Most important game in 7 game series?

[grando]

I was having a discussion with a few people about which game is the most critical in a 7 game series (any of the 3 non-nfl sports)

They were adamant that game 5 was the most important, while I felt game 4 was more important

if you were a manager/coach/whatever and you were told that (before the series started) you would win any one game of your choosing out of the 7 possible games, which one would you choose? keep in mind that, quite often, games 6 and 7 don't even happen

[Tyler Durden]

the last one

[THEOSU]

i'm gonna go ahead and say game 7. by my calculations, teams that lose game 7 lose the series 100% of the time. whether that's causation or merely correlation, i cannot tell you.

[CardSharpCook]

LOL!

[CardSharpCook]

This really shouldn't be a poll. And it is poorly worded or something. As an odds question, if you're garaunteeing a win in only one game BUT THERE IS NO GARUANTEE THAT THAT GAME WILL BE PLAYED, then there is absolutely no difference btwn picking 1,2,3, and 4. Your EV goes down for each sucsessive pick after that. My spelling sucks tonight.

Your question, not poll, should be:

A) can you say that any particular game in a 7 game series is more important than any othere?

B) if yes, which one?

Part of the problem in answering comes in with the different situations teams face. Going into game 4 0-3 in the series is very different from going into the game 3-0. Playing game 5 on the road tied at 2-2 with games 6,7 to be played at home is very different from playing game 5 at home up 3-1 (with final 2 on road). Also, doesn't basketball do a 2-2-1-1-1 home/road split? I'm pretty sure baseball still does 2-3-2 and has done so for as long as I can remember.

A comparison for this argument would be the "most important count in baseball" arguement. Some argue that 1-1 is the most important pitch because the difference btwn 2-1 and 1-2 is huge. But how do you aregue that 3-2 isn't the most important pitch? Or even 2-2, where a ball can mean that the runners may be going on the next pitch and a strike means you're out.

[SuperUberBob]

Depends. If I am the lower ranked team, then I think the first two games are the most important since they are away games and it's good to win despite the lack of home field advantage.

Otherwise, it's the first deciding game of the series (games 4-7).

[Cornell Fiji]

It depends who I have pitching in game 4

[Degenerasian]

"The first game of a series is the most meaningless." - Bill Russell

[Shadowrun]

game 1 just look at the numbers of the team that wins game 1 and goes on to win the series

edit: though people should understand this isnt an iron clad rule as i dont think golden state, denver etc. will win.

[Degenerasian]

[ QUOTE ]
game 1 just look at the numbers of the team that wins game 1 and goes on to win the series

edit: though people should understand this isnt an iron clad rule as i dont think golden state, denver etc. will win.

[/ QUOTE ]

Where can I see said numbers?