The NBA and NHL Playoffs are in full swing, and with a couple of local (to me) teams involved, it’s hard to avoid hearing the latest results. My mind started to wonder – have any Game Sevens in the final championship round gone to overtime? Have the two teams ever been so evenly matched that they needed to keep going past the normal limit to determine a champion?

(NOTE: The year given refers to the year in which the game was played, not the year the regular season began)

Football is arguably too physically demanding a sport to allow for even a “best two out of three” championship match. But that hasn’t stopped a few Super Bowls from going to overtime:

2017: New England Patriots vs Atlanta Falcons – The Falcons built up a 28-3 lead nearing the end of the third quarter, but the Patriots stormed back with 25 unanswered points – capped by a 2-point conversion after their last touchdown with less than a minute to play – to send the game to overtime. The Patriots won the coin toss and took possession at the start of the overtime period, and needed less than four minutes to drive to the Falcon’s two-yard line, where running back James White rushed in for a touchdown to give them their fifth Super Bowl win.

(NOTE: At the time, the rule was that the first team to score a touchdown in overtime would win the game. In 2022, the NFL changed the post-season rules for overtime so that each team would get at least one chance to possess the ball and try to score. This year, those rules will apply to regular season games as well)

2024: Kansas City Chiefs vs San Francisco 49ers – A back-and-forth game saw the teams tied at 19 points at the end of regulation. The 49ers won the coin toss, and drove down field only to stall out at the 9-yard line. Jake Moody kicked a field goal to make it 22-19. The Chiefs took over, and though the 49ers defense came close more than once to stopping them, they pushed through to the 49ers’ three-yard line, where a pass from Patrick Mahomes to Mercole Hardman gave Kansas City a 25-22 win.

The NBA has been around since the 1950s, absorbing rival leagues and teams along the way. So far only two championship series have needed extra time.

1957: Boston Celtics vs St Louis Hawks – The NBA had been around for less than a decade before having one of their greatest finals ever. The Hawks had won Game 6 when Cliff Hagan hit the tie-breaking and game-winning shot at the buzzer.

In Game 7, the Hawks’ Bob Pettit hit the game-tying free throws with 7 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime. A shot by the Hawks’ Jack Coleman tied things up at 113 with 9 seconds left in the first OT, forcing another overtime period. A third overtime looked possible, but Bob Pettit missed a game-tying shot at the buzzer. Final score: Celtics 125, Hawks 123. The championship would be the first of many for that great Celtics dynasty, which would last for over a decade.

1962: Boston Celtics vs Los Angeles Lakers – If any team was going to challenge the Celtics’ dominance, it would have been the Lakers. Led by Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, they could hold their own against Boston’s Bill Russell and Bob Cousy. With the score tied at 100 with a few seconds left in Game 7, the Lakers’ Frank Selvy shot from twelve feet away bounced off the rim. The Celtics would win 110-107 after the overtime period; the Lakers would continue to challenge the Celtics throughout the 1960s, but would lose each of the five following times they met in the finals.

The NHL has been competing for the Stanley Cup for well over a century. You’d think that there would have been more “overtime finals” in that time.

1950: Detroit Red Wings vs New York Rangers – This was an extremely well-fought series. Games 4, 5, and 6 all went to overtime. Game 7 was tied at three after two periods, but neither team could score in the third, sending it to overtime. One overtime period passed with no scoring, so a second OT was needed. At eight and a half minutes in, Pete Babando got the puck past Rangers goalie Chuck Rayner to give the Red Wings the trophy.

1954: Detroit Red Wings vs Montreal Canadiens – Hoping to repeat as champions, the Canadiens found themselves down three games to one in the series. They won Game 5 in overtime by the score of 1-0, and then won Game 6 easily, 4-1. In Game 7, the Canadiens scored in the first period; the Red Wings answered with a goal of their own in the second. It stayed knotted at 1-1 through the end of regulation. At about for and a half minutes into overtime, a shot by Detroit’s Tony Leswick deflected off the glove of Montreal’s Doug Harvey and into the net.

It’s baseball’s World Series that has seen the most matchups that were still deadlocked after nine innings in Game 7.

1912: Boston Red Sox vs New York Giants – Technically, it was Game 8. Game 2 was called after eleven innings due to darkness (with the score tied at 6). The game was a great pitcher’s duel, with the Giant’s Christy Mathewson and Boston’s Hugh Bedient and Joe Wood allowing only one run per team through nine innings. In the top of the tenth, the Giants put enough hits together to go ahead 2-1. In the bottom half, Boston’s Clyde Engle led off with a fly ball to center – which Fred Snodgrass muffed for a two-base error. Snodgrass redeemed himself with a great running catch of a drive off the bat of Harry Hooper – but Engle still moved to third. Steve Yerkes drew a walk, bringing up the dangerous Tris Speaker. Mathewson got him to hit an easy pop foul off the first base line, but no one took charge on the play and it dropped untouched. Given another chance, Speaker lashed a single scoring Engle and moving Yerkes to third. Duffy Lewis was walked intentionally to load the bases, with the hope of getting a double play grounder to end the inning. Larry Gardner would not oblige – he hit a fly ball deep enough to right to score Yerkes with the Series-winning run.

1924: Washington Senators vs New York Giants – This was one of the wildest World Series games. The Giants led 3-1 going into the bottom of the 8^th, but a two-out bases loaded single by the Nats’ Bucky Harris tied the score. Both sides worked out of jams in the 9^th, sending the game into extras. The 10^th inning passed without major incident; both teams got two runners on in the 11^th but couldn’t score. Walter Johnson, in his fourth inning of relief work, gave up a leadoff single to start the 12^th – but that was it as he retired the next three batters. In the bottom of the 12^th, a pop foul by the Nats’ Muddy Ruel should have been the second out – but catcher Hank Gowdy stumbled over his own discarded mask and the ball dropped untouched. Given a second chance, Ruel doubled to left. After Walter Johnson reached first on an error, a ground ball to third baseman Freddie Lindstrom should have been an inning-ending double play. But the ball hit something and took a crazy hop, bouncing past Lindstrom and letting Ruel come home to earn the championship for the Senators.

1991: Minnesota Twins vs Atlanta Braves – There would not have even been a Game 7 if the Twins’ Kirby Puckett hadn’t homered in the 11^th inning of Game 6. Game 7 turned out to be a classic pitchers’ duel, with Jack Morris of the Twins and John Smoltz of the Braves putting up zero after zero. The only threats came in the eighth inning. In the top half, the Braves managed to get runners on second and third with no outs; in the bottom half, the Twins got runners on first and third with one out. All to no avail. The Twins came close again in the bottom of the ninth when the first two batters both reached, but a double play and then a strikeout sent the game to extra innings. Still on the mound, and refusing to come out for a reliever, Morris sent the Braves down in order in the top of the tenth. Dan Gladden doubled off reliever Alejandro Peña to start the bottom half, and despite the Braves’ best efforts, Gene Larkin would soon single him home to give the Twins the championship.

1997: Florida Marlins vs Cleveland Indians – Another wild and crazy Series, Game 7 turned out to be the only real “pitchers’ duel” in the seven games. The Indians put two runs across in the third, but that was all they could manage against the Marlin’s Al Leiter and a bunch of relievers. Meanwhile, Jaret Wright was shutting down the Marlins; his only mistake was a solo home run by Bobby Bonilla to lead off the bottom of the 7^th. The Marlins’ bullpen shut out the Indians in the eighth and ninth, and it looked like the Indians would take home the trophy. Except the Marlins managed to score a run in the bottom of the ninth thanks to a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Craig Counsell. Robb Nen sent the Indians down with ease in the top of the 10^th; José Mesa ran into some trouble giving up a pair of singles in the bottom half, but Charles Nagy got the final out to send the game on. Jay Powell sent the side down in order in the top of the 11^th – and then the nail biting began. A single, error, and intentional walk loaded the bases with one out. Still on the mound, Nagy got Devon White to tap the ball to the second baseman, who fired home to get the forceout for the second out. But Édgar Rentería punched a hard grounder through the infield for a single, giving the Marlins the Series.

2016: Chicago Cubs vs Cleveland Indians – Cleveland hadn’t won a World Series since 1948; the Cubs hadn’t won one since 1908. Someone’s “drought” was going to end, no matter what. It looked like it would be Chicago, as they took a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth in Cleveland’s Progressive Field. But a two-out rally capped by a Rajai Davis home run tied the score. In the top of the ninth, the Cubs got Jason Heyward to third with one out – but failed to bring him home. The Indians went down in order in the bottom of the ninth, sending the game into extras – just as a rain shower suspended play. During the delay, Heyward called his Cubs teammates to a players-only meeting, where he must have given one heck of a speech. They came out swinging in the top of the tenth, scoring two runs and leaving the bases loaded before Cleveland’s Trevor Bauer could put out the fire. The Indians wouldn’t go quietly in the bottom half of the inning; a little two-out rally made the score 8-7 Cubs before Michael Martinez tapped an easy ground ball to Kris Bryant at third who’s throw to first easily beat Martinez for the final out.

(NOTE: Yeah, it may seem unfair that the baseball ones get a lot more detail. But it’s the nature of the game to make it easier to record the details, especially compared to the continuous action of basketball and hockey.)

I should check if the WNBA has had any “winner take all” games in their championship series go into overtime. I also wonder what rules FIFA has about ties in regulation for their World Cup finals.