While the Major League Baseball season is still in its early stages and teams are jockeying for position within their respective divisions and leagues, two of the four major sports are undergoing their postseason runs. The National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association are both witnessing teams battle back and forth for positions and chances at the leagues’ major team trophies — the Stanley Cup and the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
I’ve been an avid hockey fan since early in my childhood, and the Stanley Cup Playoffs have always been a key part of my spring and early summer, just like the chase for the World Series is a key part of my fall. Watching teams duke it out for what is, in my opinion, the greatest trophy in all of sports, in a game that is the most random out of any of the four major sports, is about as exciting as it can get for even a casual observer.
There’s something special about MLB and the NHL’s playoffs, not just because of the important roles they play in my life, but because of said variability and the atmospheres during their respective games. The resulting adrenaline they can create for those watching at the game and at home is unparalleled.
The two sports are different in the way that their atmospheres are created. Baseball parks are obviously much larger and, for the most part, outside even during the postseason, while hockey rinks are enclosed with more shallow roofs to allow the noise to bounce off. But even with those differences, the way the games function at their core allows for an incredible viewing experience. Take the Anthony Volpe grand slam for the Yankees against the Los Angeles Dodgers in last year’s World Series. It’s just an indescribable pop from the crowd when a player in Volpe, who is a hometown kid playing as the Yankees shortstop, came up to the plate down a run and down 3-0 in the series and ended up with arguably the biggest hit of his major league career.
Then, take the Winnipeg Jets comeback against the St. Louis Blues in the final two minutes of game seven to tie the game and win in double overtime to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last week. It was the second Game 7 comeback of the postseason as well, with the Dallas Stars fighting back against the Colorado Avalanche in the third period to advance. The atmosphere, combined with the result, was a spectacle to watch.
Below is the tying goal:
And here’s the game-winner:
The thrills provided by the NHL playoffs right now just had me thinking back to, and ahead to, the excitement of the MLB playoffs. It’s just hard to top what hockey and baseball postseasons can bring, both in terms of the noise in the arena and the unpredictable results for those who are casual viewers. At the moment, we have scintillating scenes on the ice, and in five months or so, the temperatures will drop, and we’ll get the hair-raising chess match that is October baseball.
The combination of upsets, in-game atmosphere, and tactical intrigue makes October baseball and the Stanley Cup playoffs the best postseasons of any North American sports, in my opinion. If you have a moment, take some time to enjoy the ongoing NHL playoffs, and witness some of the most heart-pounding action out there. And while you’re there, allow it to get you amped up for the baseball playoffs which, though still a ways off, promise to provide some of the best scenes sports can offer, and if things continue as they have so far, will hopefully include the Yankees.