The difference in professional sports between the regular season and the playoffs is enormous.
Regular season success gets headlines and individual awards, but only teams that win in the playoffs are crowned champions.
History is littered with teams that have enjoyed spectacular regular seasons, only to crash and burn in the playoffs. Last season the Boston Bruins set NHL records for victories and points in a season, only to be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
The Golden State Warriors team that broke the Chicago Bulls record for most wins in a season isn’t celebrated for that achievement because they blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers, giving the Cavaliers a title no one thought they would win.
Those teams joined the New England Patriots squad that won 17 straight games but lost the Super Bowl to the Giants. and the Seattle Mariners who won 116 games but didn’t even make the American League championship series, as regular season juggernauts that couldn’t win in the playoffs.
Over the weekend, as the MLB playoffs got underway, once again teams that excelled in the regular season were having problems in the playoffs.
The Atlanta Braves led the majors with 104 wins. They tied the record for most home runs, and led both leagues in runs scored and slugging percentage.
But with home field advantage secured, the Braves went out in Game 1 and played terribly. Their vaunted offense got only five singles while the Philadelphia Phillies, a team that won only 90 games to the Braves 104, defeated them 3-0 to take a 1-0 lead in the best of five divisional series. With two of the next three in Philadelphia the Braves face the prospect of losing consecutive series two straight seasons to a team that they finished far ahead of during the season.
They weren’t the only regular season big winner who got behind in their divisional series right off the bat.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, also 100 game winners, fell behind the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-0 and eventually lost the first game11-2. The 100 win Baltimore Orioles in the American League suffered the indignity of losing both weekend games to the Texas Rangers, and are only one loss away from elimination.
Now Atlanta and Los Angeles can still both rally and win their series, but each must win at least one game on the road. The Orioles have to sweep or they are out.
These series only reinforce both the difference between the regular season and the playoffs, and the difficulty involved in navigating through postseason playoffs and winning a title.
It’s also why no one should ever assume that regular season performances, no matter how impressive or historic, guarantee teams a championship.