Two Dubious Sports Postseason Streaks End in October 2020
In October 2020, two dubious postseason sports streaks ended: one in baseball and one in basketball.
By defeating the
Chicago White Sox in Game 3 in a best-of-three first round series, the A's snapped their nine-game losing streak in winner-take-all playoff games. It was
their first win in a winner-take-all game since Game 7 of the 1973 World Series. None of the nine winner-take-all losses were played between 1974 and 1999 as
the A's played in ten consecutive lopsided playoff series (seven sweeps, three 4-1 series,
6 wins, 4 losses) between the 1974 World Series and the 1990 World Series.
The other postseason sports streak involved Lebron James. The Los Angeles Lakers' 4-2 NBA Finals series victory in 2020 over the Heat ended a string of six
consecutive NBA Finals in which Lebron James lost at least three games. (He lost the Finals in 2018, 2017, 2015, and 2014 and won the Finals 4-3 in 2016 and 2013.
He didn't play in the 2019 NBA Finals.) That was not the longest such streak in NBA history as Lakers greats Jerry West and Elgin Baylor each lost a
record seven consecutive NBA Finals (1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970). Michael Jordan (6-0 in the NBA Finals) never lost at least
three games in any of his six NBA Finals.
With the loss in Game 5 of the 2020 NBA Finals, James
tied West for most NBA Finals game losses (33). The biggest reason that James has so many losses in the Finals is that he has played in 55 (!!) Finals games.
Only two franchises have played in more NBA Finals games than Lebron has: the Lakers (179) and the Celtics (135).