As Pre-Playoff Favorites Fight for NBA Title, NHL Also-Rans Compete for Cup

The Stanley Cup does not feature a top-two team from either conference, making it only the ninth time that has happened in the past 80 seasons in major U.S. sports.

The last 20 Super Bowls and NBA Finals have included a team finishing the regular season with the best or second best record from at least one conference. Tampa Bay ranked third in the NHL East and Chicago fourth in the West this season.

Here are the only nine series in the last 20 years to lack a top-two team:

However, there is usually one surprise. The top team in each conference has met for the title only 13 times in the past 80 seasons.

Most upsets come in the NHL. That trend continues as Tampa Bay already upset the top two teams in the East, and Saturday rallied to beat the fourth best team in the West 4-3 to even the Stanley Cup Finals at a game apiece with Chicago. The Lightning overcame needing to insert backup goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy twice and losing a lead for the second straight game.

Meanwhile, on Sunday night in Oakland, LeBron James’ monster triple-double performance grabbed a game for Cleveland in impossible Oracle Arena. The overtime victory marks the first Finals win in franchise history.

The average standing of the champion and runner up in each sport during their regular season is below:

The top-seeded NBA teams have been much more likely to make and win the finals. The champion’s average standing in their conference has been 1.9 and Golden State was the No. 1 seed this year and won game one. The average runner-up’s average seed has been 2.2, and Cleveland was the No. 2 seed in the East this season.

Upsets are much less in the NBA than any other league once you consider that baseball and football have fewer teams make the playoffs and therefore would be expected to have a much lower average conference standing.

The following are the last 20 champions in each of the four traditional major sports in the US: