Tuesday Top Ten: Championship Matchups Between Franchises Without Titles

As I alluded to in last week's Tuesday Top Ten -- which was before the Washington Capitals beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the NHL's Eastern Conference finals -- we now have a Stanley Cup matchup of two teams that have never won a title.  Whether Alexander Ovechkin to raise Lord Stanley's Cup after his long-awaited first trip to the finals or the Vegas Golden Knights become the first expansion team in the history of the four major sports leagues to win a title in its first year, it should be a fun Stanley Cup finals.

If you're like me -- and you better pray to Cthulhu you're not -- a championship matchup between two teams that have never won a title is fascinating because it's so rare.  I know you're asking, "But GMYH, how rare is it?  And have you been working out?  You look great."  Well, fair reader, the answer is very rare.  And no, but thank you.  I think the blogosphere takes off ten pounds.  That said, I have been religiously following my own version of the Whole 30, which is comprised of 30 straight days of (1) consuming nothing but whole ghost peppers, whiskey (from the British Isles only -- too much sugar in bourbon), and turtle meat (fresh, never frozen); (2) four hours a day of parkour; and (3) enemas on the 12s.

So let's take a look at what "very rare" means -- and I'm talking about a championship matchup between two teams who have never won a title, not the turtle meat or my sphincter.  Here are some notes and limitations to keep in mind:

• For this list, I'm including championship matchups in the MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA.
• For the MLB, the first World Series was held in 1903.
• The NFL was founded in 1920, but its first championship game was not played until 1933.  Between 1920 and 1932, the champion was determined by win-loss percentage.  I'm including NFL championships before the Super Bowl era, but not AAFC or AFL championships before their respective mergers into the NFL.
• The NHL as we know it today came about in the 1926-1927 season, which was the first year only NHL teams played for the Stanley Cup.  I'm not including WHA championships before the WHA merged into the NHL.
• The NBA (then known as the BAA) was founded in 1946 and held its first championship in 1947.  I'm not including ABA championships before the ABA merged into the NBA.
• For what should seem like obvious reasons, I am excluding the first championship played in these four leagues.  Not including the first year in each league, a championship game/series between two titleless franchises has only happened in 25 out of the 355 seasons played among the four major sports. Here is how often it has happened in each league:
• MLB:  6 of 111 seasons, and only once since 1920 (no World Series played in 1904 or 1994)
• NFL:  5 of 84 seasons, and all have happened in the Super Bowl Era, but none since 1982 (I'm not including 1920-1932, when no championship game was held, although I am counting championships won between 1920 and 1932 towards whether a team had won a championship when it played in a championship game)
• NHL:  7 of 90 seasons (no playoffs in 2005)
• NBA:  7 of 70 seasons, although only once since 1978 (including this season, since all four remaining teams have won a title)

With that, here are the years and leagues in which the championship game or series featured two franchises that had never won a title before.  They are listed in reverse chronological order, with the winning team listed first (other than this year's NHL finals, which have obviously not yet been played).  For all sports, I'm listing the year in which the championship game/series was played (so, for instances, Super Bowls are played in January or February, and I'm going to list the year in which the Super Bowl was played, not the year of the "season").

Rather than limiting it to ten, I'm just going to list all of them.  As you can see, the vast majority of these happened over 40 years ago.

1.  2018 NHL:  Washington Capitals vs. Vegas Golden Knights
2.  2007 NHL:  Anaheim Ducks vs. Ottawa Senators
3.  2006 NBA:  Miami Heat vs. Dallas Mavericks
4.  1999 NHL:  Dallas Stars vs. Buffalo Sabres
5.  1996 NHL:  Colorado Avalanche vs. Florida Panthers
6.  1991 NHL:  Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Minnesota North Stars
7.  1982 NFL:  San Francisco 49ers vs. Cincinnati Bengals
8.  1980 MLB:  Philadelphia Phillies vs. Kansas City Royals
9.  1978 NBA:  Washington Bullets vs. Seattle SuperSonics
10.  1977 NFL:  Oakland Raiders vs. Minnesota Vikings
11.  1975 NFL:  Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Minnesota Vikings
12.  1972 NFL:  Dallas Cowboys vs. Miami Dolphins
13.  1971 NBA:  Milwaukee Bucks vs. Baltimore Bullets
14.  1970 NFL:  Kansas City Chiefs vs. Minnesota Vikings
15.  1957 NBA:  Boston Celtics vs. St. Louis Hawks
16.  1955 NBA:  Syracuse Nationals vs. Ft. Wayne Pistons
17.  1951 NBA:  Rochester Royals vs. New York Knicks
18.  1949 NBA:  Minneapolis Lakers vs. Washington Capitols
19.  1934 NHL:  Chicago Black Hawks vs. Detroit Red Wings
20.  1928 NHL:  New York Rangers vs. Montreal Maroons
21.  1920 MLB:  Cleveland Indians vs. Brooklyn Robins
22.  1909 MLB:  Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Detroit Tigers
23.  1907 MLB:  Chicago Cubs vs. Detroit Tigers
24.  1906 MLB:  Chicago White Sox vs. Chicago Cubs
25.  1905 MLB:  New York Giants vs. Philadelphia Athletics