Single-elimination changes the game up.
Aside from NCAA basketball, the only major American sport that utilizes an all-or-nothing single-elimination playoff is the NFL — in which higher-ranked teams gain advantages, like byes and home games, that don't exist in the NCAA tourney. What would happen if other sports determined their champions in the style of March Madness? For one, the following historically great championship teams — which lost the first games of playoff series against opponents they eventually vanquished — would have gone home single-elimination losers.
The 1996 New York Yankees
In the first championship season of the Joe Torre–Derek Jeter Era, the Yanks lost the opener of both the AL Division Series (6-0 to the Texas Rangers) and the World Series (12-1 to the Atlanta Braves). Would a single-elimination playoff "choke" have prompted George Steinbrenner to fire Torre, demoralize a young and promising team, and prevent the most recent Yankees dynasty from ever happening? And, if so, is this the best argument for implementing a single-elimination playoff system in baseball?
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The 1990-1991 Chicago Bulls
Another dynasty whose takeoff would've been aborted. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen began their first NBA Finals with a 93-91 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in Magic Johnson's last Finals appearance. Magic's AIDS-triggered retirement happened the next year, so in this scenario he would have had ended his last full season with a ring. (Though the Lakers conversely wouldn't have won the 1985 and 1988 Finals in a single-elimination world. And they lost the first game of the conference finals in their 1980 title year as well. The difference between series and single-elimination tournaments is pretty big.)
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The 1993-1994 New York Rangers
En route to Mark Messier's crowning achievement, leading New York City's beloved yet frustrating hockey team to their first Stanley Cup in over 50 years, the Rangers lost the opening game of both the Conference Finals (4-3 to the New Jersey Devils) and the Stanley Cup Finals (3-2 to the Vancouver Canucks). Single-elimination would have left Rangers fans still longing to drink from the Cup after what would now be a 70-year draught — Cubs territory.
Image by Mike Powell /Allsport
