers to finish ahead of Pittsburgh, they have to beat the Capitals in regulation, and the Penguins must lose to the Isles in regulation. Which means Sidney Crosby must contract a communicable disease sometime within the next 48 hours.

* If the Penguins lose Wednesday in overtime or a shootout, they will still finish ahead of the Flyers in the standings. Why? Because Pittsburgh is already assured of finishing the season with more regulation victories than the Flyers (regulation victories are the first tiebreaker) and because an NHL team that loses in overtime or a shootout still gets a point. And ice cream. And T-shirts that say THERE ARE NO LOSERS JUST MUCKERS AND GRINDERS. This is professional sports, after all.

* The Detroit Red Wings are two points ahead of the Flyers, 89-87. If the two teams finish with identical point totals, the Red Wings could get the final wild-card spot based on this tiebreaker: Their top scorer, Lucas Raymond, was a high first-round pick who actually wanted to play for the organization that drafted him.

» READ MORE: Allen Iverson looks like he’s finally found stability and inner peace. Let’s hope so.

* The Sixers will play the Miami Heat on Wednesday night in a play-in game. The Sixers will earn the No. 7 seed only if Joel Embiid manages to make it through the game without tearing another knee ligament, spraining his ankle, suffering back spasms, breaking his face, or turning off a Billy Joel concert before the final stanza of “Piano Man.” The Heat will earn the No. 7 seed only if Jimmy Butler manages to glare at Tobias Harris long enough to burn a hole through his stomach.

* If the Sixers beat Miami, they will play Saturday at Madison Square Garden in Game 1 of a first-round series against the New York Knicks. They can advance to the second round, however, only if a representative from their front office explains why their roster has no Villanova players and the Knicks’ roster has 12, each of whom averages 47 three-pointers a game.

* If the Sixers lose to Miami, they will play Friday against either the Atlanta Hawks or Chicago Bulls. If the Sixers win Friday, they will play Sunday at TD Garden in Game 1 of a series against the Boston Celtics and their perennial MVP candidate, Al Horford. If the Sixers lose Friday, their season will be over, and in a gesture to appease listeners of The Rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast, Harris will be thrown into an active volcano.

* At all times, NBA commissioner Adam Silver reserves the right to reconfigure the Eastern Conference tournament so that the Sixers face Doc Rivers and the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round. Silver will also have the power to declare by fiat which team will advance, given that neither Rivers nor the Sixers are capable of winning a Game 7 with a berth in the conference finals at stake.