A Recent Trend: Exactly Two Playoff Wins for the San Francisco 49ers
In the 2023 NFL Postseason, the San Francisco 49ers won two playoff games before losing in the Super Bowl to the Kansas City Chiefs. This was the 49ers' sixth (!!!) consecutive postseason appearance (2012, 2013, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023) with exactly two wins (an NFL record that I doubt will be broken anytime soon). To give a sense of how remarkable that is, the 49ers had exactly two wins zero times in their first twenty-four playoff appearances! The second highest such string is two (!!) games and that has been achieved by many teams (Kansas City Chiefs (2020-2021), New York Jets (2009-2010), New England Patriots (2006-2007), etc.).
What is the record for the most consecutive playoff trips with at least two wins? The 49ers'six-year two-win string is tied for the record. The other six-year string belongs to the team that recently beat the 49ers in the Super Bowl: the Chiefs have won at least two playoff games in each of the last six years. Unlike with the 49ers, the Chiefs' string has happened in consecutive years. The Patriots' longest such string is three, which they have achieved two different times (2001-2004, 2016-2018).
What about the other sports? In MLB history, the longest string of consecutive playoff appearances with exactly two series wins is three. That record is held by two teams and one of those teams is another Bay Area sports team. From 1972-1974, the Oakland A's won two series each year en route to three consecutive World Series championships. The other team is the Houston Astros. From 2019-2021,
the Astros won exactly two playoff series each year. In none of those three years did they win the World Series! The record for most consecutive playoff trips with at least two series wins is four. This was achieved by the New York Yankees from 1998 to 2001.
In basketball, the record for most consecutive playoff appearances with exactly two series wins is seven. From the 1958-1959 season to the 1964-1965 season, the Boston Celtics won two series each year as they won the championship in every single one of those years. They won the championship again during the 1965-1966 season, but they needed to win three series that year to do it. So the Celtics won at least two playoff series in eight consecutive years. That's a record that they share with the Los Angeles Lakers, who made eight consecutive Conference Finals in the 1980s.
Who holds the record for most consecutive playoff appearances with at least three series wins? That would be my hometown Warriors. Before last year, the Warriors won at least three playoff series in their previous six playoff appearances (2014-2019 and 2021-2022).
(The Warriors were without Klay Thompson for the entire 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons and were without Stephen Curry for almost the entire 2019-2020 season.) It's interesting how both the 49ers' and Warriors' strings were not over six consecutive years. The Warriors' string was ended in 2023 by Lebron James' Lakers.
James holds the record for most consecutive playoff appearances by a player with at least three playoff series wins (nine!). After making eight consecutive Finals from 2011 and 2018, he didn't make the playoffs during the 2018-2019 season. The next year (2019-2020), Lebron James won the Finals with the Lakers. Lebron's remarkable string was ended by the Phoenix Suns during the 2021 NBA playoffs.