List of teams that have overcome 3

The following is the list of teams that have overcome 3–1 series deficits mainly concerning North American professional sports within a best-of-seven series. The listed teams won three consecutive games after being down three games to one. Unsuccessful comebacks are also listed, in which teams evened a series after being behind 3–1, then lost the final game of the series.

The best-of-seven playoff structure is common in North American professional sports, particularly in the sports of baseball, basketball, and ice hockey. And prominently in three of the major North American professional sports leagues: Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League.

There are also some intermediate North American leagues below the major league level that use the best-of-seven format such as hockey's Calder Cup. The format is also used outside of North America, including the Taiwan Series baseball tournament, the final round of the Japan Series, the Chinese, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, and Turkish baseball leagues, and later rounds of the Gagarin Cup of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) based in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and China.

All 3–1 deficit comebacks in a seven-game series involve winning three straight elimination games, finally featuring a double-elimination game seven. Longer series of this nature are almost always structured as single-elimination knockout tournaments, so one more loss ends playoff contention for the losing side.

This is similar to a comeback from a 2–0 series deficit in a best-of-five series, which also requires winning three straight games.

Implicit in overcoming a 3–1 series deficit are all teams who have overcome a 3–0 series deficit. These are noted in the series comment cells and—lacking an explicit column in the tabular format—can be identified with a "3–0".

Background

Three major North American professional sports leagues have playoff series that can reach a seventh game: Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Hockey League (NHL). In the history of these leagues, teams that were down 3–1 in a series have come back to win the series 58 times; 14 times in MLB, 13 times in the NBA, and 31 times in the NHL. The most recent instance was accomplished by the Florida Panthers of the NHL in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

There have been three instances of a team coming back from a 3–1 deficit twice in the same postseason; occurring once in the MLB, NBA, and NHL. The most recent instance was by the Denver Nuggets in the 2020 NBA playoffs. The other two instances occured by the Kansas City Royals in the 1985 MLB postseason and the Minnesota Wild in the 2003 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Within the World Hockey Association and American Basketball Association, who each merged with the NHL and NBA, respectively, only one team came back from a 3–1 deficit: the Indiana Pacers came back to defeat the Kentucky Colonels in Eastern Division Semifinals of the 1969 ABA Playoffs.

Key

Major League Baseball

Successful comebacks

MLB teams have overcome 3–1 deficits 14 times (including one 3–0 deficit), six of which occurred in the World Series. This does not count the 1903 World Series, during which the Boston Americans (or Puritans, or Pilgrims, depending on the source, and later known as the Red Sox) came back from a 3–1 deficit to defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates, five games to three, as that was a best-of-nine series.

Unsuccessful comebacks

Six other MLB teams have evened the series after being down 3–1 (including one down 3–0), only to lose game seven.

National Basketball Association

Successful comebacks

NBA teams have overcome 3–1 deficits 13 times, only one of which occurred in the NBA Finals. The NBA is the only major North American sport with seven-game playoff series where no team has overcome a 3–0 deficit.

Unsuccessful comebacks

NBA teams have overcome 3–1 deficits to force a seventh game 22 times, only to lose the series. In four of these instances, a team was down 3–0 in the series.

National Hockey League

Successful comebacks

NHL teams have overcome 3–1 deficits 32 times, the most recent instance being accomplished by the Florida Panthers during the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Rangers, the Vancouver Canucks, and the Montreal Canadiens are tied with the most successful 3–1 series comebacks in the NHL, with three. Four times a team comeback from 3–0 down and only one instance has occurred during the Stanley Cup Finals, accomplished in 1942 by the Toronto Maple Leafs, who initially trailed 3–0.

Unsuccessful comebacks

NHL teams have managed to force a seventh game while facing a 3–1 series deficit 33 times, only to lose the series in the seventh game subsequently. Six instances consisted of falling behind 3–0 in the series before losing in Game Seven.