OAKLAND – Hours before the Warriors’ first preseason game, head coach Steve Kerr was in an admittedly lighthearted mood. As Dodgers fan, Kerr said he was watching the Giants-Dodgers game which ended with a playoff-clinching 10-6 win for the Dodgers.
The tradition of celebrating a playoff berth by uncorking bottles of champagne is a well-known one in Major League Baseball, and it’s something Kerr has taken notice of. With the addition of the two Wild Card spots in 2012, it’s opened up the potential for double champagne celebrations before the playoffs start, if a team secures at least a Wild Card spot and then their division.
“You guys took me out of a fascinating conversation I was involved with just now in there,” Kerr said. “We have the game on, you guys know I’m a Dodger fan, so I’m fascinated by this Major League Baseball tradition of champagne celebration at multiple stops, so we were trying to determine what’s the maximum number of champagne celebrations a team can have.”
Kerr and his braintrust crunched the numbers to figure out the maximum number of champagne celebrations.
“We came up with five,” Kerr said. “But I was wondering, if the Dodgers were to win today and clinch the Wild Card, champagne, right? If they were to win tomorrow and Colorado were to lose a couple games and they clinch the division, do they go back-to-back champagne celebrations? Has that ever happened?”
One reporter answered Kerr with a memory of the Oakland A’s in 2012, saying the A’s celebrated on a Monday and a Wednesday after double-clinching.
“The A’s did that? Yes,” Kerr said. “I’m all for bringing that to the NBA.”