If the Flyers and Sixers Both Make the Playoffs, it’s a Five-for-Five First

I used to be pondering final night time that if the Sixers and Flyers each scrape by way of in April, will probably be the primary time each Winter groups have certified for the playoffs for the reason that pandemic.

Then I paused, and thought to take it a step additional. Has there ever been a yr through which the Flyers, Sixers, Eagles, Phillies, and Union have all made the postseason on the similar time?

I don’t suppose there was, however I went again to triple verify, beginning with a easy post-2010 itemizing of every playoff look:

• Eagles: 2010, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023
• Phillies: 2010, 2011, 2022, 2023
• Flyers: 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019
• Sixers: 2010, 2011, (massive hole for the method), 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
• Union: 2011, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

The caveat right here is that I listed the Flyers, Sixers, and Eagles primarily based on the yr through which their campaigns began, so whereas the Flyers, for example, went to the playoffs in 2015, that was the tail-end of the 2014-2015 season. Similar with the Birds, who had playoff video games pushing into January. Should you take this into consideration, and take a look at 2011 for example, the next video games or sequence had been performed on the next days:

• Packers 21, Eagles 16 / Wild Card (January ninth, 2011)
• Phillies vs. Cardinals / NLDS (October 1st to seventh, 2011)
• Flyers vs. Bruins / Jap Convention Semifinal (April thirtieth to Could sixth, 2011)
• Sixers vs. Warmth / first spherical (April sixteenth to April twenty seventh, 2011)
• Union vs. Dynamo / Jap Convention Semifinal (October thirtieth to November third, 2011)

Technically, the 5 groups every performed a postseason sport in 2011, however we’d rely that Eagles squad because the 2010 crew. The Flyers and Sixers additionally began in 2010 and carried into 2011.

What I used to be in search of was all 5 groups beginning in the identical yr and all 5 of their respective campaigns going into the postseason, which might occur in a couple of weeks:

1. 2023 Eagles – playoffs (misplaced in Tampa)
2. 2023 Phillies – playoffs (misplaced in NLCS)
3. 2023 Union – playoffs (misplaced in convention semifinal)
4. 2023-2024 Flyers – ???
5. 2023-2024 Sixers – ???

What’s the distinction, you ask?

Nicely, if the Flyers and Sixers each make the postseason, it means we can have all 5 groups in playoff video games separated by simply six months. That’s a shorter time-frame than the 2011 I laid out above, through which all 5 squads had postseason appearances separated by rather less than 11 months. We’d have achieved this feat again in 2010, had the Union not stunk of their first yr, or in 2011 if Vince Younger’s “Dream Crew” had not gone 8-8 to overlook the postseason.

After all, I could have jinxed it.