More Same Win/Lose Home/Road Configuration Notes

I may not have posted the fact, the Edmonton Oilers advanced to their 8th Stanley Cup final round (5-2 in previous losses “sandwiched around 5 straight wins), in which they will meet the Florida Panthers, last year’s runner up team, commencing tomorrow night in Florida.

Both the Panthers and Oilers (“Fla” is about a 6 plus to 5 series “fave” with the distance a record long between 2 Cup Final participating cities) won (2-1) home 6th games to advance after winning a road/home/road/home/road/home semi-final series.

Has it ever happened that finalists meet after winning semis in the same win/lose and home/road configuration.

Baseball more or less I can do in my head and not being able to sleep last night (cue Marilyn McCoo, Billy Davis and The Fifth Dimension) yielded that it has never happened in any best of 7 same year League Championship Series/baseball semi-finals, a format that began in 1985.

In both 1973 LCS, each a best of 5 endeavor, both the eventual repeat World Champion, Oakland Athletics and the New York Mets won games 2, 3 and 5 to win the series.

Each team won #2 on the road after losing game 1 there. They won games 3 and 5 there while losing #4.

Thrice there were three game sweeps in LCS play and in both ’70 (Orioles, who would subsequently “5” the Reds in what is often referred to as “The Brooks Robinson World Series” and ’75, when the Reds and Red Sox, before their classic World Series won by Cincy in 7 games, the same home/road win/lose configuration manifested in ’70 (road, road, home ) and (home, home, road).

I guess I can “check” NBA maybe, the perhaps more relevant NHL, in that “it” did happen this year.

The great pitcher, Jim “Catfish” Hunter, pictured above, hurled a 5 hit shutout in the A’s win in the decisive 5th game of the 1973 ALCS.