For millions of fans, this is the best time of the year.

Sports enthusiasts love the month of April, when Major League Baseball playoff contenders often start slowly giving pretenders hope, while the NBA and NHL produce nail-biting series right on the Heels of the NCAA basketball tournament and spring recruiting. And don’t forget what Tiger did at Augusta.

The playoffs going on right now are both tight and surprising, beginning with the No. 1 wildcard Hurricanes winning the sixth game against defending Stanley Cup champion Washington and forcing a winner-take-all Wednesday night in the Nation’s Capital. The underdog Canes, back in the playoffs for the first time in ten years, have electrified their fans in Raleigh.

Photo via Carolina Hurricanes

But look what else has happened in the NHL. The Tampa Bay Lightning, who tied for the most regular-season wins in hockey history, not only lost their first playoff round, they were swept by the wildcard Columbus Blue Jackets, outscored 15-5 in the last three games. Two other quarterfinals series, not expected to be that close, are also going to their sixth and seventh games.

How about the NBA. The No. 4-5 series on paper are pick-ems, right? The fourth-seeded Celtics swept five-seed Indiana, playing the kind of defense that led them to within one win of the 2018 NBA Finals and making them dangerous for top-seeded and 60-win Milwaukee, considered the second-best team in pro basketball. The No. 4 Rockets won their first three games over 5-seed Utah for the right to play defending champion Golden State.

In baseball, it has been more like a nightmare for favorites Red Sox, Yankees, Cubs and Oakland A’s, playoff favorites all trying to get to or stay above .500 in the standings heading into May. The early injury bug has hit so many teams, like the makeshift lineup the Yanks have been forced to throw out there with Aaron Judge, Luis Severino and Giancarlo Stanton among the dozen players on the injured list.

Baseball is so top-heavy with big-market teams and gazillion-dollar payrolls that the only way they eventually miss the playoffs is to fail miserably to meet expectations. So far, it’s been happening.

Then, don’t forget college basketball recruiting, with Duke scoring late to reel in its third straight No. 1 freshman class as the rest of the ACC tries to keep pace in the headlines, if not on the court next season.

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