WNBA’s First Round Sweeps Highlight Odd Playoff Format 

On Sunday, the WNBA playoffs tipped off with four first-round series. And in just four days, all of them were over, with each ending in a sweep for the higher-seeded team.

While it’s not exactly out of the ordinary for the WNBA’s opening round to finish in less than a week—teams compete in best-of-three series—the abrupt end to the W’s opening round highlights a problem in the league’s first-round playoff structure.

Conventional wisdom suggests the format of a best-of-three series would give the higher-seeded team the advantage by hosting Game 1 and a possible do-or-die Game 3. However, the W gives the ostensibly better team homecourt in the first two games, making the possibility of a sweep more likely. 

It doesn’t help that eight teams make the playoffs in a 12-team league, so the one-eight and two-seven match-ups are often lopsided. This year, the top-seeded New York Liberty won more than twice as many games (32) as the eighth-seeded Atlanta Dream (15).  

The Rationale

Since the format was instituted in 2022, there have been 12 first-round series. The higher-seeded team has won every time, with only three series going into a decisive third game. 

The W instituted this format largely due to the league’s travel restrictions. Prior to this season, the league had yet to provide season-long charter flights to all teams, so instead, the W seemed to sacrifice parity to limit travel.

Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced in May, a week before the start of the season, that the league would provide charter flights to all teams. However, the W did not follow the charter flights with the change to the playoff format.

Change Is Coming

Timing may have factored into why the league couldn’t make an otherwise obvious change. A playoff format change is decided through a board of governors meeting which usually happens months before the regular season. That is exactly what happened when it changed to the current playoff structure in November 2021.

It’s very possible that these changes could be made as soon as next year, and Indiana Fever coach Christie Sides said as much before Game 1 of their series against the Connecticut Sun.

“I think there’s going to be some changes,” Sides said. “The last time I was in this position, it was the one-game elimination. … Now, we have charter flights. We can get back and forth. I’m sure it’s something they’re going to talk about.”