" On September 28, the Diamondbacks defeated the Colorado Rockies to secure a position in the 2007 playoffs.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Wizards lost to the last-seeded Colorado Rapids.

In the playoffs, the Wizards defeated the Colorado Rapids, 7 points to 1 in three games.

Colorado progressed to the playoffs, defeating the Vancouver Canucks and the Chicago Blackhawks in the first two rounds, both in six games and the Presidents ' Trophy-winning Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference Finals in six games as well.

In the playoffs, Colorado swept their Western Conference Quarterfinals against the Vancouver Canucks.

Despite a 20 point improvement from last season's efforts, the team failed to reach the playoffs for the second straight year, the first time the Colorado club would do so in their 17 years playing in Denver.

Vancouver finished 1995 – 96 two games below. 500 and were defeated in the first round of the playoffs by the Colorado Avalanche.

In an interesting playoffs, all the bottom seeds won in the first round so the Ducks faced the seventh seed Colorado.

In 2011 the Crew finished ninth in the league at 13 – 13 – 8 and lost in the wild card round of the playoffs to the Colorado Rapids.

With these changes, Colorado qualified for the MLS Cup playoffs and defeated Columbus Crew in the first round.

They would go on to defeat the Colorado Mammoth and San Jose Stealth in the playoffs and then triumph over the New York Titans 12-10 in the Champion's Cup final to win their first NLL championship since 2004.

In 1995, Walker was a major factor in helping Colorado reach the playoffs for the first time, hitting. 306 with 36 home runs and 101 RBI.

Under his leadership, the Nordiques made the playoffs for the first time in six years, and set a franchise record for wins and points in the process ( since broken by the 2000-01 Colorado Avalanche team ).

Entering the 2001 playoffs as the final and eighth seed in the West, they were eliminated in the first round by the Colorado Avalanche.

Näslund competed in his first NHL playoffs as the Canucks faced the Colorado Avalanche in the first round.

The Blues made it to the Western Conference final in the playoffs that season, losing to the Colorado Avalanche, the eventual 2001 Stanley Cup champions.

In 2003, the Wild advanced to the semi-finals of the playoffs, defeating division rivals Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks before falling to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in four games.

After one-and-a-half seasons, Crawford led Vancouver back to the playoffs, however, was defeated in the first round by his former team, Colorado.

Making his Stanley Cup playoffs debut against the Colorado Avalanche, Daniel recorded an assist in the opening game of the first-round series, a 5 – 4 loss for the Canucks.

In helping Colorado return to the playoffs, he completed the year to place third on the team with 23 goals despite playing in a career low 56 games.

Without Bure, the Canucks managed to make the 1996 playoffs on the strength of an offence led by Linden and Mogilny, but were defeated in six games of the opening round by the Colorado Avalanche, who went on to win the Stanley Cup.

However, when the Stars played the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs, Turco struggled, receiving blame from some for the Stars ' losing the series in five games.

In a rematch against the Colorado Avalanche in the playoffs, the Kings once again lost in seven games, this time in the first round.

In the playoffs, the Coyotes lost in five games to the Colorado Avalanche in the first round.

They have been to the playoffs six times and have won six playoff games, three of which were victories during their run in the 2008-09 NFL Playoffs.

In the 1978 season, the Falcons qualified for the playoffs for the first time and won the Wild Card game against the Philadelphia Eagles 14 – 13.

Seattle and Cleveland met in the first round of the playoffs, however the Mariners won the series 3-2.

Chicago halted St. Louis ' run to the playoffs by taking 4 of 5 games from the Cardinals at Wrigley Field in early September, after which the hapless Cubs finally won their first division title in 14 years.

White led the Cowboys to the playoffs five times and won two Division Championships.

Star receiver Michael Irvin was suspended by the league for the first five games of 1996 following a drug-related arrest ; he came back after the Cowboys started the season 2-3 ; they finished 10-6 and won the NFC East title, but were eliminated in the divisional round of the playoffs 26-17 by the second-year Carolina Panthers.

The Red Wings won the Presidents ' Trophy with a 58 – 16 – 8 record, earning them 124 points, and secured home ice advantage for the entire playoffs.

On November 4, 2007 the Patriots defeated the Colts 24 – 20 ; in the next matchup on November 2, 2008, the Colts won 18 – 15 in a game that was one of the reasons the Patriots failed to make the playoffs ; in the 2009 meeting, the Colts staged a spirited comeback to beat the Patriots 35 – 34 ; in the most recent 2010 game, the Colts almost staged another comeback, pulling within 31 – 28 after trailing 31 – 14 in the fourth quarter, but fell short due to a Patriots interception of a Manning pass late in the game.

Notable games include Carolina's 19-7 home victory in 1996 that sparked Saints head coach Jim Mora's infamous " Diddley Poo " rant and resignation from the team, Carolina's 10-6 win in the 2002 season finale at the Superdome to knock the Saints out of the playoffs, and the emotional 2005 season opener at Carolina where the Saints won 23-20 in the face of Hurricane Katrina and an eventual 3-13 season.

In 1985, they acquired Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter from the Montreal Expos and won 98 games, but narrowly missed the playoffs.

The Mets continued playing well after 1986 and won the division in 1988, but lost the playoffs that year and declined into the 1990s.

In 1981, Taylor won the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards and the Giants made the playoffs for the first time since 1963.

After starting 3 – 7 in 1994, the Giants won their final six games to finish 9 – 7 but missed the playoffs.

In 2008, the Giants won the NFC East with a record of 12 – 4 ( and also were the number one seed in the NFC after beating the Carolina Panthers for home field advantage ), but lost 23 – 11 to the Philadelphia Eagles in the divisional round of the playoffs.

The Giants won 17 – 14, but the Packers beat the Bears 10 – 3, so the Giants missed out on the playoffs again, ending a collapse in which the Giants went 4 – 4 in their last eight games.

From 1988 to 1996, the Eagles qualified for the playoffs during 6 out of those 9 seasons, but they won the NFC East only once, in 1988.

Sosa won the National League Most Valuable Player Award for leading the Cubs into the playoffs in 1998, earning every first-place vote except for the two cast by St. Louis writers, who voted for McGwire.

The Chargers won one AFL title in 1963 and reached the AFL playoffs five times and the AFL Championship four times before joining the NFL () as part of the AFL-NFL Merger.

In the playoffs, they won the divisional round 20 – 14 over the Buffalo Bills.

The Chargers would lose their first four games of the season and come back to become the first 0 – 4 team to make the playoffs as they won 11 of the last 12 games and clinched the AFC West title.

The Chargers entered the first round of the playoffs but were eliminated by the New York Jets, who won in overtime 20 – 17.

In the playoffs, the Seahawks won in their first game against the then-defending Super Bowl champs, the New Orleans Saints, 41-36.

Three teams in the Eastern Division finished with better records than San Diego but failed to qualify for the playoffs, including second-place Philadelphia, which won 88 games and all six of its contests with the Padres.

The next season, Gretzky broke Gordie Howe's career goal-scoring record and won the scoring title, but the team began a long slide, and despite numerous player and coaching moves, they failed to qualify for the playoffs again until 1998.

They won the Wild Card playoff against the Rams, and then again in the Divisional playoffs against the Bears.