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disappointing signings, coach's poor tactics, etc. Also the coach or/and general manager is seen as a poor fit or otherwise does not relate well with others – players and other coaches, the media, his superiors and so forth – and a change in leadership is apparently forthcoming or desired. Often, there will be rumors of a coach and/or manager departure – often by dismissal or forced resignation (also known as "by mutual consent") – with said rumors often beginning several games before the end of the season. Often the team will dismiss the coach and/or manager once the team is eliminated from reaching the postseason, rather than waiting for the conclusion of the season, as this cuts short the coach/managers' "lame duck" status and clears the way for new hires. In that case, an interim coach and/or interim manager will be appointed to see out the remainder of the season, though their predecessors may still remain on the club payroll as a "special advisor" until their contracts expires. Coaches and managers can be released with less financial consequences to their team, compared to players who are often under guaranteed contracts making them somewhat costly to buy out.
234:
giving them some real-game experience in an attempt to develop them. This is especially true at the high school and college levels, especially if a coach sees a number of players that are "promising". Former starters (such as seniors on a high school or college team) will often still be asked to play a role in helping develop their younger teammates, but their roles may be different than before. Additionally, a team may take greater risks during the remaining games in order for players to master new skills or try plays a coaching staff believes will help them win in the future. And if a team has many younger players the coaching staff will sometimes play different combinations of players to see which ones work best together, another building block for future seasons.
273:
still have to play an opponent they have a good chance of defeating, even if the opponent has made the playoffs: The teams may match up well on the field and have comparable playing ability, despite a disparity in win–loss records; the other team has players who are unavailable (starters are resting, key players are injured or suspended, etc.); or the opponent is from a lower division and, even with the opponent's excellent win–loss record, the team with the losing record can rather easily outmatch the opponent and, although with some work, readily achieve victory. For cases such as a divisional or geographical
164:
is automatically granted a postseason berth, regardless of record, and there are still teams remaining in contention for one or more "wild card" or "at-large" playoff berths. At the same time, the poorer performing teams face the prospect of elimination before and sometimes long before the season is over. Elimination occurs when, regardless of the outcomes of all unplayed games on the league schedule, the eliminated teams miss the playoffs. In exceptional cases, such as forfeits against a leading team, an "eliminated" team may be chosen to advance in their stead.
269:– that is, possibly eliminate one or more teams from contention that had a chance to make the playoffs (especially if they were "on the bubble," or holding one of the lowest qualifying positions while still in contention and, as a result, their own qualification depends on the outcomes of other games and/or other teams' performances) or – if the opponent is in the playoffs, cause them to get a lower seed in the elimination tournament and/or lose home field advantage they had already provisionally secured.
143:(i.e., a "wild card" spot). It does not apply to certain sports leagues, often (but not always) for some high school and college-level sports where all teams participate in the playoffs or conference tournament, regardless of record. It also does not strictly apply to those sports that do not have a postseason or whose postseason criteria are too subjective to determine until the selectors make their decisions (this is especially true in American college sports, where teams in the
25:
281:
finish or worse, if they have yet to win, a winless season. For teams in sports that have been eliminated from a wild-card berth but qualifying is still possible by winning a conference tournament, the objective might be to win as many games as possible to try to earn as high of a seed as possible for the conference tournament, thereby increasing their chances of making the playoffs after all.
511:. The Roughriders converted on the third and long play, scored a touchdown with just 27 seconds remaining, and held on to win 27–23. The upset ended Calgary's season since Edmonton had a slim advantage in decisive tiebreaker (points-for-and-against ratio in divisional games) although the Eskimos' unexpected reprieve only lasted one week as they were throttled 49–22 by the
388:
In individual participant sports, such as automobile racing, a racer with no hope of obtaining a championship title could prevent a racer with a chance at the title by defeating them, preventing the contending racer from earning critical points toward winning the title. Instead, the title would go to
284:
Teams that operate as for-profit operations may still be compelled to put a competitive product on display, to ensure fans continue to attend the games and purchase tickets. This is less of an issue at the major professional levels, where a greater portion of revenue comes from television rights fees
233:
When the team is eliminated entirely from postseason contention it does not need to worry about winning to qualify for the postseason, and the urgency to win may be lower. As a result, coaches may give playing time to backup and other lesser players who would not be used when a win is urgent, thereby
204:
in 1876 was the first serious effort to eliminate this practice, as the NL adhered to a strictly-enforced policy of expelling teams that refused to honor scheduling commitments. Further to this, in the early days of the NL, the league had (and often enforced) a policy of moving games to an opponent's
189:
In the early days of organized sports, clubs were essentially gate-driven enterprises that depended on ticket sales for most of their revenue, and most leagues did not feature formal playoffs, instead awarding the championship to the team with the best regular season record. Once a team was no longer
175:
when used in the postseason. In the postseason, a team is said to be "eliminated" or "knocked out" when it is defeated by another team it is playing in a round of the postseason, thereby ending the team's season. But a team eliminated during the regular season continues to play the remaining games on
272:
Pride and opportunity also play into eliminated teams still striving to achieve victory on multiple occasions. These teams often want to go down swinging – that is, play their best even if there isn't a realistic chance they can defeat, much less compete with, future opponents. Sometimes, teams will
163:
watchers, such as the media, keep track of which teams have clinched divisions and playoff berths, and what teams close to this point must accomplish in order to achieve this ahead of the season's conclusion. Often, a team that has won a championship (such as a conference or divisional championship)
384:
on teams still in contention for playoff spots. For example, a baseball team that is ten games out of contention for a playoff berth could defeat a team that has a playoff berth several times. This could cause the would-be playoff team to be passed by in the rankings by the team directly behind it
336:
An eliminated team's coach and/or general manager may be expected to be fired shortly before or once the season ends, even if they are under multiyear contracts. This is if they are blamed for the team being out of contention for the postseason, due to the general manager's poor draft picks and/or
498:
but had struggled to finish with an 8–8 record. Calgary led most of the game and eventually extended their lead to 23–20 with only 2:45 remaining, and only needed to hold
Saskatchewan to a field goal from that point since at that time overtime was not used in the CFL regular season. On their next
340:
Still, in some cases, a team with a losing record – or one that has yet to win – may not even try to win and/or play very poorly in the remainder of their games; in other words, they "quit", even against other teams that are eliminated and/or have performed exceptionally poorly during the season.
280:
Other reasons eliminated teams still try hard to win include achieving an improvement over the previous year's record, attempting to finish the season with a winning record (especially if winning the final game is needed to achieve that goal), or the team wants to avoid the stigma of a last place
261:
who have little to no major-league experience in their sport, in exchange for proven, experienced veterans. The term "fire sale" also comes from the perception that the team is trying to get rid of all its players. Getting rid of veterans and stars with high salaries does reduce the payroll which
193:
Compounding this issue was that sports leagues in this era generally operated on the principle that a visiting team was entitled to a percentage of the gate receipts. If this cut was insufficient to meet the costs of making the trip, the visiting team would often be reluctant to travel, let alone
345:
Team or player morale is poor. This will often result from players having little to zero confidence in the coach/general manager and staff, especially if the team is performing below expectations and other factors – for instance, a head coach's abilities being called into question – come into
332:
Conversely, if the team is planning on making changes to its roster or coaching staff as a result of the poor performance, it may do so during this time in order to give new players and coaches some experience and try to keep players – those who may be sought by other teams – with their team.
212:
recorded the worst season in Major League
Baseball history. At the time, games moved to opponents' stadiums were recorded as road games, and with paid attendances in Cleveland being anemic, the Spiders had 35 of their 77 home games moved. They finished with 101 road losses, a record that
229:
Oftentimes a team would be eliminated from clinching a division title, home field advantage, or other postseason advantages, but the wildcard or lower-seeded spot might still be attainable thus some teams may play with an effort to win in order to choose its first-round opponents.
277:, a losing team nearly always puts in effort against their rival as it would be considered bad form by the fans of either team, along with the players and outside observers to not play with a full effort against a team which is considered the rival most identified with by a team.
297:, one quarter is awarded on a merit basis based on final league position, the top club getting twenty times as much as the bottom club, and equal steps all the way down the table), and to avoid being relegated to a lower league (and thus lose a significant amount of revenue).
225:
While a team that has been officially eliminated must still play its remaining games, the team's behavior may differ from one that is striving for the postseason or has already clinched the playoffs. And among those "eliminated" teams, the teams' behavior will vary.
463:
out of playoff contention on the second-to-last day of the season. With the
Dodgers needing one more win to tie the lead for the division, the Giants defeated the Dodgers on the final day to eliminate their rivals from contention, much to the delight of the fans at
320:
of depriving a team that is legitimately deprived of talent the opportunity to acquire a top prospect (this is especially true of the NHL, where because players are drafted at a younger age compared to the NFL or NBA and must typically complete
349:
With most or all preseason goals – and new and adjusted goals made as the season progresses – no longer achievable, the team no longer sees any value or worth in their remaining games, even if some of those games are considered by others to be
132:, regardless of the outcomes of the team and the team(s) they are trailing. This occurs when the number of wins combined with losses of higher-ranking teams in the league or division required to reach first place in the division or a
176:
its schedule as a lame duck, and the value to the team's coaches and players in seriously contesting these games may vary (see below). In both cases, elimination prevents the team from further pursuing the league championship.
341:
Here, the philosophy might be that the current season is best forgotten once concluded, and that with changes (sometimes wholesale) during the off-season things will be better in the future. Often, these cases arise when:
308:" the remainder of the season, and is sometimes done by putting players on the field that are too young and/or inexperienced to realistically be expected to win many games. In response to such practices, the
663:
resumed on July 31, 2020, the 22 teams who had the best regular-season records qualified for an eight-game seeding tournament that determined the sixteen participants for the league's playoff tournament. A
939:
253:) while also getting players from their minor league system; most rebuilding teams have few veterans remaining to jettison in the first place. On the other hand, trades in a fire sale often bring a team
353:
In sports where there is a high rate of injury, the risk of going onto the field for a meaningless game, and subsequently suffering a serious injury, outweighs the mostly nonexistent benefits.
316:
both impose a draft lottery to discourage teams from deliberately tanking the rest of their season for a higher draft pick. The injection of random luck into the draft process can have the
241:", where they trade away many of its veteran players, especially expensive star players, to other teams for less expensive and usually younger players. Teams usually have a fire sale for
245:. The term "fire sale" is generally thought of as different from merely "rebuilding" a team, because during a rebuilding process, teams often obtain players who are already in the
620:, not only knocked the Ravens out of the playoffs, but also meant that the Buffalo Bills qualified for their first postseason appearance since 1999. That same day, the eliminated
830:
197:
Often, especially in the early days of baseball, team owners deemed it more profitable to forfeit scheduled league games in order to play more lucrative exhibition contests.
562:
214:
507:, realizing a tie would be of no value for his team, crucially chose to gamble while facing a third down and eleven situation well within the field goal range of kicker
42:
731:
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on a last-second touchdown pass that erased an eleven-point deficit and knocked the
Vikings, who had started the season 6–0, out of the playoffs in favor of
1045:
139:
The concept of being "eliminated from postseason contention" is applicable to sports leagues and programs where qualifying requires a first-place finish or
1130:
190:
a contender for the best record in the league, this often served to seriously diminish interest in the team's remaining schedule from their fan base.
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89:
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stadium in the event that the paid attendance fell to the point where visiting teams would be left unable to meet their expenses to make the trip.
61:
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the contender directly behind him in the rankings, provided that second-tier racer is close enough to surpass and they win their own competition.
368:
500:
367:'s basketball team protested sanctions the NCAA levied against the team (the NCAA stripped the team of all their wins and barred them from the
1232:
68:
1340:
1069:
293:, even if a team may be eliminated from a postseason tournament, it may have to continue to play at a competitive level (for instance in the
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1177:
860:
574:
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for having a transfer student with inadequate academic credentials on the squad) by outright forfeiting the last two games of the season.
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75:
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are regularly awarded invitational bids to postseason tournaments even if they would otherwise have been eliminated had they been in a
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886:
535:
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In some cases, a team with a bad losing record may attempt to achieve the worst record in the league in order to attain a high
398:
1426:
1258:
714:
503:, who fumbled. Saskatchewan recovered the ball on their opponents' 43 yard line, and on the ensuing drive Roughriders coach
128:, refers to the point when it is no longer mathematically possible for a sports team to qualify for their league's annual
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108:
82:
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46:
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or who are close to being major-league-ready, while retaining at least some of their key veterans (such as a
172:
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development before reaching the majors, there is typically only one NHL-ready prospect in any given draft).
758:
633:
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knocked off playoff contenders twice in 20 years. First, they defeated the defending
Stanley Cup champion
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entered the final week with an 8-7 record. With only a tie at home against the already-eliminated 4–11
452:
364:
201:
432:, knocked the Red Sox out of the playoffs in favor of the Rays. On the same day, the NL East champion
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Teams eliminated from playoffs can affect other teams in the league as they play, often having a
35:
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543:
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End of a sports team's chances to compete for its league championship after the regular season
695:
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8:
852:
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542:, who were in playoff contention for the entire season on that second-to-last day of the
441:
1233:"Bengals' stunning last-minute TD eliminated the Ravens, sent the Bills to the playoffs"
1088:
593:, not only eliminated the United States from World Cup contention for the first time in
530:, who were in playoff contention for the entire season on the second-to-last day of the
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133:
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136:(where applicable) exceeds the number of the remaining games on the team's schedule.
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413:, who had been seen all season as playoff contenders. Their loss, combined with a
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under modern MLB scheduling rules, and the
Spiders folded after the 1899 season.
810:
Orioles rally for win, help keep Red Sox out of playoffs – The Bangor Daily News
676:
to be eliminated from the playoffs for the first time since the 1996–97 season.
617:
483:, Calgary would have not only made the playoffs but would have dethroned their
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Some teams eliminated from the playoffs before the trade deadline will hold a "
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1452:
1131:"Honduras Defeats Mexico to Qualify for 2018 World Cup Playoff vs. Australia"
613:
539:
429:
286:
1382:
The WILDEST Way to Miss The Wild Card! (Vikings vs. Cardinals Week 17, 2003)
1178:"Woeful USA fail to make 2018 World Cup after loss to Trinidad & Tobago"
1026:"Flyers and Red Wings Clinch Final Stanley Cup Playoff Berths – Fikkle Fame"
265:
Often, an eliminated team will now have the opportunity to play the role of
1237:
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718:
685:
665:
508:
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326:
140:
1110:"Mexico falls to Honduras, fails to do U.S. favor in World Cup qualifying"
732:"Senators' dismantling continues as lame-duck coach helplessly looks on"
1152:"The United States is out of the 2018 World Cup with embarrassing loss"
640:, eliminated the Seahawks from the postseason. On the final day of the
597:, but also meant that Panama qualified for their first-ever World Cup.
577:, who were overwhelming favorites to qualify and combined with wins by
448:, eliminated the Braves from the postseason in favor of the Cardinals.
254:
129:
1341:"The NFC West's Guard Has Changed, and the Seahawks Couldn't Keep Up"
1070:"Phantom goal helps Panama beat Costa Rica, qualify for WC over U.S."
238:
148:
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before the final positions at the end of the season are determined.
24:
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play, especially if they were also out of championship contention.
981:"Calgary Herald, November 7, 1983 (via Google Newspaper Archives)"
1431:
1089:"World Cup 2018: Panama declares public holiday after qualifying"
759:"Don't delay the inevitable: Keeping a lame-duck coach around..."
558:, knocked the Bruins out of the playoffs in favor of the Flyers.
859:. ESPN Internet Ventures. Associated Press. September 29, 2011.
829:. ESPN Internet Ventures. Associated Press. September 29, 2011.
823:"Red Sox miss out on postseason after loss to O's and Rays' win"
1205:"USA's World Cup failure was a catastrophe years in the making"
1046:"Bruins collapse with playoffs on line, lose 6-1 to Senators"
538:. 20 years later, they did it again, this time defeating the
1287:"Atlanta Falcons Clinch Playoff Berth with Win vs. Panthers"
853:"Evan Longoria homers in 12th as Rays storm into postseason"
1365:
The
Cardinals have knocked the Vikings out of the playoffs!
1114:
1073:
436:, who had the league's best record for weeks, defeated the
534:, knocking the Devils out of the playoffs in favor of the
399:
final day of the 2011 Major League
Baseball regular season
171:
when used in the sense of the regular season differs from
1093:
208:
The most notorious case of this came in 1899, when the
1002:"HOCKEY;The Devils' Playoff Chase Ends With a Whimper"
940:"Cardinals claim wild card as Braves lose in the 13th"
424:
by two dramatic home runs, first in the 9th inning by
262:
saves the team money for the remainder of the season.
1400:"Spurs' 22-Year Postseason Appearance Streak Snapped"
915:"Boston Red Sox collapse and suffer a damning finish"
499:
possession however, Calgary botched a snap to punter
363:
The team is protesting against the league. In 2003,
285:
that are locked into contracts years in advance. In
145:
five most lucrative and reputed athletic conferences
1427:"Spurs miss NBA playoffs for first time since 1997"
672:on the second-to-last-day of the season caused the
49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
159:When a sports season is reaching its conclusion,
1450:
1259:"Wild Ravens finish ends Bills' 18-year drought"
179:
717:– Richard Phelps, John Walters, Tim Bourret —
202:National League of Professional Baseball Clubs
369:2003 Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament
781:
546:; this result, combined with a win by the
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
1107:
644:, the eliminated Cardinals defeated the
417:win over the AL East winner and Red Sox
58:"Elimination from postseason contention"
1314:"Seahawks eliminated from playoff hunt"
912:
884:
392:
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122:Elimination from postseason contention
1338:
1311:
1230:
887:"Wild-card Wednesday was plain crazy"
863:from the original on December 9, 2011
1424:
1149:
908:
906:
880:
878:
833:from the original on January 5, 2012
304:. This is sometimes referred to as "
47:adding citations to reliable sources
18:
1459:Terminology used in multiple sports
1397:
1312:Dugar, Michael-Shawn (2018-01-01).
491:, who were the five-time defending
13:
1284:
784:"Bona AD: wronged for doing right"
756:
444:victory over the NL Central rival
126:eliminated from playoff contention
14:
1470:
1129:Nathan, Alec (October 10, 2017).
1108:Marshall, Tom (10 October 2017).
937:
903:
875:
563:CONCACAF qualification tournament
518:On the second-to-last day of the
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23:
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1374:
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1305:
1278:
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1231:Lyles, Harry Jr. (2017-12-31).
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1038:
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993:
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721:Result. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
314:National Basketball Association
34:needs additional citations for
913:Boswell, Thomas (2011-09-28).
845:
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775:
750:
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428:and later in extra innings by
405:, the already long eliminated
1:
885:Jenkins, Bruce (2011-09-29).
782:Dick Weiss (April 19, 2003).
701:
628:, combined with a win by the
612:, combined with a win by the
561:On the final matchday of the
440:, and that combined with the
220:
154:
964:1982 10 03 Dodgers at Giants
180:Effect on rest of the season
7:
1425:Cely, Andrew (2020-08-13).
1339:Kelly, Danny (2017-12-31).
1000:Yannis, Alex (1996-04-14).
679:
515:in the Western Semi-Final.
10:
1475:
1319:Seattle Post-Intelligencer
544:2015–16 NHL regular season
532:1995–96 NHL regular season
365:St. Bonaventure University
184:
461:1982 San Francisco Giants
200:The establishment of the
600:On the final day of the
481:Saskatchewan Roughriders
457:1982 Los Angeles Dodgers
291:promotion and relegation
812:Retrieved May 1, 2012.
715:Basketball for Dummies
569:, the long-eliminated
522:, the long-eliminated
453:Dodgers–Giants rivalry
451:In a testament to the
318:unintended consequence
310:National Hockey League
696:Magic number (sports)
691:Sports league ranking
513:Winnipeg Blue Bombers
434:Philadelphia Phillies
397:For example, on the
393:Notable eliminations
357:resting the starters
43:improve this article
1097:. October 11, 2017.
789:New York Daily News
571:Trinidad and Tobago
567:2018 FIFA World Cup
556:Pittsburgh Penguins
548:Philadelphia Flyers
536:Tampa Bay Lightning
442:St. Louis Cardinals
289:that operate using
1405:Sports Illustrated
1077:. 10 October 2017.
1006:The New York Times
738:. 24 February 2019
661:2019–20 NBA season
606:Cincinnati Bengals
520:NHL regular season
477:Calgary Stampeders
1150:Lauletta, Tyler.
674:San Antonio Spurs
654:Green Bay Packers
646:Minnesota Vikings
638:Carolina Panthers
622:Arizona Cardinals
604:, the eliminated
528:New Jersey Devils
485:bitter archrivals
407:Baltimore Orioles
243:financial reasons
210:Cleveland Spiders
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670:Dallas Mavericks
626:Seattle Seahawks
610:Baltimore Ravens
489:Edmonton Eskimos
466:Candlestick Park
422:New York Yankees
251:franchise player
215:cannot be broken
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1292:Bleacher Report
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1436:. Retrieved
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1267:. 2018-01-01
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1238:SBNation.com
1236:
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1213:. 2017-10-11
1210:The Guardian
1208:
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1186:. 2017-10-11
1183:The Guardian
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944:STLtoday.com
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710:
686:Garbage time
666:Phoenix Suns
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509:Dave Ridgway
505:Reuben Berry
501:Mike McTague
470:
459:knocked the
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41:Please help
36:verification
33:
795:January 24,
767:26 February
742:26 February
650:their rival
632:over their
550:over their
471:During the
426:Dan Johnson
355:(See also:
350:"winnable."
255:draft picks
173:elimination
124:, or being
1438:2021-07-27
1411:2021-07-27
1350:2021-07-27
1345:The Ringer
1325:2021-07-27
1298:2021-07-27
1271:2021-07-26
1244:2021-07-26
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1031:2021-07-26
1011:2021-07-26
986:2022-06-25
949:2021-07-26
924:2021-07-26
896:2021-07-26
867:January 7,
837:January 7,
736:Ottawa Sun
702:References
583:Costa Rica
302:draft pick
221:Modern era
155:Definition
130:postseason
69:newspapers
1050:USA TODAY
659:When the
616:over the
496:champions
401:, in the
259:prospects
239:fire sale
167:The term
149:mid-major
1453:Category
1264:ESPN.com
861:Archived
831:Archived
680:See also
595:32 years
587:Honduras
565:for the
493:Grey Cup
1387:YouTube
1370:YouTube
969:YouTube
306:tanking
275:rivalry
267:spoiler
185:History
161:ranking
83:scholar
891:SFGATE
652:, the
591:Mexico
579:Panama
554:, the
475:, the
455:, the
323:junior
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634:rival
589:over
581:over
419:rival
346:play.
90:JSTOR
76:books
1432:KSAT
1115:ESPN
1074:ESPN
869:2012
839:2012
797:2017
769:2019
744:2019
585:and
487:the
325:and
312:and
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1385:on
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