The best of these playoffs, plus what to know on Derby Day

The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.Good morning! Win your series today. Inside: 🔥 Classic series overload 🏇 The Derby’s true favorite ⚾ Most unhittable ever? Playoff Eclipse: All 16 NBA and NHL series, rankedThe past three years, something subtle has happened at this time of year.The NHL and NBA used to have slightly misaligned playoff schedules, with hockey starting a few days or a week ahead. In 2000, for example, the NHL postseason started April 12, the NBA 10 days later. In 2010, hockey started April 14, the NBA three days after that. And so on. (Occasionally, like in 2023, the NBA would start slightly earlier than the NHL.)Advertisement